Welcome back to the Monday Good News Roundup, where your Intrepid GNR Newsroom (Myself, Killer300, Bhu, and the GNR discord) bring you all the good news to start your week off right.
Not much to say as we enter the merry month of may, so we might as well just get right into the good news. Now, for our first musical accompaniment, it is May the fourth as I write this, so lets get Star Wars up in here: The Star Wars theme by Meco
Voters in Mansfield Independent School District (ISD) overhauled the school board in the May 3 election, with challengers unseating incumbents—including the board president and secretary—in all three contested races.
Texas is among the states that have seen a recent rise in book bans, with the Lone Star State issuing 625 bans during the 2022-23 academic year. The vote also followed a charged election season, fueled by heightened outside political involvement and growing debate over the influence of partisanship in local school governance.
People are getting tired of conservative talking points, they want the government to deal with real issues, not the stupid made up issues only the GOP cares about.
The election win could galvanize the Democrats and dampen the Republicans' spirits as a referendum on President Donald Trump, though the district had a recent history of voting for Democratic candidates.
Special elections often serve as a way for parties to measure the temperature of voters heading into larger election cycles.
There have already been two other special elections in Iowa, including one that was won by Republicans in House District 100, and another was won by Democrat Mike Zimmer, who beat Republican Kate Whittington in a surprise victory.
A bit of a minor win admittedly, but you know what, we can use every win we can get at the moment, so I’m not gonna complain.
But now a team of researchers at Penn State have come up with a radically new approach to the lithium production problem that appears to be vastly superior to either of these traditional methods in all aspects, as reported in techxplore:
Awesome news from the world of science.
Now Matos, working with members of the legislature, is advancing a package of bills aimed at curbing market power in grocery retailing. One would create a state-level Robinson-Patman Act to ban price discrimination in the industry. Another would prohibit restrictive covenants. A third seeks to protect against surge pricing at the grocery store by regulating electronic shelf tags. A fourth would require supermarkets to make any coupons or discounts they offer available in-store to all customers—effectively outlawing surveillance-based pricing.
Matos and her allies in the legislature have been steadily gaining support. Lawmakers had already begun addressing competition issues in sectors like health care and utilities, and that groundwork has helped extend the conversation to grocery markets. Still, the workings of antitrust—and how it applies to the grocery industry—are new to many state legislators. “They are starting to see the connection now,” Matos says, referring to the link between market power and the hardships facing their constituents.
Great news, we need to curb the greed of grocery stores that keep gouging prices, among other companies.
An independent federal board has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to temporarily reinstate close to 6,000 employees fired since Feb. 13, finding reasonable grounds to believe the agency acted illegally in terminating them.
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a stay, ordering the USDA to return the fired workers to their jobs for 45 days while an investigation continues. The MSPB acts as an internal court to consider federal employees' complaints against the government.
Another day, another Trump overreach swatted away like a kid reaching into the cookie jar. What a punk.
No quote for this one, just a link to a new podcast to listen to if you need a pick me up.
Courts delivered wins for Pennsylvania voters Friday in two different right-wing disenfranchisement efforts.
One ruling ensured that undated or wrongly dated mail-in ballots will be counted, while the other rejected a far-right bid to purge more than 277,000 from the state’s voter rolls.
First, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday (R), on behalf of the state, to halt a recent federal court ruling that Pennsylvania must count undated or wrongly dated mail-in ballots.
The GOP never stops never stopping, but luckily neither do we.
Like, considering the Conservative Government in Australia led to that country being on fire for like a year, I don’t think Australia will have a conservative government again in our lifetime, but this is still welcome news.
Yesterday, enormous pro-democracy protests erupted across America and internationally. While we’re still waiting for final numbers, early estimates show that at least hundreds of thousands showed up at more than 1,000 events in the US.
And across the world—in Germany, Spain, France, Taiwan, Indonesia, and elsewhere—demonstrators celebrated International Workers’ Day, and rallied against the Trump
Don’t let anyone tell you that nothing is being done about Trump. The resistance is alive and well.
Rural voters have long been a cornerstone of Trump's base, and any slippage in their support could have major implications for future Republican success. A weakening grip on rural America not only threatens GOP margins in key battleground states but also signals broader cracks in the coalition Trump needs to push his second term agenda.
And this dipshit wants a third term? Yeah right.
Anyway, time for more music. Stadium Love by Metric (epilepsy warning for this video)
The 5 February protest drew tens of thousands across the country. A subsequent February protest got more people into the streets. Come 5 April, a large coalition that included 50501 resulted in millions of people around the country rallying in their cities and towns in a “hands off” demonstration. And on 19 April, was another big showing nationwide. Some communities also held mutual aid events such as food and supply drives and potlucks, Dunn said.
The movement is one of many coming together to rally in the streets, organize events, contact lawmakers and build a resistance to Trump’s second term.
“It’s gone from a trickle to a tidal wave really quickly,” Dunn said.
And its gonna get even bigger I feel.
I don’t disagree with John Kelly on his assessment about Trump, what Trump does, and what’s wrong with [his behavior]. To be a fascist [however], you have to think at some conceptual level, which Trump never does.
Would quibble with the term “fascist” because it’s too simplistic?
It’s too far above Trump’s capabilities. He has no philosophy. He has, in the national security space, no grand strategy, and doesn’t do policy as we conventionally understand that term. It was difficult for me to accept. … There are plenty of people around him with problematic philosophies, people who do have the ability to think at a more conceptual level. What they say may ultimately be reflected in certain Trump decisions, but it’s not because he shares their worldview or anything like that.
This was the centerpiece of Saturday’s GNR but I think it bears repeating. Trump has no master plan he’s just a moron.
Through a combination of invasive species control and stocking with captive-raised fish, it’s now believed that a self-sustaining and harvestable population of lake trout has returned to Lake Champlain.
Following this historic success, a decision has been made to suspend the stocking of the New York lake, believing wild-born, wild-grown trout will be able to survive and spawn to adulthood without human assistance.
The decision was announced by the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative—a working group from the three state and federal agencies—at its annual meeting on April 10th, 2025, and represents the culmination of 50 years of conservation work.
Great news for the little fishy.
Negative polls are early indicators of changing public opinion about Trump and his policies. A sustained backlash to his early actions as president—which included implementing tariffs and imposing a range of executive orders—could persuade him to change course or risk losing support from the electorate.
Sustaining public support is also important to Republicans in Congress, who hold a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. A loss of seven seats in the 2026 midterm elections could cost them control of the lower chamber.
That’s what we’re shooting for next year: taking back the lower chambers and putting a stake in the Trump presidency once and for all.
On Monday, April 21st, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced plans to collect federal and private health data for upcoming autism studies. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya also announced that NIH would create a “new disease registry” focused on autism. This announcement led to public outcry and alarm across the autism community. Yesterday, Thursday April 24th, HHS said in written statements to multiple journalists that they will not be creating an autism registry, contrary to Dr. Bhattacharya’s statements. This is positive news, but given this administration’s previous actions and comments, particularly those related to autism over the last several weeks, we are not assuming that there is no longer anything to worry about. We will continue to monitor this research initiative, and any other autism-related administration efforts, with extreme vigilance.
Well this is a relief, definitely one less thing for us to worry about at least.
Linehan, who also wrote The IT Crowd and has become known in recent years for his gender-critical views, took to X over the weekend to share that the allegations relate to an incident at the Battle of Ideas conference in London in October last year.
As reported by ITV, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed 56-year-old Linehan has been charged with harassment without violence, and criminal damage. He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 12 May.
In his post on X, formerly Twitter, he claimed the charge related to a complaint from a trans activist.
In 2023, Graham Linehan had a performance at the Edinburgh Fringe cancelled due to his stance on trans rights. After receiving complaints from the public, Leith Arches, in Edinburgh, a community hub available for hire, private events and parties, announced that it had axed Linehan’s appearance as a guest at a comedy show hosted by GB News’ Andrew Doyle.
Unsurprising, the venn diagram of “Public transphobe” and “Horrible abusive human being” seems to be a complete circle (So you know, keep an eye on a certain overrated YA writer of wizard books in the future, I’m sure we will be learning some effed up stuff about her in the future).
As we start another week of the Trump regime’s out-of-control dumpster fire, I’m happy to have more good news for you today. I hope it inspires you, and serves as a reminder that there are so many amazing people fighting this tyranny alongside us.
This week, there are protests scheduled across the country. If you can’t attend, remember that amplifying these events online is essential—every share makes a difference. I’ll have more details on this all in the coming days.
On Sunday, Dem Sen. Cory Booker and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a 12-hour “sit-in” on the Capitol steps. It was a live-streamed protest against the un-American GOP funding plan.
I think this is a good end point for now, lets take a break with some Pokemon.
And now, the cute corner.
And now for the organizing spotlight.
To resist Trump, look to Iran
Pro democracy movement playbook
Progressive victory
I think that’s enough for this week. Let me end on one note.
I know things are rough right now, and yeah, the next four years are gonna suck. But we’ve dealt with this before. And I’m not even talking about Trump. We’ve weathered Dubya, Nixon, Reagan, Jackson and John Adams. We’ve always had shitty presidents who thought they were above the law and wanted to rule us like a king, some of them way sneakier and cleverer than Trump could ever fail, and we beat em all. You constitution has proven the stronger time and again, and this time wont be any different. Just hang in there and we will win in the end.
Have a good week. And happy Cinco De Mayo (completely slipped my mind this was today, sorry).
