North & Central America

This archive covers progress stories from North and Central America, spanning the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the nations of Central America. Readers will find reporting on health, environment, community resilience, and policy advances across the region.

A ride-share driver in a car checking their phone, for an article about California gig worker rights and collective bargaining

California gig workers win the right to organize and bargain collectively

By / / Good News For Humankind

Gig worker rights took a landmark step forward as California granted ride-share and delivery drivers collective bargaining power for the first time. The new law covers hundreds of thousands of workers across platforms like Uber and Lyft, allowing them to negotiate wages, working conditions, and dispute resolution without requiring reclassification as full employees. By introducing a sectoral bargaining model, California sidestepped the decade-long binary debate between flexibility and protections. The legislation is significant both for the communities it serves and as a potential blueprint for labor reform across other states and countries.

A California state capitol building exterior for an article about masked law enforcement ban

California bans masked law enforcement officers in a national first for police accountability

By / / Good News For Humankind

California’s No Secret Police Act made history in 2025 when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 627, making California the first U.S. state to ban most law enforcement officers from concealing their identities during official operations. The law prohibits ski masks, balaclavas, and similar face coverings during enforcement actions, including federal immigration operations, and takes effect January 1, 2026. Officers who violate the law while committing civil rights violations face civil damages of at least 0,000. The legislation responds directly to masked immigration raids in Los Angeles that left communities unable to verify who was making arrests or confirm their authority. Several other states are now watching California’s approach as a potential model for balancing transparency, officer safety, and accountability.

Palestinian flags raised outside a government building for an article about Palestinian state recognition

Britain, Australia, and Canada formally recognize Palestinian statehood

By / / Good News For Humankind

Palestinian state recognition by the UK, Australia, and Canada marks a significant shift in Western diplomatic consensus, bringing the total number of recognizing nations to 150. On September 21, 2025, the three allied democracies announced their decisions in a coordinated move timed ahead of a UN conference on the two-state solution. For decades, major Western powers had held back while much of the Global South moved forward on recognition. Acting together, these closely aligned democracies make the shift harder to dismiss as isolated political calculation. Several additional European nations were expected to follow within days.

A neuroscientist reviewing brain activity data on a monitor for an article about epilepsy drug RAP-219

New epilepsy drug cuts seizures by nearly 80% in mid-stage trial

By / / Good News For Humankind

Epilepsy drug RAP-219 has shown striking results in a mid-stage clinical trial, reducing seizures by a median of 77.8% in adults whose epilepsy had not responded to existing medications. Developed by Rapport Therapeutics, the drug works by precisely targeting overactive brain regions rather than broadly suppressing electrical activity across the whole brain. Nearly one in four participants became completely seizure-free during the eight-week study. The trial’s use of implanted neurostimulation devices provided objective, real-time brain data that strengthens confidence in the findings. Phase 3 trials are expected to begin in 2026.

Young children playing together at a child care center for an article about New Mexico universal child care

New Mexico becomes the first U.S. state to guarantee universal child care

By / / Good News For Humankind

Universal child care becomes reality in New Mexico starting November 1, 2025, when the state becomes the first in the nation to guarantee no-cost child care to every family regardless of income. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the milestone on September 8, capping a six-year phased expansion by the state’s Early Childhood Education and Care Department. For families, the program means an average savings of 2,000 per child annually. Built on deliberate groundwork rather than improvisation, New Mexico now offers the first domestic proof that universal early childhood care is logistically achievable in the United States.

Aerial view of dense tropical rainforest canopy for an article about the Maya Biosphere Reserve oil field closure

Guatemala permanently closes major oil field inside protected rainforest

By / / Good News For Humankind

Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve has taken a landmark step forward as the government permanently closed the Xan oil field rather than renew its operating concession. The facility once produced nearly 90% of Guatemala’s oil while operating inside a protected national park, a arrangement conservationists long considered incompatible with the reserve’s ecological importance. The former infrastructure is now being converted into a joint military and police security hub to combat illegal ranching, logging, and drug trafficking. A dedicated .5 million conservation fund will support local communities, restoration projects, and long-term monitoring across one of the most biodiverse tropical forest corridors in the Americas.

Kayakers paddling the calm urban waters of the Chicago River for an article about the Chicago River open-water swim

Chicago River will host its first open-water swim in nearly a century

By / / Good News For Humankind

For the first time in nearly 100 years, swimmers are set to enter the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, marking a milestone in one of America’s most remarkable urban environmental recoveries. A Long Swim is organizing the historic event as both a celebration of decades of cleanup efforts and a fundraiser for youth swim education in underrepresented communities. Sustained investment in policy, infrastructure, and civic organizing has transformed a once-toxic waterway into a recovering ecosystem now home to fish, turtles, beavers, and the famous snapping turtle Chonkosaurus. Chicago’s turnaround is being watched as a model for degraded urban rivers worldwide.

Tall older-growth trees in a dense Pacific Northwest forest for an article about Washington legacy forests protection

Washington state permanently protects 77,000 acres of legacy forests

By / / Good News For Humankind

Legacy forests in Washington State gained permanent protection on August 26, 2025, when Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove signed an order shielding 77,000 acres of ecologically rich older forest from logging. Officials at the Department of Natural Resources called it the most significant forest conservation decision in a generation. The protected stands store exceptional amounts of carbon, support wildlife corridors, and could develop old-growth characteristics within decades if left undisturbed. Sustained public activism, including tree-sit protests, helped drive the decision, demonstrating how civic pressure can produce concrete policy change on a measurable timeline.

Aerial view of dense tropical rainforest canopy for an article about Mayan forest protection

Three nations sign agreement to protect 14 million acres of Mayan forest

By / / Good News For Humankind

Mayan forest protection took a historic step forward on August 15, 2025, when the leaders of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize signed an agreement to safeguard more than 14 million acres of tropical forest as the Great Mayan Jungle Biocultural Corridor. The deal covers the Selva Maya, the largest continuous tropical forest in the Americas north of the Amazon, anchored in part by Belize’s biodiverse Bladen Nature Reserve. What sets this agreement apart is its formal integration of Indigenous Maya governance into conservation oversight, recognizing that cultural stewardship and ecological protection are inseparable. Significant challenges remain, but the commitment represents one of the most ambitious multilateral conservation efforts in the Western Hemisphere.

The Massachusetts State House dome in Boston for an article about Massachusetts shield law protections

Massachusetts Senate passes Shield Act 2.0 to protect abortion and gender-affirming care

By / / Good News For Humankind

Massachusetts Shield Act 2.0 passed the state Senate 37-3 on June 26, 2025, strengthening protections for patients and providers seeking abortion care and gender-affirming care within the state. The updated law bars state agencies from cooperating with out-of-state or federal investigations targeting legally protected healthcare, restricts sharing of patient data, and mandates emergency care at acute-care hospitals. Critically, it extends new protections to clinicians themselves, allowing prescriptions under practice names and removing certain medications from drug monitoring programs to reduce provider exposure. The bill now moves to the Massachusetts House, representing the state’s third expansion of these protections in three years.