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Happy Holiday Eve — GNR for December 24, 2024 [1]

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

Date: 2024-12-24  

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Good news from my corner of the world

Swearing in next round of Portland City Council marks historic transition

I’m very excited about this. For the first time, Portlanders will have city councilors who are accountable and accessible to voters in their district. The new council is also much more diverse than it has ever been, with an impressive mix of backgrounds, ethnicities, skills, and political affiliations. The three members from my district, for example, include a woman with decades of experience in local government, a man who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community with experience in county government, and a man who is an economist and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

I’ll be paying close attention to the new council’s deliberations and decisions, and I’ll keep sharing news about them here. Wish them and our city good luck!

From KOIN:

A good balance: six men, six women, and many different backgrounds The newly-elected members of Portland’s city government were officially sworn in Thursday, marking a historic transition that will define the city’s future after an election with ranked-choice voting. Mayor-elect Keith Wilson was voted into office using Portland’s new ranked-choice voting system… . A voter-approved ballot measure in 2022 changed Portland’s bureaucratic structure from a commission form of government to a representative form of government, meaning the City of Portland will no longer be led by four commissioners elected at large. Starting in January, 12 councilors will lead the city in representation of four districts throughout the city. The city councilors also won’t be in control of individual bureaus, as it was in the previous form of government. Instead, the elected city councilors will focus on creating laws while individual bureaus will be controlled by a city administrator, and deputy city administrators, underneath the mayor’s office. The role of the mayor will also change as the position will no longer be part of the city council or vote alongside them. ✂️ A diverse group in terms of ethnicity, income and political experience, this version of Portland City Council is expected to face a number of problems in the city from homelessness to the economy. ... But all of them expressed that they are ready to get started. “I was a big believer in districts. I’m a Portland-born boy — glad to see districts in my lifetime,” District 4’s Eric Zimmerman said. “I think it’s super important to have a city government that actually represents every quadrant of the city.”

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Good news from around the nation

This is the largest section in today’s GNR by far. So many people around the nation doing good things!

Arkansas Law Criminalizing Librarians Ruled Unconstitutional

These ridiculous MAGA-Nanny laws never stand up to legal scrutiny. Thank goodness for federal judges, and for all the new ones we have because of President Biden!

From Huffpost:

A federal judge on Monday struck down key parts of an Arkansas law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks found that elements of the law are unconstitutional. “I respect the court’s ruling and will appeal,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement to The Associated Press. The law would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be relocated to areas not accessible to children. The measure was signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2023, but an earlier ruling had temporarily blocked it from taking effect while it was being challenged in court. “The law deputizes librarians and booksellers as the agents of censorship; when motivated by the fear of jail time, it is likely they will shelve only books fit for young children and segregate or discard the rest,” Brooks wrote in his ruling. A coalition that included the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock had challenged the law, saying fear of prosecution under the measure could prompt libraries and booksellers to no longer carry titles that could be challenged.

Montana supreme court upholds right to ‘stable climate system’ for youngsters

The fact that the Montana constitution includes an amendment requiring the state to protect and improve the environment is what made this suit winnable. But the win could bolster similar efforts elsewhere.

🎩 to Jessiestaf for including this in yesterday’s GNR. The article below provides some more details.

From The Guardian:

Montana’s top court on Wednesday held that the state’s constitution guaranteed a right to a stable climate system and invalidated a law barring regulators from considering the effects of greenhouse gas emissions when permitting new fossil fuel projects. The Montana supreme court upheld a landmark trial court decision last August in favor of 16 young people who said their health and futures were being jeopardized by climate change, which the state aggravates through its permitting of energy projects. The 6-1 decision, the first of its kind by a US state supreme court, came in the first lawsuit to go to trial nationwide by young environmental activists challenging state and federal policies they say are exacerbating climate change. ✂️ In a case that made headlines across the US and internationally, the 16 plaintiffs, aged five to 22, had alleged the state government’s pro-fossil fuel policies contributed to climate change. In trial hearings in June last year, they testified that these policies therefore violated provisions in the state constitution that guarantee a “clean and healthful environment”, among other constitutional protections. The following month district court judge Kathy Seeley ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. At the time, the plaintiffs’ lawyers described the first-of-its-kind ruling as a “gamechanger” and a “sweeping win”, which campaigners hope will give a boost to similar cases tackling the climate crisis. Wednesday’s ruling rejected Republican-led Montana’s bid to overturn Seeley’s 2023 decision that said the young people had a right to a clean and healthful environment under a 1972 amendment to Montana’s constitution that required the state to protect and improve the environment. “Montana’s right to a clean and healthful environment and environmental life support system includes a stable climate system,” chief justice Mike McGrath wrote for the majority.

Starbucks strike expands, closes nearly 60 US stores

This strike keeps growing. Please support Starbuck’s workers by not crossing picket lines and by donating to their strike fund if you can: secure.actblue.com/… The company has been using shockingly unfair and illegal tactics against the union members and organizers.

From ABC News:

A five-day strike by Starbucks baristas had closed 59 stores as of Monday afternoon, according to the union organizing the workers. The strike, which began Friday in Los Angeles, Chicago and Starbucks' hometown of Seattle, spread Monday to stores in Boston, Dallas and Portland, Ore. Workers in New York, Denver, Pittsburgh and other cities had also joined the strike over the weekend. Workers are protesting a lack of progress in contract negotiation with the company. Starbucks Workers United, which began the unionization effort in 2021, said Starbucks has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year. The union also wants the company to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. Since 2021, baristas at 535 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to join the union. The strike comes at one of the busiest times of the year for Starbucks. But the company said Monday it has had “no significant impact” to its store operations. Starbucks has around 10,000 company-operated stores in the U.S.

Amazon faces multiple pickets as union targets holiday shopping rush

Amazon claims that their operations haven’t been affected, but a strike during the holidays definitely gets the public’s attention. The plight of Amazon workers has been hidden for much too long.

Update: AOC joined the picket line at the Amazon facility in Queens on Sunday, one of the coldest days of the year so far:

That’s AOC on the far right.

From NPR:

Amazon faced a coordinated picket effort as drivers and warehouse workers at multiple locations around the U.S. on Thursday pressed the retail giant to recognize their unions. The campaign launched by the Teamsters union comes during the holiday-shopping rush, though Amazon says it has not affected operations. The union had said workers would strike at seven locations in major delivery hubs: around the cities of New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco and that it had organized the "largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history." By the afternoon, according to NPR's reporters and media photos, picketers at some of the locations numbered in the dozens. Other workers appeared to continue their work day as usual; vans and trucks arrived and left. The strikes are part of a new push by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to get Amazon to negotiate a collective-bargaining agreement with its unionized workers for better pay, benefits, workplace safety and other conditions. Outside the Amazon facility in Alpharetta, Ga., about two dozen people in fluorescent yellow vests marched and chanted, as delivery trucks and vans continued to enter and exit the facility. Gregory Dunn, 29, who's worked as a delivery driver for about a year, said he hoped some of those drivers would join the picket line. "I may look like a needle in a haystack, but we all fighting for the same thing," Dunn said. "I'm fighting for all my brothers sisters out here. They may not see the vision now, but they will see the vision soon."

L.A. City Council backs $30 minimum wage for hotel and LAX workers in 2028

This is great news. Of course, the hotel owners and business leaders are sqauwking about the increased wages “wreaking havoc” on LA’s economy, but history shows that none of those nightmare scenarios ever materialize.

From Los Angeles Times (free link via Chop Wood, Carry Water):

The Los Angeles City Council voted [on Dec. 11] to hike the minimum wage for more than 23,000 tourism workers, handing a huge victory to labor unions whose members have struggled to keep up with the rising cost of food, rent and other expenses. On a 12-3 vote, council members instructed City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto to draft the legal language needed to push those wages to a minimum of $30 per hour by July 2028, just as the city hosts the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. During a meeting that lasted more than five hours, council members touted the economic benefits of a higher tourism wage, saying it would prompt workers to spend more money across the region — and, as a result, spur the creation of thousands of new jobs. ✂️ Councilmember John Lee, who represents the northwest San Fernando Valley, voted against the proposal, warning his colleagues they were about to “take an ax to the local economy.” Councilmembers Traci Park and Monica Rodriguez also voted no, saying they fear hotels and other businesses will scale back operations, cutting employees or turning to automation. ✂️ The campaign for the so-called Olympic wage had been spearheaded by Unite Here Local 11, which represents hotel and restaurant workers, and United Service Workers West, a local of the Service Employees International Union whose members work at Los Angeles International Airport. Both organizations staged rallies, led marches and, this week, organized a three-day fast by tourism workers stationed outside City Hall. ✂️ Business leaders said the wage increases — coupled with the new or increased healthcare payments — would wreak havoc on the city’s hotels and LAX concessionaires. Some hotel owners said they are rethinking their participation in room block agreements needed for the Olympic Games, while others said they are looking at closing their dining operations. ✂️ David Roland-Holst, a Berkeley-based economist hired by the city to assess the proposal, largely dismissed the dire warnings. Appearing before the council, he said he expects that hotels will accommodate their increased labor costs by raising prices by an average of 6%. Although some job losses will occur, the wage hikes will ultimately serve as a “potent tool for economic growth,” spurring the creation of 6,000 full-time jobs in L.A. by 2028, he said. “We don’t see any empirical evidence of massive layoffs in response to minimum wages anywhere in California,” Roland-Holst said.

Disney Reaches $233M Settlement in Minimum Wage Lawsuit

After trying to squirm out of minimum wage requirements for years, Disney has finally been forced to settle a class action suit brought by underpaid Disneyland workers. Good.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

After a five-year legal battle over claims of dodging minimum wage requirements, Disney will pay $233 million to settle a class action representing more than 50,000 underpaid Disneyland workers. ✂️ Anaheim voters’ passage in 2018 of Measure L — which forced hospitality businesses that receive tax rebates to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, with bumps tied to inflation — sparked the lawsuit. After the initiative was approved, Disney moved to end $267 million in subsidies for a luxury hotel to evade the mandate. Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, also called to end a decades-long moratorium on entertainment taxes. Workers filed a proposed class action in Orange County Superior Court, pointing to a series of deals with Anaheim in 1996 under which over $200 million in tax rebates were granted to Disney to help finance the construction of California Adventure and a parking garage. The five workers who filed the lawsuit earned between $12 to $14.25 per hour working at the resort, according to the complaint. Disney maintained it’s not covered by Measure L. It argued that the word “rebate” as defined in the ordinance is limited to the return of taxes paid by residents. The court sided with the entertainment giant, finding that it doesn’t enjoy a city subsidy. Last year, a state appeals court reversed the decision. A three-judge panel of California’s 4th District Court of Appeal, citing employee protections in the measure, concluded that the 1996 agreements constitute subsidies since they afford Disney the “right to receive a return of taxes.” The state Supreme Court declined to review the case. ✂️ In July, Disney negotiated an agreement with Master Services — Disneyland’s largest union representing more than 13,000 cast members who work in attractions, custodial and merchandise — that raised base pay to $24 per hour. A 2018 survey from Occidental College and Economic Roundtable found that Disneyland employees reported high instances of homelessness, food insecurity and low wages. Nearly 75 percent of respondents said they don’t earn enough money to pay for basic expenses, with ten percent saying that they’ve recently been homeless or didn’t have a place of their own to sleep. More than 85 percent of union workers earn less than $15 per hour, it concluded.

Amtrak Set to Debut Country’s New High-Speed Electric Trains in Spring 2025

This is great news for commuters in the Northeast Corridor. My neck of the woods is also looking seriously at high-speed rail from Portland to Seattle to Vancouver BC thanks to a $49.7 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to determine feasibility.

From Nice News:

Not only is [Amtrak] the country’s sole high-speed rail operator, but it deploys over 300 trains every day in 46 states. But now it’s expanding its services even further — and enhancing rider experience, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and generating jobs in the process. The company is debuting NextGen Acela in the spring of 2025: a fleet of 28 next-generation high-speed electric trains coming to the Northeast Corridor tracks, the busiest in the nation. ✂️ Commuters will benefit from shorter trips, as the new trains can max out at 160 mph instead of the current 150, and a more comfortable experience, thanks to ample leg room and winged headrests for privacy. Riders will have access to personal outlets and USB ports for charging, as well as free Wi-Fi. And last-minute travelers may be more likely to find a seat, as the total capacity will increase by almost 70%. Plus, the novel fleet is helping the planet as much as it is the individual rider. The new seats are made out of recycled leather, and the cars will offer a sustainable food and beverage program. Most importantly, the trains will cut energy consumption by at least 20%. Per Amtrak, the project has led to a wealth of employment opportunities. Ninety-five percent of the trains’ parts are made in the U.S., creating over 1,300 new jobs in more than 90 cities. This is due in part to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in 2021. The bill allotted Amtrak $22 billion over five years, some of which went toward modernizing the electric fleet.

A mother's voice: Storybooks bring comfort to children of inmates through Riley's Readers

This is an encouraging small step toward making incarceration less traumatizing for parents and children. Of course, the entire U.S. prison system needs massive re-thinking and reform.

From WLTX News 19 (Columbia, SC):

Mothers and grandmothers at the Camille Graham and Goodman Correctional Institutions celebrated the holiday season with their children and families through a program designed to bridge the gap created by incarceration. As part of the institution's Riley’s Readers program, inmates recorded storybooks to gift their children for Christmas. The initiative allows children to hear their parent’s voice reading to them, offering a sense of connection despite the distance. ✂️ In 2016, South Carolina Corrections Director Bryan Stirling created Riley's Readers to help incarcerated parents maintain bonds with their children. Stirling, dressed in a festive holiday outfit, attended the event alongside Miss South Carolina, Davis Wash. Wash, who has personal experience with parental incarceration, shared her story with the families. “My dad was incarcerated. He was in prison for six months,” Wash said while sitting with [a mother] and her children. “I love these kinds of events because they give kids a chance to feel a little bit of a normal holiday season. It’s about love and connection.” Wash’s relationship with her father has since blossomed, offering hope to [other] families. Since the program's inception, Riley’s Readers has expanded to all 21 state prisons in South Carolina, distributing 661 books to children.

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Good news from around the world

President of Panama fires back at Trump: Canal ‘belongs to Panama’

This is the way to deal with Cheetolini.

From The Hill:

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino shot back on Sunday after President-elect Trump suggested the Panama Canal return to U.S. control. “As President, I want to express clearly that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone belongs to Panama, and will continue to do so,” Mulino said in video statement,according to an English translation. “The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.” “The Canal is not under direct or indirect control, neither by China, nor by the European Community, nor by the United States, nor by any other power,” Mulino said. “As a Panamanian, I strongly reject any manifestation that distorts this reality.” “Panama respects other nations and demands respect,” he added.

Russia’s war machine is running on fumes as industry warns of bankruptcies and the Kremlin gets old tanks from movie studio

So much for resurrecting the old Russian empire, Vlad. Putting movie prop tanks back onto the battlefield is just plain pitiful.

From Fortune, via MSN:

More evidence is piling up that Russia's military-industrial complex is nearing the brink after nearly three years of fighting in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin mobilized the economy for Russia's invasion, resulting in massive amounts of state funds for defense contractors along with low unemployment as working-age people build weapons in factories or serve on the front lines. But that also stoked inflation, which has hit 9% and even forced Putin to acknowledge that it's "alarming." Russia's central [bank] has hiked its benchmark rate to 21% to rein in prices, but businesses are feeling the strain of all that monetary tightening. In recent months, leaders in the defense industry and adjacent sectors that are critical to the war machine have sounded alarms. The head of state arms giant RosTec warned that if rates stayed high, "then practically a majority of our enterprises will go bankrupt." ...And the head of the Chelyabinsk Forge and Press Plant said at an economic forum that key areas of mechanical engineering could "collapse." Contractors in the Russian defense industry are reporting non-payments and higher financing costs, Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told the Washington Post. Meanwhile, other analysts have predicted that the Russian economy can't sustain Putin’s war on Ukraine past next year as the ability to replace battlefield losses with Cold War weapons runs out. ...The situation was dire even last year, when Russia's largest movie studio donated about 50 tanks and armored vehicles from the 1950s that it had been using as props.

The Georgia protests continue

These protestors are truly inspiring. And I bet they’ll prevail.

Tbilisi, Day 25, 8pm. Incredible scenes now on Rustaveli Ave, with 1000s on the streets again. This is what resistance looks like! A refusal by the people to accept a Russian future; a demand for fair elections. An inspiration to all democracies facing threats. #GeorgiaProtests 🇬🇪 (🎥Ezz Gaber)

@newseye.bsky.social) December 22, 2024 at 8:49 AM

Tens of thousands of Serbs protest against President Aleksandar Vucic

I hadn’t been aware until recently that Serbs are also protesting against their corrupt government. May the protests spread!!

From EuroNews:

People attend a protest against the Serbian authorities in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. Students and farmer unions organised the rally against President Aleksandar Vucic at a central square in Serbia's capital Belgrade on Sunday. His tight grip on power has been challenged by weeks of street protests led by university students and the rally at Belgrade's Slavija Square was one of the largest in recent years. It was part of a wider movement demanding accountability over the Nov. 1 collapse of a canopy at a railway station in the country's north that killed 15 people. Smaller rallies were also held in the cities of Nis and Kragujevac. The rally in Belgrade started with a 15-minute silence for the victims, and later chants of “You have blood on your hands!” were heard. Many in Serbia blame the collapse on widespread corruption and sloppy work on the railway station building in the city of Novi Sad that was twice renovated in recent years as part of questionable mega projects involving Chinese state companies. Protesters demand that Vucic and those responsible face justice. Serbia's popular theatre and movie actors joined the protest, with actor Bane Trifunovic describing Sunday’s rally as “a festival of freedom.” ✂️ The weeks long protests reflect wider discontent with Vucic's rule. Vucic formally says he wants to take Serbia into the European Union but has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms rather than advancing them. Opposition parties have said a transitional government that would prepare a free and fair election could be a way out of the political tensions as ruling party also have been accused of rigging past votes.

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Musical break

The intro to this wonderful video on YouTube states:

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters… performed by a Ukrainian warrior on the frontlines on bandura (a national Ukrainian instrument) 🤘🇺🇦 The amazing power of music in action… a light in dark places, even when all other lights go out… This is a video of Taras Stoliar, a renowned musician of the National Orchestra of Ukraine, who went to defend his country on the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, taken somewhere near Kupiansk. Before the war Taras travelled the world as a musician, has been a part of Riccardo Muti’s project and many other amazing projects around the world… yet today he is a part of Ukrainian "Cultural Forces" shining a light of hope through the power of music to the many warriors on the frontlines of this terrible war.

x YouTube Video

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Good news in medicine

Cure for Pre-Eclampsia is On Horizon as Researcher Discovers Lipid Nanoparticle to Deliver Directly to Placenta

Pre-eclampsia can cause premature births, stillbirths, and maternal mortality, and Black women are 60% more likely than white women to experience it. The existing treatments are inadequate, so this breakthrough is extremely important and promising.

From Good News Network:

Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have made a critical breakthrough that promises better outcomes for pregnancies threatened with pre-eclampsia, a condition that arises due to insufficient blood flow to the placenta, resulting in high maternal blood pressure and restricted blood flow to the fetus. Pre-eclampsia is one of the leading causes of stillbirths and prematurity worldwide, and it occurs in 3 to 5% of pregnancies. Without a cure, options for these patients only treat symptoms, such as taking blood pressure medication, being on bed rest, or delivering prematurely—regardless of the viability of their baby. ...for Kelsey Swingle, a doctoral student in the UPenn bioengineering lab, these options are not enough. Kelsey Swingle in the lab In previous research, she conducted a successful proof-of-concept study that examined a library of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)—which are the delivery molecules that helped get the mRNA of the COVID vaccine into cells—and their ability to reach the placenta in pregnant mice. In her latest study, published in Nature, Swingle examined 98 different LNPs and their ability to get to the placenta and decrease high blood pressure and increase vasodilation in pre-eclamptic pregnant mice. Her work shows that the best LNP for the job was one that resulted in more than 100-fold greater mRNA delivery to the placenta in pregnant mice than an FDA-approved LNP formulation. The drug worked. “Our LNP was able to deliver an mRNA therapeutic that reduced maternal blood pressure through the end of gestation and improved fetal health and blood circulation in the placenta,” says Swingle.“Additionally, at birth we saw an increase in litter weight of the pups, which indicates a healthy mom and healthy babies. I am very excited about this work and its current stage because it could offer a real treatment for pre-eclampsia in human patients in the very near future.”

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Good news in science

Scientists peered into a secret Antarctic lake hidden beneath the ice — and uncovered a never-before-seen ecosystem

Fascinating!

From LiveScience:

Image showing the floor of Lake Enigma at a depth of 30 feet. Lake Enigma sits beneath the ice in Victoria Land, Antarctica. Antarctica's Lake Enigma certainly lives up to its name. The permanently ice-covered lake, named for the peculiar cone of debris at its center, was until recently thought to be frozen solid. But scientists have discovered a layer of fresh water hidden beneath the ice-covered surface — and it's populated by a diverse cast of microorganisms. During an expedition to Antarctica from November 2019 to January 2020, researchers surveyed the lake with ground-penetrating radar and detected at least 40 feet (12 meters) of liquid water under the ice. The researchers then drilled into the ice and sent a camera to explore the lake's depths. The team first tested the water to determine where it came from. This was important to establish because the area has low precipitation, high winds and intense solar evaporation, so any water in Lake Enigma should have dried up long ago. Based on the chemical composition of salts in the water, the researchers hypothesized that the lake's water is consistently replenished by the nearby Amorphous Glacier through an unknown underground pathway. The scientists found that, despite being isolated from the atmosphere, the waters of Lake Enigma are home to several kinds of microbial life, which cover the bottom of the lake in blobs known as microbial mats. Many of these organisms are photosynthetic, giving the lake a high concentration of dissolved oxygen. Some of the mats formed thin, spiky coatings on the lakebed. Others resembled "a crumpled thick carpet, sometimes forming large amorphous tree-like structures up to 40 cm [centimeters, or 16 inches] high and up to 50 to 60 cm [20 to 24 inches] in diameter," the researchers wrote in the study, published Dec. 3 in the journal Communications Earth and Environment. The microbial residents included several species of Patescibacteria — tiny, single-celled organisms that attach themselves to larger host cells to form either mutually beneficial or predatory relationships. These organisms had never before been found in ice-covered lakes and don't normally thrive in high-oxygen conditions, suggesting that these Patescibacteria may have developed unique metabolic tricks to survive.

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Good news for the environment

Norway suspends controversial deep-sea mining plan

This pause in the plan to allow deep-sea mining is excellent news — may that pause now become permanent!

From BBC:

Norway has paused its controversial project to open up its seabed for commercial-scale deep-sea mining. Oslo had planned to let companies apply to mine 280,000 sq km (108,000 sq miles) of its waters for precious metals - an area bigger than the size of the UK. The move was blocked after the country’s Socialist Left Party said it would not support the government’s budget unless it scrapped the first licensing round, set for 2025. Environmental scientists had warned the move could be catastrophic for marine life, while the plans were opposed by 32 countries including France, Canada, Brazil and Germany. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoer called Sunday's development a “postponement” and said preparatory work on regulations and environmental impact would continue. Greenpeace Norway's Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle said the pause was "a huge win. ...It has been truly embarrassing to watch Norway positioning itself as an ocean leader, while planning to give green light to ocean destruction in its own waters."

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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.

Endangered Thick-Billed Parrot That Once Roamed the US Is on the Way to Recovery

Rascal applauds these little guys, who look a lot like himself. “The more parrots, the better” is definitely his motto.

From Good News Network:

Thick-billed parrots A public-private partnership in Mexico just announced that the current population of thick-billed parrots is approximately 2,500 individuals—at least 10% higher than that recorded 12 years ago. The number was determined in a recent population survey in a protected area in the state of Chihuahua, where once upon a time this charismatic species roamed north into the United States. The thick-billed parrot is an emblematic species of the temperate forests of the Sierra Madre Occidental and once occurred in both Arizona and New Mexico. Since 1995, this species, listed in danger of extinction by the Mexican government, has been the subject of numerous studies and actions for protection and management, while the mountain forests on which it depends have been the focus of extensive reforestation. These efforts, led by the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (CONANP) and the civil organization Organización Vida Silvestre (OVIS), along with the participation of local communities and other organizations in the US and Mexico, are yielding encouraging results as demonstrated by the increase in population, a statement from OVIS details. ✂️ If populations recover substantially enough in Mexico, it may happen that the bird recolonizes its former haunts in the Southwestern US without the need for intervention from scientists. Thick-billed parrots in flight

Curled up cat = golden ratio

Margot says, “Of course!”

CNN’s Hero of the Year Founded a Dog Foster Program For Owners Who are Recovering Addicts Going to Rehab

Rosy would have loved this story so much! BTW, If you’d like to make a Go Fund Me donation to Dogs Matter (every donation will be matched up to $50,000), here’s the link: www.gofundme.com/...

From Good News Network:

A former addict who started a nonprofit to foster pets when their owners are seeking substance abuse treatment was named the 2024 CNN Hero of the Year. Stephen Knight will receive over $100,000 to continue his life-changing work. His Texas organization Dogs Matter covers pet care expenses for the foster family and provides post-release services to help human participants succeed with their sobriety. ✂️ In 2011, at the age of 51, Stephen had lost everything to meth addiction—his family, his job, his home, and nearly his life. HIV positive, and living out of his car, Knight entered rehab at the behest of his mother—but it was a face-to-face meeting with a little dog that changed his life. CNN described it this way: “After months of treatment, and at a delicate time in his recovery, a friend showed up at his door in tears. She had relapsed, and in her arms was her beloved dog, Jayde. “Knight’s friend said no one would take Jayde, and she asked Knight for a ride to a shelter so she could surrender her.” Knight told CNN, “I looked at Jayde, and we looked at each other. It was one of the most spiritual moments, like ‘I think we might need each other here.’” Knight realized that some addicts were delaying or forgoing treatment because they could not find suitable housing for their pets—and in 2015 Dogs Matter became a registered nonprofit. As Knight approaches 14 years sober, his organization has helped more than 1,200 dogs and their owners. “This means everything. I represent so much here. I represent the recovery community (and) the dog rescue community,” he said during his surprise win at the 2024 CNN awards gala in early December (see below). “This is going to be able to take us to the next level.” The public can donate via GoFundMe to any of the 5 semi-finalist winners through January 5, 2025, thanks to a partnership with the Elevate Prize Foundation which will match every contribution dollar for dollar, up to $50,000 per hero. So far, over $120,000 has been raised (and the amount will double for the Heroes).

Oregon gets $33M to construct wildlife crossing over I-5 in southwest Oregon

As regular readers know, Margot likes to choose a story about animals other than birds, cats, and dogs. This week she chose this great news for wild critters in southern Oregon. “300 species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, including deer, bear, elk and cougars” — oh my!!

From The Oregonian:

The Oregon Department of Transportation will receive $33 million in federal funding to construct a wildlife crossing over Interstate 5 in southwest Oregon, state officials said. A deer who will now be able to cross I-5 safely. The crossing, the first of its kind over the highway, will connect the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, an ecologically diverse protected area of 114,000 acres south of Ashland that’s bisected by I-5. The monument is home to 300 species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, including deer, bear, elk and cougars. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the crossing will improve the movement of animals through the landscape and protect drivers from dangerous wildlife collisions and vehicle damage. The crossing will reconstruct a previously naturally occurring wildlife corridor. It builds on a community-initiated effort to construct a network of wildlife crossings in southern Oregon. Once complete, the new crossing will be among the largest in the nation, public officials said. The funding, via the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress in 2022, was secured by Oregon’s U.S. senators, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden.

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