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In the headlines...

🏥 Sen. Andy Kim unveiled the MediKids Act to expand Medicaid to all U.S. children, automatically enrolling every child at birth until the age of 26. (Gifted link)

🍿 Despite racist and transphobic claims that two of its cast members would hurt the film’s success, The Odyssey had a massive opening weekend.

📰 California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new initiative aimed at bolstering the journalism ecosystem with a focus on local, community, and underserved news outlets.

Food

An artist auctioned off a painting of viral raccoon “Jimothy” and raised thousands for his local food bank

Due to the shape of his distinct, rounded body, researchers believe that Jimothy the Seattle raccoon has a rare congenital spine condition, but seems to be happy and as mobile as any other raccoon.

With videos of his antics circulating, Jimothy has skyrocketed to internet fame, inspiring countless internet memes — and Seattle artist Ryan Henry Ward to paint a portrait of the iconic raccoon.

He auctioned off the painting, announcing that 100% of proceeds would benefit a local food bank. Jimothy fans answered the call, raising more than $12,000 for the Ballard Food Bank.

Why is this good news? This particular food bank has been fighting food insecurity in northwest Seattle since the 1970s, and features a unique “grocery store” model. Internet sensations are fun just for the online community building — but it’s even better when they can inspire some real-world good, too.

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More Good News

​Butterfly experts are planting 15,000 milkweed plants along Florida roadsides to help monarch butterflies. It’s part of an initiative led by the University of Illinois Chicago to turn the vacant rights-of-way alongside roads, power lines, and train tracks into environmental corridors for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.

​Researchers developed 3D-printed contact lenses that can be produced on-demand in as little as 20 minutes. The customised lenses could be designed, manufactured and dispensed during a single visit to the optometrist and transform how contact lenses are manufactured.

​A politically diverse church in North Carolina wiped out millions in medical debt for their neighbors. Rev. John Jackman said the congregation was united over its desire to provide relief for its neighbors — it was “the easiest money I’ve ever raised.”

​A nonprofit in Kenya is breaking barriers and training women to join the construction industry. Since its inception in 2019, Buildher says it has trained more than 1,000 women, with graduates increasing their average daily earnings roughly five- to six-fold within a year of training — from about $1.50 to between $11 and $12.

​Dam removal efforts have led Maine's alewife fish to make a remarkable comeback. The story of Maine’s alewives is a conservation success decades in the making — and a lesson for struggling alewife populations on the rest of the Atlantic coast.

​Researchers developed a “light switch” that wakes cancer cells up to make them more accessible for treatment. Some cancer cells evade medicines by switching to a sleep-like state with the help of stress hormone receptors.

People doing good

Meet the women protecting the last remaining gorillas in Nigeria: ‘Our men have failed to stop the threats’

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good progress

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest reached its lowest level in a decade in the first half of 2026

In the first six months of the year, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest reached its lowest level since 2016.

Around 500 square miles total were deforested — an area almost twice the size of New York City — a decrease of 38% compared to the same period in 2025.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to end illegal deforestation by 2030, after it peaked in 2022 under his predecessor and an area around 13 times the size of New York City was cleared.

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More Good bits

⚽️ Another World Cup is starting in 100 days! (Reels)

🖼️ An art gallery is helping incarcerated women re-enter society.

🐢 A 400-pound sea turtle was rescued a long way from home.

🧠 Call Harrison Ford, there’s a new kind of therapy in town.

💪 There were at least two sets of impressive biceps on set for The Odyssey.

🚌 Clean transit for the kids by day, grid stabilization by night. (TikTok)

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