Good Day, Gnuville! Happy Tuesday!
Sometimes I think it is helpful to look around at the state level to see what state and local governments are doing to make life better for people. Sometimes, you can find out surprising things, and nearly always there are ordinary people making a difference in their communities. Today, I’m going to look at some examples.
Before I get to the stuff I had planned for today, here’s Beau explaining how Chuck Schumer is finessing the Republicans — again!
🇺🇸 🦅 State of the States! 🇺🇸 🦅
Every few months, I like to do a roundup of good news items from individual states. All politics is local, after all. Today’s the day we do it again! Let’s go!
Alabama
The thought of unionization catching on in the south was pretty much considered pie-in-the-sky thinking. Then the VW vote in Chattanooga happened, and people started to get really excited.
Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day (or year) and turning back decades of anti-union systems in the south won’t happen over right either. The recent news was electrifying — and it shows that the tide IS turning — but it will take some persistence for the pro-worker culture to gain a solid foothold.
Luckily, Shawn Fain is persistent and determined. A setback like this is disappointing, if predictable. But even using propaganda and dirty persuasion tactics, the anti-union Alabama oligarch class was only able to whip up 56% of the vote against unionization. That means over 40% of those workers wanted to unionize. That’s huge and it is only a matter of time. The UAW isn’t going to walk away from Alabama workers. They will be back to help them. That’s good news for workers in the south and it’s good news for Alabama.
UAW vows to return to Alabama following loss at Mercedes-Benz plant, Tom Krisher and Kim Chandler, CBS, May 20, 2024.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — A decisive vote against the United Auto Workers union at two Mercedes factories in Alabama on Friday sidetracked the UAW’s grand plan to sign up workers at nonunion plants mainly in the South.
But newly elected President Shawn Fain said the union will return to Mercedes and will press on with efforts to organize about 150,000 workers at more than a dozen auto factories across the nation.✂️
A big difference between the loss at Mercedes and the overwhelming win at Volkswagen, Fain said, was that Mercedes actively fought the union. “Obviously, Volkswagen was more neutral, and that wasn’t the case here,” he said of Mercedes, which he accused of holding captive meetings of workers to campaign against the UAW.✂️
Kirk Garner, 60, who works in quality control at the Mercedes assembly plant and supported joining the union, said workers were shown an anti-union video every day ahead of the vote, while union opponents targeted employees who they thought could be persuaded to vote no.✂️
Before VW (Chattanooga,TN), the United Auto Workers had little success at nonunion auto plants in the South, where workers have been much less drawn to organized labor than in the traditional union strongholds of Michigan and other industrial Midwestern states.
Alaska
In a win for regular people and democracy, voters in Alaska approved a measure to allocate tax revenue from cannibis sales to a new fund for child care and early education:
OPINION: New fund will benefit children, families, employers and the Anchorage economy, Jessica Simonsen and Trevor Storrs, Anchorage Daily News, May 18, 2024.
In April 2023, Anchorage voters passed Proposition 14, permanently setting aside the municipality’s marijuana tax revenue to fund child care and early education programs. This new fund, known as the Anchorage Child Care and Early Education (ACCEE) Fund, will be Anchorage’s most comprehensive and reliable investment in child care and early education to date.
Its passage came not a moment too soon. Since 2019, the number of licensed child care programs in Alaska has dropped by 20%, and for the first time in 20 years there are fewer than 200 licensed programs in Anchorage. As families, employers, and businesses know too well, the lack of affordable care options is negatively impacting families, our workforce, and our economy. In fact, more than half of Alaska’s families cannot fully participate in the labor force due to the cost, availability or quality of child care options.
The ACCEE fund will generate approximately $5 million annually, with funds being disbursed starting in 2025. While the Fund will not be enough to meet all the needs of the chronically underfunded system, it will allow the Municipality to make innovative, valuable investments into the sector, supporting families and the economy in the process.
Colorado
In a Sustained Drought, Water Solutions Grant Supports Agricultural Innovation in Rural Colorado, Ilana Newman, Daily Yonder, May 20, 2024.
(note: I’ve posted a bit more than usual from this website, because they invite people to republish their work. I still encourage you to click the link and go read the whole thing. It is interesting and encouraging!)
Hobbs received funding from LOR to experiment with unique and heritage grains and seeds that might be better adapted to the drought conditions of the Four Corners than most conventional grains. He brought in lesser-known grains like sorghum, millet, durum, barley, and grains from the Sahel region of Africa, an area between the dry Sahara and the humid savannas. Montezuma County is similar in that it sits between the desert and the San Juan Mountains.✂️
Across the county, Katie Terrell Ramos also received a Field Work grant for the expansion of her lavender farm and drip irrigation system at Mesa Verde Lavender. Terrell Ramos started farming in Mancos, Colorado in 2021 and chose lavender as the main crop because of its drought resiliency and her interest in the plant as a culinary herb. She currently sells her products to coffee shops, apothecaries, and bakers in Southwest Colorado.
As a first-generation farmer, Terrell Ramos has spent the last three years learning. The farm is a multi-generational family project, with her husband, and in-laws helping out with everything from engineering to construction to staying organized.✂️
For Hobbs and Terrell Ramos, adapting farming practices to the regional conditions, in this case a lack of water, is paramount for continued success. Instead of attempting to force the land to bend to their needs, they have chosen crops that work in an arid, high-elevation climate, and they continue to try out different species and cultivars to find the best options for Southwest Colorado.
“Our environment has shaped our interests and our needs,” said Hobbs. “With all of the focus on climate change and what’s happening in the Colorado Basin, it has gone to another level of urgency.”
Also! Check out below in the South Dakota section. CO and SD both achieved something cool for democracy last week. 💙🗳
Florida
Support is growing for codifying abortion rights into the state constitution in FLORIDA (and Arizona!). Earlier polling showed pro-rights leading anti-rights by 21 points and 30 points. This week’s polling shows that lead has grown to 40 points in Florida. This is good news for reproductive freedom and great news for Florida!
Arizona and Florida could send a big message on abortion rights, Aaron Blake, Washington Post, May 20, 2024.
The abortion rights position has won on the ballot in seven out of seven states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in mid-2022 — even in red-leaning ones such as Kansas, Kentucky, Montana and Ohio.
And new polling suggests that in 2024, abortion rights measures could do even better than they did in those first seven states, as voters in states with severe GOP led-abortion bans weigh in.
The polling, from CBS News and YouGov, shows striking margins in Arizona and Florida for enshrining abortion rights into those states’ constitutions. That position leads 65 percent to 21 percent in Arizona and 60 percent to 20 percent in Florida. Previous polling in Florida also showed voters favoring the abortion rights amendment by wide margins — by 21 points in one poll and by 30 points in another.
Georgia
Libraries are centers that provide communities with access to knowledge, literature and community resources (that’s the reason why Republicans all over the country want to get rid of them), and libraries continue to provide meeting places and information resources to communities in spite of conservative efforts to destroy them. In Georgia, even the R-controlled state government acknowledges that reaching people via libraries just makes sense. That’s great news for libraries AND for Georgia!
DHS and Georgia Public Library Service partner to provide more than 400 self-service kiosks at libraries across Georgia, Georgia Dept. of Human Services, May 7, 2024.
Atlanta, GA – The Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) and Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) are partnering to provide free self-service benefits kiosks at Georgia public libraries.
The kiosks provide convenient access for the public to access Georgia Gateway, the state’s integrated eligibility system, to review, change, or renew their benefits including Medicaid, PeachCare for Kids®, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS), and Women, Infants & Children (WIC).
“We are excited to offer these self-service kiosks to Georgians, allowing them more flexibility to manage their benefits. With weekend hours and internet access in rural parts of the state, public libraries offer our customers additional access points so they can complete a renewal or manage their cases easily,” said DHS Commissioner Candice Broce.
The self-service kiosks will reduce wait times and provide access at the point of need, helping benefits-eligible Georgians to maintain their own and their family's coverage.
Georgia primary is today!!! We have a chance to get a decent Justice — John Barrow — on the GA Supreme Court.
Gnusies! If you live in Georgia, encourage everyone you know to make a plan to vote! (I know I don’t have to urge YOU to vote, because I know you already have! You’re a citizen of Gnuville, after all! 😅).
Illinois
Democratic leadership is just better, because Democrats deliver for the people!
HFS and CDB Announce Unprecedented Grant Opportunity for Healthcare Transformation Capital Improvement Projects, Office of Gov. JB Pritzker, May 17, 2024.
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) and the Illinois Capital Development Board (CDB) are announcing an unprecedented Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) as part of the Healthcare Transformation Capital Investment Grant program, which aims to provide funding to capital projects that will address health-related social needs and reduce disparities in healthcare in historically underserved communities.
"My administration's historic $200 million capital investment will help transform our healthcare delivery system statewide," said Governor JB Pritzker. "Thanks to this grant, safety net hospitals will be able to modernize their infrastructure and provide high-quality healthcare services to uninsured or underinsured Illinoisans. I highly encourage all eligible healthcare organizations and collaboratives to apply."
The Healthcare Transformation Capital Investment Grant Program is designed to address some of the infrastructure needs of the projects that are being funded through HFS' Healthcare Transformation Collaboratives program. This equity-focused program provides state funding to groups of healthcare providers and community organizations that have partnered to help Illinoisans access quality healthcare in the communities they serve. However, participation in a
Healthcare Transformation Collaborative is not a pre-requisite for applying for these available capital funds.
"HFS is very excited to announce this grant opportunity with CDB, which will help fund capital projects that further state efforts to improve access and equity in health care," said HFS Director Elizabeth Whitehorn. "We look forward to seeing the project proposals from the provider community, as we continue our work to reimagine Illinois' health care system and improve outcomes across the state."
Kansas
A sports figure got headlines last week for an extremely conservative, patriarchal commencement speech at a private Catholic college. I think the guy has free speech rights but it is a relief to have women religious speak out to disavow his regressive remarks. (Full disclosure, I nearly became a nun, myself, and although I am now agnostic and switched paths to have a family, my admiration for the best among the women religious is strong):
Sorry, Harrison Butker, the Benedictine College nuns reject your "narrow definition" of Catholicism, Gabriella Ferrigine, Salon, May 17, 2024.
The Sisters of Mt. Scholastica issued a statement declaring their shared sentiment that Butker's speech does not "represent the Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested.
"Instead of promoting unity in our church, our nation, and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division," the statement continued. "One of our concerns was the assertion that being a homemaker is the highest calling for a woman. We sisters have dedicated our lives to God and God’s people, including the many women whom we have taught and influenced during the past 160 years. These women have made a tremendous difference in the world in their roles as wives and mothers and through their God-given gifts in leadership, scholarship, and their careers.
"Our community has taught young women and men not just how to be 'homemakers' in a limited sense, but rather how to make a Gospel-centered, compassionate home within themselves where they can welcome others as Christ, empowering them to be the best versions of themselves," the sisterhood added. "We reject a narrow definition of what it means to be Catholic. We are faithful members of the Catholic Church who embrace and promote the values of the Gospel, St. Benedict, and Vatican II and the teachings of Pope Francis."
They concluded, "We want to be known as an inclusive, welcoming community, embracing Benedictine values that have endured for more than 1,500 years and have spread through every continent and nation. We believe those values are the core of Benedictine College."
Maryland
In 2020, Maryland County public schools implemented new guidelines to help school kids grappling with questions of sexual identity. The child-centered policy aims to help kids, and reduce harm, which sometimes means keeping protecting students’ confidentiality, including from unsupportive or even hostile parents.
This kind of policy is exactly what mental health experts advise for the protection of LGBTQ kids. So, naturally a handful of right wingers have been fighting to strike it down. In happy news from Washington, the Supreme Court has declined to take up the complaint and Maryland’s excellent policy continues:
Supreme Court won’t review parents’ objection to school policy on gender identity, Kelsey Reichmann, Courthouse News, May 20, 2024.
The policy's stated aim is to create a safe and welcoming environment; school officials are encouraged to make a support plan for any student with gender identity or gender transition issues. The school board said these plans ensure equal access for all students and foster social integration and cultural inclusiveness.
School officials are instructed to create these plans with the student’s family — if the family is supportive. However, schools also must ensure that student medical information is kept confidential and staff members cannot share a student’s information without consent.
The school board said its guidelines recognize that not all transgender or gender-nonconforming students can openly express their gender identity at home. In these cases, the board instructs staff to support the student in a way that acknowledges these safety concerns, including not sharing the student’s gender preference with their parents.
The school board said it had a compelling interest in protecting student privacy.✂️
A lower court dismissed the complaint because none of the parents claimed that the school had created a support plan for their children. The parents could also not prove that the policy would likely be applied to their children because none of their children identifies as transgender or gender-nonconforming.
On appeal, the Fourth Circuit also found the parents lacked standing to challenge the policy. The panel majority said the parents’ opposition reflected a policy disagreement that should be addressed at the ballot box, not to unelected judges in the courthouse.
michigan
Democratic governance is just better for the environment, the economy and the people!
Governor, Lieutenant Governor break big news at the MI Healthy Climate Conference, Michigan.gov, May 20, 2024.
The Governor announced in her keynote address Friday that the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) has determined EGLE and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to be State Energy Financing Institutions (SEFI). The announcement marks the launch of the joint EGLE-MEDC SEFI Program and opening of applications for eligible SEFI projects.
This open application calls for large-scale clean energy projects that help implement the MI Healthy Climate Plan goal of 100% carbon neutrality by 2050 while spurring economic development and creating high-quality jobs across the state.
The Lieutenant Governor on Thursday announced two new state programs in collaboration with EGLE’s Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate to support community-based organizations, tribal governments, and local governments in leveraging environmental justice and climate-related funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA):
- The Climate Justice Challenge, developed by EGLE’s Office of Climate and Energy (OCE) in coordination with the Michigan Infrastructure Office (MIO), makes up to $11 million in grant and technical assistance funding available to community based organizations (CBOs) through the Make it in Michigan Competitiveness Fund to maximize federal investments in Michigan from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants (CCG). These resources will support addressing environmental and climate justice challenges in communities across the state. CBOs across Michigan are now eligible to apply for match funding to support applications to the CCG. More information is available on EGLE’s EPA Community Change Grants webpage.
- The MI Healthy Climate Justice40 Technical Assistance Program is a 12-month, cohort-based program for community-based organizations to implement the MI Healthy Climate Plan by providing resources they need to serve disadvantaged communities with technical assistance and training to apply for and deploy state and federal climate-related funding. Chosen applicants will receive a participation grant, one-on-one support, training in grant applications and management, and technical assistance in grant writing or other technical needs. The program will open for applications soon. More information will be posted on EGLE’s OCE webpage.
The federal Justice40 Initiative calls for disadvantaged communities to receive at least 40% of the benefits from climate and clean energy projects. The MI Healthy Climate Plan commits to meeting that goal and seeks to exceed it.
Missouri
There are so many layers to this next story and all of them are delicious for Democrats, democracy and people power! Democrats in the MO legislature fought like heck to keep the Republican majority from pulling every trick in the book to deceive MO voters into voting their own rights away. The underlying layer that is also good for people power, is that the Rs have been trying to get rid of the peoples’ right to ballot initiative power for ages, but this particularly intense effort has been in response to Missourians’ determination to get an initiative to enshrine reproductive rights into the MO constitution onto the ballot in November.
Republicans tried to pull a fast one by adding what is known as “ballot candy” (some utterly empty extra language that would excite voters to vote against their own interests), after they had agreed not to do that. Outraged Democrats then filibustered that for a record 50+ hours until the Rs were forced to back down. The icing on the cake is that MO news outlets are reporting on it as an ‘Rs in Disarray’ story, too. Win-win-win for all of us!
Republican infighting kills effort to make it harder for voters to change Missouri law, Meg Cunningham, Kansas City Beacon, May 17, 2024.
Republican lawmakers targeted the initiative process for years. Their urgency picked up this year when they tried to raise the bar for a ballot measure to put abortion rights in the Missouri Constitution ahead of the November general election.
But the proposal’s demise came after Democrats in the Senate filibustered the measure for over 50 hours, highlighting the discord among the majority of the Republican Party and a faction of hard-right members known as the Freedom Caucus.✂️
The bill was sent out of the Senate. Then, the House wouldn’t open up conversation about removing the extra ballot candy language and sent it back. ✂️
The Senate also refused to take up the bill. On Friday morning, hours before lawmakers were set to adjourn until January, the measure was officially dead.✂️
Opponents of the bill say that if voters were to approve the measure (which ostensibly would have been more likely with the extra language included) it would be almost impossible to undo, because any changes to the constitution must be approved by voters.
“Next thing you know, they have volleyed away their right of participating in constitutional changes forever,” Rizzo said on the Senate floor.
The article above goes on to point out that Ohio Republicans tried to pull a stunt like this last year, but Ohio voters did not fall for it. The trick question in August was defeated and then in November, Ohioans voted to enshrine the right to abortion into their state constitution. I’m going to guess that Missouri voters would have been equally smart, but it is better when people are not put to the test unnecessarily so this is a big win for democracy and for the fight for human rights.
Puerto Rico (bonus entry — not a state but an important home of US citizens)
I remember posting a story (some time after Hurricane Marie wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico) about people working toward getting solar panels on rooftops to provide power that (hopefully) wouldn’t be blown out in a hurricane. It was a patchwork community effort, but since then the Biden administration has taken concrete steps to provide funding and assistance to increase energy resilience for the island.
As fossil fuel plants face retirement, a Puerto Rico community pushes for rooftop solar, Esther Francis, Inside Climate News (via Grist), May 18, 2024.
This photo (taken in San Francisco) is for
illustrative purposes only, 😊
Local residents envision a cleaner future as these fossil fuel plants are scheduled to retire within the next several years. They see rooftop solar as the best alternative as the island transitions to renewable energy.
In November 2023, the federal government allocated $440 million in funding for rooftop solar energy in Puerto Rico, part of a billion dollar energy investment in the island. Officials, in recent years, have acknowledged that the region has suffered as the home of polluting power plants.
After a 2022 visit to Salinas and Guayama, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan announced a plan to spend $100,000 to improve monitoring of the air and water pollution from the coal-fired power plant, which is owned by Virginia-based Applied Energy Services Corporation, or AES.✂️
Instead of large solar farms, many local organizations in Puerto Rico see a better solution for their region’s electricity production—rooftop solar panels. They prefer this kind of solar energy for communities because unlike large solar facilities, rooftop solar installations do not use up farmland, which in Puerto Rico decreased by 37.5 percent between 2012 and 2018, according to the Census of Agriculture.
In February, the Department of Energy released results of its study of Puerto Rican renewable energy, named PR100. The study reported the huge potential for rooftop solar in Puerto Rico—up to 6,100 MW by 2050 under the most aggressive scenario—but said utility-scale renewable energy would still be needed.
South Carolina
Throughout the USA, and especially in the south, black people have been systematically deprived of the ability to build generational wealth, in particular through property ownership. Onerous inheritance laws that seem to have been designed to separate people from their land, are a particularly difficult problem.
One surprising place where this problem is being addressed is in coastal South Carolina, where the tangly problem of Heirs Property is being actively tackled. In Beaufort County/Hilton Head Island (Nancy Mace’s district, believe it or not! Although it is the local government that is working on this, no thanks to her), a task force has been set up. Not only is this an effort to help families who were deprived of clear title to their ancestral land, but it will also clarify administrative issues like taxes. That is a win-win for the families and the state!
Q&A: What is Heirs Property? Sarah Melotte, Daily Yonder, May 17, 2024.
Heirs property as a definition is land that is passed down without documentation from generation to generation. So that’s the short answer. What happened is, after slavery, a lot of formerly enslaved people were either given land or purchased land. But they were also discouraged from making wills and titling the lot. In West African tradition, land is of gods. So you don’t have a piece of paper that says this is your land. So with maliciousness, distrust, black codes, a whole list of things, land ownership for Black people were not provided the educational process that they should have received. So essentially, heirs property was created as a result of the end of the Civil War and racism for lack of a better way of saying it.
Sometimes there is land that a family may have had for years and someone who has been living on and maintaining and paying the taxes all of that kind of stuff. But because they are not titled owners, they do not fully own the property. And so with heirs property, it becomes very convoluted and difficult to not only figure out who all of the heirs are, but also to come to an agreement on what to do with the property. ✂️
Beaufort County, the treasurer’s office, the assessor’s office, and Hilton Head have become very sensitive to the issues of heirs property. And so we’ve established very strong collaborations with them so that we can help families. Hilton Head specifically has been very proactive in preserving Gullah culture. There’s a Gullah Geechee task force. They just established a community development corporation that will help Gullah families to not only hold on to their land, but also to have economic development opportunities.
Every community that has some Gullah connection is experiencing the same thing. When it comes to municipalities, they are just as critically affected by heirs property in that you can’t collect taxes on a property that you don’t have a rightful owner. There are a lot of federal dollars that municipalities can’t even tap into because of the level of blight that might be in the community and you might have that blight as a result of people abandoning their land. So it’s not just a Gullah individual person’s problem. It’s everybody’s problem that needs to be addressed.
South Dakota
Yes! South Dakota reproductive rights activists managed to get a pro-choice initiative onto the November ballot after securing more than the required number of signatures from citizens.
Abortion rights initiatives make the ballot in South Dakota and Colorado, Jack Dura, AP, May 17, 2024.
South Dakota voters will get a chance at direct democracy on the contentious issue in a conservative state where a trigger law banning nearly all abortions went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned.✂️
South Dakota’s top election official announced Thursday that about 85% of the more than 55,000 signatures submitted in support of the ballot initiative are valid, exceeding the required 35,017 signatures.
Voters will vote up or down on prohibiting the state from regulating abortion before the end of the first trimester and allowing the state to regulate abortion after the second trimester, except when necessary to preserve the life or physical or emotional health of a pregnant woman.
Dakotans for Health, which sponsored the amendment, said in a statement Thursday that the signatures’ validation “certified that the people of South Dakota, not the politicians in Pierre, will be the ones to decide whether to restore Roe v. Wade as the law of South Dakota.”
Texas
Here’s a story that shows how even someone who seems completely immersed in MAGA ideology CAN change their mind. It also shows how quickly the extremists turn on one of their own if they step out of line. It’s a sign of weakness and disarray amongst the Republicans/right wingers. That’s hopeful for democracy and good news for Texas!
A school board member campaigned against indoctrinating kids. Then she read the curriculum, Texas Tribune, May 18, 2024.
The pervasive indoctrination she had railed against simply did not exist. Children were not being sexualized, and she could find no examples of critical race theory, an advanced academic concept that examines systemic racism. She’d examined curriculum related to social-emotional learning, which has come under attack by Christian conservatives who say it encourages children to question gender roles and prioritizes feelings over biblical teachings. Instead, Gore found the materials taught children “how to be a good friend, a good human.”
Gore rushed to share the news with the hard-liners who had encouraged her to run for the seat. She expected them to be as relieved and excited as she had been. But she said they were indifferent, even dismissive, because “it didn’t fit the narrative that they were trying to push.”
So, in the spring of 2022, Gore went public with a series of Facebook posts. She told residents that her backers were using divisive rhetoric to manipulate the community’s emotions. They were interested not in improving public education but rather in sowing distrust, Gore said.
“I’m over the political agenda, hypocrisy bs,” Gore wrote. “I took part in it myself. I refuse to participate in it any longer. It’s not serving our party. We have to do better.”
Virginia
Here is a beautiful example of an ordinary person making a big difference in their community.
Virginia Teacher Retired After 67 Years – And Just Left $1 Million to Her School ‘Family’, Good News Network, May 19, 2024.
Even after her death, Lillian Orlich is still serving the students of the Virginia school system where she taught for 67 years before retiring at 89.
In her will, she left them $1 million.✂️
She spent most of her career at Osbourn High School in Manassas and Osbourn Park High School in the county outside of Washington, DC. By the time she retired, the students and her colleagues had become her family.
“I don’t have any living relatives,” she once told the Washington Post. “These are my relatives.”
The $1 million donation was paid to SPARK, the education foundation for the PW county schools. It will be used to expand a scholarship she set up with SPARK after retiring six years ago—which has already benefitted dozens of students who received cash grants for college.
The money will also be distributed across the foundation’s six focus areas, which include STEM education; social and emotional learning; digital innovation; school improvement; and particularly on educator preparedness because Orlich was a long-time teacher.
🐩 💙 CG’s Picks 🐩 💙
Hello Everybody! It’s me, Curlygirl! I have a few fun things for you today, starting with a story about HUMANS and not animals, but there is a part that is connected to a VIP animal — me! Mama showed me this first story and said, “Well, CG, this is me — I talk to myself all the time!”
So, I put my head on the chair and looked up at her with a speaking look and she got it right away. “Oh yes,” said Mama,” I talk to YOU all day, CG! Phew! Not losing my marbles after all!”
Now, I am not sure what talking to me — or even herself! — has to do with marbles because we definitely do not have any of those in this apartment! But whatever the case may be, me and Mama think this article is very sensible!
I’m Middle-Aged, and I Talk to Myself All Day, Jancee Dunn, New York Times, May 10, 2024.
It’s not only normal, it’s useful
Talking to ourselves serves a variety of purposes, Dr. Fernyhough said. It can quell anxieties (“You’ll be OK”) and heighten motivation (“You’ve got this”). It can cheer you up, aid in planning or make an empty room feel friendlier, he added.
Voicing your thoughts can help you puzzle through problems or rehearse potentially thorny conversations, Dr. Kross said. (If you’re practicing a breakup speech or asking for a raise in a public place, he suggested, pop in some earbuds so it just looks as though you’re on the phone.)
Speaking aloud also activates what is known as the verbal working memory system, Dr. Kross said, which can help you hold things such as shopping lists or schedules in your mind a little longer.
And if you are looking for something — say, at a grocery store — research suggests that naming the item out loud might help you find it faster.
🐶 A story in 3 parts 🐶
I really like these videos that this lady makes. Some of them are so funny! And I like the little human baby, too! If I had a dog sister, we would get up to all sorts of mischief! But since Mama will not get us a puppy, I have to settle for watching these canine sisters have loads of fun! Oh well!
🐩 💖 BEST IN SHOW!! 💖 🐩
I know you’ve seen it already, but I just had to include this because sister Sage, the miniature Poodle, won Best in Show at the Westminster Dog Show. So cool!! (I do think the show haircut looks kind of goofy, but hey it’s a show! Growing out and maintaining that continental clip is a royal pain in the rump and nobody wants to have it for every day life. I bet Sage got a nice comfy pet clip the moment she and her nice handler got home!)
That is everything I have for this week. I was hoping to bring you an update on Imani the Piping plover, but so far he is keeping well and hanging out on Montrose beach with another stranger plover (we think he came from Michigan or Minnesota or somewhere) and there have been no girl plovers, so far. If there is any news, I will be sure to tell you!
Thanks for reading! Bye for now, Luv CG 💙🐾
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️ President Biden's Powerful Morehouse Speech, The ICC's Arrest Warrants, Supporting Anderson Clayton and North Carolina, Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles, May 20, 2024.
⚡️ President Biden’s Commencement Speech at Morehouse, Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, May 19, 2024.
⚡️ I say 10k — tops: Jersey Town That Said 80,000 Went To Trump Rally Accidentally Also Counted People Who DIDN'T Go To Trump Rally, Evan Hurst, Wonkette, May 20, 2024.
⚡️ How to Be Your Best Despite the Passing Years, Arthur C. Brooks, the Atlantic, May 16, 2024.
⚡️ Time to redouble efforts to get fresh unprocessed food into every neighborhood: Ultra-processed US foods are ultra-bad for you. Here’s what to know, Cecilia Nowell, the Guardian, May 20, 2024.
⚡️ New Male Contraceptives Could Be Infuriatingly Pain-Free and Easy, Hanna Rosin, the Atlantic, May 16, 2024
⚡️Rs in disarray (🎩Wonkette): Republicans Double Down on School Vouchers by Taking Fight to Rural Members of Their Own Party, Lane Wendell Fischer, Daily Yonder, May 8, 2024.
⚡️ Swing state women: Their votes are key to the 2024 election. They’re feeling both confident and worried. Barbara Rodriguez and Mel Leonor Barclay, the 19th, May 17, 2024.
⚡️ Why Was Alito Flying the Flag Upside Down After January 6? Adam Serwer, the Atlantic, May 17, 2024.
⚡️ Hard truth: Alito and Thomas Aren’t Really Jurists. They’re Theocratic Leninists. Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, May 20, 2024.
💗 How Can You Help Build Our Democracy Back Better? 💗
Put your beautiful bleeding liberal heart into it! 🥰
Share Goody’s Boosting Biden series on social media — Boosting Biden Series
Democratic litigation hero, Marc Elias was the legal eagle behind the 60 Big Lie losses after the election. Here’s his website, Democracy Docket. You can find information about current cases he is fighting to defend voting rights around the country, as well as actions you can take to help fight voter suppression at the link!
Write to voters around the country with Postcards to Voters. Progressive Muse usually posts an update on current campaigns in the comments and you can also check out the website. It’s easy, fun and it really works to GOTV!
🎩 Also, Goody posted a great list of links a while ago. I am borrowing and adding the latest ones to it 🎩
Fight voter suppression!
What can you do?
HERE’S HOW TO CONTACT CONGRESS:
U.S. House of Representatives:* Telephone: 202-225-3121
* Website: http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate:* Telephone: 202-224-3121
* Website: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your member of Congress and contact him or her:
Let them know what matters to you!
Contact your Representative
Contact your Senator
And remember, all politics is local and personal! Let’s work to flip state and local elected positions Democratic! ↓
Sister District Project — organization that is working to help Dems win state legislature races.
Donate to re-elect Joe Biden!
Oh, and don’t forget!…. Share Goody’s Boosting Biden series on social media —
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
That’s it from me and CG for another Tuesday. Remember to take good care of yourself — get enough rest, nutritious food and fresh air (as much as you possibly can).
This GNR is light on music because I was so busy trying to find individual state stories. But here is a lovely collection to close the GNR.
HAPPY TUESDAY, GNUVILLE!