(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . From the GNR newsroom: Its the Monday Good News Roundup [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-24 Welcome back friends to the Monday Good News Roundup, a special time of the week when your GNR newsroom (myself, Killer300 and Bhu) bring you the news stories to start your week off right. So lets get right to it shall we? Today we’re gonna start with a video: Always nice to see scammers and cryptobros get put in their place. More of this please. DTE Energy, one of Michigan’s largest utilities, pledged to build far more renewable energy as part of a long-term plan finalized Wednesday. The 20-year plan would spend $11 billion on clean energy construction in Michigan and hasten the closure of DTE’s remaining coal plants. Notably, the utility proposal won support from a cohort of 21 different community groups spanning the environmental, labor, energy and business domains. The resulting ​“settlement agreement” still needs to be approved by state utility regulators, but that broad public buy-in bodes well for its chances. Every day more and more companies are making the switch, we have to keep this up. emocracy has, as is inevitable for a general policy journal, tended to focus on national domestic policy. But democracy is built and fortified at the local and state levels. Local newspapers and media have been decimated in recent years by falling ad revenue and predatory companies gutting newsrooms for a quick dollar. We wanted to focus on green shoots throughout the country, so we assembled a collection of experts working in and studying local news ecosystems. This conversation took place on March 31, and has been edited for clarity and brevity. Good and honest news is the backbone of democracy, so hearing about this is definitely good news. DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa judge on Monday temporarily blocked the state’s new ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, just days after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the measure into law. That means abortion is once again legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy while the courts assess the new law’s constitutionality. Another day, another shitty Abortion law gets blocked. Say it with me now: WE WILL NOT GO BACK State transportation bills may not get as much attention as their federal counterparts, but they have a colossal impact on how we get around. And the state of Minnesota may have just created one of the most exciting blueprints yet for progressive governments across the country to follow — even if it took them the better part of three decades to do it. At nearly $9 billion of total spending and 250 pages, the not-particularly-memorably-named HF 2887 is packed to the brim with legislation that's likely to be on many sustainable transportation advocates' wish lists. Here are a few items that have caught the attention of locals, and might be inspiring to advocates further afield. The new bill will... Public transport is always good news Fervo Energy, a leading geothermal energy startup, says it achieved a technology breakthrough that could eventually accelerate the push to pull up carbon-free energy from deep down in the earth. On Tuesday, Fervo said it had successfully completed a full-scale well test that confirms the commercial viability of its next-generation technology. The Houston-based startup uses horizontal drilling techniques and fiber-optic sensing tools to access geothermal resources that are otherwise too expensive or technically complex to reach using existing methods. During a 30-day test period, Fervo showed that its Project Red site in northern Nevada is capable of generating 3.5 megawatts of electricity. While that’s only enough to power roughly 2,600 U.S. homes at once, it’s still more electricity than any of the world’s 40-some ​“enhanced geothermal systems” have previously achieved, according to the company. Once again I have to say it: I love living in the future. The potential of transforming commercial strip corridors is fully on display in the Capitol East District of Madison, Wisconsin. US Highway 151 (East Washington Street) is one of many thoroughfares that radiate out from the state capitol building in all directions—an area once blighted by shuttered car dealerships, obsolete strip malls, and other underutilized industrial and auto-oriented development. In the last ten years, this 20-block redevelopment zone has become a mixed-use destination with 2,100 new residential units, more than 1.1 million square feet of office, retail, and restaurant space, nearly 300 hotel rooms, a 2,500-capacity concert hall, and a historic, outdoor public sports and events venue. New development is valued at more than a half billion dollars. “This new 'place' in Madison is jaw dropping to former residents who return to visit,” the city reports to CNU. Across the world cities are changing for the better, becoming places where people live rather than just lifeless edifices of glass and steel. Arizona could very well be the decisive state in next year’s presidential election. Sadly for the GOP, the state’s Republican Party appears to be in disarray. And it’s not just the presidential race that Republicans have to worry about. Arizona represents one of the GOP’s best Senate pickup opportunities, with Democrat turned independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema facing a challenge from progressive Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego. Yet the Arizona GOP, which is now seen as one of the most right-wing state parties in the nation, might not be up to winning either the Senate or the presidential contest. And it’s not just Arizona: A number of GOP state affiliates look increasingly troubled as 2024 looms. The GOP continue to cannibalize themselves in a mad frenzy, making our prospects in 2024 look increasingly better. . Planting food and native species where, strictly speaking, they aren’t allowed (e.g., vacant city lots) What’s the point? It depends! A lot of guerrilla gardeners simply want to supply healthy food for themselves and their neighbors, while others want to beautify their communities, make them less hot (green spaces help cities stay cool), or support pollinators and local wildlife. Still others put extra emphasis on the ​“guerrilla” part: The fall 2001 issue of the anarchist quarterly Disorderly Conduct, for example, suggests particular greenery to plant ​“along the foundation of government buildings” to ​“tear up concrete.” This sounds really cool actually. Update 7/19/23: Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed LD 1619, expanding abortion access in Maine. Before signing the bill, she said, “Maine law should recognize that every pregnancy, like every woman, is different, and that politicians cannot and should not try to legislate the wide variety of difficult circumstances pregnant women face.” Maine lawmakers have advanced and appear to have the votes to pass a bill that would remove gestational limits on abortion when a licensed physician determines the procedure is necessary, expanding access in the state. Currently, Maine restricts abortion after fetal viability, or about 24 weeks’ gestation, unless the health or life of the pregnant person is at risk. Gov. Janet Mills (D) proposed the bill, Legislative Document 1619, which would update the state’s Reproductive Privacy Act to let doctors use their clinical judgement to determine when abortion is appropriate. The bill also removes criminal penalties for providers and for people who help someone self-manage an abortion. So basically the opposite of what the GOP wanted. It really is amazing how badly repealing Roe Vs Wade has worked out for them. early two years ago, the startup Twelve made its first batch of lower-emissions jet fuel at its lab in Berkeley, California. Using electricity, water and carbon dioxide, the company set out to make a synthetic fuel that could replace fossil-based kerosene and, ideally, reduce the outsize greenhouse gas emissions that come from flying airplanes. Now, Twelve is ramping up to make significantly higher volumes of its ​“E-Jet” fuel. Last week, the eight-year-old startup broke ground on a commercial-scale facility in Moses Lake, Washington, on the site of a former sugar-beet mill. Once up and running by mid-2024, the facility will be the first of its kind in the country to make alternative jet fuel from CO 2 and grid power. Alaska Airlines, Microsoft and Shopify have agreed to buy millions of dollars’ worth of E-Jet from the new plant. Twelve expects to churn out some 40,000 gallons of fuel per year before quickly expanding its production — potentially by as much as tenfold within the first year of operation, Ram Ramprasad, the company’s chief commercial officer, told Canary Media. More cool stuff from the future. Today even! And now its time, yet again, for a good old fashioned GNR lightning round! What could go right? Massive poverty drop Colombia deforestation plummets as peace efforts focus on Rain forest US cities turn old landfills into solar farms New York shark infested waters are a good thing EV batteries can be repurposed for grid storage Birth control isn’t the only thing that just went over the counter AI tools could transform medicine EPA sets stricter limits on hydrocarbons Inflation takes long awaited tumble The long awaited recession may not come How a simple tag helped India save fuel worth 8.4 Billion Wow, now hows that for a lightning round. Pretty good stuff. Lets keep going with the regular news. n the middle of Amazon’s “Prime Day” promotional sales rush, sixty warehouse workers walked out for more than three hours at the company’s delivery station in Pontiac, Michigan — bringing the facility to the brink of a total shutdown. A delivery station is the last warehouse an Amazon package passes through before it is loaded into a truck or van en route to the customer. Once again, the fight against the cruelty of big business is alive and well, and its sprouting up everywhere. Remember, The boss needs you you don’t need the boss. Democrats are having a good summer. Inflation is down, growth is strong. Our recovery here is the best in the G7, inflation is much lower than Europe. Putin continues to struggle in Ukraine, the Western alliance has been revitalized and is expanding. The President’s big climate agenda has made America once a world leader in the existential fight to ensure the planet doesn’t warm, and his broader investment agenda is already bringing growth, investment and jobs across the US. The flow to the border has plummeted, murder rates are way down, the deficit is a fraction of what it was under Trump, and this year America will produce more oil than any year in history. We won critical elections in CO, FL, PA, WI, our candidates and committees are raising lots of money, and the early vote in Ohio is promising. We are having a good, productive, can do kind of summer, and yes Joe Biden is a good President and the country is better off. The Republicans, on the other hand, are having a really bad summer. All their attacks on Biden as President - inflation, recession, border, crime, war on energy, weak leader abroad - are evaporating. Their ridiculous debt ceiling gambit reminded us how reckless and extreme they’ve become. Their climate denialism is wilting due to soaring temperatures across the world. They keep losing elections they hoped to win. Their “investigations” are more Marx Brothers than Eliot Ness. Their #2 has turned out to be an ugly extremist and really, really not ready for prime time. Their “Manchurian Kennedy” is too crazy even for MAGA. And then there’s Trump. I’m almost certain we did this story last week. But you know what, its so good lets use it one more time. The U.S. electric grid is dangerously dependent on fossil fuels — but the century-long reign of the country’s dirtiest power source may be ending. In the first half of this year, wind and solar generated more power than coal in the U.S., per data from Ember. Wind and solar produced 343 terawatt-hours (TWh) total between January and June 2023, while coal produced 296 TWh over the same period. Just five years ago, coal’s share of power generation was quadruple that of wind and solar combined. The shelving of coal is always good news. Happy Friday all! A few things today, and note the original version of this post which went out earlier this morning had the wrong Morning Consult numbers, which are now corrected, below. This correction doesn’t change the analysis or conclusions but need everything here to be accurate. Sorry about that all. Biden Leads in 4 New Polls - Here at Hopium we believe Democrats are having a good summer, Republicans a bad one. We are starting to get confirmation of this in new, large sample, independent polling (all polls can be found on 538): YouGov/Yahoo 47-43 Biden/Trump Quinnipiac 49-44 Monmouth 47-40 Morning Consult 43-42 (was mistakenly reported as 43-38) YouGov/Economist 42-42 (Trump had a 4 pt lead here in June) Don’t believe the MSM’s depiction of Biden. We’re winning this, we’re winning hearts and minds, and we’re winning where it really counts. We got this. And that concludes this week. Come back next week for more good news, and have a good rest of your week. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/24/2183011/-From-the-GNR-newsroom-Its-the-Monday-Good-News-Roundup Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/