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Good News Roundup for Tuesday, July 23, 2024 — A New Day [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-07-23  

Good news in politics

There’s a ton of good news stories about Dems coming together behind Kamala, from the grassroots on up, so I’ll assume you’ve seen those elsewhere and won’t add them to this already-long GNR. Instead, here’s some other political good news. Biden’s already history-making presidency and whatever further progress he makes while still in office will help propel Kamala to victory, so here are some recent Biden/Harris policy wins.

Shuttered auto plants will become EV factories thanks to $1.7 billion Biden program

From The Verge:

The Biden administration announced $1.7 billion to convert endangered or shuttered plants into electric vehicle manufacturing facilities. Eleven auto factories across eight states that are currently closed or at risk of closing will receive the funding in order to retrofit their operations for EV manufacturing, administration officials said in a call with reporters. The types of goods these factories will produce run the gamut from “parts for electric motorcycles and school buses, hybrid powertrains, heavy-duty commercial truck batteries, and electric SUVs,” the White House says. ✂️ The money is part of a larger $15.5 billion program administered by the Department of Energy, announced late last year, that seeks to retrofit existing manufacturing facilities into EV and clean vehicle assembly operations. The funding was approved as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which was President Biden’s landmark climate legislation. Some of the factories that will be converted include an idled Stellantis factory in Belvidere, Illinois, that will be converted into an EV assembly plant using $334 million in grant money. ... Stellantis will also receive an additional $250 million to retrofit its transmission plant in Kokomo, Indiana, for the production of electric drive modules. General Motors will get $500 million to reconstitute its 25-year-old factory in Lansing, Michigan, into one that will produce electrified models. A Harley-Davidson facility in York, Pennsylvania, that also makes electric motorcycles will expand for future EV production with $89 million. And the Blue Bird Corporation, which makes school buses, will get $79 million to upgrade a 600,000-square-foot facility in Fort Valley, Georgia, for the production of electric buses. One of the preconditions of the grant awards is that the money go toward retaining and creating new union jobs in the auto sector, officials said.

President Biden Signs The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2024

From Healthy Birth Day:

President Biden has signed the bipartisan Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act of 2024 (H.R. 4581). This law amends Title V of the Social Security Act to add stillbirth and stillbirth prevention, something that has been left off since it was written nearly 100 years ago. The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act provides both clarity and a vital call to action to state health departments across the nation that they can and should use a portion of the existing $2.6 billion of Title V Block Grant funding to prevent stillbirth. The Title V Block Grant is the single largest funding mechanism to address maternal and child health issues in the United States, with services reaching more than 93% of pregnant women in 2022. Currently, fewer than 20 state health departments are using a portion of these existing funds to address stillbirth, leaving expectant parents in most U.S. states and territories more vulnerable to stillbirth. This clarification will support stillbirth prevention activities, thereby helping to save the lives of mothers and babies. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) led The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act in the Senate, where it passed on unanimous consent June 11. The House approved this bill on May 15 in a vote of 408-3, where it was led by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) and Rep. Alma Adams (D-North Carolina). ✂️ Stillbirth, which is defined as the loss of a pregnancy at 20 weeks or greater gestation, is a public health crisis in the U.S. that happens to more than 21,000 families every year. This means one in every 175 pregnancies in the U.S. ends in stillbirth. Racial disparities persist, and Black women are two times more likely to endure a stillbirth than their White counterparts. Recent reports and data suggest that further reduction in the incidence of stillbirth is possible, highlighting that at least 25% of stillbirths are potentially preventable. That reduction would translate into as many as 6,000 babies’ lives that could be saved every year when stillbirth prevention measures are in place.

FTC Intends to Sue Pharmacy Benefit Managers

From HrPolicy.org:

After a two-year investigation into the business practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its interim findings, claiming that instead of saving employers money, PBMs steer patients towards higher cost medicines. PBMs have become the latest focus of members of Congress, the administration, and patients as the U.S. continues to seek solutions to address rising health care costs. Background: PBMs are third-party administrators (TPAs) of prescription drug programs and are frequently used by large employers because they take on the administration of pharmaceutical benefits for employers. PBMs have negotiating power with drug manufacturers, manage lists of approved drugs (formularies), conduct claims processing, and often provide employee support programs through mail order pharmacies and medication adherence programs.



However, many employers struggle to get data from PBMs on the actual price paid for drugs. The FTC launched an investigation into the business practices of PBMs in 2022 claiming rebates and fees “may incentivize PBMs and other intermediaries to steer patients to higher-cost drugs over less expensive alternatives…[which] could lead to increased costs for both patients and payers…[and] insulate more expensive drugs from competing with less expensive alternatives.” By the numbers: The three largest PBMs control roughly 80% of the PBM market and are also integrated into larger health insurers. Employers have long struggled to get data regarding the prices paid by PBMs for prescription drugs. Why it matters: As fiduciaries, employers must make sure they are paying fair prices for the health care services provided to employees. Legislative efforts to increase transparency, as well as investigations like the FTCs, will help employers better negotiate the prices they pay but will also increase the risk of alleged breaches of fiduciary duty. Up next: The agency is also investigating the business practices of drug manufacturers, which PBMs argue are the real culprit because they set and continue to raise list prices of medicines. The House Oversight Committee will be holding a hearing with the CEOs of the three largest PBMs on July 23.

Prison Phone Call Fees Are Out of Control. The FCC Can Finally Rein Them In

From Wired:

The US Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to lower price caps on prison phone calls and closed a loophole that allowed prison telecoms to charge high rates for intrastate calls. The vote will cut the price of interstate calls in half and set price caps on intrastate calls for the first time. The FCC said it “voted to end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have burdened incarcerated people and their families for decades. Under the new rules, the cost of a 15-minute phone call will drop to 90 cents from as much as $11.35 in large jails and, in small jails, to $1.35 from $12.10.” The new rules are expected to take effect in January 2025 for all prisons and for jails with at least 1,000 incarcerated people. The rate caps would take effect in smaller jails in April 2025. ✂️ Prison phone companies could sue again. But the FCC said it now has authority over intrastate prison phone prices because of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, which was approved by Congress and signed by President Biden in January 2023. The new law "empowered the FCC to close the final loopholes in the communications system," the commission said. The 2023 law—named for a grandmother who campaigned for lower prison phone rates—“removes the principal statutory limitations that had prevented the commission from setting comprehensive just and reasonable rates," the FCC said.

And some good news from the D.N.C.

D.N.C. Pours $15 Million Into State Parties in Top Battlegrounds

From The New York Times (gift link):

The Democratic National Committee announced on [June 15th] that it would pour $15 million into the party’s ground game in seven battleground states, an early cash infusion into the nuts and bolts of campaigning... The money, which will go directly to the Democrats’ state parties, will be used to open more field offices, expand data collection efforts and hire staff members to cover more terrain in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. “This is the largest-ever investment made to battleground state parties at this point in time,” Jaime Harrison, the chair of the D.N.C., said in a statement. “And we continue to build our state-by-state war chests...” ✂️ And in the new era of widespread early voting, which Democratic voters have used more frequently than Republican ones, early field investments in state parties can be crucial to getting out the vote. Political ground games are no longer tailored for only the final week of October and early November, but instead a much longer stretch in which voters are casting ballots early and by mail.

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🍿 Repellent Republicans Rushing toward Ruin 🍿

MAGA Makes Racist Attacks Against JD Vance's Wife

It’s disgusting and stupid — racism is always their default setting. But there’s a silver lining in this for Dems, even beyond Republican disunity: Trump’s running mate having an Indian-American wife will complicate (or maybe even shut down altogether) MAGA xenophobic hate-messaging about Kamala.

From Newsweek:

Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was raised in San Diego before meeting her husband at Yale Law School. They were married in 2014 and later blessed by a Hindu pundit in a separate ceremony, The New York Times reported. In the wake of Trump's vice presidential announcement on Monday, numerous conservative and far-right figures have taken to social media to launch racist attacks against Usha Vance because of her Indian heritage and the assumption that her influence on her husband's political career means the Republican Party will be softer on immigration. ✂️ Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home along with rapper Kanye West in November 2022, suggested that Vance would not be a "defender of white identity" because of his wife's Indian heritage. "Who is this guy, really?" Fuentes said on his podcast. "Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?" Vincent James Foxx, who was present at the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, wrote on X: "JD Vance gets tapped as VP and immediately there's a Hindu prayer at the RNC. Next we'll see Sen. Mike Lee and JD Vance team up to convince Trump to let in 10 million Indian immigrants. Green cards on diplomas!"

This photo has already gone viral and is freaking out MAGA world (Tweet published in Times of India):

x There’s another Great Indian Wedding to celebrate…



🙂 pic.twitter.com/WGDKAvcrv1 — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 16, 2024

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The media messing up

It’s become a cliché to complain about the MSM framing elections as a horse race, but I never expected to see The Washington Post embrace that framing with an image like this. Ugh.

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Good news from my corner of the world

‘Not Caused by an Act of God’: In a Rare Court Action, an Oregon County Seeks to Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable for Extreme Temperatures

This is a long shot but one well worth taking. Fingers crossed!

From Inside Climate News:

Over the course of three days in June 2021, Multnomah County—the Emerald State’s most populous county, which rests in the swayback along Oregon’s northern border—recorded highs of 108, 112 and 116 degrees Fahrenheit. ...Nearly half the homes in the county lacked cooling systems because of Oregon’s typically gentle summers, where average highs top out at 81 degrees. Sixty-nine people perished from heat stroke, most of them in their homes. When scientific studies showed that the extreme temperatures were caused by heat domes, which experts say are influenced by climate change, county officials didn’t just chalk it up to a random weather occurrence. They started researching the large fossil fuel companies whose emissions are driving the climate crisis—including ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron—and sued them. ✂️ Now, 11 months after the suit was filed, Multnomah County is preparing to move forward with the case in Oregon state court after a federal judge in June settled a months-long debate over where the suit should be heard. About three dozen lawsuits have been filed by states, counties and cities seeking damages from oil and gas companies for harms caused by climate change. Legal experts said the Oregon case is one of the first focused on public health costs related to high temperatures during a specific occurrence of the “heat dome effect.” Pat Parenteau, professor of law emeritus at Vermont Law and Graduate School, said that zeroing in on the heat and the heat dome effect are elements that might make the Multnomah case easier to prove. “When it comes to the extreme heat events that affected Portland, the scientists concluded, in looking at that event and then looking at historical records of heat waves in the Pacific Northwest, it would not have happened, but for human-caused climate change,” Parenteau said. “That’s actually the first time I’ve ever seen climate scientists state a conclusion like that in such absolute terms.” ....

Monsanto Roundup trial win overturned by Oregon court

Good for the Oregon appeals court for rejecting Bayer’s “preemption” arguments, which are absurd.

From The New Lede:

[On July 10th,] an Oregon appeals court...overturned a trial victory by Monsanto owner Bayer AG in a decision that adds to an ongoing debate over the company’s efforts to create a nationwide legal and legislative shield from lawsuits alleging Roundup weed killer causes cancer. The court found that the trial judge in the case improperly barred key evidence about the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from being presented to the jury, which could have led the jury to find in favor of the plaintiff. And, notably, the court rejected arguments by the company that claims about the dangers of its products should be barred because those products carry the EPA’s stamp of approval. Other courts have similarly rejected so-called “preemption” arguments by Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018. But after failing to get court backing, Bayer has been pushing state and federal lawmakers to give it and other pesticide makers the protection the courts have rejected. ✂️ The testimony that the trial judge refused to allow was to have come from Charles Benbrook, a former research professor who served at one time as executive director of the National Academy of Sciences board on agriculture. Benbrook has authored papers critical of the EPA’s handling of glyphosate herbicides, noting that the agency has given little weight to independent research regarding the actual products sold into the marketplace and used by millions of people around the world. Instead, the EPA has mostly relied on studies paid for by Monsanto and other companies selling glyphosate herbicides that found no cancer concerns. “There is important new science to share with the jury that clarifies why and how Roundup can cause cancer,” Benbrook said this week after learning of the court ruling. Excluding Benbrook’s testimony was an error that “was not harmless,” the appellate court said in its decision.

Money from Washington’s landmark climate law will help tribes face rising seas, climate change

This is a great use of climate mitigating funds. I was especially happy to see that the Quinault Nation will get help relocating their villages — my husband and I have vacationed many times in that area, which features magnificent old growth forests as well as a beautiful coastline.

From AP:

Tens of millions of dollars raised by a landmark climate law in Washington state will go to Native American tribes that are at risk from climate change and rising sea levels to help them move to higher ground, install solar panels, buy electric vehicles and restore wetlands, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday. The money — $52 million — comes from the 2021 Climate Commitment Act, which auctions off allowances for heavily polluting companies to emit carbon, with the revenue invested in education, transportation and other programs. Conservative critics who blame it for increased gas prices are seeking to repeal the law in November. Nearly every Native American tribe in Washington is receiving money. Among them is the 3,000-member Quinault Indian Nation on the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula, which is getting $13 million to help relocate its two main villages to higher ground, away from the tsunami zone and persistent flooding. Part of one of the villages is below sea level, separated from the roaring ocean by a seawall, and high tides and storm surges have flooded homes and government buildings. ✂️ The money will help fund a new building to house child and elder services, an emergency shelter and a new water tank and pump house on high ground to serve residents, government buildings and a relocated public school. It will also help pay for the development of a master plan and architectural drawings for a new museum and cultural center.

Meet Janelle Bynum

I thought you might enjoy this 20-minute interview, which will introduce you to the charming and impressive Democrat running for the seat now held by MAGA Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Simon obviously thinks she’s wonderful.

Janelle can use all the funding help she can get, so if you can send a few dollars her way, I guarantee she’ll make good use of them.

x YouTube Video

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Good news from around the nation

Montana judge: Signatures of inactive voters count for initiatives, including 1 to protect abortion

Thank goodness the courts are standing firm against voter suppression!

From AP:

A Montana judge said Tuesday that the Secretary of State’s Office erred in changing the rules governing whose signatures should count on petitions for three constitutional initiatives — including one to protect abortion rights — after officials tried to omit the signatures of inactive voters. District Judge Mike Menahan said he would give county election offices another week to tally signatures of inactive voters that had been rejected, saying they should count. All of the initiatives are expected to qualify for the November ballot. Two organizations sued Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen after her office, in response to a question from a county election officer, said the signatures of voters who were considered “inactive” should not count toward the number of signatures needed to place initiatives on the ballot.

Tennessee won’t purge voter rolls of people who disregard a letter asking them to prove citizenship

It’s good to see that just the threat of an ACLU lawsuit can be enough to shut some of the Republican rat-f’ing down.

From AP:

Tennessee election officials who sent letters last month to 14,375 registered voters asking them for proof of citizenship now say the recipients won’t be kicked off voting rolls if they don’t respond. The state clarified the position in a follow-up letter to all those didn’t respond to the first correspondence. Nearly 3,200 have provided evidence of U.S. citizenship, and more than 300 have requested to be removed from the voter rolls, according to the state elections office. Those on the original mailing list were chosen based on data from the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security, which has information about whether residents were U.S. citizens when they first interacted with that department. The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation informed the state late last month of plans to sue in response to the letters and argued that election officials had to tell voters they wouldn’t lose their voter registration by ignoring the request for proof of citizenship. On Tuesday, the state confirmed officials sent a follow up letter designed to clear up any confusion, and blamed any misunderstandings on outside groups like the ACLU.

Calif. bans school policies notifying parents of kids’ gender identity

This is extremely important. I hope similar policies are enacted around the country.

From The Washington Post (gift link):

California [last] week became the first state to prohibit school policies that require employees to report students’ sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression without their consent. The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on [July 15], ensures schools can’t require teachers and staff to notify parents of their children’s LGBTQ identities. It takes aim at a growing conservative effort to require school districts to report students’ pronouns or name changes, for instance, to parents. Such rules can “forcibly ‘out’ pupils without their consent,” which can be harmful for young people and remove their ability to make their own “deeply personal decisions” about coming out, says the law, sponsored by Democratic state Assemblyman Chris Ward. Some conservatives — amid a broader Republican push to restrict LGBTQ+ rights and education at the state level — argue that parents have a right to receive information about their children’s gender identities at school. The new law comes after several California districts created policies mandating that school staff report to parents. ✂️ Minors in California can’t legally change their name or gender on their own. The new law doesn’t allow students to change their name or gender identity in official school records without parental consent.

10 Northeastern states agree to collaborate on interregional transmission development

This is a very smart move that other areas of the nation would do well to emulate.

From Utility Dive:

[On June 9th], ten Northeast states...announced a first-of-its-kind memorandum of understanding to work jointly on the planning and development of “robust interregional transmission infrastructure.”

The states, stretching from Maine to Maryland, will seek “mutually beneficial opportunities to increase the flow of electricity between three different planning regions in the Northeast and assess offshore wind infrastructure needs and solutions,” they said in a joint press release.

The states agreed to share technical data, solicitation guidance, regulatory updates, strategic plans, project status reports, research findings and more. The MOU does not include cost-sharing provisions, and specifies that all states are responsible for their own costs. ✂️ The MOU was signed by Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

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Good news from around the world

Gambian politicians upheld the country’s FGM ban

Thank goodness!!

From Positive News:

Politicians in Gambia have voted to uphold the country’s ban on female genital mutilation (FGM), heading off an attempt by hardliners to repeal the law. The ban was introduced to the west African nation in 2015, amid opposition from some Muslim clerics. According to Uniccef, a humanitarian aid organisation, Gambia has the ninth-highest rate of FGM in the world. “Although we regret attempts by campaigners to try and overturn the ban, we are pleased to see politicians live up to their commitments to end FGM,” said Binta Ceesay, women’s rights manager at the charity ActionAid Gambia. “Since FGM was banned nearly a decade ago, we have made encouraging strides in ending the practice, but it has not been enough. After voting to uphold the ban, we encourage politicians to redouble their efforts in ending this form of violence against women and girls forever.”

A ‘High-Tech, Low-Cost’ Approach to Community Mental Health Care in India

This is the first of two stories about the effectiveness of training women to help people in need of mental health care.

From Reasons to Be Cheerful:

Mental health care remains scarce in India, especially in rural regions, and the needs are enormous. Over 197 million people in a population of 1.3 billion have mental disorders, most commonly depression and anxiety. The suicide rate was at an all-time high in 2021 when 164,000 people died by suicide, or 120 suicide deaths per million people. India would need to add at least 100,000 psychiatrists to provide adequate mental health care, according to the Indian Journal of Psychiatry. ✂️ Geetha Jayaram [a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins,] knew she wanted to focus on women to make a difference: “Women suffer from depression and anxiety twofold or threefold the rate of men globally. Yet women are the key stakeholders in any community, the primary caregivers and drivers of any health care in the villages, so we targeted women first. When we treat women, we essentially take care of the entire family.” ✂️ She decided to tie in her experience at Johns Hopkins, her concern for poor women and her expertise in community psychiatry in 2002 to initiate Project Maanasi, a collaborative care program interlaced with primary care. Maanasi means “of sound mind.“ This term was coined by the villagers of Mugalur, a core village about 30 kilometers outside Bangalore. Maintaining her full-time job as a Johns Hopkins professor in Baltimore, she started the program in Mugalur in her spare time while also incorporating research and teaching medical students, residents and nurses at Saint John’s. “We started with a door-to-door epidemiological survey of 17,000 households to assess the mental health needs. Depression and substance abuse were the most common, as is the case the world over,” Jayaram found. A crucial part of the solution was to integrate psychiatric care into the existing primary care clinic at Saint John’s. “Patients can get their health care and vaccinations there,” she says, “which helps decrease obstacles to treatment and reduce the stigma surrounding psychiatric help.” Jayaram identified four women with a high school education who live in the villages and speak the local languages, and the project trained them to identify signs and symptoms of mental illness. Jayaram sees these women as the “backbone” of the program. ...The Maanasi project now serves a population of over two million households in 212 surrounding villages and offers medications at low or no cost to patients. “All this work has been made possible with Rotary grants and done with local Rotarians, primarily from the Bangalore Midtown Rotary club,” says Jayaram, who is a lifelong Rotarian and co-founded the Rotary Action Group on Mental Health Initiatives, which is now present in over 40 countries across the globe.

Zimbabwean grandmothers transform mental health care globally

This is a wonderful win-win for older women and people needing help with feelings of isolation and despair.

From Optimist Daily:

A deceptively simple yet revolutionary mental health therapy based on grandmothers’ wisdom and sensitivity took root in Zimbabwe. Now, it is being embraced around the world, including in the United States. Older women, equipped with basic training in problem-solving therapy, sit on benches in quiet corners of community clinics, churches, poor neighborhoods, and universities, ready to listen and engage in one-on-one conversations. This technique revives an ancient Zimbabwean practice in which grandmothers served as pillars of knowledge during difficult times. Dixon Chibanda, a psychiatry professor and founder of this initiative, notes, “Grandmothers are the custodians of local culture and wisdom. They are rooted in their communities.” Chibanda’s revolutionary mental health solution has received international praise. In 2022, the McNulty Foundation in the United States awarded him a $150,000 prize for transforming mental healthcare. The Friendship Bench concept has spread across Vietnam, Botswana, Malawi, Kenya, and Tanzania. It is also in its early stages in London. In New York City, the Friendship Bench has sparked new mental health programs. The city’s mental health plan, which was introduced last year, is “drawing inspiration” from the Friendship Bench to combat social isolation by installing orange benches throughout Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. HelpAge USA in Washington, D.C., is exploring the concept as part of the DC Grandparents for Mental Health campaign. Cindy Cox-Roman, president and CEO of HelpAge USA, reports that 20 grandmothers have received training in listening, empathizing, and empowering others. “Benches will be set up at places of worship, schools, and wellness centers in Washington’s low-income communities,” she says. Mental health stigma and a lack of faith in medical systems frequently limit access to care. “People are hurting, and a grandmother can always make you feel better,” Cox-Roman emphasizes. The grandmothers, including 81-year-old Barbara Allen, aim to reduce stigma and promote open discussions about feelings. “We have so much wisdom in our older population and arms that can open. I reject ageism,” Allen says emphatically.

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Good news in medicine

Gene discovery raised hopes of a pancreatic cancer cure

Finally a glimmer of hope in treating this horribly aggressive cancer.

From Positive News:

Scientists have hailed a potential breakthrough in the quest to cure one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Researchers from the UK and US have discovered that pancreatic cancer can “significantly shut down” a tumour-suppressing gene – known as HNF4A – allowing the cancer to spread and grow. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of the disease… . Fewer than 7% of people who are diagnosed with the disease live beyond five years. “Not only have we uncovered the tumour-suppressive role of HNF4A, but also how it is switched off from the very early stage of the disease,” said lead researcher Dr Maria Hatziapostolou, a scientist at Nottingham Trent University’s John van Geest Cancer Research Centre, England. “We hope that this new understanding … will help to pave the way for new therapeutics to help fight the disease.”

Researchers Discover New Hormone That Builds Strong Bones

This breakthrough discovery should result in much more effective treatments for osteoporosis that would also have many fewer dangerous side effects than the current bone-building drugs have.

From U.S. News & World Report:

A newly discovered hormone could help fight osteoporosis and quickly heal broken bones, researchers say. The research team identified Maternal Brain Hormone while trying to figure out why the bones of breastfeeding women remain relatively strong, even as calcium is stripped from the bones to support milk production. It turns out that the neurons of breastfeeding moms secrete Maternal Brain Hormone, and that this hormone protects their bone health. Bone mass and strength increased in both female and male mice when researchers boosted their levels of Maternal Brain Hormone, results show. Further, the hormone increased healing in bone fractures among elderly mice, essentially causing the broken bone to heal at a rate similar to that of a young mouse. “We’ve never been able to achieve this kind of mineralization and healing outcome with any other strategy,” researcher Thomas Ambrosi, an assistant professor at the University of California-Davis, said in a news release. “We’re really excited to follow it up and potentially apply (the hormone) in the context of other problems, such as regrowing cartilage.” Women are at high risk of osteoporosis during menopause because of declining levels of the female sex hormone estrogen, which normally promotes bone growth, researchers said in background notes. Estrogen levels are also low during breastfeeding, but those women are resistant to osteoporosis and broken bones, researchers said. This suggested that something other than estrogen promoted bone growth among them. Researchers eventually came across a hormone called CCN3 in a small brain region of lactating female mice. Without production of the hormone, these lactating mice rapidly lost bone and their babies began to lose weight – indicating that the hormone played a prominent role in maintain bone health. The research team gave CCN3 a new name, Maternal Brain Hormone. They found that in some female mice who were very old or without estrogen, the hormone was able to more than double bone mass.

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Good news in science

Eco-Friendly Sponges Made of Dairy Byproduct Can Extract Gold from Old Computer Parts This is one of those amazing scientific advances that make you wonder how they ever thought to try it! From Good News Network: Scientists have developed a way to dramatically reduce the cost of recycling certain electronic waste by using whey protein. Their method allows for the easy recovery of gold from circuit boards at a cost of energy and materials amounting to 50 times less than the price of the gold they recover—these are the numbers that big business likes to see. Indeed, the potential for scalability depends on this sort of cost savings, something traditional e-waste recycling methods just can’t achieve. A whey protein sponge attracting gold particles from salvaged motherboards. Professor Raffaele Mezzenga from ETH Zurich has found that whey protein, a byproduct of dairy manufacturing, can be used to make sponges that attract trace amounts of ionized gold. ✂️ Mezzenga’s colleague Mohammad Peydayesh first “denatured whey proteins under acidic conditions and high temperatures, so that they aggregated into protein nanofibrils in a gel,” writes the ETH Zurich press. “The scientists then dried the gel, creating a sponge out of these protein fibrils.” The next step was extracting the gold: done by tossing 20 salvaged motherboards into an acid bath until the metals had dissolved into ionized compounds that the sponge began attracting. Removing the sponge, a heat treatment caused the gold ions to aggregate into 22-carat gold flakes which could be easily removed. NASA Stunned by Discovery After Mars Rover Breaks Open a Rock “Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.” From Good News Network: NASA’s old but still kickin’ Curiosity rover drove over a boulder, which crumbled to reveal yellow sulfur crystals. Rocks made of pure sulfur have never been seen before on the Red Planet, and scientists say the conditions in which such crystals form aren’t associated with the location the rover was exploring. Since October 2023, the rover has been exploring a region of Mars rich with sulfates, a kind of salt that contains sulfur and forms as water evaporates. But where past detections have been of minerals consisting of a mix of sulfur and other materials, the rock Curiosity recently cracked open is made of elemental, or pure, sulfur. ✂️ NASA says it isn’t clear what relationship, if any, the elemental sulfur has to other sulfur-based minerals in the area. Curiosity’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, compared finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur to “finding an oasis in the desert. ...It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting”... * * * * *

Good news for the environment

Self-healing solar cells pave the way to a reliable solar future

As always, I’m in awe of the creativity of materials scientists.

From Anthropocene:

Silicon-based solar cells dominate the solar power market today. But a new type of solar power technology based on a material called perovskites promises solar panels that are more efficient, cheaper and easier to make, lightweight and perhaps even flexible. There is a dark side to perovskite photovoltaics though: they degrade under humidity and heat. This has kept the technology from scaling up and being adopted widely. But now, researchers from Monash University have developed perovskite solar cells that can heal themselves to maintain performance. This self-healing ability could be an important step towards increasing the reliance of next-generation perovskite solar panels. The researchers reported their new strategy in a new paper in the journal Nature. Solar power installations are going up around the world as the cost of solar panels has gone down in recent years. While silicon is the best technology available today, perovskite solar cells have an edge over them in terms of efficiency. Perovksites are also more abundant materials that are easy to make on large scale. And they could be more easily recyclable. Heat and water can create tiny defects in the perovskite layer that absorbs sunlight and converts it into electricity in a solar cell. So the researchers turned to a technique called defect passivation, which involves using special chemicals that react with or attach to those flaws and minimize them. The Monash researchers developed a special healing agent that has chemical bonds that break and recover under heat and moisture. They integrated this material into the perovskite layer so that when it is exposed to the environmental stressors that are usually its detriment, it recovers and maintains its performance.

The US is about to get its first solar-covered canal

The first of two stories about innovative uses of solar panels in Arizona.

From Canary Media:

The first canal-based solar project in the U.S. is nearing completion on tribal lands south of Phoenix, Arizona. ✂️ Thousands of miles of federally owned canals stretch across the country, channeling water to thirsty crops, rural communities, and hydropower plants. Placing solar panels over these canals could create a gigawatt-scale source of clean energy with lower environmental impact than large-scale solar farms, but so far the idea has been slow to catch on. A canal solar concept was deployed in India about a decade ago, and it inspired Ben Lepley, the founder of engineering firm Tectonicus, to create designs, prototypes, and techno-economic analysis for such a project in the U.S. Those plans have resulted in the soon-to-be-commissioned Casa Blanca installation — a 1.3 megawatt, half-mile-long pilot project located on the Casa Blanca Canal, part of an extensive canal network owned by the Gila River Indian Community. The pilot received money from a $25 million provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that supplies funding for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to design, study, and deploy projects that put solar panels over waterways. Lepley’s firm has also won a Department of Energy Small Business Innovation Research Grant and is working with the California Energy Commission and University of California, Merced on the project. It’s early days for this technology, but another canal installation, Project Nexus, in California’s Turlock Irrigation District, broke ground in May of this year and has already constructed foundations. Developers expect it to be completed in 2025.

Solar panels help Arizona farmers shade crops, save water and generate power

From Tucson.com:

By using solar panels, farmers can simultaneously protect their plants, save water and lower their energy bills – and some are doing just that with help from federal programs designed to encourage this sustainable method of growing. Photovoltaic panels are placed above the crops, harnessing the sun’s energy while providing valuable shade. ✂️ Three-fourths of Arizona’s water supply goes to agricultural irrigation, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources. The Colorado River Basin is in a Tier 1 water shortage, requiring restrictions for agricultural users. As drought continues, farmers are searching for new sustainable methods of growing. The University of Arizona, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has created an agrivoltaics research site to study the ways that solar farming could benefit the state. ✂️ The nonprofit organization Growing Green built an agrivoltaic plot on Spaces of Opportunity, a 19-acre community farm in Phoenix. Its small 4.8 kW system produces about 40% of the farm’s total energy needs, with a projected reduction of 17,000 lbs of carbon annually compared to conventional power generation, said Sarah Bendok, founder of Growing Green, and with more panels, “it can basically power everything on the farm. They have a cold storage where they put all of their produce that they want to store, the lights, the bathrooms, basically everything there.”

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Good news for and about animals

Brought to you by Rascal and Margot, and the beautiful spirits of Rosy and Nora.

Yaquina Head likely the new nesting home of tufted puffins for first time in decades

Rascal chose this story about the charming tufted puffins that inhabit the Oregon coast.

From Yachats News [Yachats — pronounced “yah-hots” — is a small town on Oregon’s central coast]:

Bird watcher and biologist Roy Lowe of Waldport took this photo [in late June] of a tufted puffin that has set up home on Yaquina Head just north of Newport. A pair of tufted puffins are likely nesting near Yaquina Head on the north edge of Newport for the first time since the late 1990s and birders are gathering in Lincoln County to witness the homecoming. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service visitor services manager Dawn Harris says two tufted puffins have been spotted in the area all month, indicating that the birds are likely nesting in the surrounding headlands. “It’s not unusual to see a puffin or two fly by Yaquina Head during the summertime nesting season,” Harris said. “That happens occasionally each summer. What’s unusual is that tufted puffins have been seen every day for almost a month.” Tufted puffins are in the middle of hatching season on the Oregon coast and the Yaquina Head pair were seen carrying fish in their beaks. This means the puffins likely have a nest of hatchlings nearby, Harris said. While the exact location of the nest is unknown, the sightings are frequently occurring near the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. “Right at the viewpoint behind the lighthouse is an outstanding area to watch seabirds in general,” Harris said. “That’s where everyone’s been seeing the puffins from too.” Although tufted puffins once nested in the area, the birds have virtually disappeared from Lincoln County in the last 25 years. In the 1980s as many as 5,000 tufted puffins nested on the Oregon coast. Today there are thought to be no more than 600. Harris said that the cause of the decline is unknown, but that there are likely multiple environmental factors affecting the species.

Over 700 cats saved after TikTok star saves injured cat, raises $190K

Margot loved this sweet story that features an injured cat, two human heroes, and over 700 more cats. Nora would have loved it, too.

From MySanAntonio:

A South Texas cat sanctuary struggling to keep up with its care of injured and hospice cats was on the verge of shutting down when it was rescued by a TikTok influencer and his community. The sanctuary director called the interaction with the normally Kansas-based influencer a "miracle." Spencer from SB Mowing is known for finding overgrown lawns and properties around the country and cleaning them for free for those who may not be able to do it themselves. A few years ago, he began documenting the process and, in time, growing a following of nearly 10 million on TikTok and over 2 million followers on YouTube. During a visit to the Lone Star State in February, Spencer came across an injured cat tucked between the weeds of a severely overgrown lawn he was mowing in Corpus Christi. The cat, later named Esbee, had multiple puncture wounds that had developed into an infected abscess from a believed dog or cat attack. Spencer called rescues in the area and only one accepted the injured cat: Edgar and Ivy's Cat Sanctuary. Director Anissa Beal said the cat was in rough shape and needed to be treated immediately. ✂️ Grateful for the work the sanctuary did for Esbee the cat, Spencer gave the shelter all the money he had on him, $100, and decided to start a GoFundMe to help the shelter. ...Within the same day, Spencer uploaded his video with the GoFundMe link, donations began flowing in and eventually totaled $190,000. And that's not all, Beal says the SB Mowing community sent in items from their Amazon wishlist, four truckloads to be exact. Anissa Beal and Esbee Before the donations, Beal said she funded a majority of the sanctuary out of her own pocket, paying about $80,000 a year in medications, supplies, etc. She told MySA she had reached a limit and was going to call the project quits. Before the donations, Beal said she funded a majority of the sanctuary out of her own pocket, paying about $80,000 a year in medications, supplies, etc. She told MySA she had reached a limit and was going to call the project quits. ✂️ Esbee, the cat, has since made a full recovery and is a full-time resident of the sanctuary. Beal says she received many requests to adopt him but didn't want him to end up in the wrong hands. “I felt it was the right way to keep him safe for the rest of his life, not just while he was in his 15 minutes of fame,” Beal said. Since the donation, Edgar and Ivy's Cat Sanctuary has been able to rescue over 700 cats and hopes to save many more in the future. As far as Esbee goes, he now runs the joint and is the main alpha male at the sanctuary.

These best boys and girls just graduated from the ATF's National Canine Academy

Rosy always admired the good dogs who sniff out explosives.

From NPR:

All across the country [during June], proud high school and college graduates have been beaming as they strut across stages to collect their well-earned diplomas. The same held true in Front Royal, Va., on Friday, where a group of seven Labrador retrievers collected their degrees from the National Canine Training Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. K-9 Maggie returns to her handler, Special Agent Lindsey Bates, during a demonstration of an explosives search following a graduation ceremony for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent Canine Handlers and their dogs at the ATF training facility in Front Royal, Va., on June 21. At a graduation ceremony held in the academy’s warehouse-like main hall, friends and family snapped photographs of Class 148, five black Labs and two yellow Labs, who collected their certificates and shiny new ATF badges. ✂️ The dogs have just completed a 24-week program. The first phase involves basic obedience skills and detecting various explosives, compounds and mixtures. In the second phase, the dog is matched with its handler, an ATF special agent, and together they train to search for explosives in operational environments like schools, vehicles and warehouses. ...the canines are now trained to detect, in theory, 19,000 different explosive compounds. “They get about 25 odors while they’re here,” [said lead instructor Shawn Crawford]. “We base our methodology on a six-family theory. And if it’s commercial, homemade or military, it’s going to have to have one of these six base ingredients.” He uses an analogy to explain: “If we train the dog to find pure white sugar, think how many different things sugar is in,” he said. “Everything has sugar in it, and they could pick that sugar out.”

Margot has been enjoying her new job as an animal news editor, and she has her own ideas about how to do it. She immediately noticed that although the section is called “Good news for and about animals,” the only stories are about birds, cats, and dogs. “What about all the other animals in the world?” she asked. So she wanted to include this encouraging story about Galapagos tortoises, which Rascal approved because it also includes some good news about a Galapagos albatross:

500 Giant Tortoises Reintroduced to Four Galapagos Islands in 2023

From Good News Network:

2023 was a banner year for the Galapagos Islands: that wondrous archipelago so famous for its giant tortoises and other endemic species. The long-serving conservation organization the Galapagos Conservancy, also endemic to the islands, recently published its annual report featuring standout figures like over 500 giant tortoises of 5 different species reintroduced to their natural habitat. ✂️ Juvenile tortoises released into their natural habitat on Isabela Island 30 Chelonoidis chatamensis tortoises endemic to the smaller island of San Cristobal were repatriated to their natural habitat from the stock of a captive breeding program, while 97 native tortoises were returned to the second-largest island of Santa Cruz. On the largest island of Isabela, 350 tortoises (214 C. guntheri and 136 C. vicina) were successfully reintroduced to their natural habitat after a survey found their numbers were not rising substantially on their own. In March, the repatriation of 86 juvenile Chelonoidis hoodensis tortoises significantly contributed to enhancing the species’ distribution across their native habitat. They currently number 3,000 today on Española or Hood Island, a miraculous recovery from the 14 found there in the 1960s. Also on Española, the endemic waved albatross was found to be taking off and landing on 50 additional parts of the island. These large birds, boasting an 8-foot wingspan, need ample space to get a running start before taking off, and this same principle applies when applying the brakes coming down from the sky. In the survey, the biologists observed that concentrations of giant tortoises were linked with the usage of areas as runways for the albatross. Because the tortoises are the largest herbivores in the ecosystem, they perform the same acts as bison do in North America and Europe, and elephants in Africa—clear space. With their herbivorous diet and large bulk, the tortoise’s feeding habits produce cleared areas ideal for albatross use.

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