Los Angeles County votes to end oil and gas drilling
There are currently 1,046 active wells, 637 idle wells, and 2,731 abandoned wells in unincorporated areas of the nation’s most populous county.
Cities
Richmond’s massive Robert E. Lee statue has been removed
Lee’s statue was the largest Confederate monument in Richmond, Virginia and one of the largest in the country. Nearly every other Confederate statue in the city was removed last summer by protests or the city itself.
Charlotte, NC launches peer-run alternative to psychiatric hospitalization
The facility is entirely run by those who have experienced mental illness, psychiatric hospitalizations, homelessness, incarceration, or substance use. It is designed to be an alternative for those who are without physical injury who would otherwise be admitted to a psychiatric facility by an emergency room.
City of Madison will begin sending specialists to non-violent mental health calls instead of police
Madison’s CARES (Community Alternative Response to Emergency Situations and Services) team will feature two paramedics from Madison Fire Department, as well as two representatives from the Journey Mental Health Facility in Madison.
Charlotte passes LGBTQ nondiscrimination law
Charlotte, North Carolina has passed an ordinance to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity after years of delays and billions of dollars.
Eighteen million trees to be planted around Glasgow
An urban forest of 18 million trees, is to be planted around Glasgow over the next 10 years. The number of trees being planted is equivalent to 10 trees per resident.
Oakland to launch alternative response program for nonviolent 911 calls
Following successful alternative policing programs in Denver and Newark, Oakland, California is the latest city to adopt such a program with an initiative to redirect nonviolent, noncriminal calls to mobile teams of civilians.
A historically Black community in Houston will be home to largest urban solar farm in the U.S.
The solar panels will create enough electricity for about 5,000 homes annually, offsetting 120 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually. Construction is slated to start later this year with plans to be in operation by 2022.
Denver to donate bison to Tribal land as form of reparations
The 10-year initiative has culminated in the first bison making their way from to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma and the Tall Bull Memorial Council in Colorado.
Lisbon orders 10 electric ferries
Public ferry company Transtejo is putting these electric ferries into service between 2022 and 2024 as it retires non-electric ferries used to transport people (up to 540 at a time) across Lisbon’s Tagus River.