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in the headlines...

📺 The final episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” aired this week, ending an era of what one scholar called some of the best satire in U.S. history.

💍 Overcoming fierce debate, Oklahoma became the 17th U.S. state to officially ban child marriage, setting the minimum marriage age at 18 and ending legal exceptions for minors.

👏 Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a ban on assault firearms and high-capacity magazines into law, making the state the 11th in the U.S. to ban assault weapons.

❤️ Security guard Amin Abdullah, a father of eight who was killed in the San Diego mosque shooting, was hailed as a hero who “played a pivotal role in keeping this from being much worse.”​

Education

California elementary school students are helping raise $10M to save a bald eagle habitat from development

When students at John Baldwin Elementary School in Danville, California heard that a wildlife area near the nest of a pair of viral bald eagles, Jackie and Shadow, was at risk of being developed, they immediately wanted to help.

The students wrote letters to community members, celebrities, and lawmakers, posted flyers, and picked up leaves, washed cars, held bake sales, and more to raise money in support of an effort to purchase and protect the land.

That effort is being led by the nonprofit Friend of Big Bear Valley, which has so far raised over $2.68 million since Feb. 19 toward its $10 million goal so the San Bernardino Mountain Land Trust can buy the land.

Why is this good news? Even beyond helping protect and preserve this critical bald eagle hunting and habitat area, these students are learning from an early age that we can turn our care and passion into real-life action that matters and makes a difference.

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good Progress

In April, Baltimore saw its fewest monthly homicides in over 50 years

With four cases reported April, Baltimore recorded its fewest monthly homicides since at least 1970. The city has seen its “safest” period in more than 50 years, with significant declines in violent crime overall.

So far this year, the city has seen 33 homicides and 89 non-fatal shootings, compared to 37 and 101 over the same period last year — a 10.8% decrease in homicides and 11.9% decline in non-fatal shootings.

The city’s mayor credits its Group Violence Reduction Strategy, which launched in 2022 and is a partnership between police, the mayor’s office, and prosecutors. It’s since expanded to more neighborhoods in the city and has connected hundreds of people to resources, seizing firearms and ghost guns, and more.

Even better: Data shows that some non-violent crime is down, too, with carjackings down 38%, burglaries down 17%, auto thefts down 11%, and robberies down 16% compared to last year.

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Animals

Experts are celebrating a record-breaking start to sea turtle nesting season in Florida

In Florida, sea turtle nesting season typically runs from March 1 through October 31. Just two months into the season, the FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute announced that both loggerhead and leatherback nests were “outpacing recent record-breaking years.”

The FWC reported 1,008 leatherback nests — up by 4% compared to May 2025. There were also three Kemp’s ridley nests, up by two from this time last year, marking a huge improvement for the world’s smallest and most endangered sea turtle.

Even more remarkably, the number of loggerhead nests so far this year is already at 1,450, roughly 82% higher than it was this time last year.

Why is this good news? In 2024, scientists expected Florida to break nesting records, but Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton caused severe flooding and washed away many sea turtle nests across the state. Despite extensive damage, wildlife experts continued conservation and restoration efforts throughout the following year — and it appears to be paying off.

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Sports

Olympic skier Hunter Hess turned Trump’s ‘real loser’ insult into a fundraiser for youth sports

At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Team USA freestyle skier Hunter Hess said in an interview that it brought up “mixed emotions” to represent the U.S. at the Games, saying, “Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”

Then, President Trump called Hess “a real loser.”

Now, Hess is turning that insult into something positive. He just launched The Real Loser Project, a merchandise line where 100% of proceeds support Stoked, a nonprofit that gives underserved kids access to action sports and mentorship.

Why is this good news? What was initially meant to tear an athlete down will now serve to give more young athletes opportunities to join in and participate. Hess is showing us how we can use our platform and influence — big or small — to do good and build people up instead of tear them down.

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Animals

For the first time in 70 years, a wild jaguar was spotted in the largest park in Argentina

Together, Iberá National Park and Iberá Provincial Park are not only the largest park in Argentina, but they’re also home to sweeping grasslands, marshlands, forests, and 4,000 species of flora and fauna.

Earlier this month, tour guides spotted a young male jaguar named Ombú resting on a trail, marking the first wild jaguar sighting in 70 years.

The milestone was the result of decades of hard-fought conservation work, education campaigns, and collaborative rewilding efforts between local organizations, scientists, rangers, and ranchers — the park went from having no jaguars to now 50 total.

Why is this good news? Seven decades ago, jaguars were driven out of Argentina by twin forces: logging and poaching. As hunters killed them for their pelts, the forest shrank around them. This milestone proves conservation efforts are working.

→ Read more​

More Good News

​New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is creating 50 car-free “soccer streets” ahead of the World Cup, mostly near schools. The streets will host youth soccer clinics, art stations, and block parties so that “every kid” in the city can “experience the joy of the game.”

​A dad and daughter duo drove 600 miles across the country to rescue two baby cows. The dairy industry has no use for boy cows, so Joanna Zelman and her father drove across the country to save two of them.

​Tennessee just celebrated the birth of its 50th clouded leopard cub, one of the most elusive cat species in the world. Today, clouded leopards are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, and experts estimate that only 10,000 remain in the wild.

​A former poacher in India now protects the land and animals he grew up hunting. Rustom Basumatary is a naturalist and an avid birder from the remote Indian village, and received the Assam Guarav Award for his wildlife conservation efforts.

​Plans for a 2,100-acre data center in Northern Virginia were derailed after locals lobbied against it for 27 hours straight. In addition to its proximity to the historic Manassas National Battlefield Park, locals cited concerns for pollution and energy consumption.

​National park volunteers in Nepal are standing guard between humans and tigers to prevent wildlife conflict. The region where they volunteer frequently experiences human-wildlife conflict incidents, mostly involving elephants and tigers, leading to fatalities and injuries among both communities and wildlife.

​Even though Trump called climate change a “con job,” lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are still trying to protect the planet. Trump’s stance on climate change has led to some of the largest deregulatory actions in the nation’s history, but people are still fighting for protections.

​A brick building in Chicago that used to be public housing is now a first-of-its-kind museum. Despite most public housing residences closing in the 1960s and 70s, this one has been preserved for the future.

​In one week, a Florida community raised enough money to save a cow from slaughter. Charley was hand-raised in a 4-H program to compete in local shows, but when he was too skinny at a weigh-in, his fate shifted until locals stepped in.

more good bits

✏️ There’s a new standard for welcoming kids to school.

🦠 A hantavirus cruise passenger was moved to tears by strangers.

✍️ Cursive translations are preserving the writing of women.

🦫 Real-life good news inspired animators to make “Hoppers.”​

📖 For these novelists, optimism is the whole point.

🥦 Billie Eilish has been walking the vegan walk for a very long time.

🦦 Meet the country’s first search-and-rescue otter!

🦊 A tiny endangered fox is seeing a big-time recovery.

📺 “We had a few drinks and emailed Sesame Street.”​

❤️ Where there’s gender equality, everybody lives longer.

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