Mexico adds nonbinary option to passports
Nonbinary Mexicans now have the option to select “X” as their gender marker, rather than male or female. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard called the move “a great leap for the freedom and dignity of people.”
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.
Minnesota enacts right-to-repair law that covers more devices than any other U.S. state
Companies that sell in Minnesota but don’t offer customers or independent repair shops the materials needed to fix devices within 60 days can be found in violation of state law.
Illinois set to become first U.S. state to end book bans
Illinois is poised to become the first U.S. state to outlaw book bans, with House Bill 2789 heading to Governor JB Pritzker’s desk and set to take effect January 1. Rather than criminalizing censorship, the law ties state funding to a clear standard: public libraries and schools must either follow the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights or adopt their own written policy against book bans. It’s a creative answer to a real problem — Illinois alone saw 67 attempts to remove books in 2022. As challenges multiply nationwide, often targeting works by LGBTQ+ authors and writers of color, Illinois offers a model other states could borrow: protecting the freedom to read by making censorship costly, not just controversial.
U.S. FDA to end ban on gay & bi men donating blood
The FDA finalized recommendations for determining donor eligibility by using the same questions for everyone who wants to donate, similar to how the U.K., Canada, and France currently determine risk.
Human trial of mRNA universal flu vaccine begins
“A universal influenza vaccine would be a major public health achievement and could eliminate the need for both annual development of seasonal influenza vaccines,” said Dr. Hugh Auchincloss, acting NIAID Director.
Vermont governor signs 1st-in-nation shield bills that explicitly include medicated abortion
The bills protect providers from discipline for providing legally protected reproductive and gender affirming health care services.
Helion announces world’s first fusion energy purchase agreement with Microsoft
Fusion energy just took a big step from lab to grid: Helion Energy has signed the world’s first commercial fusion power purchase agreement, promising Microsoft at least 50 megawatts of electricity from a plant targeted to come online in 2028. That timeline is roughly a decade ahead of most expert projections for commercial fusion. Helion has already built six prototypes and reached the 100-million-degree plasma temperatures considered necessary for self-sustaining reactions, with Constellation handling the grid-side logistics. The engineering road ahead is steep, and nothing is guaranteed. But moving fusion from research aspiration onto a real buyer’s procurement list is a meaningful shift, hinting at a future where zero-carbon baseload power becomes a practical piece of the climate puzzle.
U.S. FDA approves first-ever vaccine for RSV
Pfizer’s RSV vaccine ABRYSVO just became the first licensed option for at-risk adults as young as 18, closing a long-standing protection gap for younger people living with chronic conditions. About one in ten U.S. adults aged 18 to 49 has a condition like diabetes, asthma, or heart failure that raises their risk of severe RSV illness — and until now, they had nothing. The vaccine targets RSV’s prefusion F protein, a breakthrough that finally unlocked effective design after decades of frustrating research. With approvals now spanning pregnant individuals, older adults, and at-risk younger adults, ABRYSVO marks a quiet but powerful turning point in a field that struggled for half a century — a reminder that patient science eventually delivers real protection to real people.
First-of-its-kind brain surgery on baby inside the womb has successfully prevented heart failure
“In our first treated case, we were thrilled to see that the aggressive decline usually seen after birth simply did not appear,” said lead author Professor Darren Orbach of Boston Children’s Hospital.
Quebec and Montreal order more than 1200 electric buses
The provincial government is providing $1.1 billion while the federal government will contribute $780 million, making it North America’s largest-ever electric bus acquisition.