(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . From the GNR Newsroom, welcome back to the Monday Good News Roundup! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-23 Its that time again friends, time for the Monday Good News Roundup. Where your GNR Newsroom (myself, Killer300 and Bhu) have loads of good news stories to start your week off right. Its Sunday, I’m fighting off a cold, I’ve decided to do this a little at a time throughout the day instead of all at once at night, so lets do it! Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) recently bragged about signing a law that bars cities and counties from banning gas-powered engines, including in lawn equipment. ​“I will ALWAYS protect Texas’ energy industry,” he wrote on X (R.I.P. Twitter) in August. Dallas resident and great-grandmother Joy White shot back: ​“I absolutely LOVE my electric lawn mower and leaf blower.” White, a 75-year-old retired law enforcement officer, bought her tools in 2020 when her gas mower broke. She praised how quiet, lightweight and easy to store they are. There’s a lot to unpack here: I love living in the future of course, egg on the face of terrible Republican Greg Abbott (Who while probably as bad as DeSantis is at least smart enough not to pick a fight with Disney), and the fact that while I have not had to mow a lawn in 15 years (one of the benefits of apartment living) I do appreciate eco friendly mowers. 2023 is a second year in a row in which YIMBYism has been monumentally victorious in Sacramento. The labor debate’s been settled. A prominent, unified and powerful pro-housing alliance consisting of YIMBYs, labor unions and housing nonprofits will now being the leaders of major housing policy going forward. The governor last week signed into law yet another vast suite of housing bills designed to boost housing production. Looking back only a few years ago, not many thought we’d have normalized “ending the housing shortage” as a bipartisan, super-majority opinion in just several years. The idea that California had become overpopulated, overbought by foreigners, or had too many vacant homes was a predominant belief. While it was also bipartisan and nonpartisan that building more homes would solve the crisis, a lot of electeds thought it was controversial to act on. Cool. They should do that in New York too. Just saying. A proposed Colorado law would require the drivers of vehicles that are more likely to kill vulnerable road users to help pay for infrastructure projects to stop pedestrian and cyclist crashes before they happen — while dodging many of the political pitfalls that too often kill similar proposals. A bill currently moving through the Colorado legislature would, for the first time, impose a “vulnerable road user protection fee” on heavy passenger cars, trucks and SUVs registered in the state, a reflection of research that shows such vehicles are significantly more likely to kill pedestrians and cyclists in a crash. About one-fourth of U.S. states base their entire vehicle registration process on weight, but Colorado may be the first to direct a weight-based fee specifically to a “vulnerable road user protection enterprise cash fund,” which would raise up to $20 million a year for infrastructure improvements aimed at slowing down cars, making people outside vehicles more visible, and saving lives. Great news. Honestly I don’t see why anyone needs a car that big. I mean if you actually need it to do work that’s one thing but a lot of times its about ego with these drivers. ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to reduced charges Thursday over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia, becoming the second defendant in the sprawling case to reach a deal with prosecutors. Powell, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law, entered the plea just a day before jury selection was set to start in her trial. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. As part of the deal, she will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6,000 and will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents. She also recorded a statement for prosecutors and agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials. And another one’s gone and another one’s gone, another one bites the dust. Hey, we’re gonna get Trump too! Another one bites the dust. You hear that? In the distance? Its the rumbling that lets you know there’s another GNR Lightning round underway! Democracy FTW! Brazil to widen lead as cleanest major power sector Monarch Butterfly no longer endangered Cleaning Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon Treating Rural America: The new county doctors Researcher making it easier to read dark skin These brands will refund your period tax First ever gene therapy trial to cure deafness begins Three African countries pilot initiative to boost cervical and breast cancer care EU Strikes deal to reduce super powered green house gasses Lithuania bans fur farming Millions more students to receive free school meals under expanded program NASA makes Osiris Rex asteroid samples public Using AI to find missing hikers NASA launches metal asteroid on new mission Monkey survives two years after kidney transplant from gene edited pig How Nigeria made better farmers More disabled Americans are working and studying Advances in LGTBQA rights across Asia and the Pacific People are happier in a walkable neighborhood That was a pretty good lightning round, now back to our normal stories. At last, a victory for democracy. After recent electoral defeats of opposition forces in Turkey, Israel, Hungary, Italy, and elsewhere, Poland voted to turn back autocracy. The sympathies of Polish President Andrzej Duda for the far-right Law and Justice party (the ruling party of Poland since 2015) could prove problematic, and Law and Justice received the most votes (over 35%). Yet Donald Tusk's Civic Coalition and its partners should be able to form a centrist-progressive government. It's not surprising that this election saw the largest turnout of voters since the fall of Communism in 1989. The stakes could not have been higher. Vladimir Putin's genocidal war on Ukraine, which is unfolding on Poland's doorstep, is a stark reminder of the horrors that a fully realized autocracy can unleash on the world. And Poland was going down the path of unfreedom. It had all but lost its democracy after years of assaults by Law and Justice and its allies on the rule of law, judicial independence, and a free and fair electoral system. Tusk and other opposition politicians faced sham investigations and smear campaigns. Great news out of Poland this week, and it should give hope to us all. If Poland can do it, we all can do it. In an important policy change, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will start allowing income from accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to be considered in underwriting mortgages. The revised rules, announced October 16, will allow more borrowers to qualify for FHA-underwritten mortgages when financing properties that include a rental unit. Under previous rules, only a duplex qualified as rental income for mortgage purposes. The revisions will also help existing homeowners finance new ADUs via the FHA’s renovation loan program. “The new policies provide greater flexibility for the use of rental income from ADUs, which will help more borrowers qualify for FHA-insured financing on homes with ADUs,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing Sarah Edelman in a release. I presume this means it will be easier now to rent an apartment. I certainly hope so. Happy Friday all. Another challenging week, but let’s get to it: Just a lot of good stuff listed above. Really worth a read. Right-wing provocateur and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay more than $1 billion in damages to families affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut, despite Jones' filing for bankruptcy, a federal bankruptcy court judge has ruled. Jones filed for Chapter 11 protection in December after he was ordered to pay compensatory and punitive damages for repeatedly defaming the families by claiming for years that the 2012 killings of 20 students and six staff members was a hoax, staged with actors as part of a government plot to seize guns. I think this is it for Alex Jones. A man I once described as “What if a School yard bully found the fortune teller machine from Big, wished to be an adult, and then became a talk show host”. Good riddance says I. On Tuesday, an Ohio woman testified before the state House about her experience with spousal rape and law enforcement’s refusal to help her. Per Cleveland.com, the woman said that while she struggled with postpartum depression, her husband repeatedly raped her. But when she filed several police reports, police insisted that what she’d experienced wasn’t rape. “I told him to stop over and over again. I lost count how many times this happened to me,” she said. “Why should him being my husband have any difference?” The woman testified in support of a new bill, HB161, meant to close a decades-old loophole that legally permits some forms of spousal rape. The bill passed out of committee on Tuesday and would amend an archaic piece of the state code that presently makes it illegal to drug then sexually assault someone—unless you’re their spouse. Per Cleveland.com, the same spousal exemption in place “also applies for lesser sexual crimes including sexual battery, sexual imposition, and gross sexual imposition.” Yikes. File this under ‘What do you mean this wasn’t illegal already what the fuck?. Seriously Ohio what the shit? Ugh, I need something to bleach out that last one, how about we end on a special double feature of GNR Theater! And on that note we are done for this week. Have a good weekend all, see you next Monday. 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