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GNR for Tuesday, July 22, 2025 — We keep making our own good news [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-22
Good news from my corner of the world
Judge Orders Immediate Release of First Asylum Seeker Arrested Outside Portland Immigration Court
Portland is trying to get ahead of ICE incursions in our city by fighting back immediately. Wish us luck.
We may not be able to save all the starfish, but we saved this one.
From Willamette Week:
A Mexican asylum seeker who was detained outside Portland Immigration Court on June 2 must be immediately released, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio ruled on Monday afternoon. Through a string of questioning, Baggio concluded that the government had produced shaky justification for its decision to arrest the asylum seeker. “The government here failed to follow its own rules,” Baggio said. “They arrested first, they sought to justify later, and then they changed the alleged basis for the detention. There is a right way to do this and there is a wrong way to do this. My assessment is that the government went about its arrest in the wrong way.” Baggio’s ruling means that the asylum seeker, identified in court documents only by her initials, O-J-M, will be released from the Tacoma Immigration and Customs Enforcement Center, where she has been held in solitary confinement for more than 40 days, according to attorney Jordan Cunnings with the Innovation Law Lab. “We are coordinating right now to make sure she’s released,” Cunnings said immediately after the hearing, adding that she hopes it’s “as soon as possible today.” “She’s not doing great. She’s a victim of trauma. She suffered horrific sexual violence in Mexico. That’s why she fled and sought asylum here,” Cunnings says. “Her arrest was really re-traumatizing her as someone who’s been a victim of assault and then having to be held in solitary, that’s obviously no joke. So we’re really grateful that this will be her last day.” In the original filing from June 2, O-J-M’s attorneys said she was seeking asylum in the U.S. after suffering persecution in Mexico due to her gender identity and perceived sexual orientation. (O-J-M is a transgender woman.) ...
An update published in U.S. News and World Report says that “The nonprofit Innovation Law Lab, whose attorneys represent O-J-M, said in an email Tuesday that she was “now home with her family.”
Oregon expands emergency preparedness for Medicaid recipients
Making sure that Medicaid recipients have access to life-saving emergency kits and available power in case of outages is vital. This is an excellent use of remaining American Rescue Plan funds.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
The COVID-19 Era American Rescue Plan Act provided states with federal dollars to expand Medicaid services. Using the one-time federal funding, the Oregon Department of Human Services’ Aging and People with Disabilities program stockpiled emergency kits and rechargeable power stations for individuals receiving in-home Medicaid services. J.D. Tilford, the agency’s Medicaid services and support policy unit, estimates that more than 17,000 Oregonians currently receive in-home Medicaid services. To ensure that everyone receiving these services could get an emergency kit, APD purchased 20,000 for distribution. ✂️ Each emergency kit contains food rations, water or a filtration kit, a flashlight, an emergency blanket, a personal first aid kit, a whistle, size D batteries and N95 masks. The agency also purchased hundreds of rechargeable power stations for distribution, which can be vital for people who need medical equipment during an outage. “Individuals that maybe rely on a breathing device such as a C-PAP at night, in an emergency where the power may go out for a day, two days, maybe even extended, those C-PAP devices are very crucial,” Tilford said. Each rechargeable battery is also strong enough to power a mini fridge to store insulin and other medications. The batteries and emergency kits are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, Tilford said, as the agency does not have the funds to buy more.
One Thing Has Changed at Portland City Hall: The Socialists Are Setting the Agenda
I’m not posting this story in order to get into a back and forth over the DSA vs. the Democratic Party. Personally, I feel it’s possible to support the best aspects of both, and I refuse to see it as a binary choice, which means that I disagree with the DSA dictum quoted below.
What makes this story good news in my estimation is that the DSA is shaking up a complacent decades-long Dem reign in City Hall. They’re bringing new, more progressive ideas to the fore, and I’m here for it.
From Willamette Week:
[Portland] Voters elected 12 city councilors from four geographic districts to set policy. The idea behind an expanded council and geographic representation was that Portlanders would elect a more diverse group of officials—by age, race and professional experience—than ever before. And neighborhoods far from City Hall would have someone speaking out for their interests. To some extent, the new form of government achieved those goals. It also did something else: It placed four members of the Democratic Socialists of America on the council. That advocacy nonprofit has long been an agitating force driving Portland politics left, from union drives at Burgerville to new taxes on C-suite executives. But the election of [Angelita] Morillo and her three fellow socialists now means that for the first time in living memory, Portland in effect has two viable political parties—and the second one isn’t the Republicans. The DSA technically isn’t a party. And city councilor isn’t a partisan office. But the Portland chapter of the DSA says in its own materials that it wants candidates it endorses to “criticize the Democratic Party establishment and put forward the necessity for a socialist party and a rupture with the Democratic Party.” The “hot socialist summer” is a trend across the U.S. as progressives grow increasingly disaffected by what they see as a Democratic Party incapable of providing a viable alternative to the authoritarian aims of President Donald Trump. In New York City, DSA member Zohran Mamdani is on the brink of winning the mayor’s race. But no major U.S. city has elected socialists as a third of its city council. Not Seattle. Not San Francisco. The closest is Minneapolis, where socialists hold four seats on a 13-member council. ✂️ [Mitch] Green is the plucky middle-aged data nerd of the group. An economist formerly with the Bonneville Power Administration, he produces the reports arguing that Portland’s wealthy ranks are growing, not shrinking. Morillo is the social media–savvy firebrand who’s known for roasting centrists with witty one-liners on the dais. She proudly displays a “hot socialist summer” poster inside City Hall, the slogan splashed across a picture of Mamdani. Tiffany Koyama Lane is the smiley former third-grade teacher who wants everyone to get along but is trying to shed her reputation as conflict-averse. Sameer Kanal is the studious and serious police-accountability hawk who pontificates at length on the dais, and has a master’s in global affairs from New York University and worked in several major cities as a researcher, a consultant and in various roles for Model United Nations. Together, the four councilors have raised the DSA’s agenda more frequently and more successfully than that of any other interest group in the city.
Homeless parents write heartfelt lullabies with the Oregon Symphony
This is such a sweet story.
From The Oregonian:
Children squirmed and adults chattered as they waited for the lights to dim ahead of a somewhat unusual stage performance at the Alberta Rose Theater last month. The musicians were all old hands, Oregon Symphony instrumentalists or accomplished Portland-area singers. But the songwriters were all first timers. They were parents, all of whom were or had recently been homeless, who had written these songs for their kids. Played in styles ranging from pop-inspired numbers to Spanish language ballads, every song was evocative and lovely. “You strike like lightning, raining joy on everything,” Hunter Chamberlain wrote to his 3-year-old son, nicknamed Pogi after the Tagalog word for handsome. “You are the light. It’s never shined this bright. You are my take at life,” Danielle wrote for her five children. Danielle, like most of the songwriter parents, did not share their last names with the concert audience. ✂️ Started by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in 2012 and known as the Lullaby Project, the annual performance gives parents who have sometimes struggled to provide material comforts for their children the chance to create something beautiful and lasting for them. In Portland, the Oregon Symphony, in partnership with the Path Home family shelter in Southeast, runs a local Lullaby Project for parents who have been homeless while pregnant or caring for young children. And, for the first time this year, musicians also worked with three mothers incarcerated at Coffee Creek Correctional Institution, Oregon’s women’s prison. In addition to being performed live, all of the songs were professionally recorded for families to keep. x YouTube Video
Post Event Pros Diverts Waste From Landfill
This is a perfect example of an individual seeing a problem and stepping up to fix it, in this case entirely by herself (with the help of a small on-call network).
From Willamette Week:
Emily Wyant-Ediger’s work begins as an event’s last guests leave. Wyant-Ediger founded Post Event Pros, or Pep+Co. for short, in June to keep as much after-show cleanup out of landfills as possible. ... “We’re coming in—fresh eyes—being able to organize and take with us everything that should not be going into the trash, everything that has potential for reuse or anything that’s perishable that the community can eat,” Wyant-Ediger tells WW. As a longtime corporate event producer, Wyant-Ediger watched as parties, trade shows and award shows would churn out waste due to cleanups starting after traditional business hours. Wyant-Ediger is Pep+Co.’s sole employee. She subcontracts the help she needs from her network and alumni or students of Elevate Oregon, a nonprofit serving students in the East Portland area by connecting them to vocational education programs and volunteer opportunities. A crew of two to six people typically helps Wyant-Ediger on assignment. ✂️ Pep+Co. currently divvies up excess food to people in Wyant-Ediger’s immediate network, but as the company builds up its capacity to store leftovers, it wants to funnel what it collects to the Oregon Food Bank. Pep+Co. has already donated supplies to the creative reuse store Scrap PDX, as well as signage and floral décor to the preschool Childswork Learning Center. But one of the most immediate impacts Pep+Co. has had has been on Wyant-Ediger’s well-being. “It helps feed my soul, and it helps feed the community hopefully — literally it does,” she says of her work.
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Good news from around the nation
Heroic helpers supporting LA food cart vendors
And here’s another couple of wonderful people seeing a desperate need and stepping up to fill it.
x Never lose sight of the hope around humanity: "As many workers are opting to stay home out of fear during immigration operations, Marisol Magaña, her partner Andrew Roa and their daughter are buying out street vendors’ carts or working their shifts in Los Angeles." www.threads.com/@nbcla/post/...
[image or embed] — prodembluecity.bsky.social (@prodembluecity.bsky.social) July 20, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Andry Hernández Romero, gay asylum seeker disappeared by Trump, part of prisoner swap
I shed tears of relief when I saw this story pop up online on Sunday. Worries about Hernández Romero have literally kept me up at night, and I was sure he’d been killed. He’s not safe in Venezuela, of course, but at least he’s reachable, and there’s real hope that he can find a permanent safe haven.
From The Advocate:
LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights advocates are expressing a mix of relief and fury after learning that Andry Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan asylum seeker who vanished into one of the world’s most notorious prisons under the Trump administration, has been released from El Salvador and returned to Venezuela following more than four months of silence, secrecy, and mounting outrage. But his supporters warn that because he initially left Venezuela to escape persecution for his sexual orientation, he remains unsafe. “We have confirmed that he is in Venezuela,” Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, told The Advocate Friday evening. ImmDef has provided legal representation to Hernández Romero since his deportation in March. Andry Hernández Romero Hernández Romero, 31, was among more than 250 Venezuelan men who were sent to CECOT, El Salvador’s maximum-security prison, compared to a modern concentration camp, under the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a centuries-old wartime law historically weaponized to detain immigrants en masse. Despite seeking protection from anti-LGBTQ+ violence in Venezuela, Hernández Romero was deported to El Salvador, where he had no ties, without a hearing. There he was held without contact for 125 days. ✂️ Gay California U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, Democratic ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said Friday on social media that his team is continuing to work on Hernández Romero’s case. “We have been in touch with Andry Hernández Romero’s legal team, and they have confirmed he is out of CECOT and back in Venezuela. We are grateful he is alive and are engaged with both the State Department and his team,” said Garcia, who had been vigorously demanding answers on the Venezuelan asylum seeker’s whereabouts and well-being. In a follow-up video recorded from an airport on Saturday afternoon, Garcia said he was in active contact with both the legal team and U.S. officials to ensure Hernández Romero’s safety inside Venezuela, where he had initially fled persecution.“This is great news, as we know now he’s alive,” Garcia said. “We’ve confirmed that. We’ve seen pictures. I’ve been talking to his lawyers.”...“We’re on this case,” Garcia said. “We’ll do everything we can to protect him, make sure he has his due process rights, but most importantly right now, that he’s actually safe.”
Pittsburgh City Council passes further protections for LGBTQ people
Good for Pittsburgh!
From WESA [Pittsburgh]:
With little discussion, Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed three bills intended to provide further safeguards to LGBTQ Pittsburghers. Councilor Barb Warwick introduced the bills at the end of June to extend more protections to the local queer community. ✂️ The first bill prohibits the withholding or denial of “elective medical care which would normally be provided to a person, but for that person’s real or perceived gender identity or expression.” For example, if a medical provider denied breast augmentation surgery to a trans patient on the basis of their gender identity, residents could report the provider to the city’s Commission on Human Relations. The second bill aims to pre-emptively shield the LGBTQ community against being barred from society by future federal legislation by directing the city to de-prioritize enforcement of such a ban or restriction. A third bill lessens the legal penalty for engaging in sex work from a misdemeanor to a summary offense. Warwick and other advocates say LGBTQ individuals have been disproportionately affected by such arrests. They say this measure will help the queer community and other vulnerable workers to not be targeted, and come forward to law enforcement if they need help without fear of persecution.
With cuts to U.S. land management, volunteer hikers pick up the slack in local trails
The opportunities for volunteers to fix what this maladministration has broken are almost endless. This is a lovely example that proves that age is no barrier to volunteerism.
🎩 to Jessica Craven, who mentioned this story in her Sunday wrap-up, “Extra! Extra!”.
From The Spokesman-Review [Spokane, WA]
Chic Burge, a retired camera salesman, stands in front of a trench he dug to redirect the water to protect the trail at Lower Stevens Lake in Idaho on June 28. Wide-sweeping federal cuts to the U.S. Forest Service have caused many hiking trails to go untouched. Without federally paid seasonal trail workers, the burden is largely placed on volunteer hiking groups. “People have come out here since the 1800s,” said Chic Burge, photographer and historian for the Spokane Mountaineers. “To lose that part of our life just infuriates me.” The Spokane Mountaineers is just one group cleaning up and building trails all over the Inland Northwest. The members are walking slowly and picking up trash, digging trenches to reroute water and cutting fallen trees. On June 28, they set their sights on Lower Stevens Lake, a trail that starts a tad south of Interstate 90 in Shoshone County, Idaho, an increasingly popular destination for campers and hikers alike. ✂️ The Northern Region of the U.S. Forest Service has 25 million acres of public land across Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas, including the Stevens Lake trail. After Trump’s Deferred Resignation Program, which gave federal workers a choice between resignation or reforms to their work contract, the Forest Service laid off around 3,400 employees in February. Exempt from the layoffs were firefighters, but employees who worked on trail maintenance were especially affected, according to reporting from the New York Times. The 3,400 layoffs represent about 10% of the Forest Service’s workforce of around 35,000. In August, the chief of the Forest Service said in a statement that the budget could be limited in the future and in preparation for that, he froze all seasonal hires, including people who help maintain trails. ✂️ “I think it’s really short -sighted,” Ken Delanoy, a member of the Mountaineers, said. “To be out in nature for the betterment of your own mental health, there’s just so many positives to it. Once you stop maintaining these trails, people are going to be cut off.” ✂️ [Lynn] Smith said the Mountaineers has seen growing interest among younger people especially with the more extreme climbing programs. Smith also counted 73 people among the trail and even more at the campsite of all ages, including children. The Mountaineers agreed that in recent years Stevens Lake has become a popular trail due to the great view, and since its 4.6 miles long with an elevation gain of 1,600 feet it makes a good testing ground for prospective hikers. Both Burge and Smith said they can remember a time when they’d rarely see anybody using the trail. “More and more people are using these trails every year,” Smith said. “We have got to take care of it.”
They Stopped Coming to Class. So She Went to Them.
This heartbreaking, inspiring story showed up briefly last Wednesday. I think it’s important enough to boost, and it’s so beautifully written that I’m quoting it almost in full.
Do note that there are donation opportunities mentioned after my summary.
By Graham E Whitaker on Daily Kos:
She never asked to become a lifeline. She just wanted to teach. A woman in rural South Florida—whose name we are withholding to protect her and the vulnerable people she serves—was running free citizenship and English classes out of her modest home. People came from across Immokalee, Lehigh Acres, LaBelle, and Moore Haven. Parents. Farmworkers. Grandparents. Teens. Mixed-status families. All with one thing in common: they were trying to stay afloat in a country that barely acknowledges their existence. Then one day… they stopped coming. No goodbye. No explanation. Just empty chairs. One by one, her students vanished—detained, deported, afraid, or gone underground. The silence was deafening. So she pivoted. She turned her tiny kitchen into a makeshift soup kitchen. Her family car became a delivery truck. Her living room became a legal aid hub. What began as English lessons became lifesaving infrastructure in the shadows of Florida’s violent immigration dragnet. She is now: Delivering hot meals to undocumented and mixed-status families who are too afraid to leave their homes
Making weekly supply drops of diapers, formula, food, and hygiene products
Picking up medications from pharmacies for those without ID or transportation
Escorting elderly, pregnant, or disabled neighbors to doctor appointments
Helping fill out work permit applications and guardianship forms for children whose parents may never return
Coordinating safe homes and emergency plans for families at immediate risk of deportation
the cookie brigade, a network of friends who show up to homes or situation where ICE is reported, with cookies to sit in the home or the friends car- to offer support (and watchful eyes) while helping the people understand their rights (often helping with lawyers, or even calling 911 to report the attempted abduction by masked men with no identification She is doing all this while working, raising kids, and surviving on the edge herself. Without grant money. Without government support. Without headlines. Just the quiet, relentless work of refusing to look away. And she is not alone. Across Florida, women like her—often immigrants themselves—are doing the hard, invisible labor of holding their communities together while the system tears them apart. These are the unseen consequences of mass deportation: Not just the horror of raids, but the long echo of absence. Not just the missing parent—but the child left behind. Not just the policy—but the personal. ... And it is this woman—this anonymous, ordinary, extraordinary woman—who keeps showing up. Not for credit. Not for glory. But because someone has to.
Want to help her help these families?
Send funds directly to support her food drops, medicine pickups, safe housing, and urgent family support work:
💸 CASHAPP: $frontporchrevolution
💸 VENMO: @frontporchrevolution
💸 PAYPAL:
[email protected]
Missouri governor signs bill banning state from seizing foster kids’ benefits
An example of progressive policies being enacted even in a state with a GOP trifecta.
From Missouri Independent:
After Aug. 28, Missouri will end the state’s longstanding practice of seizing foster children’s Social Security benefits to cover the cost of foster care. Gov. Mike Kehoe on Wednesday signed a bill that also bans child marriage and stops child sex abusers from using non-disclosure agreements to silence their victims. ... Missouri’s child welfare agency takes millions of dollars each year in foster children’s benefits and uses the money to help pay for foster care. In fiscal year 2024, the Children’s Division spent more than $10.6 million recovered from children’s benefits. Over 1,200 foster kids were receiving benefits in Missouri of late last year, or just over 10% of all kids in care. As a result, kids who are orphaned or have disabilities are responsible for paying toward the cost of their care in state custody. The bill bars the state from using those benefits to pay itself back for routine foster care expenses. Instead, the division could use the funds for the child’s “unmet needs” beyond what the division is obligated to pay, such as housing as the child prepares to age out of foster care. The effort to ban the practice won bipartisan support during the 2024 session and was on the verge of passing. But it died when GOP infighting forced the state Senate to adjourn early. The foster benefits ban was the starting point for the bill, with other provisions, including the ban on child marriage added when it reached the state Senate. ✂️ The bill also voids nondisclosure agreements in childhood sexual abuse cases and expands access to legal counsel for families in child abuse and neglect cases.
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Break for a special donation
If you love or have benefitted from anything you’ve seen on PBS and/or on your local PBS station, now is the time to say “Thank you!” with a donation. To sweeten the ask, here’s a heartwarming video from the Sesame Street archives:
x As Trump and his allies in Congress try to gut public funding for PBS, watch this 1971 clip of Rev. Jesse Jackson and the kids of Sesame Street. This is why we need public broadcasting.
[image or embed] — Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social) July 16, 2025 at 12:01 PM
And here’s how to donate:
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Good news from around the world
Gisèle Pelicot given France's highest award
It’s perfect karma that Pelicot’s husband is in prison and she is now a Knight of the Legion of Honor.
From BBC:
Gisele Pelicot Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman who earned international recognition after publicly testifying at her mass-rape trial last year, has been given France's top honour. The 72-year-old was named knight of the Legion of Honour on a list announced ahead of France's Bastille Day. Pelicot waived her right to anonymity during the high-profile trial against her husband who had drugged and raped her, in addition to inviting dozens of strangers to also abuse her over nearly a decade. ✂️ "I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too," Pelicot previously told reporters, adding that she wanted to make "shame swap sides" from the victim to the rapist. French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly paid tribute to Pelicot as a trailblazer, adding that her "dignity and courage moved and inspired France and the world".
Community empowerment bill ‘lifeline’ for English pubs
Saving community gathering places like pubs — places where “everybody knows your name” and “you’re a stranger here only once” — is so important for residents’ quality of life. Congrats to the Brits for taking this seriously.
From Positive News:
Communities in England will be given extra powers to take over pubs and other assets threatened with closure... Under the English devolution and community empowerment bill, residents will get first refusal on local businesses when they go up for sale, plus an extended 12-month period to raise funding to buy them. People in Scotland have similar powers already. Plunkett UK (formerly the Plunkett Foundation), a charity that has long advocated for such legislation, welcomed the bill’s arrival in parliament, saying that it could throw a lifeline to pubs, which are closing at a rate of six per week in Britain. “This has the potential to save many businesses in rural areas which would otherwise be closed or turned into accommodation. Pubs, for example, are facing an economic crisis, and it is the community-ownership model which can save many of them,” said James Alcock, the charity’s chief executive. “We believe this is a promising first step for community empowerment. We will look closely at the detail and the processes that will be proposed as the legislation develops.”
Danes to get the copyright to their own faces
This needs to happen everywhere.
From Positive News:
People in Denmark could get copyright control over their facial features and voices under proposed legislation aimed at combatting AI-generated deepfakes. A new bill introduced to the Danish parliament would make it illegal to share deepfake images, videos and audio recordings based on a real person. The bill, if enacted, would issue “severe fines” for online platforms that do not abide by the new law. The Danish government said that parodies and satire would not be affected by the proposed amendment. “In the bill we agree and are sending an unequivocal message that everybody has the right to their own body, their own voice and their own facial features, which is apparently not how the current law is protecting people against generative AI,” Danish culture minister, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, told The Guardian. The Danish proposals come amid growing concern about the rise of deepfakes and their potential to further pollute the information sphere. ...
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My favorite recent quotes, memes, and videos
Brilliant.
Good question!
Bingo!
As other commenters on Bluesky have pointed out, the repetition of “Uh-huh” is pure comedy gold.
I love this! It’s so marvelously random.
And the winner is:
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Good news in medicine
World’s largest body imaging project complete
I knew nothing about this, so I’m especially impressed to learn about its potential now that the project is complete.
From Positive News:
It took 10 years and involved 100,000 volunteers, but the world’s largest whole body imaging project is now complete, giving scientists unprecedented insights into the human anatomy. UK Biobank, which led the project, scanned its 100,000th volunteer this week. Since 2015, it has batch released the de-identified imaging data to scientists around the world to help them develop better diagnostic tests for conditions such as heart disease, dementia and cancer. Used alongside existing information on lifestyle, medical history, genetics and blood proteins – collected from the same volunteers – the images, said UK Biobank, “allow researchers to see, in ways that were previously impossible, how all aspects of our lives influence our health”. So far, more than 1,300 peer-reviewed scientific papers have been published off the back of UK Biobank’s data. The results of these studies have helped improve patient care globally; one such study identified a much quicker way to analyse heart scans. “The unprecedented scale of this imaging project … makes it possible for scientists to see patterns of disease that just couldn’t otherwise be seen,” said Prof Sir Rory Collins, UK Biobank’s chief executive. “This massive imaging project is making the invisible visible.”
A bionic knee integrated into tissue can restore natural movement
The advances in prostheses have been truly mind-boggling.
From MIT News:
MIT researchers have developed a new bionic knee that can help people with above-the-knee amputations walk faster, climb stairs, and avoid obstacles more easily than they could with a traditional prosthesis. Unlike prostheses in which the residual limb sits within a socket, the new system is directly integrated with the user’s muscle and bone tissue. This enables greater stability and gives the user much more control over the movement of the prosthesis. Participants in a small clinical study also reported that the limb felt more like a part of their own body, compared to people who had more traditional above-the-knee amputations. “A prosthesis that's tissue-integrated — anchored to the bone and directly controlled by the nervous system — is not merely a lifeless, separate device, but rather a system that is carefully integrated into human physiology, offering a greater level of prosthetic embodiment. It’s not simply a tool that the human employs, but rather an integral part of self,” says Hugh Herr, a professor of media arts and sciences, co-director of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics at MIT, an associate member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and the senior author of the new study. x YouTube Video
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Good news in science
Animals React to Secret Sounds from Plants That We Couldn’t Hear – Until Now
I’m always delighted when human arrogance on the subject of intelligence gets knocked down by cutting edge research. It’s happened with primates, more recently with other species of animals (octopuses being one of my favorites), and now it appears that plants also have intelligence and methods of communication, not only with each other but also with the animal world. At this point, I think it’s safest to assume that all living beings have some variety of intelligence/sentience, which definitely presents a moral challenge for us humans.
From Good News Network:
Scientists have found that plants make a series of sounds that indicate they are under duress, and that certain animals have evolved to hear these and react to them. Described as a “vast, unexplored field,” the phytoacoustics are inaudible to the human ear, but, adjusted to frequencies that we can hear, the sounds are not unlike the popping of corn in a pan. A genus of moths is known to lay its eggs on the leaves of the tomato vine so that the larvae have a ready food source when they emerge. Scientists at Tel Aviv University performed a series of trials to see if these moths would lay their eggs on plants which were sounding off that they were dehydrated or stressed in some way. The hypothesis would be that if moths could hear the sound, they may choose to avoid laying their eggs on the ‘screaming’ plants, as a stressed plant would produce fewer or inferior tomatoes, resulting in weaker, less-nourished larvae. The result was exactly that. When controlled for visual indicators on the leaves and fruit, moths reliably chose to lay eggs on the silent plants over the sounding ones. ✂️ Dr. Yovel has made other foundational discoveries in plant signaling, including that stressed plants emit airborne sounds that can be recorded from a distance and classified, and another that showed plants ‘hear’ the sounds of pollinators nearby and rapidly increase the sugar concentration in their nectar. On the back of this most recent paper, he plans to extend his research to make a catalogue of sounds from different plants, and begin to see how many, if any, animals are reacting to them. “This is speculation at this stage, but it could be that all sorts of animals will make decisions based on the sounds they hear from plants, such as whether to pollinate or hide inside them or eat the plant,” said Dr. Yovel according to the BBC. With all this talk about screaming plants and listening plants, the authors stressed that plants are not sentient as we understand it. The sounds are made by changes in the physical structure of leaves, not by [the kinds of] vocalizations that we know of in the animal kingdom. Others...however, such as forester and author Peter Wohlleben, [are] eager [for] scientists [to] devise a computer which detects through pheromones what trees are ‘talking’ about. His work indicates this is a primary means of tree communication. Whether or not science is on the cusp of elaborating plant ‘intelligence,’ it’s undeniable that there is a virtually universal plant ‘awareness’ which if we’re honest, isn’t always an inferior quality to intelligence. x YouTube Video
That’s Wild: Orcas’ Friendly Gestures
Another story showing that animals have traits many of us consider to be exclusively human, like generosity and the desire for connection.
From The Center for Biological Diversity:
You know how cats sometimes leave a bit of prey at your feet or front door? Well, orcas have just been found doing something similar. Scientists say that for the first time they’ve documented killer whales in the wild offering to share their food with people, suggesting that these sea-going giants may be trying to make a connection with us. The new study documents 34 incidents where orcas tried to offer dead birds, seals, and other food to humans in places like California, New Zealand, Norway, and Patagonia. Thanks very much, kind orcas. Check out this scientist’s explanation on YouTube. x YouTube Video
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Good news for the environment
Trafficking in the Amazon Targeted in Historic 5-Country Police Raid Seizing $64 Million in Materials
It’s good to see a wealthy nation like UAE step in to help poorer nations fight climate-related criminal activity. Let’s hope this successful operation will lead to more multilateral raids.
From Good News Network:
Thousands of live animals and tens of thousands of board-feet of illegally harvested timber were confiscated from trafficking operations across Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil as part of Operation Green Shield. Organized by the UAE, Green Shield involved over 350 police raids coordinated in real time through data sharing and geolocation tracking. Two significant criminal enterprises are believed to have been disrupted, while the value of all the seizures totals $64 million. ✂️ In the Amazon Basin, governments may have knowledge of illegal activities like logging and mining, but because of the remoteness of the territory, are unable to summon the force and will to go investigate. In the case of Green Shield, it was an initiated by the UAE as part of the International Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate (IILEC), an international platform launched 2 years ago to aid in multilateral policing on climate-related criminal activity. 1,500 officers were mobilized for the raids, which occurred in Brazil’s Mato Grasso and Ampaya states, Peru’s Amazonas Department, a dozen regions in Ecuador, and 22 in Colombia, including many of the most ecologically sensitive locations, such as Guaviare. 94 arrests were made, over 500 vehicles were confiscated relating to logging, mining, and smuggling, 39,000 gallons of fuel, 2,100 live animals, including 1,600 in a single bust in Peru, over 6,000 poached animals, and 3,800 cubic meters of illegally-harvested hardwoods. Busts are believed to have affected the operations of two major criminal syndicates, including Los Depredatores del Oriente, involved in trafficking wild animals in Peru, and Clan del Golfo, in Colombia. The UAE had experience in operations like this, having previously overseen a similar effort under IILEC in the Congo Basin, where they said miners and traffickers’ operations were degrading world heritage, as well as the livelihoods of indigenous peoples.
Conservationists raise sharks to restore reefs in waters around Thailand
I love the brilliant idea of putting these shark nurseries next to popular tourist resorts so that the maximum number of people from around the world see them and spread the word about the vitally important role sharks play in the ecosystem.
From Mongabay:
Bamboo sharks Conservationist Ying Pemika Choovanichchanon holds a small basket in her hands, careful not to disturb the leathery brown pouches nestled inside. When she shines a light underneath, signs of life appear: the pouches are bamboo shark egg cases, and the tiny creatures within them are a key part of a plan to help revive Thailand’s coral reefs. At the forefront of this plan is Oceans for All, a Thai-based nonprofit that’s partnering with luxury hotels to breed and release bamboo sharks. After opening its first shark nursery with Club Med Phuket in March 2022, followed by Pullman Phuket Panwa Beach Resort in November 2022, the program has now expanded to the Thai mainland by opening a shark nursery at the JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa on the shores of the Andaman Sea. Twenty years ago, Thai waters were filled with the tan-colored bamboo sharks (Chiloscyllium punctatum), famed for their distinctive dark bands. But overfishing and habitat destruction have seen their numbers drop drastically. The sharks, which are listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List, play a vital role in the ecosystem, by feeding on small fish and invertebrates that eat corals. As apex predators, bamboo sharks keep in check populations of smaller creatures that might otherwise overgraze the reefs. The Oceans for All team say that when shallow reefs die, it’s often due to the lack of predators rather than pollution. ✂️ The bamboo shark, which can live up to 25 years, is one of the 40% of shark species that lays eggs, making them relatively easy to breed in captivity. ...Since Oceans for All launched, it has released 200 sharks. “We’ve been releasing sharks from the beach, from a boat, [but] they will find their place,” [David] Martin [co-founder of Oceans for All] says. “They hide under corals, and they will feed at night on small fish and small shrimp.” ✂️ The decision to establish the nurseries on the grounds of existing hotels was a deliberate one. “In a hotel, you have different people coming every three or four days. The awareness is spreading a lot faster, almost as fast as if you do it on social media,” Martin says. “Science and technology cannot fix the ocean. Science and technology cannot fix plastic pollution. Science and technology cannot fix overfishing. Only a moral change [can do it].” ...
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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.
Years After She Saved a Magpie it Returns the Favor Saving Her Life After She Fell from Window
Rascal loved this story of a rescuer rescued. He definitely understands the importance of loyalty and love for his human family.
From Good News Network:
Jellybean the magpie When Sandie Gillard fell from a two-story window, the impact knocked the senior citizen unconscious, a state that may have become permanent if not for the intervention of a very small, very unlikely hero. Lightly tapping on her head, a bird named Jellybean roused its former caregiver enough that she could call her husband, who arrived in time to telephone emergency services and save her life. ✂️ The fall happened in 2020 in the town of Esperance, in Western Australia’s remote southeastern corner where Gillard, then 68 years old, had cared for sick, wounded, or abandoned animals all her life. Three years before her accident, a miniscule magpie was brought to her home by someone who found it on the ground unable to fly after it had fallen out of a tree. Already possessing a rich experience in nursing birds back to health, Gillard took in the nestling and named her Jellybean. For months, she grew up alongside Gillard and her family, a single flock of nest mates. ...the magpie remained in the neighborhood after learning to fly and find food for herself. “She would sit on the verandah or whatever and knock on the door until I would come out and say hello” [said Gillard.] Gillard said she has no memory of the 2020 fall. Landing on a cement driveway, she cracked her skull and dislocated her right arm violently. “I woke up to this little sound of purring… and something tapping me on the forehead,” Gillard said. Having been saved from a fall by Sandie Gillard, it was time for Jellybean to return the favor. Paramedics arrived and brought her to a heliport where she was flown to the hospital and stabilized. The doctors later told her that if she had lain in that state much longer, she wouldn’t be here today.
“Biggie Smalls” inspires the creation of a rescue and sanctuary for overweight cats
Margot isn’t overweight, but she would be if we fed her every time she asked for more food. 😉
x YouTube Video
Dogs Are Being Trained to Track Elusive Spotted Lanternfly and Save Crops from Devastation
How cool is this! Good dogs and their owners being trained as citizen scientists!! Rosy had a keen nose, so we would have signed up immediately.
From Good News Network:
A real-world trial at Virginia Tech has shown that ordinary dogs and their owners can help combat a major invasive insect species from taking hold in their communities. (Left) A spotted lanternfly egg mass hides in plain sight – credit, courtesy of Sally Dickinson (Right) A mature spotted lanternfly The spotted lanternfly, native to Asia, was first detected in Pennsylvania in 2014. Since then, it’s spread rapidly to 18 states, laying its eggs on trees, stone, lumber, and even cars and trailers, where it can hitch a ride to a new home. Catching the bug early is key—but finding its egg masses is no easy task. That’s where your dog comes in. With a sense of smell that’s tens of thousands of times more acute than a human’s, dogs can be trained to sniff out spotted lanternfly egg masses without disturbing the environment. “They often resemble mud smears or lichens and are tucked into bark crevices, cracks, or hidden undersides,” said Mizuho Nita, a plant pathologist at Virginia Tech who co-authored the results of the field study. “Finding them is like searching for a needle in a haystack.”Previous research has shown that professional conservation detection dogs can find them quite often. But professional dogs are expensive, and there aren’t nearly enough of them to cover the growing threat. Fozzie and Scott Hurst of Salem, Virginia, search a park bench for evidence of the invasive spotted lanternfly That’s where Sally Dickinson, the lead author on the study who recently obtained her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, thought that they might be able to enlist the help of citizen scientists. ...Many dog owners participate in sporting scent games—teaching their dogs to track different scents and having sort of scavenger hunts to enrich their companions’ lives. Even if the breed isn’t bred specifically for following scent trails, most dogs can do it. 182 human-dog teams from across the US were selected and given devitalized, that is, non-hatching lanternfly egg masses, as training aids. Participants trained their dogs at home or in small groups, with oversight from a designated local trainer. After several months of training, the dogs were put to the test in two environments—one indoor and one outdoor. In the controlled indoor environment, dogs had to complete an odor recognition test, identifying the box with the spotted lanternfly egg mass from among multiple boxes with other items and scents. Those that passed the odor recognition test advanced to a field test, where they had to find the scent in an outdoor environment with competing smells. The participant dogs correctly identified the egg masses 82% of the time in the controlled test and 61% in the real-world test. This was still better than rates of success for human-only searches. Of the dogs that passed both tests, 92% were successful in finding live egg masses with minimal extra training.
And a bonus good news story about animals, featuring the enchanting English harvest mouse:
How Wimbledon tennis balls are helping vulnerable UK harvest mice
From Country Living:
A harvest mouse in a Wimbledom tennis ball house On Monday, 30th June, tens of thousands of tennis enthusiasts flocked to SW19 again as Wimbledon kicked off for the 138th time. According to its own estimates, the tournament uses roughly 55,000 tennis balls each year – but what happens to them once they've served their purpose? While many are sold on-site to raise funds for the Wimbledon Foundation, the All England Lawn Tennis Club has another second act for the fuzzy yellow orbs – one that supports British wildlife and the environment. After the tournament wraps up, used balls are donated to the Wildlife Trusts, a grassroots movement of 46 independent charities working to bring back and support wildlife. The organization transforms the balls into homes for one of the UK's smallest – and most vulnerable – animals: the harvest mouse. These tiny rodents, measuring just 5 to 7 centimeters and weighing a mere 4 to 6 grams, typically make their nests in long grasslands, hedgerows, and farmland in the north of England. Modern agricultural practices, however, have dramatically reduced their natural habitats, landing the harvest mouse on the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework’s priority list. In the wild, harvest mice weave intricate, spherical nests from grass high up in the tall grass. Thanks to their shape and size, tennis balls (albeit, attached to poles and with a hole cut into them), offer the perfect ready-made shelter for the mammals, especially for nesting females, helping protect them and their young from predators.
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