Good Day, Gnusies and Happy Saturday! Surprise! It is I, nifty (along with my faithful companion, CG) sitting in for GoodNewsRoundup who has taken a well-deserved couple of weeks off!
CONTENT NOTE: If you’re interested in lots of details about the latest legal peril of TFG (I get it!), please check out today’s Lightning RoundUp where you will find links to articles galore (most with no paywall). Go with my blessing and read to your heart’s content! 💕 Then please do come back up to the top and read all the other good news!
The theme of today’s GNR is: start local to go national — or as our own Joe Cool would say, “Build from the middle out and from the bottom up”. We have been pretty good at focusing on our local congresspeople, but that’s for the national House and to our shock, we’ve even lost ground in places we thought were solid. How did that happen?
What Republicans did to change the landscape — which is how they made such inroads into our rights and freedoms, too — is they focused truly on LOCAL races: for town and city councils, school boards, county boards and state legislatures. Then, when they had sufficiently dominated local politics and drenched people in RW “leadership”, that influence started to translate to national races, which is how they flipped ‘reliably’ blue districts over to red. They took the ‘local first’ approach because it works.
In today’s GNR, I’m going to post some of the good work that gets done in states with Democratic leadership. I hope to encourage all of us to work hard to flip more states to blue, or back to blue.
Even so-called “deep red” states are not packed with 100% Republican/conservative people. In fact, in most states the gap between the majority and minority is only a handful of per centage points. Republicans used a state-focused strategy to flip some of those states or to solidify the “red state” image. We can do the same thing and flip them back!
This is a pretty meaty GNR for your Saturday, so grab a refreshing beverage and settle in to read all about how great Democrats are!
But first...a word from the Mayor of Gnuville, GoodNewsRoundup herself! (OK I just copied and pasted from one of GNRs earlier GNRs but this is important stuff, soy know what to do!)
Remember when I used to hit you up regularly for money to save the House, or the Senate, or get Trump out of the White House?
I do! Because you all gave and we WON! The vast majority of races we supported WON! We made a difference.
In the words of a wise and wonderful man, I am once again asking for your financial support. :-)
Let’s get Biden re-elected!
In the wise words of Chris Jackson:
Thanks to @POTUS @JoeBiden, we now have an unemployment rate lower than Trump's, an inflation rate lower than Reagan's, and a NATO alliance more united than ever in world history.
He has achieved all of this despite a daily onslaught against him and his family and with a press that flatly refuses to cover anything remotely positive happening in our country.
He never whines or complains; he just wakes up every day and does his job with honor, character, and competence.
If you are a Democrat, be proud of this record! Republicans almost unanimously stand behind a twice indicted man who had a record of failure. Surely, we can unite behind this good and decent man who is achieving more than any Democratic president has in half a century!
When people you talk to bring up the president's age, you bring up his record. The job of president is to get things done, not score style points.
We can't turn back.
When Ronald Reagan was airing soft-focus ads touting “Morning in America” in 1984, unemployment was over 7 percent, and the American economy created a measly 5 million jobs during Reagan’s first term. Yet Biden has seen the creation of more than 13 million jobs in the past 2½ years. No president created that many over an entire four-year term, going back as far as government data exist, to the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
That is exactly why we need to do all we can to help him win next November!
We have set up an ActBlue so that we, as a good news community, can pool our money and get Biden re-elected!
Thanks! Now onto the good news!
Biden implements sweeping changes to how the military handles sexual assault cases, Bill Chappell, NPR, July 28, 2023.
💙 State Democrats are Great! 💙
Let’s hop around the country and see what our excellent Democratic governors and legislatures are doing, shall we? 😊 Yes, let’s do it! I’m starting now and I will keep criss-crossing the country until I run out of time — GO!
🇺🇸 Arizona 🇺🇸
Like Gov Tony Evers in Wisconsin (see below), Gov. Katie Hobbs in Arizona knows how to wield executive power to curb the worst excesses of right wing extremism in a state legislature AND advance progressive priorities in the state:
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs Has Vetoed Over 20 Election Bills So Far, Caroline Sullivan, Democracy Docket, June 14, 2023.
As of June 12, based on data from Voting Rights Lab and Democracy Docket’s internal tracking, the Arizona Legislature has sent at least 30 election-related bills to Hobbs’ desk. Of these, Hobbs has signed two, vetoed 21 and has yet to take action on seven.
The volume of vetoed bills is not just a feature of a divided government, when the Legislature and governorship are controlled by different political parties: The Arizona Republican Party has uniquely gone off the election-denying deep end. The bills passed this legislative session — which is not yet over — reflect the GOP’s descent into election conspiracy theories and attempts to make voting and election administration more difficult. The slim Republican majority in both chambers of the Legislature does not have enough votes to override Hobbs’ vetoes, making the new governor a key player in blocking anti-democratic efforts. ✂️
Hobbs prevented Arizona from exiting the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), an opt-in coalition of states that share information to help maintain accurate voter rolls. In recent months, there has been an exodus of eight Republican-controlled states from ERIC amid unfounded conspiracy theories.
The Arizona Legislature passed no shortage of policy based on other priorities within the fringe, right-wing ecosystem. The frenzy around electronic voting machines turned into legislation: Hobbs vetoed two bills that would have effectively banned electronic ballot tabulators in the state by requiring 100% of the components of a voting or tabulating machine to be manufactured in the United States. According to the executive director of the Arizona Association of Counties, that type of equipment does not currently exist.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs strips county prosecutors of authority to pursue abortion cases, Zoe Richards, NBC, June 23, 2023.
In her order, signed shortly before the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade, Hobbs gave centralized authority over the prosecution of abortions to the state’s Democratic attorney general.
"I will not allow extreme and out of touch politicians to get in the way of the fundamental rights of Arizonans," Hobbs, a Democrat, said in a tweet Friday that features an image of her signing the order.
The order empowers state Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) to "assume all duties" in prosecuting abortion-related cases, citing concerns that lingering questions about the application of Arizona's abortion laws to specific cases could trigger "disparate decisions" from county attorneys on how to criminally prosecute conduct related to abortion care and have a "chilling effect" that ends up restricting or deterring lawful abortions.
Arizona governor approves over-the-counter contraceptive medications at pharmacies, AP via NPR, July 7, 2023.
PHOENIX — Adults in Arizona can now obtain contraceptive medications over the counter at a pharmacy without a doctor's prescription under a governor's order announced Thursday.
Gov. Katie Hobbs said the rule will go into effect immediately. It applies to self-administered birth control such as hormonal and oral contraceptives, and patients 18 or older need only complete a screening and a blood pressure test.
"We are building an Arizona for everyone, which means ensuring people across the state have what they need to live a free and healthy life," the Democratic governor said in a statement. ✂️
She also plans to support legislation next year that would codify access to birth control.
Arizona governor's executive actions ban conversion therapy, allow trans health care, AP via NBC, June 28, 2023.
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs issued two pro-LGBTQ executive orders on Tuesday, banning state support of so-called conversion therapy and allowing transgender state employees to receive gender-affirming health care under their insurance plan.
Under the executive actions, state agencies will be prohibited from using funds to promote or facilitate so-called conversion therapy, the scientifically discredited practice of using therapy to “convert” LGBTQ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations.
Also, state employee health insurance plans can no longer list gender-affirming surgery as ineligible for coverage. A ban on such coverage was enacted in 2017. ✂️
One of Hobbs’ orders also says state agencies cannot cooperate with civil and criminal cases in states where gender-affirming health care is illegal.
🇺🇸 Colorado 🇺🇸
Gov. Jared Polis signs bills protecting access to abortion and gender-affirming care in Colorado, Jesse Bedayn and Colleen Slevin, CPR, April 14, 2023.
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday signed a set of health care bills enshrining access to abortion and gender-affirming procedures and medications, as the Democrat-led state tries to make itself a safe haven for its neighbors, whose Republican leaders are restricting care.
The goal of the legislation is to ensure people in surrounding states and beyond can come to Colorado to have an abortion, begin puberty blockers or receive gender-affirming surgery without fear of prosecution. Bordering states of Wyoming and Oklahoma have passed abortion bans and Utah has severely restricted transgender care for minors. ✂️
Gov. Polis added the first layer of abortion protection a year ago, signing an executive order that bars state agencies from cooperating with out-of-state investigations regarding reproductive healthcare. One of the bills he’s signing Friday codifies that order into law. Like the New Mexico law, it blocks court summons, subpoenas and search warrants from states that decide to prosecute someone for having an abortion.
It extends those protections to transgender patients dodging restrictions in their own states. Gender-affirming health care has been available for decades, some states have recently barred minors from accessing it, even with parental consent. Hospitals in some of those states say gender-affirming surgeries are rarely recommended for minors anyway. Puberty blockers are more common.
Colorado governor signs 4 major gun bills, drawing White House applause, John Frank, Agios, April 29, 2023.
Driving the news: The legislation expands Colorado's existing "red flag" law to allow educators, health care professionals, and district attorneys request the seizure of a person's firearms under an extreme risk protection order.
What they're saying: "Today, Colorado has enacted four common-sense gun reforms, including elimination of some of the barriers to holding gun manufacturers and dealers accountable," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Twitter.
- "Thank you, Colorado leaders and gun violence survivors, for this important step forward," she added.
Polis signs 23 more bills into law | CROSSING THE FINISH LINE, Hannah Metzger, ColoradoPolitics, May 8, 2023.
🇺🇸 Illinois 🇺🇸
You all know already that I luv my guv. Here are some more reasons why — and why unified Democratic control in state legislatures is so important if we want to see a progressive and better world take shape:
Pritzker Signs Bill Aimed at Ending Homelessness in Illinois by Bringing Agencies Together for Comprehensive Plan, Peter Hancock, WTTW, July 26, 2023.
House Bill 2831 codifies an executive order Pritzker signed in 2021 that established the Illinois Interagency Task Force on Homelessness and the Community Advisory Council on Homelessness. It centralizes programs across 17 state departments and agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to combat homelessness. ✂️
In his State of the State address in February, Pritzker highlighted the state’s “Home Illinois” plan, which calls for increased spending for homelessness prevention, crisis response, housing units, and staffing.
On Wednesday, he noted that the budget lawmakers eventually passed this year includes more than $350 million for homeless services, an $85.3 million increase over last year.
That includes, among other things, $50 million in rapid rehousing services for 2,000 households; $40 million to develop more than 90 Permanent Supportive Housing units that provide long-term rental assistance and case management; and $37 million in Emergency Shelter capital funds to create more than 460 non congregate shelter units.
“No stone is going to be unturned in this endeavor,” Pritzker said.
Illinois set to be first state to end cash bail after state Supreme Court ruling, Matthew Hendrickson and Andy Grimm, Chicago Sun✶Times, July 18, 2023.
Illinois is set to become the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail after the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a landmark criminal justice reform law did not violate the state’s constitution.
While other states have implemented similar reforms with varying degrees of success, Illinois will be the only one to completely do away with having to pay money to get released from jail.
The high court’s opinion was released more than six months after the Pretrial Fairness Act was halted by the justices, just hours before it was to go into effect Jan. 1, in response to legal challenges. The high court said the law should now go into effect in September.
Reproductive Rights
Pritzker Signs Law Expanding Access to Abortion, Protecting Out-of-State Patients, Amanda Vinicky, WTTW, January 13, 2023.
Illinois will provide legal protections to the swell of out-of-state residents seeking abortion care in the state since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, per a law Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Friday, days after its passage by Democrats in the state legislature.
The law also expands the number of health practitioners who can provide certain types of abortions; requires Illinois public entities to cover abortion, gender-affirming and HIV-prevention drugs as part of health insurance; and establishes legal criteria for ensuring parental autonomy in reproductive technology such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“Reproductive care is health care,” Pritzker said Friday at the Chicago bill-signing event. “A medical decision should be made between a patient and their health care provider, no one else. Every single person regardless of gender, sexuality, race and economic status has the right to privacy and bodily autonomy. And when people come to Illinois to exercise those rights, they will be welcomed and protected. That’s what this historic bill stands for.”
Gov. Pritzker signs bill outlawing deception by 'crisis pregnancy centers', CBS Chicago team, July 27, 2023.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed the law on Thursday. It outlaws any deception, fraud, or false promises by such centers.
"Women need access to comprehensive, fact-based healthcare when making critical decisions about their own health – not manipulation or misinformation from politically motivated, non-medical actors," Pritzker said in a newas release. "By empowering the Attorney General's office to battle deceptive practices, we're ensuring Illinoisans can make their own decisions about their bodies using accurate and safe information." ✂️
"This is about fighting to protect the fundamental right to reproductive health – for every person in our country," said Rep. Costa Howard (who was a sponsor of the bill). ✂️
"I witnessed deceptive crisis pregnancy center tactics firsthand on a visit to tour a Planned Parenthood health center in Illinois. People who appeared as though they might work there were outside attempting to divert patients away from the health center," Raoul said in a news release. "Patients report going to crisis pregnancy centers – sometimes even receiving exams and ultrasounds – thinking they were visiting a clinic that offers the full range of reproductive care. In addition, patients may disclose personal medical information, unaware the center may not keep that information private and confidential. By signing this law at a time when reproductive health access faces continued attacks in other states, Gov. Pritzker is helping to protect patients who seek care in Illinois from these extreme violations of trust and privacy." (Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul).
Climate-friendly Jobs & Industry
The deal for this new plant was struck in 2021 — and some people were skeptical it would happen — but looky here! Dems Deliver! In just over 2 years, it’s up and running!
Pritzker Focuses on Business Development, Clean Energy Jobs at Joliet Assembly Plant Opening, Peter Hancock, WTTW, July 23, 2023.
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. J.B. Pritzker has spent much of his time in recent weeks promoting the state’s electric vehicle industry and touting the impact of his signature Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, or CEJA, including during a weeklong trade mission to the United Kingdom.
On Friday, Pritzker was in Joliet where he joined other elected officials and local dignitaries to celebrate the grand opening of a new Lion Electric assembly plant, the first new automotive factory in the greater Chicago area since 1965.✂️
The 900,000 square foot facility in Will County is expected to employ about 1,400 people and have a production capacity of 20,000 buses and trucks per year.
The Lion Electric factory opening came on the same day that the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced $38 million in funding availability to develop 13 regional “CEJA Workforce hubs,” a training program that’s intended to prepare people for entry-level jobs in the clean energy industry.
Rail Service Expansion
For the entire 10 years that I lived in Rockford, I literally prayed for the return of rail service there. Now, at last, that prayer is being answered by none other than our Democratic-controlled legislature and our Gov. J B Pritzker!
Gov. Pritzker rolls into Rockford to announce Metra rail service, Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, WNIJ-NPR, July 8, 2023.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker made a stop in Rockford on Thursday with a backdrop of a Metra train and local and state officials to announce that passenger rail will again connect the Forest City to Chicago.
Metra will use the Milwaukee District West line and relationships with the Union Pacific Railroad to extend service beyond Elgin to reach Rockford, with expected stops in Huntley and Belvidere.✂️
According to the Governor's office, travel time is anticipated to be slightly less than two hours between the two cities, with two round trips per day planned. Boarding locations in Chicago and Rockford, as well as a fare structure and schedule, are still to be determined.✂️
"Passenger rail service will certainly make sure that this transformation, specifically in southwest Rockford, but all of Rockford is on the fast track," McNamara said. "Passenger rail service will benefit all Rockfordians."
IL Dems priorities:
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signs $50.4 billion budget with key investments in education, AP, June 7, 2023. (Full details here, via John Clark, mystateline)
Here's what Illinois lawmakers passed this session: Bills on book bans, abortion rights and more, Alex Degman, stlpr-NPR, May 30, 2023.
🇺🇸 Michigan 🇺🇸
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, with the help of the newly Democratic-led legislature, has advanced the progressive agenda beyond what even seemed possible just a few years ago when the state was ruled by regressive Republicans.
How Gretchen Whitmer Made Michigan a Democratic Stronghold, Benjamin Wallace-Wells, the New Yorker, July 17, 2023.
(apologies for the paywalled website — they claim to let people read one article — but it’s the best damn article out there on Whitmer and the Michigan Dems, so if you can, go read the whole thing! It’s a really long, deep article so I am going to stretch my usual 3 paragraph rule to 4 in this instance):
During the pandemic, Trump attacked her for imposing long school and business closures. She endured an armed mob at the state capitol and a plot by a group linked to a right-wing militia to kidnap and kill her. Last November, Whitmer tied her candidacy to a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion and won reëlection by ten points, sweeping the suburbs so convincingly that the Democrats gained control of both houses of the Michigan legislature for the first time in forty years.
Since then, Whitmer’s Democratic majority has allocated more than a billion dollars to support the auto industry’s green transition; quintupled a tax credit for poor families; repealed a law that made Michigan a right-to-work state; and enacted new protections for L.G.B.T.Q. people. After a forty-three-year-old local man went on a shooting spree at Michigan State University, in February, killing three students, some modest, if hard-won, gun-control measures were put in place. “I don’t know that we’ve ever watched the legislature go as quickly as they have,” Maggie Pallone, a public-policy analyst in Lansing, said earlier this year, in an article in the Detroit News. Similar breakthroughs have come in Minnesota and Pennsylvania. What’s happening in the Midwest, one of Whitmer’s advisers told me, is a “Tea Party in reverse.” ✂️
The goal seems to be to make Michigan an ideas-producing place again—one of Whitmer’s initiatives is to use tuition grants to get sixty per cent of the state’s adults post-secondary degrees by 2030—which, not incidentally, would also make it less like the states that supported Donald Trump. But Democrats are also trying to spark a second, goods-producing transformation in the Midwest, using the spending authorized in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to seed a new era of green manufacturing. In Michigan, the auto industry’s conversion to electric vehicles is so ubiquitous as a political topic that it is commonly called, simply, the Transition. Whitmer’s administration has helped underwrite a $3.5-billion Ford battery plant in Marshall and a two-billion-dollar battery plant in Big Rapids, both in conservative counties that Whitmer lost; together, the projects are expected to create nearly five thousand jobs. “We either win this decade or we are going to be catching up for a generation,” Whitmer told me. “We have to be on the cutting edge.”
No plan is as central to the ambitions of the Biden Democrats, in terms of both policy and politics, as the creation of a clean-energy economy. “Governor Whitmer uniquely understands that we can build an industrial commons here,” Brian Deese, who was the director of Biden’s National Economic Council, told me. “If we don’t invest in the manufacturing processes to produce these technologies, then we wind up hollowing out that capability and having supply chains that are unacceptably reliant on China.” But the Transition is also an effort to rebuild the “blue wall,” the Democrats’ stronghold on Midwestern states, which frustrated Republicans’ Presidential hopes for two decades. Damon Silvers, the former policy director and special counsel of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said, “It is hard to overstate what is happening in Michigan, because, if electric-vehicle manufacturing is done union and is able to sustain middle-class families again, those families will vote for Biden, and then the U.S. stays in the Paris Agreement. And, if they don’t, then you get some version of Trump again and it all falls apart.”
And speaking of the Biden climate goals — he has partners in state governors like Gretchen Whitmer...
Whitmer signs energy bills to advance Democrats' climate goals, Clara Hendrickson, Detroit Free Press, July 27, 2023.
A pair of bills signed by Whitmer — Senate Bills 302 and 303 — modify a clean energy program that allows local governments to provide financing to help commercial and industrial properties improve their energy efficiency. The legislation would expand the program to include agricultural property. ✂️
Whitmer also signed House Bills 4317 and 4318 which create the new "Solar Energy Facilities Taxation Act." The legislation allows local governments to establish solar energy districts, enabling qualified solar facilities to be exempt from property taxes. Instead, they would be subject to a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) — a solar energy facilities tax — based on the energy capacity of the facility. Both bills received bipartisan support in the state House and Senate.✂️
Michigan's assistance program that helps eligible low-income households cover home energy costs will become permanent after Whitmer signed Senate Bill 288. ✂️
Finally, Whitmer signed Senate Bill 14 which will allow state departments and agencies in Michigan to adopt regulations more stringent than those at the federal level. The Democratic bill passed along a party-line vote. Environmental groups support the bill, seeing it as an opportunity to protect the state's natural resources.
Governor Whitmer signs new laws to address state's teacher and school counselor shortage, Rachel Louise Just, Sinclair Broadcast Group, July 27, 2023.
LANSING, Mich. — The latest slate of bills aiming to resolve Michigan's teacher and school staffing shortage was signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday.
"We're at a time now where we should be doing everything we can to keep teachers - keep good teachers, new teachers, teachers who have been around a long time, by really recognizing that they need to have a strong voice," said Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit.
Seven new bills signed into law by Whitmer - Senate Bills 161, 162, and 359 and House Bills 4044, 4233, 4354, and 4820 - intend to tackle the teacher and school counselor shortage that has plagued Michigan for years.
The bills would expand teacher union bargaining power, in addition to aiming to make it easier for teachers and counselors to start working in Michigan after moving from out of state.
Michigan Democratic governor signs ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for minors, Kaanita Iyer, CNN, July 27, 2023.
Housing, infrastructure and the environment: What’s next on the agenda for Michigan Democrats? Michigan Live, April 10, 2023.
🇺🇸 Minnesota 🇺🇸
Governor Walz announced Minnesota as a top state to live and work in, Ali Reid, KEYC News, July 24, 2023.
MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - Governor Tim Walz announced today that Minnesota is a top-five state to live and work in, according to a new CNBC study. The study evaluated factors that include environmental quality, health care and child care, anti-discrimination laws, worker protections and reproductive rights. Minnesota is ranked fourth in the nation overall.
“Whether you’re raising a family or growing a business, Minnesota is the place to be,” said Governor Walz. “The investments we made this year are lowering costs for families and improving the lives of Minnesotans across our state – and it’s showing. Our goal is to make Minnesota the best state in the country to live and work, and we will continue to invest in our economy, health, education, climate, and kids and families to make that goal a reality.”
Minnesota was named a top-five state for business earlier this month. Last week, Governor Walz kicked off a statewide workforce tour to highlight the state’s efforts to build a workforce pipeline in high-growth, high-demand career fields. He spent a day in the life of Minnesotans working in manufacturing, education, and public safety professions, highlighting the $20 million signed into law this session to invest in training for five of the most critical occupational categories in the state with high-growth jobs and family-sustaining wages.
Paid family and medical leave signed into law by Gov. Walz, wcco staff, CBS, May 25, 2023.
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill creating state-paid family and medical leave into law on Thursday afternoon at the Capitol.
The program will allow workers up to 12 weeks a year off with partial pay to care for a newborn or a sick family member, and up to 12 weeks to recover from their own serious illness. Benefits will be capped at 20 weeks a year for employees who take advantage of both. ✂️
The program will operate similarly to unemployment insurance. It will be funded by a new 0.7% payroll tax on employers that will take effect in 2026. Employers can deduct half of their premiums from workers' wages. The law contains protections against retaliation for workers who take the time off. It also includes premium relief for smaller companies.
Paid family and medical leave will dovetail with the state's new earned sick and safe time program that takes effect on Jan. 1 to provide shorter-term relief.
Gov. Walz signs $2.6 billion infrastructure bill, Tom Hauser and Emily Baude, KSTP, June 1, 2023.
The infrastructure bill will provide $2.6 billion in investments across the state, $1.5 billion in general obligation bonds, and a billion in cash projects, according to DFL Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic.
“Doing the work that’s necessary on infrastructure is not only the right thing to do to make sure people stay safe, we’re able to move people and goods, it’s our commitment to the next generation,” the governor said.✂️
The legislation includes $501 million for water infrastructure and $403 million for transportation — mostly roads and bridges, but also $72 million for bus rapid transit.✂️
“If you’ve ever considered a career in construction, now is the time to check with your local union hall,” McConnell said.
He says one of the first projects, the expansion of Fraser Hall for new chemistry lab space at the University of Minnesota, will begin Monday and require 175 construction workers.
MN Dem priorities:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signs free school meals bill into law, Eder Campuzano, Star Tribune, March 17, 2023.
Minnesota governor signs bills further enshrining abortion, gender-affirming care into law, Sydney Kashiwagi, CNN, April 27, 2023.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signs gun safety measures, PBS, May 19, 2023.
MN Dems will have a generational impact:
Gov. Tim Walz, DFL leaders celebrate budget with "generational impact", wccostaff, Caroline Cummings, CBS, May 24, 2023.
Walz promotes $20 million in workforce development grants, Emily Baude and Tom Hauser, KSTP, July 18, 2023.
White House looks to Minnesota as a model for infrastructure, paid leave and climate policies, Briana Bierschbach and Rochelle Olson, StarTribune, June 22, 2023.
🇺🇸 New Mexico 🇺🇸
New Mexico Governor Quietly Turning State Into Socialist Worker's Paradise, Doctor Zoom, Wonkette, July 26, 2023.
Free college for everyone: In 2022, Lujan signed a bipartisan law that made in-state tuition free for all state residents. Not just at community colleges, but in state universities and tribal colleges too. As the New York Times ‘splains, the bill will dedicate nearly one percent of the state budget to the plan:
All state residents from new high school graduates to adults enrolling part-time will be eligible regardless of family income. The program is also open to immigrants regardless of their immigration status.✂️
Protections for abortion; gender-affirming care: With several big bills signed this year, New Mexico has some of the best protections in the country for reproductive rights and for transgender residents. In March, Lujan Grisham signed HB 7, guaranteeing abortion services and gender-affirming care for all residents, preempting a move by some municipalities that had tried to impose local abortion bans. The state supreme court had already struck down the local laws as violations of the state constitution, but HB 7 settled the matter.✂️
Parental and medical leave: In 2021, the state Lege passed a bill guaranteeing paid sick leave for workers in the state, requiring a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for each 30 hours people work, for up to 64 hours of paid sick leave per year; employers can choose to award the full amount to workers at the start of each year.
And much more! ← Go to the link for the scoop at Wonkette (and support them, if you can!)
Governor of New Mexico sees progress on health, poverty, Morgan Lee, AP, May 5, 2023.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham provided an exuberant overview Friday of her approach to improving public health during a second term in office, touching on initiatives ranging from children’s nutrition to reproductive health care and the regulation of oilfield pollution.
In an expansive online interview with the dean of Maryland-based Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the governor outlined efforts to reduce the need for acute medical care in a state with some of the nation’s highest rates of poverty, fatal drug overdoses and gun deaths.
“Gun violence is a public health issue. Poverty is a public health issue. Environmental consequences from energy is a public health issue,” said Lujan Grisham, a former state health department secretary. “All of these disenfranchised populations, all of the equity barriers, are all public health issues. And when we address those, our economy is better, our families are stronger, our risks are fewer.”
🇺🇸 Pennsylvania 🇺🇸
Pennsylvania’s recent history underscores the importance of local and state organizing. The truth is that national polls aren’t as important as what’s going on at the local and state level — because national elections are won on that level (see: electoral college):
Pennsylvania's playbook for Democrats, Josh Kraushaar, Agios, July 2, 2023.
The pivotal political battleground of Pennsylvania is demonstrating that there's still a critical mass of Trump-supporting swing voters that will back the right type of Democrat under certain circumstances.
Why it matters: The party that wins over the Pennsylvania voter that backed President Obama in 2012, President Trump in 2016 and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) in 2022 will have the inside track toward winning the presidency in 2024.
- It's a larger persuadable voting bloc than you'd expect, given the intense partisanship and polarization across the country. Fetterman, in particular, exceeded expectations in rural Trump-friendly counties with large recent increases in GOP registration.
- Gov. Josh Shapiro, a moderate Democrat elected by 16 points in 2022, is showcasing a pragmatic playbook designed to win over these swing voters in his first months in office.
- Shapiro's approval rating is an enviable 57%, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, with his political standing boosted by the speedy rebuilding of the I-95 corridor badly damaged by a June trucking accident.
- Shapiro is winning the approval of about one-third of Trump voters, even as the poll finds Trump is statistically tied with President Biden in a 2024 matchup. Biden's approval rating in the statewide survey is a lowly 39%.
- A new analysis published by the American Enterprise Institute concludes there's a "chunk of rural white working-class voters [that] will indeed support a Democrat with the right aesthetic and messaging."
PA Dems priorities:
Senators Cappelletti and Schwank to Introduce Abortion Protections Package in Pennsylvania, PA Senate Democrats, July 18, 2023.
Harrisburg, PA – July 18, 2023 – Today, Senator Amanda M. Cappelletti (D-Mongomery/Delaware) and Senator Judith Schwank (D-Berks) circulated a co-sponsorship memo detailing their intent to introduce a legislative package called the Abortion Protections Package. After the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that reversed Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, millions of Americans have been denied or struggled to access reproductive healthcare they need and deserve. This legislative package will include six bills that will offer protections to Pennsylvanians seeking reproductive care, out of state patients seeking reproductive care in Pennsylvania, and abortion providers.
“As the anti-abortion movement looks for more creative ways to punish people who are seeking the healthcare that they need and deserve, we must get proactive about offering protections to people who are seeking and providing reproductive care here in Pennsylvania,” said Senator Cappelletti. “This package will ensure the safety of patients who are getting the care they deserve and of our abortion providers – who we are grateful to have helping patients in a time of need. I’m hopeful my colleagues will see the vital need for these bills and will move this package forward with urgency once it is introduced.”
The Abortion Protections Package will be made up of six pieces of legislation that will:
- Prohibit Pennsylvania courts from cooperating with out-of-state civil and criminal cases involving reproductive healthcare services; prevent officials from other states from arresting individuals in Pennsylvania for an abortion-related crime.
- Prohibit Pennsylvania courts from enforcing another state’s judgment for a case involving the provision of reproductive healthcare services.
- Instruct healthcare licensure boards not to take adverse action against providers who offer reproductive healthcare services to out-of-state residents.
- Instruct insurance companies not to take adverse action against providers who offer reproductive healthcare services to out-of-state residents.
- Protect abortion providers’ home addresses from public discovery.
- Protect reproductive health care records from disclosure in civil actions or criminal investigations.
Taken together, these measures will ensure that everyone within our Commonwealth’s borders are protected in their right to access an abortion and the doctors and nurses who provide it are freely able to provide healthcare.
Pennsylvania House of Representatives passes budget, heads to Gov. Shapiro's desk, Christopher Derose, CBS, July 6, 2023.
The House approved a $45.5 billion budget bill overnight and now it heads to Governor Josh Shapiro's desk and he is expected to sign the bill, considering it achieves many of the priorities he laid out in March during his budget address.
The budget includes investments in education, workforce development, public safety, economic and community development, and agriculture.
It also includes a $567 million increase to basic education subsidies, $100 million in level-up funding, and $50 million for special education funding, and that means this budget represents the second-largest increase for basic education funding since the 2015-16 year, according to one house representative.
🇺🇸 Wisconsin 🇺🇸
Wisconsin is something of an outlier in this segment on Democratic-led states — because although it has a Democratic governor, the grossly gerrymandered state has a Republican-controlled legislature (Arizona has something similar going on). Even so, the majority in Wisconsin is gradually regaining its power, first with the governor and then with the state Supreme Court. With the Supreme Court no longer dominated by extreme right wing ideologues, the gerrymandering will be addressed. Meanwhile, Gov. Evers is so smart and adept that he manages to outmaneuver even that Republican majority:
Wisconsin’s Democratic governor guts Republican tax cut, increases school funding for 400 years, PBS, July 5, 2023.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed off on a two-year spending plan Wednesday after gutting a Republican tax cut and using his broad veto powers to increase school funding for centuries.
Evers angered Republicans with both moves, with some saying the Democratic governor was going back on deals he had made with them.
He got creative with his use of the partial veto in this budget, which is the third passed by a Republican Legislature that he’s signed.
Evers reduced the GOP income tax cut from $3.5 billion to $175 million, and did away entirely with lower rates for the two highest earning brackets. He also used his partial veto power to increase how much revenue K-12 public schools can raise per student by $325 a year until 2425. ✂️
Evers, a former state education secretary and teacher, had proposed allowing revenue limits to increase with inflation. Under his veto, unless it’s undone by a future Legislature and governor, Evers said schools will have “predictable long-term spending authority.”
New Wisconsin Supreme Court expected to take up controversial issues, Clint Wood, Beloit Daily News, July 12, 2023.
Janet Protasiewicz will be sworn in as the new Supreme Court Justice on Aug. 1 and court watchers expect some issues such as how legislative district boundaries are drawn, voting rules and an abortion law that dates back to 1849 could be some of the issues the new court will review.✂️
One case that might be quickly on track to get to the Supreme Court is the state abortion law challenge.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul challenged the 1849 abortion law in June of 2022, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. A motion to dismiss the challenge was filed in Dane County Circuit Court, but on July 7, Dane County Judge Diane Schlipper ruled Kaul’s challenge to the law can move forward.
Rosenzweig anticipates there will be lawsuits relating to legislative redistricting in Wisconsin. State Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit agrees.
“I believe there will be new legislative maps for the next election (in 2024),” Spreitzer said.
Wisconsin's new liberal supreme court majority likely to overturn abortion ban, Christopher Wilson, Yahoo News, July 27, 2023.
Wisconsin Democrats rally party faithful with an eye on new voting maps in 2024, Rob Mentzer, war, June 10, 2023.
😅 PHEW! OK, I’m out of time — I’ve got to hop back home to Illinois and tell you the rest of the good news! That was fun! 😅
😡 😫 Republicans in Disarray 😩🤬
Remember when we used to try to come up with a snappy phrase about Republican disfunction that would work like their snide “Dems in disarray” one? Well, guess what, gnusies! It turns out that as usual, Republicans were projecting — and possibly trying to confiscate that phrase before everyone else caught on and realized that it, in fact, is perfect to describe Republicans’ situation right now. Factually and linguistically, it works, in my opinion. The root word of “disarray” starts literally with an “AR” (“r”) sound and the “dis” adds emphasis. I personally love how it rolls off the tongue. 😁
And oh how the Rs are in disARray! The foundation of their electoral power — state GOP operations — is collapsing. That’s great news for Dems, as we are expanding our own local and state operations to focus locally for impact nationally.
Multiple state Republican Parties are ‘alarmingly’ short on money, Steve Benen, MSNBC, July 25, 2023.
“When you look at the money, certainly the Republicans are struggling,” Arizona pollster Paul Bentz told the outlet. ✂️
If it makes Arizona Republicans feel any better, it’s not completelyalone. The Detroit News reported two weeks ago, for example, that the Michigan GOP’s latest filing showed it had about $93,000 in its bank accounts — a total party insiders characterized as “alarming.”
Around the same time, The Daily Beast reported that the Minnesota GOP’s latest Federal Election Commission filing said it had less than $54 cash on hand.
What’s more, in May, The Colorado Sun reported that the GOP in the Rocky Mountain State was facing a financial crunch so serious that it “didn’t pay any employees.” The deputy chief of staff for the Colorado House GOP soon after characterized the state party as “bankrupt” and unable to afford rent payment on the party’s offices.
Marjorie Taylor Greene's Anti-NATO Bill Widely Rejected by Republicans, Giulia Carbonaro, Newsweek via MSN, July 27, 2023.
More than 100 Republicans voted against Marjorie Taylor Greene's proposed amendment calling for Congress to cut funding to NATO, which failed to pass on Wednesday.
The Georgia representative—a Trump loyalist and Republican hardliner who has recently moved to become one of the most important figures within the GOP—had linked her amendment to HR 4366, a bill that will fund military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and other agencies for the 2024 fiscal year. ✂️
She added that the money that the U.S. sends to NATO "to defend Ukraine's democracy even though they're not even a NATO member nation" should be invested in the country's security and the "defense of our own borders."
But the majority of Republican lawmakers failed to support her, with a total of 137 voting against the amendment, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Some 83 Republicans–including Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida—voted in support of the amendment, while five did not vote.
This guy. 🙄 Even other Republicans think he was out of line:
Republican congressman rebuked by senators for swearing at young pages, AP via the Guardian, July 28, 2023.
A freshman Republican congressman from Wisconsin yelled and cursed at high school-aged Senate pages during a late-night tour of the Capitol this week, eliciting a bipartisan rebuke from Senate leaders.✂️
Van Orden, a former Navy Seal who was outside the Capitol during the January 6 riot, also appeared to embrace the presence of alcohol in his office the same evening after images were posted on social media showing bottles of liquor and beer cans on a desk. Van Orden said the alcohol was from constituents. ✂️
On Thursday, just before the Senate left for its August recess, the majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, and the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, rebuked Van Orden and thanked the pages, high school-age students who serve as helpers and messengers. Several were sitting on the Senate floor at the time, smiling and nodding as dozens of senators gave them a standing ovation.
🩺🌱 Health and Environment 🌱🩺
Biden Picks Retired General to Lead New White House Pandemic Office, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, July 21, 2023.
President Biden has picked Dr. Paul Friedrichs, a military combat surgeon and retired Air Force major general who helped lead the Covid-19 response at the Pentagon, to head a new White House office created by Congress to prepare for and manage future biological threats. ✂️
Dr. Friedrich’s new position gives him authority to oversee domestic biosecurity preparedness. He will need to work on the development of next-generation vaccines, ensure adequate supplies in the Strategic National Stockpile and ramp up surveillance to monitor for new biological threats.
He will also have to work with Congress to secure funding for preparedness efforts. Lawmakers created the new White House office as part of a government spending package enacted late last year.
“When President Biden came into office, we inherited a once-in-a-generation public health and economic crisis but no plan to get us out of it,” Mr. Zients said in a statement. “This office — under the strong and capable leadership of Major General Friedrichs — will lead the charge to ensure that never happens again.”
Biden announces first-ever heat wave "hazard alert" for workers, Ben German, Agios, July 28, 2023.
Why it matters: Biden presented the new protection efforts as 180 million people — over half of the U.S. population — were under heat alerts.
Driving the news: The White House asked Labor to issue a formal "hazard alert" that will "reaffirm that workers have heat-related protections under federal law," officials said.
- It will provide employers information on protecting workers, and help ensure workers know their rights, a White House summary states.
- In addition, the department will "ramp up enforcement of heat-safety violations," expanding inspections of "high risk" sectors like construction and agriculture.
This is still in the study/testing stage, but exciting and hopeful news → Flipping a Switch and Making Cancers Self-Destruct, Gina Kolata, New York Times, July 27, 2023. (GIFT article, no paywall):
The new approach could be an improvement over the difficult task of using drugs to block all BCL6 molecules. With the dumbbell-shaped molecules, it is sufficient to rewire just a portion of BCL6 molecules in order to kill cells.
The concept could potentially work for half of all cancers, which have known mutations that result in proteins that drive growth, Dr. Crabtree said. And because the treatment relies on the mutated proteins produced by the cancer cells, it could be extremely specific, sparing healthy cells.
Dr. Crabtree explained the two areas of discovery that made the work possible. One is the discovery of “driver genes” — several hundred genes that, when mutated, drive the spread of cancer.
The second is the discovery of death pathways in cells. Those pathways, Dr. Crabtree said, “are used to eliminate cells that have gone rogue for one reason or other” — 60 billion cells in each individual every day.
There's a way to get healthier without even going to a gym. It's called NEAT, Will Stone, NPR, July 22, 2023.
It's a concept that goes by the name non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, for short.
This is essentially all the calories that a person burns through their daily activity excluding purposeful physical exercise. Think of the low-effort movements that you string together over the course of your day – things like household chores, strolling through the grocery aisle, climbing the stairs, bobbing your leg up and down at your desk, or cooking dinner. ✂️
What's clear is that many of us who live screen-based lives have the capacity to inject more NEAT into our daily rhythms, not necessarily through seismic changes in our lifestyle, but small-scale ones that mostly just require a shift in mindset.✂️
Outside of work, mundane tasks like vacuuming, doing the laundry or gardening can burn a few hundred calories in an hour. Playing a video game can go from about 50 calories an hour to more than 100 if you move around. Taking the stairs can more than triple the amount of energy you'd use when riding the elevator. Even watching TV can be transformed if you walk aroundduring commercials. ✂️
"The power of NEAT is that it's available to absolutely everybody," Levine says. "We can all do it and we can all do a little bit more."
Environment
Did I mention that local and state wins will influence the direction of the country?
Small-town GOP officials are torn over Biden’s clean energy cash, Jeff Stein, Washington Post, July 23, 2023. (GIFT article - no paywall):
One recent Tuesday morning, Zartman stood a few feet away as the three Republican commissioners of Fairfield County weighed the fate of a proposal to build a solar farm on central Ohio farmland worth more than $250 million. A Republican, Zartman had approved a major renewable energy project while commissioner of Paulding County, and for the past year, he has crisscrossed the state urging others to do the same. The Fairfield commissioners should put politics aside, Zartman urged, and approve the proposed site. Jobs would come. The money the company was providing for the project was real. Tax revenue would jump.
“We have new parks; the school systems are flourishing with all the additional revenue; the roads are in the best condition they’ve been in,” said Zartman, 55, who has traveled to more than 40 counties across the state spreading this message. “I tell them, ‘I am a die-hard conservative, but I support renewables because they’ve just been amazing for us financially.’” ✂️
“Where the rubber hits the road for this bill will be in factory communities and rural communities that can host wind and solar, and that will be outside urban Democratic districts,” said Jesse Jenkins, a Princeton professor and one of the report’s authors. “For the first time in decades, the government is bringing transformative opportunities to communities that have been left behind. But if they see these projects as a burden instead of a boon, it will dramatically undermine the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act.”
Biden’s DOT pushes tighter fuel efficiency rules for SUVs, Alex Guillén, Politico, July 28, 2023.
(Sen. Rafael Cruz called this a “de facto EV mandate” — but he said it like that was a bad thing! 🤔)
The Transportation Department on Friday floated a fuel economy rule that would require automakers to more aggressively increase the efficiency of SUVs and pickup trucks compared to passenger vehicles through 2032.
Sedans have already improved at a rapid clip, but SUVs and pickup trucks — which have become increasingly popular with American drivers — have “more room to improve,” the proposal said. Doing so could bring the fleetwide average in 2032 to around 46 miles per gallon in real-world terms.
“Better vehicle fuel efficiency means more money in Americans’ pockets and stronger energy security for the entire nation,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. ✂️
The fuel economy proposal aligns with EPA’s April tailpipe emissions proposal, Reg. 2060-AV49, that by 2032 would effectively require 67 percent of new vehicles to be zero-emissions. That’s an order of magnitude more than current electric vehicle sales levels, though many automakers plan to significantly expand their electric vehicle offerings.
Major automakers partner on new EV charging network to rival Tesla, Joann Muller, Axios, July 27, 2023.
Seven of the world's largest automakers are forming a new company to build a vast network of electric vehicle (EV) chargers across America, they announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: Their goal is to help potential EV buyers get over their "range anxiety" by tapping billions of dollars in federal subsidies to accelerate the rollout of fast-charging infrastructure.✂️
Details: The participants plan to collectively invest at least $1 billion in the new company, the Wall Street Journal reported, although they would not provide further details.
- They intend to take advantage of $7.5 billion in federal funding, which will cover up to 80% of the cost of charger installations.
- Their plan is to roll out 30,000 DC fast-chargers in metropolitan areas and along U.S. highways starting in 2024.
- The stations will provide an "elevated" customer experience, including canopies to protect against the weather and amenities such as rest rooms, food service and retail shops.
- "The better experience people have, the faster EV adoption will grow,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement.
- The stations would be powered by renewable electricity, the companies added, without providing details.
Of note: The new stations will support both Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) and the competing Combined Charging System (CCS).
Mangrove forest thrives around what was once Latin America’s largest landfill, MARIO LOBÃO AND DIANE JEANTET, AP, July 26, 2023.
The landfill, where mountains of trash once attracted hundreds of pickers, was gradually covered with clay. Comlurb employees started removing garbage, building a rainwater drainage system, and replanting mangroves, an ecosystem that has proven particularly resilient — and successful — in similar environmental recovery projects.
Mangroves are of particular interest for environmental restoration for their capacity to capture and store large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide, Gouveia explained.
Experts say mangroves can bury even more carbon in the sediment than a tropical rainforest, making it a great tool to fight climate change. ✂️
To help preserve the rejuvenated mangrove from the trash coming from nearby communities, where residents sometimes throw garbage into the rivers, the city used clay from the swamp to build a network of fences. To this day, Comlurb employees continue to maintain and strengthen the fences, which are regularly damaged by trespassers looking for crabs. ✂️
Comlurb and its private partner, Statled Brasil, have successfully recovered some 60 hectares, an area six times bigger than what they started with in the late 1990s.
💙 🐩 CG’s Picks 🐩 💙
Hello, Everybody! It’s me, Curlygirl! I am so happy to see you all again!
I am back with some stories and videos about animals for you!
An update on endangered piping plovers
🐦 My first story for you is an update about Imani the piping plover living at Montrose Beach. It’s a pretty cool update!
Chicago Has 3 New Piping Plovers at Montrose: Meet Searocket, Prickly Pear and Wild Indigo, Eunice Alpasan, WTTW, July 12, 2023.
Imani, Chicago’s resident piping plover, has spent the summer solo on Montrose Beach. Now, the city’s population of the endangered bird has spiked thanks to three new residents.
Three piping plover chicks were released into the wild Wednesday afternoon at the protected Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary in an effort to aid the species in its recovery. Wednesday marks the first time plovers have been released in the state.
Tamima Itani, the lead volunteer coordinator of Chicago Piping Plovers, said the three birds have been named after plants native to Illinois: Searocket, Prickly Pear and Wild Indigo.✂️
Armand Cann, fish and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the chicks are not strictly being released for Imani, but the hope is they will be more likely to return to the area next year when they’re able to breed.
“Hopefully, if there’s a female, maybe they pair up with Imani, maybe they pair up with another male but we would love to see another successful breeding pair at this beach or elsewhere in Illinois as well,” Cann said. ✂️
Searocket, Prickly Pear and Wild Indigo are about five weeks old. They were captive chicks hailing from New York. The chicks were rescued from the wild in the spring to be raised in captivity because of nest abandonment following the death of a parent plover.
The Great Lakes piping plover population was listed as federally endangered in 1986. The Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort reported 80 breeding pairs with 61 active broods or nests, as of July 5.
Panda Twins born in South Korea
🐻❄️ South Korean zoo celebrates birth of first twin pandas, Chris Lau and Jake Kwon, CNN, July 12, 2023.
The twins’ birth is considered rare – there’s less than a 50% chance of pandas giving birth to twins – and in the wild, they struggle to survive as mothers can often only care for one of their cubs.
Both the mother and her offspring are in good health, the zoo said in a statement, with staff providing postpartum care based on their experience helping the now 9-year-old deliver her first cub, Fu Bao, three years ago. ✂️
The twins’ parents, Ai Bao and father Le Bao, were loaned to South Korea in 2016 and went on to deliver Fu Bao, the first locally born panda in 2020. The new twins are yet to be named.
According to the story (and some others I read), Ai Bao is caring for both of her twins. But I’ve heard tell that in the wild giant pandas often cannot care for both twins and so survival of both twins is a rare. I found this video which shows how one panda program worked to solve that problem! I think it’s really cool and boy are those keepers patient!
A very special Birthday for a very special horse!
🐴 Do you remember the Friesian horse Uniek and her adopted foal Rising Star? I posted a video about them here last year. Well, Rising Star is now a yearling and he is getting so big and strong! He doesn’t stay with Uniek anymore, he stays with his friends — two other colts named Pieter and Rinse Janko — and guess what? Yvonne, the lady who looks after all the horses and foals, had a very busy day! She wanted to celebrate Uniek’s birthday but it got to be such a busy day that she had to make 3 videos to show everything that happened!
I am going to show you the one with the best surprise of all for Yvonne: just as Yvonne thought that long, very busy day was done, she saw on the camera that one of her other favorite Friesian horses, Jacobien, was about to have her foal! So Yvonne didn’t go to bed, she went to Stal G and she filmed the birth of the foal and the foal will be named a very special name! And all of this happened on Queen Uniek’s birthday! What a special day!
Here is the video. Mama and I love watching the adventures of Yvonne and her horses and dogs and family and cats and everything! This video shows the actual birth of a foal, just FYI if you’re squeamish! 😅
Some very cute babies with nice dogs
Finally, I think you might like this video of lots of cute little human babies with just as many really nice dogs! My favorite is the tiny baby who starts laughing at the dog who wants to play fetch with him!
That’s all from me for another GNR. It was nice to see you!
Happy Saturday!
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
Trouble for TFG:
⚡️ No paywall, includes full indictment text: Trump charged with additional counts in Mar-a-Lago documents case, Carrie Johnson, NPR, July 27, 2023.
⚡️ Good explainer: The New Evidence Against Donald Trump In The MAL Case Is BRUTAL, David Kurtz, TPM, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ Another: Opinion: The latest charges against Trump paint an even more damning picture, Norm Eisen, CNN, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ Not golf, obstruction of justice: Trump’s Favorite Hobby Comes Back to Haunt Him, Matt Ford, The New Republic, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ 'House of cards is coming down' for Trump as henchmen reveal election lies: columnist, Travis Gettys, Raw Story, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ Here is the article cited above: "These people are admitting they lied to you": Trump’s own men undermine his “delusional” defense, Amanda Marcotte, Salon, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ Trump’s sloppy cover-up got him caught, Heather Digby Parton, Salon, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ "Multiple cooperators": Legal experts say new indictment suggests key ex-aide "flipped" on Trump, Tatyana Tandapolie, Salon, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ Trump Is an Extremely Dumb Fascist, Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ GOP support for Trump softens as the former president's legal troubles mount, Domenico Montanaro, NPR, July 28, 2023.
Extra:
⚡️ (paywall, sorry — they don’t allow gift articles! 😠): Trump’s Legal Turmoil Just Keeps Getting Worse, Kimberly Where, the Atlantic, July 28, 2023.
Everything Else:
⚡️ lol, Rs better not underestimate Sen. Murray — on second thought, go ahead Rs, underestimate her! Patty Murray leads Democrats’ charge toward funding showdown with House GOP, Paul Kane, Washington Post, July 26, 2023.
⚡️ Ketanji Brown Jackson Has Perfected the Art of Originalism Jujitsu, Mark Joseph Stern, Slate, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ Democrats Are Having A Good Summer. Republicans Are Teetering On A Political Abyss, Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles, July 19, 2023.
⚡️ Bidenomics, baby! Surprisingly strong economy shifts political calculations, ALEX GANGITANO AND TOBIAS BURNS, the Hill, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ Great q2 GDP Numbers, New Pod w/Carville and Hunt, More Good Polling for Biden, Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles, July 27, 2023.
⚡️ Weirdly bipartisan! The Alliance to Rein In Big Tech, Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect, July 28, 2023.
⚡️ The sleeper legal strategy that could topple abortion bans, Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico, June 21, 2023.
⚡️ BIG F*CKIN' DEAL ALERT: Biden Will Help The Hague Hold Russia Accountable For Vile War Crimes In Ukraine, Evan Hurst, Wonkette, July 27, 2023.
⚡️ Democratic litigation hero, Marc Elias was the legal eagle behind the 60 Big Lie losses after the election. Here’s his website, Democracy Docket. You can find information about current cases he is fighting to defend voting rights around the country, as well as actions you can take to help fight voter suppression at the link!
💗 How Can You Help Build Our Democracy Back Better? 💗
Put your beautiful bleeding liberal heart into it! 🥰
Remember, all politics is local and personal! Let’s work to flip state and local elected positions Democratic! ↓
Sister District Project — organization that is working to help Dems win state legislature races.
PTV! Write to voters around the country with Postcards to Voters. Progressive Muse usually posts an update on current campaigns in the comments and you can also check out the website. It’s easy, fun and it really works to GOTV!
🎩 Also, Goody posted a great list of links and I am going to borrow it because it’s great! 🎩
Fight voter suppression!
What can you do?
HERE’S HOW TO CONTACT CONGRESS:
U.S. House of Representatives:* Telephone: 202-225-3121
* Website: http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate:* Telephone: 202-224-3121
* Website: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your member of Congress and contact him or her:
Let them know what matters to you!
Contact your Representative
Contact your Senator
And, as always, if you can:
DONATE TO RE-ELECT JOE BIDEN!
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
That’s it from me and CG for another Good News Roundup!
Remember to take good care of yourself — eat nutritious food, get some rest and try to get outdoors each day if you are able. If it’s hot, keep that to a minimum, but try to spend a little time looking out a window at the sky and clouds or the moon and stars. Contemplating nature helps us keep events in perspective.
GoodNewsRoundup will be back next week (I can’t wait!) and until then, here’s hoping this Saturday’s offering will hold you for today!
Happy Saturday, Gnuville!