Every other week, we bring you just good news from U.S. politics and communities to remind you that it’s worth showing up and speaking up for a better, kinder nation.
Here’s why:
- Buffalo herds dwelling within Brokenhead Ojibway Nation lands welcome eleven new calves, the first brand-new generation of buffalo to be born on the Nation’s lands in more than two decades.
- A federal court overturns the Dept. of Energy’s stop-work order on Rhode Island’s Revolution Wind project—an offshore wind farm that’s already 80% complete and will power 350,000 homes.
- The General Services Administration hires back hundreds of federal employees who lost their jobs due to cuts by Elon Musk’s non-congressionally approved “department.”
- Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D–WI) and Lisa Murkowski (R–AK) introduce a bipartisan bill to reestablish the national emergency suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ youth.
- On the 70th anniversary of Emmett Till’s death, the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board oversees the release of thousands of pages of the Till lynching investigation into the National Archives.
- CA takes steps to protect school and college students, school staff, and hospital patients from unjust ICE enforcement activity.
- CA’s Supreme Court unanimously rules that state regulators were given undue deference in the decision to roll back rooftop solar panel credits for homeowners.
- ME fast-tracks plans for renewable energy projects before climate-friendly government incentives are removed under the budget passed this summer.
- The city of San Francisco moves to ensure that substantial renovations to existing buildings are all-electric.
- Four Chicago-area residents with mobility disabilities file a federal class-action lawsuit against the city for being in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act due to inaccessible sidewalks, curb ramps, and public pedestrian ways.
- Three chemical and materials companies will pay the state of New Jersey up to $2B in a settlement over the environmental hazards of PFAS.
- Sports broadcaster Kate Scott becomes the first woman to call a regular-season NFL game for the radio broadcast network Westwood One.
- Hundreds of Kansas City tenants unionize to address pest infestations.
- The American Bar Association’s democracy task force endorses ranked-choice voting.
- The Conservation Fund purchases North America’s largest blackwater swamp, saving over 350,000 acres of designated wilderness from a mining company.
- The number of animals farmed for their fur has fallen dramatically over the last decade.
- Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. have decreased by 20 percent since 2005.
- A new report by the Redstone Strategy Group shows that community-based climate mitigation efforts yield meaningful impacts with strong returns on investment.
- Australia funds solar microgrids to replace diesel in First Nations communities.
Want more? Check out the latest Checklist of positive actions for democracy and equality. Get inspired with Jen’s latest uplifting message, Feel What You Feel, but Don’t Go It Alone.