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.

Anchorage, for article on Alaska abortion access

Nurse practitioners can provide abortions in Alaska, judge rules

By / / Good News For Humankind

Reproductive healthcare in Alaska took a meaningful step forward when a Superior Court ruling allowed nurse practitioners and physician assistants to provide medication abortion, and the change has reshaped daily life at clinics. Planned Parenthood’s Anchorage and Fairbanks locations went from offering abortion services one day a week to every day of the week, a shift that matters enormously in a state where reaching a provider can mean flying hundreds of miles. The Alaska Supreme Court is now weighing whether to reinstate the older physician-only rule, with justices openly questioning how geography shapes what counts as a burden. However the court rules, the case is a powerful reminder that healthcare access depends on who’s allowed to help — and where they live.

Salmon run, for article on Klamath River salmon

Salmon will soon swim freely in the Klamath River for first time in a century once dams are removed

By / / Good News For Humankind

Klamath River salmon are swimming freely past the sites of two demolished dams for the first time in over a century, just in time for fall Chinook spawning season. The breakthrough completes the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, a victory the Karuk and Yurok Tribes spent at least 25 years fighting to secure. Already, salmon have been spotted at the river’s mouth, beginning the upstream journey their ancestors couldn’t make. Ecologists point to Washington’s Elwha River as proof that rivers heal themselves once obstacles fall away. Beyond restoring a vital ecosystem, this moment shows what sustained Indigenous-led advocacy can accomplish — reshaping policy, moving concrete, and reopening a relationship between people and place that was interrupted but never broken.

clean energy concept, for article on wind and solar energy

Wind and solar energy production in U.S. surpasses coal for the first time in history

By / / Good News For Humankind

Wind and solar quietly outproduced coal across the U.S. for the first seven months of 2024, the longest such stretch ever recorded by the Energy Information Administration. What makes this moment different is that renewables held the lead straight through summer, when air conditioners push the grid to its limits. In Texas and California, grid operators credited wind, solar, and battery storage with keeping the lights on during record-breaking heat. The shift has been a long time coming: U.S. wind capacity has grown from 2.4 gigawatts in 2000 to more than 150 gigawatts today. It’s a hopeful signal that the clean energy transition is becoming structural, not seasonal — and that what’s working here can work elsewhere too.

Medical researcher in a lab examining vials related to asthma and COPD treatment and mRNA vaccine development, for article on benralizumab injection, for article on mRNA lung cancer vaccine

World’s first mRNA lung cancer vaccine enters human trials in seven countries

By / / Good News For Humankind

A landmark mRNA lung cancer vaccine is now being tested in human patients for the first time, marking a historic milestone in cancer treatment. BNT116, developed by BioNTech, uses the same messenger RNA technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to train the immune system to recognize and destroy non-small cell lung cancer cells. The phase 1 trial spans 34 sites across seven countries, with roughly 130 patients enrolled. Unlike chemotherapy, this approach targets only tumor cells, potentially offering a more precise and lasting defense against the world’s deadliest cancer, which kills 1.8 million people annually.

Medications, for article on Medicare drug price negotiation

The U.S. negotiates Medicare drug price cuts that will save billions for U.S. citizens

By / / Good News For Humankind

Medicare drug price negotiation just delivered its first results, and the projected savings land at roughly $6 billion a year once new prices take effect in January 2026. After nearly six decades of being legally barred from bargaining with drugmakers, Medicare negotiated discounts on 10 widely used medications, including the blood thinner Eliquis and the diabetes drug Januvia. Some prices dropped by as much as 79%, with the deepest cuts going to drugs that faced the least competition. Around 9 million enrollees use these medications, and a new $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs adds further relief. Beyond the dollars, this shifts what’s politically possible — moving the U.S. closer to how most wealthy democracies have long approached medicine pricing.

Charging an EV, for article on municipal fleet electrification, for article on tailpipe emission standards

Major new commitment from nearly 350 mayors to accelerate U.S. electric vehicle transition

By / / Good News For Humankind

Nearly 350 U.S. mayors just pledged to electrify at least half their city vehicle fleets by 2030, from police cruisers to garbage trucks to buses. They’re also committing to grow public EV charging fivefold by 2035, with 40% of those new chargers going to neighborhoods that have long breathed the dirtiest air. The bipartisan Climate Mayors network behind the pledge has grown from three founders a decade ago to more than 750 mayors representing close to 60 million Americans. When cities buy electric at this scale, they don’t just clean up local streets — they send a signal that reshapes what manufacturers build, proving that climate progress can move forward city by city, even when Washington stalls.

Kim Coco Iwamoto, for article on Hawaii transgender lawmaker

Kim Coco Iwamoto to become Hawaii’s first trans lawmaker

By / / Good News For Humankind

Hawaii just elected its first transgender state lawmaker, and she did it by unseating the sitting House Speaker. Kim Coco Iwamoto won her Honolulu Democratic primary with 49.3% of the vote, edging out Scott Saiki by about five percentage points without the backing of the party establishment. A longtime civil rights attorney and former Board of Education member, Iwamoto ran on a platform that includes the Green New Deal, affordable housing, and stronger protections for LGBTQ+ youth in foster care. At a moment when transgender Americans are facing a wave of legislative attacks, a win like this — built on years of organizing and persistence — offers a hopeful reminder of what representation can still look like.

Shot of a young male doctor standing with his arms crossed in an office at a hospital, for article on HBCU medical school funding

Michael Bloomberg gives $600 million to four Black medical schools’ endowments

By / / Good News For Humankind

HBCU medical schools just received $600 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies, with Howard, Meharry, and Morehouse each getting $175 million and Charles R. Drew receiving $75 million. The gift will more than double the endowments at three of the four schools, giving them the kind of long-term, flexible funding that lets institutions plan decades ahead — recruiting faculty, expanding class sizes, and offering scholarships without leaning so hard on tuition. An additional $5 million supports a new medical school launching at Xavier University of Louisiana with Ochsner Health. Black Americans make up roughly 13% of the U.S. population but less than 6% of practicing physicians, and research consistently links Black doctors to better outcomes for Black patients. Training more of them is one of the clearest paths toward closing that gap.

Good news for LGBTQ rights, for article on Thailand marriage equality, for article on conversion therapy ban, for article on same-sex partnership rights, for article on forced outing of queer students, for article on Greece same-sex marriage

California passes first-in-the-nation law banning forced outings of queer students in state public schools

By / / Good News For Humankind

California just became the first state in the country to ban schools from forcibly outing queer students, after Governor Newsom signed the SAFETY Act into law and it took effect immediately. The bill, which passed the State Assembly 60-15, also shields teachers from retaliation if they refuse to disclose a student’s gender identity to parents without consent. It arrived after years of organizing by educators like Karen Poznanski, a Murrieta teacher and parent of a nonbinary child, whose complaint helped trigger a state investigation. Eight other states currently require this kind of outing, so California’s move offers a real counter-model. For queer kids deciding when and how to come out, this puts one of life’s most tender conversations back in their own hands.

Fervo Energy geothermal plant, for article on enhanced geothermal power purchase agreement

World’s biggest geothermal power purchase agreement completed in western U.S.

By / / Good News For Humankind

A Utah geothermal project just secured what developers are calling the world’s largest geothermal power purchase agreement — a 15-year deal to deliver 320 megawatts of always-on clean electricity to Southern California Edison, enough to power roughly 350,000 homes. Fervo Energy’s Cape Station plant uses horizontal drilling borrowed from the oil and gas industry to circulate water through deep hot rock, unlocking geothermal power in places where it was never viable before. First electrons are expected to flow in 2026, with the rest coming online by 2028. For a clean grid that needs to run when the sun sets and the wind stops, this kind of steady, weather-proof power may be the missing piece — and a signal that geothermal is ready for prime time.