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In the headlines...

🗳️ Voting is now open for Fat Marmot Week, the online competition supporting scientists and their research after their budget was cut by the Trump administration.

🥘 World Central Kitchen is providing free meals in Gary, Indiana as the state’s utility company continues working to restore power for thousands of residents nearly two weeks after severe storms.

Today’s Top Good News Story

Food influencer Keith Lee is distributing food and supplies to Gary, Indiana after storms cause ongoing power outages

Following severe storms in Northwest Indiana earlier this month, thousands of residents in Gary, Indiana remain without power — 12 days later.

As the town’s mayor continues to push the state’s utility company to restore power, and the state and federal government send in relief, two public figures are stepping in to help, too: Food influencer Keith Lee and Indiana Pacers basketball player Tyrese Haliburton.

The pair partnered with the Salvation Army, Ace Hardware, and city officials to host a relief drive for locals, distributing food and supplies, and coming together to enjoy a little music.

Why is this good news? While Lee acknowledged the event wasn’t the same as “turning the power on,” he’s made his fame from uplifting small, independently owned food vendors and restaurants, especially supporting BIPOC communities. Gary is a predominantly Black city, and this effort to give back is no exception.

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More Good News

​Once a wildlife trafficking victim, a reintroduced orangutan is now a mother in the wild. Indonesia’s forestry minister named the baby Badar, a Malay word with Arabic origin meaning “full moon.” The mother’s name, Bulan, also means “moon” in Indonesian.

​A wildlife crossing in Washington State celebrated 10,000 safe crossings and zero roadkill. The Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 has been open for 12 years, and it’s been so successful that the state is planning to build 15 more undercrossings and one more overcrossing.

​The world’s largest coral restoration organization just helped 1,000 corals escape extreme ocean heat. After a heat advisory was issued across Florida, the team of divers carefully moved the endangered corals farther north.

​Aerial footage shows that protected land in Somerset, England has remained green across five heatwaves. The rewilded forests and restored wetlands on the National Trust’s Holnicote estate have proven resilient to recent drought, wildfires, and flooding.

​As renewable energy gains popularity across Europe, market demand for methane has dropped dramatically. In the last quarter century, Europe’s wind and solar capacity has surged from under 20 GW ​to nearly 750 GW.

​Two community solar projects just opened on a former coal mine in Illinois. The two projects utilize 16,950 solar panels across about 40 acres of land and are capable of generating enough energy to power almost 1,650 average households.

Animals

A new species of seahorse was hiding in plain sight for more than a century. It’s named after the ‘mother’ of seahorse research

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good progress

Smoking rates have reached a historic low among young people in the U.S.

Smoking and vaping continued to decline among middle school and high school students in 2025, according to the latest school-based survey that has been tracking smoking and other nicotine product use in American youth ages 11 to 18 since 1999.

The survey found that smoking — the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. and worldwide — is at a historic low among U.S. youth, at just 1.4%. In 1997, smoking rates among U.S. high school students peaked at 36%.

The use of nicotine vapes, or e-cigarettes, also fell to 5.2% in 2025, the lowest it’s been since its peak in 2019. The use of nicotine pouches, which had been rising, is now stable compared with the previous year and remains relatively low at 1.7%.

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More Good bits

👨🏻 “Ted Lasso” is driving interest in a highly underrated museum.

🫁 Cleaner air can literally make your lungs bigger.

🐆 No, that’s not just a stretched-out cheetah.

🌿 Seaweed is pulling double duty in Brazil.

​​🚆 All aboard the sleeker, cleaner Amtrak trains.

🦈 (Rare) baby shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo. (May require login)

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