(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: 2024-06-10 Welcome back to the Monday Good News Roundup, where your GNR Newsroom (Myself, Killer300 and Bhu) Bring yo u the stories to start your week off right. Exciting week for me personally. I finally found someone to diagnose my Autism, I have my first meeting with them Wednesday, 210 dollars but it will be worth it. Also I had my apartment sprayed for Bed Bugs yesterday (Along with me doing six loads of laundry basically every bit of fabric I owned.) And, oh yeah, there is an owl trapped in my hallway. But anyway, that’s enough from me. Time for good news. Solar energy continued to surge and break records across the globe in 2023, generating an estimated 5.5% of global electricity, a total of 1,631 terawatt-hours. According to the latest ​“Global Electricity Review” from energy research firm Ember, solar has been the fastest-growing source of electricity for 19 consecutive years. In 2023, solar added more than twice as much electricity as coal did worldwide. China continues to dominate the solar race, single-handedly producing more than 580 TWh of solar electricity in 2023 — more than the next five countries combined. The United States held onto second place with 238 TWh, while India overtook Japan to claim the third spot, generating 113 TWh from the sun last year. So wow, good on China for leading the charge on this. Of course the US is making a respectable go at it too, hopefully we can get all those numbers up. Wyoming, the nation’s leading coal-producing state, has begun the initial permitting for the construction of its largest utility-scale solar farm, by far. The state’s Industrial Siting Council approved a permit for developer Enbridge in early May to build and operate the Cowboy Solar project, which will be built on private land in Laramie County, in the state’s southeast corner, beginning in March 2025. The project will employ an average monthly workforce of 285 temporary employees, with a peak of approximately 375 employees. Once completed in 2027, the $1.2 billion, 771-megawatt installation will not only be the biggest solar farm in the Cowboy State but also one of the largest solar projects in the U.S. Great news out of Wyoming, out with the old, in with the new. Introducing: Our Urban Village This group of people used to be strangers. But back in 2017, they found each other through a unique, shared project: They wanted to build a home together. Like many people, they were tired of living in places where they rarely saw or talked to neighbours. They believed that by building a home with shared spaces and activities, they could nurture greater support and social connection. “We’re a family of four, raising young kids in Vancouver, and we don't have a lot of family support locally,” said one resident. “So it was just kind of tough raising kids on our own. We've always been interested in living in community. We had looked into co-ops but [wanted] an option that was more like a strata model. And then, you know, lo and behold, such a thing does exist.” This model is called cohousing: Residents own their private units, but share extensive common spaces. They commit to regular community activities, like meals, and managing the building together. A neat idea, as someone who will be in need of housing very soon, I approve. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party has suffered a devastating blow. Though Modi is claiming victory, his party is seeing major losses in the country's general election. Some are touting his opposition's unexpected leads as a win for democracy. For a decade, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held a decisive grip on his country's politics. But as election results rolled in Tuesday, it appeared Modi's grip may be slipping Big things are happening in India. Nearly a month after opening the world’s largest ​“direct air capture” plant in Iceland, Climeworks has unveiled a new and purportedly better version of its carbon-sucking technology — one that it plans to deploy for the first time on the U.S. Gulf Coast. On Tuesday, the Swiss company said it had successfully completed large-scale testing of its Generation 3 technology at its facility in Basel, Switzerland. The announcement follows five years of research and development, during which time Climeworks built two novel direct-air-capture (DAC) plants using its second-generation technology. Great news for the environment. In 2019, Australia was on the cusp of approving a new coal mine on traditional Wirdi land in Queensland that would have extracted approximately 40 million tons of coal each year for 35 years. The Waratah coal mine would have destroyed a nature refuge and emitted 1.58 billion tons of carbon dioxide. But that didn’t happen, thanks to the advocacy of Murrawah Maroochy Johnson, a 29-year-old Wirdi woman of the Birri Gubba Nation, who led a lawsuit against the coal company in 2021, and won. Very inspiring story. Remember, we can win against big corporations. In this episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, Nisrin Elamin, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Toronto, paints a grim picture of life in Sudan today. She says the current war, which exploded on April 15, 2023, is devastating both rural and urban communities. Elamin also identifies small pockets of hope. In the absence of a properly functioning government and looming famine, grassroots groups are stepping in to help people survive. Even in the darkest of times, hope springs eternal. The neighborhood along Grand Avenue between Dale and Lexington — the eight blocks known as East Grand Avenue — lies close to my heart. The avenue is where I went to my first bicycle advocacy event, where I have gone on many dates, where I always take visitors to show them the best of St. Paul. I have especially wonderful memories of the food; during my first visit I was impressed by a lunch at Brasa, eaten outside under a warm sun and blue sky. East Grand represents a miniature downtown, a main street for Ward 2’s quaint neighborhoods. It abounds with a particular sense of place, one which is unique and magical — but why? And how? What urbanist traits of Grand Avenue contribute to this? And how might we design the built environment to compound on these traits? Sounds like a lovely place. he 15 million people expected to swarm Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics will visit a city far different than it was a decade ago. That’s because a campaign to make Paris greener, primarily by reducing its dependence on cars, has transformed it into a shining example of what many environmental activists, city planners and transit advocates say ought to be the future of cities worldwide. Paris has closed more than 100 streets to motor vehicles, tripled parking fees for SUVs, removed roughly 50,000 parking spots, and constructed more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) of bike lanes since Mayor Anne Hidalgo took office in 2014. They do say Paris is the most beautiful city in the world. In the early 2000s, an abandoned rail line in Manhattan sat decaying - a memory from a time when freight trains traveled straight through the city. To most citizens, it was a site destined for demolition. However, a few visionary residents saw an opportunity in this neglected space and advocated to transform it into a public green space for the community. The success of the project seemed to spark a "High Line Effect", inspiring other American cities to pursue civic infrastructure on outdated railways, roadways, and industrial sites. Sounds like another great idea. On May 10, I spoke at a gathering of electoral reformers. Here are my remarks. For those near New York City, please join us at the FairVote Awards today (June 3rd), where I’m being honored along with Rashad Robinson, Eric Liu, and Cynthia Richie Terrell. When I saw today’s lineup of speakers, the intent was clear: I’m the “old guy” here. Not in age – hey, I’m feeling pretty spry – but because I joined this fight in the 1980’s. That’s Boy George, Wham, and me... I know! It does give me some credibility to say… yes, it’s true – we are reaching a tipping point.; Americans have long been disenchanted with politics. But now we have a roadmap to change. I’m thrilled how close we are to securing a critical mass of big reform wins. I’d like to share four lessons from four decades of working for ranked choice voting – or “RCV” – that apply to any big reform push. Sound advice to be certain. Last month, the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced another $20.5 billion in federal funding to support transit projects this year throughout the US. The FTA had previously announced $9.9 billion in funding, and this new announcement includes those funds plus quite a bit more. The investment in America’s transit infrastructure will reach $20.5 billion by 2024, making it the largest investment to date. The funding supports projects that improve public transportation, such as upgrading transit stations, extending and adding service lines and improving accessibility. Excellent news. In May, abortion rights organizers in South Dakota submitted almost double the number of signatures required for their proposed measure to get on the ballot. By the end of the month—despite anti-abortion activists posing as government officials and harassing voters to revoke their signatures—South Dakota’s Republican secretary of state validated enough signatures, allowing the measure to get on the ballot this November. And a new poll published Monday shows even stronger support for Amendment G than its 55,000 signatures would suggest. According to the South Dakota News Watch poll, 53% of surveyed voters support the measure, 35% oppose it, and 11% remain undecided (which… what’s there to decide??). This is a pretty significant shift from November when 46% of voters in the deep-red state said they supported Amendment G compared with 44% who opposed it. Abortion continues to be a millstone around the GOP’s neck. May it drag them to the depths of Tartarus. No quote for this one since the site wont let me copy paste, but I’m posting it anyway cause its important. Have you ever thought “Oh wow my rent is so high, this can’t be legal?” Well it turns out its not, and the Government is doing something about it. A popular nugget that gets passed around a lot is that in 1903, The New York Times published an article that scoffed at the idea of manned flight, saying that it would take one to ten million years for mathematicians and mechanicians to figure it out. Nine weeks later, the Wright brothers flew for the first time. The progress community—a loose circle of thinkers and their followers who spread awareness about human progress—refer to this as an example of how humanity in general is often overly pessimistic, particularly of technological innovation, and the media an enthusiastic messenger of such assumptions. From the comfortable hindsight of over a century, it’s easy to look back and laugh at the Times’ naivete. Oh, journalists of little faith! How little you know of the possibilities man creates. To be fair to the author, though, what would an article have looked like stating the opposite? The Wright brothers’ achievement was so contrary to expectation that they had a hard time convincing the press, and even fellow flight experts, that it had happened at all. What would have been, back in the fall of 1903, the evidence marshaled that two bicycle shop owners were about to change the course of human history? Anyone who thought that would have been a laughingstock, even if they did turn out to be right. Predicting the future is a famously difficult business. The ancient Greek prophet Cassandra, whose prophecies were always true but never believed, was not some extraordinarily gifted human. Her foresight was gifted to her by Apollo as a bequeathing of a godly power. (He then cursed her after she reneged on her promise to become his lover in return.) These days, even professional forecasters with the might of mathematical models behind them are right less than a quarter of the time. Two thousand years later, we haven’t gotten much closer to divine capabilities. This goes both ways of course. in 2016, Sam Wang said he’d eat a bug if Trump was president, and sadly he at that bug. So take any predictions with a grain of salt, and lets strive to make the future we want. Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Thursday moved to liquidate his personal assets, agreeing to demands from the families of Sandy Hook victims whom he owes more than $1.5 billion in damages over his lies about the 2012 school massacre. The seismic move paves the way for a future in which Jones no longer owns Infowars, the influential conspiracy empire he founded in the late 1990s. Over the years, Jones has not only used the media company to poison the public discourse with vile lies and conspiracy theories, but also to enrich himself to the tune of millions of dollars. I’m not sure if this is the end of Alex Jones career (A man I once described as what would happen if a Grade School bully found the mechanical genie from the movie Big), but I hope so, that man has made the world a measurably worse place with his blathering, and that means one less part of the right wing noise machine (Now to do the same to Fox News). Swimming pools and dry cleaners use them. So do aircraft-engine factories, textile mills, and facilities that make packaged snacks and bottled drinks. Wherever there’s a need for large amounts of steam or heat, industrial boilers and water heaters are likely to be found. Usually, this ubiquitous equipment is fueled by fossil gas — and spews high levels of harmful emissions. In Southern California, a new rule is expected to change this, driving a major shift toward electric boilers and heaters that advocates hope will serve as a template for tackling the problem nationwide. The measure comes as energy experts and climate advocates are pushing to expand electrification beyond familiar categories like cars and homes and into more obscure, though still essential, corners of the economy. On Friday, regulators in the South Coast Air Quality Management District voted to approve a first-in-the-nation measure that aims to sharply reduce emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) from more than 1 million large water heaters, small boilers, and process heaters in the area. The district includes large sections of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, and it encompasses the most ozone-polluted region in the country. Great environmental news out of Southern California. In just a few short decades during the mid-twentieth century, cars conquered the 750-year-old city of Stockholm. As early as the 1980s, various schemes for reclaiming the city’s fourteen islands from gridlock had been proposed, but politics kept getting in the way and plans never materialized. In 2002, as part of political compromise, a divided Swedish parliament began to work toward a long-desired goal: a trial run of congestion pricing in Stockholm, with a public referendum on the policy to follow. On January 3, 2006, the trial began. Watching it unfold, Jonas Eliasson, a life-long transit researcher (and enthusiast) who has served as director of transport accessibility at the Swedish Transport Administration since 2019, was excited — and worried. Neither emotion was unwarranted. Congestion pricing had succeeded before. In 1975, Singapore pioneered its Area Licensing Scheme, a precursor to its modern Electronic Road Pricing system in which drivers are tolled automatically based on their location, type of car, and the time of day. In 2003, London began charging drivers for entering its city-center — an idea first proposed in the 1950s. By 2006, there were 33 percent fewer car trips into central London than in 2002, 25 percent more bus trips and 49 percent more bicycle trips. Congestion, pollution and traffic accidents all fell in tow. Sounds like a good idea to me. The Justice Department, together with 30 states, filed suit in late May against Live Nation-Ticketmaster for abusing its dominant position in the live entertainment business. For those who have followed the company since it was allowed to merge in 2010, its behavior comes as no surprise. What might surprise is the bold nature of the DOJ’s challenge and its proposed remedy. The challenge revisits a merger the agency previously approved, subject only to some ineffective conduct remedies. Too often in the past, the antitrust agencies (the DOJ Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission) have not looked back, much less taken action, against consummated mergers that have proven to be anticompetitive. Rather, they have averted their eyes and moved on. Yay! More monopoly busting from the DOJ. Keep it up. The Colorado Department of Transportation will soon start using automated speed cameras on its highways, focusing first on construction zones. Last year, the legislature loosened the rules around such enforcement systems, allowing them in more places. Studies show automated speed cameras can lead to a drop in road injuries and deaths. Some local governments, like the town of Morrison, have quickly taken advantage of that law. However, the 2023 legislation was not clear on CDOT’s legal authority. So this year, at the agency's request, lawmakers passed a bill that explicitly gives CDOT and the Colorado State Patrol the power to use automated speed cameras on state highways — including interstates but not toll roads like E-470 or Northwest Parkway. This should make the roads in Colorado a bit safer. Capital Bikeshare (CaBi) broke the all-time monthly ridership record in May 2024, recording 515,394 trips across the Washington, DC, metro area. Annual ridership is up 31.3% through May 2024, as the record-setting month takes the regional network to 2,000,128 trips this calendar year. The CaBi system has now seen year-over-year monthly increases in ridership for 29 consecutive months. Looks like bikes are the wave of the future. And on that note, I think its time we say adieu for this week. Be back next Monday with more good news. 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