States & provinces

Law enforcement officers in masks

California becomes first U.S. state to ban most law enforcement officers from wearing masks

By / / Good News For Humankind

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has signed a bill prohibiting most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business. The legislation, which is the first of its kind in the nation, is a direct response to recent immigration raids in Los Angeles where masked federal agents made mass arrests. This new law is intended to increase transparency, boost public trust in law enforcement, and prevent people from impersonating officers to commit crimes. This is a progressive step that could serve as a model for other states, even as it faces legal challenges.

Children in preschool raising their hands

New Mexico to be first U.S. state to launch universal child care system

By / / Good News For Humankind

A groundbreaking new law in New Mexico is making history by guaranteeing no-cost childcare for all families. This initiative is a strategic investment in the state’s future, designed to boost the economy by enabling parents, particularly mothers, to enter or re-enter the workforce. It also ensures quality by increasing provider pay to a minimum of $18 an hour. This progressive move sets a new national standard, proving that investing in children and families is a powerful path to long-term prosperity.

Forest scene

Washington State to conserve 77,000 acres of “legacy forests” on state lands

By / / Good News For Humankind

Washington has announced a landmark step in forest conservation, protecting 77,000 acres of legacy forests across the state. These ecologically rich areas provide critical wildlife habitat, store carbon, and build wildfire resilience. By conserving legacy forests while supporting rural economies, Washington is charting a path toward sustainable forestry and climate resilience.

Boston skyline with Fenway Park in foreground

Massachusetts governor signs new shield law for abortion & trans health care

By / / Good News For Humankind

A new shield law in Massachusetts, signed by Governor Maura Healey, has created a legal sanctuary for reproductive and gender-affirming care. The law protects patients and providers from out-of-state legal attacks, including subpoenas and lawsuits. It builds on previous protections for abortion and now extends the same legal safeguards to transgender healthcare. This measure reinforces the state’s commitment to protecting essential, evidence-based medical care in the face of national legislative challenges.

Herd of elk

Colorado is building the ‘world’s largest’ wildlife overpass

By / / Good News For Humankind

Colorado is building one of the world’s largest wildlife overpasses across Interstate 25 between Denver and Colorado Springs. The $15 million Greenland Wildlife Overpass will be 200 feet wide and 209 feet long, giving elk, mule deer, and pronghorn a safe route across six lanes of highway. Designed with natural vegetation and sloped entrances, the structure is expected to cut vehicle-animal collisions by up to 90% while reconnecting 39,000 acres of habitat to Pike National Forest. Scheduled for completion in late 2025, the project shows how infrastructure can reduce accidents and restore ecological connectivity.

Aerial view of South Manhattan

New York becomes first U.S. state to require all-electric new buildings

By / / Good News For Humankind

Buildings are one of New York’s biggest climate polluters, responsible for nearly a third of the state’s emissions. In 2025, the state finalized the nation’s first statewide gas ban, requiring most new buildings to run on electric systems, with larger ones following in 2029. A federal court upheld the law, clearing the way for implementation. By ending fossil fuel hookups in new construction, New York is cutting a major source of greenhouse gases, improving air quality, and creating a model for other states—pushing the country closer to a future where all buildings help solve the climate crisis, not fuel it.

Northern lights over teepees

New partnership funds Indigenous-led protection of Canadian lands twice the size of Florida

By / / Good News For Humankind

In Canada’s Northwest Territories, a landmark pact is uniting federal, territorial, and 21 Indigenous governments to protect nature on an unprecedented scale. Covering current preserves plus 75,000 square miles of new conserved lands — twice Florida’s size and more than 2% of Canada’s landmass — the agreement will channel over $300 million to Indigenous-led stewardship, conservation, and ecotourism.

Dollar bills and pills, representing medical debt

Arizona erases $429 million in medical debt

By / / Good News For Humankind

Thousands of Arizonans now have a financial burden lifted off their shoulders, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced on Wednesday. According to the Democratic governor, $429 million in medical debt has been erased for more than 352,000 Arizonans as part of a partnership between her administration and national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt. In 2024, Hobbs announced an initiative to erase $2 billion in medical debt for up to one million Arizonans.

California flag

California becomes world’s largest economy to be powered by two-thirds clean energy

By / / Good news links

The state released new data showing California’s continued progress toward a clean energy future with 67% of the state’s retail electricity sales in 2023 coming from renewable and zero-carbon electricity generation — compared to just 61% the previous year and around 41% a decade ago. Then, in 2024, the state added a record-breaking 7,000 MW of clean capacity to the grid, the largest single-year increase in clean energy capacity in state history.

Reproductive rights protesters

Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down state’s 1849 near-total abortion ban

By / / Good News For Humankind

In a 4-3 decision, the court’s liberal majority affirmed a lower court ruling that overturned the 176-year-old ban and left in place a more recent law in Wisconsin allowing most abortions until about the 20th week of pregnancy. As was the case in many states with similar older laws, or newer so-called trigger laws, the ban came back into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade in 2022. In short order, the decision prompted Planned Parenthood’s Wisconsin operations to suspend abortion services in the state.