Utah bans conversion therapy for LGBTQ children
The discredited practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ children is now banned in Utah, making it the 19th state and one of the most conservative to prohibit it.
United States
This archive collects solutions-journalism stories and milestones from the United States — covering policy wins, community-led efforts, scientific advances, and social progress happening across the country. Each entry highlights what’s working and why it matters.
Researchers produce a single-molecule catalyst to form hydrogen using sunlight
Scientists for the first time have developed a single molecule that can absorb sunlight efficiently and act as a catalyst to transform solar energy into hydrogen, a clean alternative to fossil fuels.
Fisheries management is effectively rebuilding fish stocks around the world
A global analysis from the University of Washington shows that nearly half of the fish caught worldwide are from stocks that are scientifically monitored and, on average, are increasing in abundance.
Microsoft pledges to be carbon negative by 2030
By 2030, Microsoft will be carbon negative. By 2050, they will remove from the environment all the carbon the company has emitted either directly or by electrical consumption since it was founded in 1975.
27,000 deaths avoided in the United States by shutting down coal plants
Researchers from the University of California – San Diego found that tens of thousands of deaths had been avoided between 2005 and 2016 by replacing coal plants.
U.S. cancer death rate sees largest-ever single-year drop
From 2016 to 2017, the United States saw its largest-ever single-year drop in overall cancer deaths, a 2.2% plunge spurred in part by a sharp decline in lung cancer deaths, according to a new American Cancer Society report.
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fell 2% in 2019
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.1% last year because of a sharp drop in coal consumption, which fell by a record 18 percent to the lowest level since 1975.
California offers up to $9,500 to purchase electric vehicle
The incentives are up to $9,500 towards the purchase of a new or used plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, fully battery electric vehicle, or fuel cell electric vehicle and will be prioritized for low-income families.
Every county in Pennsylvania will have new voting machines with paper trails in 2020
“The shift from paperless [electronic] machines to having individual paper ballots is a sea change,” said the policy director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security. “It’s great, it’s huge, it was necessary.”
U.S. FDA approves pancreatic cancer treatment shown to double patient lifespans
The drug Lynparza was developed by AstraZeneca and Merck as a maintenance treatment for patients with a specific gene mutation whose cancer spread beyond the pancreas.