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.
The majority, including a handful of Republicans, voted to ban the practice after hearing arguments that science shows that the risk of earthquakes, water contamination and health problems increases in fracked areas.
According to new data released on Monday 6 March, installed wind capacity in the U.S. surpassed hydroelectric generating capacity, long the nation’s largest source of renewable energy, in 2016.
Tesla claims that by the end of 2018, the Nevada factory will assemble more lithium-ion batteries than what were produced globally in 2013.
Teen suicide attempts in the U.S. declined after same-sex marriage became legal and the biggest impact was among gay, lesbian and bisexual kids, a study found.
As solar power keeps getting cheaperand more and more of it is built as a resultthe industry is also an increasingly important source of new jobs, adding workers at a rate nearly 17 times faster than the overall economy.
Bail reform gained real ground in 2016, when New Mexico voters approved a constitutional amendment with 87 percent support, barring judges from jailing low-risk defendants simply because they couldn’t afford to pay. The shift, echoed in cities and states nationwide, began reframing a basic question: should pretrial freedom depend on your bank account?
At Standing Rock in December 2016, thousands of water protectors camped on the North Dakota plains erupted in cheers when the U.S. Army Corps denied the easement to drill the Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe. The pause proved temporary, but the movement brought tribal treaty rights and the phrase “water is life” into wider American conversation.
Catherine Cortez Masto made history on November 8, 2016, winning Nevada’s Senate seat and becoming the first Latina ever elected to the U.S. Senate. The former state attorney general, recruited by retiring Harry Reid, rode strong early-voting turnout in Clark County to victory. After 227 years, the chamber finally had a seat it had never held before.
California legalized recreational cannabis in November 2016, when 57% of voters approved Proposition 64 — making the nation’s largest state, and one of the world’s biggest economies, an adult-use market. The measure built on California’s 1996 medical cannabis law and helped shift legalization from fringe idea to mainstream American policy.
In November 2016, Oregon voters elected Kate Brown governor, making her the first openly LGBT person — and first openly bisexual person — elected governor of any U.S. state. Brown had already spent decades in Oregon politics, winning the Secretary of State race in 2008. Her victory offered lasting proof that identity alone would not disqualify a candidate at the highest levels.
