Good News Headlines 12/22/2025
Photo courtesy Colorado Department of Transportation
North America’s ‘Largest Wildlife Overpass’ Is Finally Complete. It’s Expected To Reduce Wildlife-Vehicle Crashes By 90%
by Meghan Cook, GoodGoodGood
Every day, more than 100,000 vehicles travel up and down Interstate 25, a freeway that connects major cities in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. The six-lane highway is also a crucial crossing point for countless elk, pronghorn, mule deer, mountain lions, and black bears — and now, thanks to the Colorado Department of Transportation, they can travel across 39,000 acres of open habitat in peace. On December 16, Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced the completion of the I-25 wildlife overpass.
Her 1951 Walkout Helped End School Segregation. Now Her Statue Is In The U.S. Capitol
by Rachel Treisman, NPR
In 1951, a Black teenager led a walkout of her segregated Virginia high school. On Tuesday, her statue replaced that of a Confederate general in the U.S. Capitol. Barbara Rose Johns was 16 when she mobilized hundreds of students to walk out of Farmville’s Robert Russa Moton High School to protest its overcrowded conditions and inferior facilities compared to those of the town’s white high school. That fight was taken up by the NAACP and eventually became one of the five cases that the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed in Brown v. Board of Education, whose landmark 1954 ruling declared school segregation unconstitutional.
He Carries Shelter Dogs Around the City in a Backpack to Help Get them Adopted
by Nathan Frederick, Good News Network
It all started with a Corgi in a backpack in a crowded subway car. Bryan Reisberg noticed that his dog Maxine had a way of cheering people up, bringing some light into their lives during their daily commutes underground. Serious faces became smiles. Stress faded. Heavy loads got lighter. It’s hard not to be happy when there’s a Corgi staring at you from inside a backpack. Before long, Reisberg, a New York City resident, started posting videos of his urban adventures with Maxine on social media. Soon, his dog won over everyone on the web too, growing into a viral sensation with millions of views.
Deep-Sea Mining: Norway Halts Controversial Practice Until 2029
by Liam Gilliver, Euro News
Norway has postponed controversial deep–sea mining plans, a delay environmentalists say must be “the nail in the coffin” for the industry. Yesterday (3 December) the country’s Labour government confirmed it will not issue licenses for deep-sea mining during the current legislative term, which doesn’t end until 2029. The agreement follows intense negotiations between Labour, the Socialist Left Party, the Green Party, the Red Party and the Centre Party. While Labour leads the government, it does not have a majority on its own and needed support from other political parties to get its 2026 State budget across the line.
CNN Hero of the Year Turns Vacant Lots on Chicago’s South Side into Flower Farms
by Andy Corbley, Good News Network
Hope and opportunity are blossoming on the South Side of Chicago where a man and his wife have used flowers to help poor communities turn over a new leaf. Running two nonprofits, Southside Blooms and Chicago Eco House, Quilen Blackwell and his wife Hannah Bonham are helping at-risk youth find opportunity while simultaneously cutting into the billions Americans spend every year importing cut flowers from the tropics. Blackwell’s work earned him the CNN Hero of the Year Award at the 19th edition of the honor, organized by the cable news outlet with support from corporate sponsors.
