(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: 2024-06-03 Wow, what a week last week huh? Welcome to the Monday Good News Roundup, where your GNR Newsroom brings you the good news to start your week off right. Nothing I can possibly say will top last week, so lets just jump right into the good news for this Monday wont we? 18 years ago, when Lilli West got into the real estate business, she saw a need. Back then, it was short sales and foreclosures—and she grew her business at an unlikely time when real estate agents were leaving the industry left and right. Today, as the owner of Maple Leaf Realty, the largest agency in Bennington, VT, West sees a different need: “We have run out of housing, and we desperately need new construction.” To address this need, West thought Vermont would benefit from a checklist or roadmap for housing development, to streamline and clarify the complicated process. She was thrilled to learn that the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development was creating this very tool to jumpstart and empower missing middle housing production. The “Homes for All Toolkit,” launched in March 2024 and supported by AARP-VT funding, is a design-and-do guide for small-scale home builders, investors, and community leaders. It proposes missing middle homes, or MMH, as a way to deliver diverse and affordable housing choices in convenient, existing, walkable neighborhoods and places. Make houses affordable again. Similar problems can plague dedicated bike lanes, where vehicles may park or illegally drive in lanes set aside for the safety of bicyclists and other micromobility users. Chicago and New York City plan to begin bus and bike lane enforcement this year using bus-mounted and fixed-location cameras. Here are six stories on the growth of bus and bike lanes and cities’ efforts to keep them open for their intended users. I know we have problems on my own bus line I use where people park in the street deliberately to inconvenience the buses. I’m glad someone is stepping up to deal with that. After years of anticipation, design plans and a firm timeline are coming into clearer focus for eliminating the cluster-you-know-what where the BeltLine’s popular Eastside Trail meets Monroe Drive and Piedmont Park. According to Atlanta BeltLine Inc., pedestrian and bicyclist safety upgrades at the intersection of 10th Street and Monroe Drive are expected to begin construction the evening of Sunday, June 9 with paving. The busy intersection serves at the BeltLine’s entry into Piedmont Park and Midtown by way of 10th Street bike lanes. Its people-friendly makeover is considered phase three of the Northeast Trail’s construction through Piedmont Park. Looks really cool. Indianapolis is making cycling history as the first U.S. city to provide free annual bike share passes to all its residents. Starting today, Marion County residents can register for a free annual IndyRides Free pass for Pacers Bike Share, coinciding with the launch of 325 new e-bikes available for public use. The sleek white e-bikes, distinguishable from the gold classic bikes, are now stationed at 50 bikeshare hubs across the city, ready to be accessed via the BCycle mobile app. “We piloted a free pass program last summer and aspired to expand it to all Marion County residents,” said Kären Haley, executive director of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, which manages Pacers Bike Share. “With the backing of the Herbert Simon Family Foundation and Pacers Sports & Entertainment, we’re thrilled to see this vision come to life.” Residents can also register online at www.pacersbikeshare.org. After registering with a valid Marion County address, an access code will be mailed to them. Cool, I hope this catches on for more cities. WEST HARTFORD — Months after the town's Vision Zero action plan was finalized, town leaders are ready to roll out the first of what is expected to be many roadway safety changes in West Hartford. Sounds like a good first step. A single father who grew up in Richmond, Haggins dreamed of owning a house in his hometown where his two sons could play freely. A shortage of just five credit score points — plus systemic inequities and a national housing crisis — left them all living with his mother. But today, Haggins is the proud owner of a home in Church Hill, thanks to Richmond’s Maggie Walker Community Land Trust (MWCLT) and its pioneering model for creating permanently affordable housing. “I don’t think I could’ve done it without their help, honestly,” says Haggins. Being selected for the community land trust’s lease-to-own pilot was a “blessing,” he says: “The program is geared toward helping individuals such as myself, who are right at the line of homeownership but can’t seem to cross it.” You may have noticed we at the Monday GNR cover a lot of housing and urban renewal stories, a personal passion of our member Killer300. I support these stories mainly because I am still looking for a home in the process of being evicted. The last time we interviewed Congressional Bike Caucus founder and chair Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, it was just days before he announced that he would not be seeking re-election after 28 years in the House. But leaving office doesn’t mean he’ll be biking off into the sunset — and he says he’ll be fighting for livable communities just as fiercely in his next chapter. We sat down with the bow-tied cycling icon to talk about the future, and why he’s more optimistic than ever that biking in America is ready for its big moment. I hope you’re right Earl. Joe Biden is a good and successful American President. The country is clearly better off. And we have a very strong case for his re-election. The Democratic Party is strong, winning elections across the country, raising tons of money and is building the most powerful political machine we’ve ever had. And what do they have? They have Trump, the ugliest political thing any of us has ever seen, leading a party far more a raging dumpster fire than a well-oiled machine. Still very confident about our chances in November. Especially after the last week. Scientists have made a major breakthrough in our understanding of Alzheimer's disease, opening up new avenues toward future treatments. Alzheimer's disease affects roughly 5.8 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The progressive disease is the most common form of dementia and is associated with memory loss and cognitive decline in regions of the brain involved in thought, memory and language. Great news. After Cancer I think Alzheimer is the worst disease you can get. Xcel Energy's huge solar and energy-storage facility in Becker, Minnesota, is getting closer to completion — and it's set to start pumping out power this fall, Canary Media reported. Like many exciting energy projects that have recently been finished or are in development, the Sherco facility is being built on the former site of a coal-powered power plant. Coal produces toxic, heat-trapping air pollution when burned, so many states are shutting down their coal plants. However, those sites still have industrial-sized connections to the power grid and lots of space — making them ideal for battery storage, solar farms, and other clean energy projects. Building on the existing infrastructure reduces costs and construction times, which means quicker, cheaper access to abundant clean energy for residents. As we move into the future, lets not forget fossil fuel provided a lot of jobs to people and those people will need new jobs once coal has run its course. And this is a good solution. Happy Saturday all. Got a few things for you today: Making June Count - June is going to be a very important political month for the United States. Trump’s guilty verdict was a shock, and will, as we discussed yesterday, start causing tens of millions of our fellow citizens who are not yet paying close attention to the election to begin to check-in. At the end of June, we have the first debate, which will be another big check-in moment. Tens of millions of people are going to start really paying attention now, and as Democrats, we need to be doing everything we can to engage them, talk to them, inform them about the choice they have, and win them over. It’s not a stretch to say that we could win or lose the 2024 election in the next 30 days. I talked about this opportunity we have in an MSNBC interview on Wednesday night: I’m confident about November, but that doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels. Lets make sure Biden stomps that crook. Since its release on Feb. 10, Chinese director Jia Ling’s second film “YOLO (热辣滚烫)” has grossed over $478 million at the box office, breaking the previous record for a drama during China’s Spring Festival season. The movie tells the story of a 32-year-old woman finding independence and life goals through boxing. As fans celebrate the success of this female director in commercial cinema, discussions on Chinese social media have linked Jia Ling to a viral and controversial online prophesy known as Ziweixing (紫微星 or 紫薇星), which emerged in 2020 and is helping to fuel a new kind of women’s movement in China. Now used as a synonym for outstanding women, Ziweixing originated in a playful prophecy by a female user on Douban, a popular online forum in China. The post stated that, in 2021, the entertainment industry in China would enter a three-year stagnation period during which the popularity of famous celebrities would plummet and entertainment companies would fail in their investments. This period would be followed by the emergence of a Chinese world superstar — Ziweixing — in 2023. While the post did not provide any detail about Ziweixing and was later deleted from Douban, people continue to discuss Ziweixing on various social media platforms, sharing screenshots of the original post. A weird story to be sure, but an interesting one. If recent research from Japan's RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science takes off, washing machine makers may need to start adding a "solar film" function to control panels. That's because the experts at RIKEN have created a flexible, sun-catching material that can work after being submerged in water. Fascinatingly, it survived a wash cycle, as well. The plan for the photovoltaic film — a material capable of turning sunlight into electricity — is for it to be attached to clothing. It's durable and should be able to endure rain, according to a report on the breakthrough from RIKEN. And this week’s edition of “Science is awesome”. One of the first polls conducted since a New York Jury found Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records find that a significant minority of Republicans and Independents want him to drop out and a majority of registered voters approve of the jury's decision. Why it matters: The Morning Consult poll conducted on Friday offers some of the first clues about how voters are reacting to the unprecedented situation. By the numbers: 54% of registered voters "strongly" or "somewhat" approve of the guilty verdict compared to 34% who "strongly or "somewhat" disapprove. 49% of Independents and 15% of Republicans said Trump should end his campaign because of the conviction. The polls found the race effectively tied nationally in a 1-on-1 with Biden at 45% and Trump at 44%. Will this guilty verdict mean the end for Trump? Time will tell, but fingers crossed. And that does it for this weeks GNR, come back next week for more good news. 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