Good News Links

Mickey and Minnie Mouse at Disneyland

Disneyland unions agree to ‘historic’ 31% pay raise

By / / Good news links

Master Services Council, which represents 14,000 Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and Downtown Disney employees from four unions, announced its members had voted to accept a new contract that provides a 31% pay raise over the next three years.
The “biggest wage increases ever” for Disneyland resort employees will raise hourly pay more than $6 over three years from the current $19.90 to $24 in 2024 and $26 in 2026, according to the unions.

New Caledonia’s endangered cagou now thriving after conservation push

By / / Good news links

The flightless bird is considered endangered and experts estimate there are about 2,000 in New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific. A “massacre” by predators in 2017 killed about three-quarters of the population in the area. A similar incident three years later further hurt its numbers. But efforts to preserve and grow the population are paying off. A series of steps to protect the birds – including managing threats and tracking behavior – have seen their numbers triple since 2017.

Amazon

Peru establishes new Indigenous reserve in the Amazon for peoples in isolation

By / / Good news links

Indigenous organizations in Peru’s Amazon have achieved a milestone in a campaign that has lasted for almost two decades. Indigenous peoples living in isolation and initial contact (PIACI) will be protected within the recently declared Sierra del Divisor Occidental Indigenous Reserve, a territory they’ve long inhabited — and place where they have historically faced pressures that threaten their existence. The Indigenous reserve spans over 1.2 million acres in the Peruvian departments of Ucayali and Loreto.

Vials of blood

U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves blood test to screen for colon cancer

By / / Good news links

The test, known as Shield, isn’t meant to replace colonoscopies, but is generating enthusiasm among doctors who say it has the potential to boost the dismal rate of screenings for the second-highest cause of cancer death in the United States. Shield has previously been available to doctors as a screening tool, at an out-of-pocket cost of $895. With the FDA approval, Medicare and private insurance companies are much more likely to cover the cost of the blood test, making it more widely accessible for patients.

Good news for LGBTQ rights

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs bill banning “gay or trans panic” defense

By / / Good news links

Gov. Whitmer signed a slate of 39 bills into law, including H.B. 4718. The legislation, sponsored by bisexual state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, states that in criminal trials, “evidence of the discovery of, knowledge about, or potential disclosure of an individual’s actual or perceived sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation is not admissible” for the purposes of demonstrating “reasonable provocation.”

Tiger lying down

Thai tiger numbers swell as prey populations stabilize in western forests

By / / Good news links

The tiger population density in a series of protected areas in western Thailand has more than doubled over the past two decades, according to new survey data. Thailand is the final stronghold of the Indochinese tiger, the subspecies having been extirpated from neighboring Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam over the past decade due to poaching, habitat loss, and indiscriminate snaring.