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Good News Headlines 7/3/2023

The Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act has passed in California. It prohibits any person or public agency from importing, exporting, removing, owning, buying or selling western Joshua trees or any of their parts.

Good News Headlines 6/26/2023

Huynh Tieu Huong, whom national media has dubbed ‘Mother Teresa of Vietnam,’ overcame decades of homelessness to help hundreds of orphans and now runs a non-profit organization dedicated to the adoption, support, and free offering of loving kindness to foundlings, orphans, and homeless children.

Approaching The Infopocalypse

The incentive for siloed social networks to monetize attention has empowered a new kind of distributed propaganda crafted to fit niche audiences living in their own reality. Without institutions and practices that can establish and preserve the credibility of information, there is no solid ground for democratic discourse.

EU Approves Draft Law To Regulate AI – Here’s How It Will Work

The European Parliament voted to approve its own draft proposal for the AI Act, a piece of legislation two years in the making, with the ambition of shaping global standards in the regulation of AI.

Inside Science Fiction’s Compassionate Revolution

The science fiction and fantasy genre, which concerns itself so frequently with distant stars and imaginary lands, has become a space in which the prominence of women, people of color, and LGBTQ people most closely mirrors real-world America.

Good News Headlines 6/19/2023

Whisper it, but the boom in plastic production could come to a shuddering halt as a plastics treaty agreed to this month by the world’s governments could cut production by 80% by 2040.

Why This Year’s Summer Solstice Matters So Much For A New Religious Movement Mired In Controversy

As the community gathers, it will be a time of reckoning with the past. In light of recent crises, attendance at the event may well indicate whether the community still retains a wide enough base to support it.

Choking On Smoke? There Are Very Specific People To Blame

I’m writing this from my smoky apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Looking out my window, the sky is orange. It smells like an ashtray. Even though I’ve been staying indoors, my eyes are red, I have a headache, and my lungs are sore.

Good News Headlines 6/12/2023

Filmmaker and cultural anthropologist Gail Myers discusses the making of her documentary, Rhythms of the Land, which preserves the untold stories of Black farmers, the oppressive history of sharecropping, and the power of seed saving.

How AI Could Take Over Elections – And Undermine Democracy

While platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube use forms of AI to get users to spend more time on their sites, Clogger’s AI would have a different objective: to change people’s voting behavior.

Cleveland Lake Erie Lighthouse Erik Drost Via Wikimedia Commons Under Cc By 20 E1685695330114

Good News Headlines 6/5/2023

A unique opportunity for a fixer-upper is coming by way of the US General Services Administration (GSA)—6 historic American lighthouses. Going up this year via public auction, the federal government has a unique way of ensuring lighthouses retain their historic status.

Guns Are The Biggest Public Health Threat Kids Face. Why Aren’t They Getting The Message?

Today’s public service announcements on gun safety feel somewhat sanitized. None really captures the horrifying physical and emotional damage caused by guns.

Study Shows Completion Of The Massachusetts Central Rail Trail System Would Bring Significant Health And Economic Benefits To The Commonwealth

A study initiated by the Norwottuck Network to assess the benefits of the completion of the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail (MCRT) system predicts that general health and wellness would improve.

Good News Headlines 5/29/2023

From the majestic whooping crane to the smallest songbird, an iconic American landmark in Missouri is making the skies safer for spring migrating birds who follow the Mississippi River to reach their summer nesting grounds.

ChatGPT And Other Generative AI Could Foster Science Denial And Misunderstanding – Here’s How You Can Be On Alert

Although it has the potential for enhancing productivity, generative AI has been shown to have some major faults. It can produce misinformation. It can create “hallucinations” – a benign term for making things up.

Good News Headlines 5/22/2023

The Colorado General Assembly has passed unprecedented and groundbreaking legislation known as The Colorado Wild Horse Project, a new law that adds state protections for the rights of mustangs and burros.

Good News Headlines 5/15/2023

Chief Standing Bear, whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native American is a person under the law, is on a new postage stamp. The U.S. Postal Service released a Forever stamp on Friday honoring the Ponca tribe chief.

From Farmworkers To Land Healers

On most days, Sandra de Leon prunes grapevines in Northern California’s wealthiest vineyards. But today she is dressed head to toe in a yellow fire-resistant suit, helmet, safety goggles, and gloves, carrying a machete and drip torch.

Good News Headlines 5/8/2023

New York state has passed legislation that will scale up the state’s renewable energy production and signals a major step toward moving utilities out of private hands to become publicly owned.

Exploring Community Care Systems In Boston Inspired By bell hooks

What would it take to love and care for the most marginalized people in a given community? This is the question the Boston Ujima Project is asking. The group works to build cooperative economic infrastructure and return wealth to working-class communities of color.

Good News Headlines 4/24/2023

A ban on dozens of semi-automatic rifles cleared the Washington state Legislature on Wednesday and the governor is expected to sign it into law. The Washington law would cover more than 50 gun models which fire one bullet per trigger pull and automatically reload for a subsequent shot.

Good News Headlines 4/17/2023

The numbers of wild tigers in India has more than doubled from 2010 to 2022. The 2022 count includes at least 3,167 wild tigers, up from 1,411 in 2010. “Concerted efforts from tiger range countries are really encouraging,” Rajesh Gopal, secretary general of Global Tiger Forum, said in a statement.

Good News Headlines 4/10/2023

A two-year study on the interactions of several seabird species at an offshore wind farm found that not a single case of birdstrike was recorded over the study period or in the 10,000 videos taken.

FCC Should Revisit Exposure Limits For Radio Frequency Radiation

The FCC guidelines for public radiation exposure were established over two decades ago before wireless technology infiltrated our neighborhoods, homes and even the sanctity of our bodies.

Good News Headlines 4/3/2023

Happy the cow was never destined for greatness, born as he was a bull on a dairy farm. Yet despite his inability to produce milk, Happy had another valuable skill that began working the minute he dropped onto the grass of Barry Coster’s dairy—making people smile.