Thousands of Arizonans now have a financial burden lifted off their shoulders, Gov. Katie Hobbs has announced. According to the Democratic governor, $429 million in medical debt has been erased for more than 352,000 Arizonans as part of a partnership between her administration and national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt. In 2024, Hobbs announced an initiative to erase $2 billion in medical debt for up to one million Arizonans.
Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University have found that fecal transplants may help those suffering from severe alcohol use disorder. The work points to a compelling relationship between the gut microbiome and addiction disorders, with large-scale Phase 2 human trials currently underway. Nine of 10 patients who received a transplant had a reduction in their cravings and in the urine measurement of alcohol-related metabolites, compared to only three of the 10 placebo subjects displaying similar levels of improvement.
Council members voted 5-2 to implement the ordinance, which updates the Washington State city’s human rights code to define gender-affirming care and ensure equal protections for LGBTQ+ people. The policy “prohibits the city from collecting or disseminating information about anyone’s sex assigned at birth, unless it’s related to a criminal investigation.” The ordinance also requires city-provided healthcare to cover gender-affirming care. Council members celebrated the city living up to its motto: “In Spokane, we all belong.”
A new study from Boston’s Northeastern University has found that “magic mushrooms” could be an effective treatment for concussions because of their brain-healing properties. Rats given the medicinal fungi post-head injury showed reduced edema and “dramatic hyperconnectivity” in parts of the brain that are pathways for dopamine. The researchers said that the hyperconnected dopaminergic pathways could indicate neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to reorganize itself in response to injury.
Psilocybin therapy is now legal in New Mexico after Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Medical Psilocybin Act in April 2025 C.E. The state is the third in the U.S. to create a legal pathway for patients — and the first to do it through a legislature rather than a ballot initiative, with votes of 33-4 in the Senate and 56-8 in the House. The law also establishes the world’s first government-funded equity program for psychedelic therapy access for low-income patients.
U.S. clean electricity crossed a historic threshold in April 2025 C.E.: fossil fuels fell below 50% of total grid generation for the first recorded month. Wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear made up the majority. It’s the first time this has happened since the coal-powered grid took hold in the 1800s C.E. — and it signals that the old assumption of fossil fuels as the default backbone of American electricity is no longer true.
Jurors have found that energy giant Texaco, acquired by Chevron in 2001, had for decades violated Louisiana regulations governing coastal resources by failing to restore wetlands impacted by dredging canals, drilling wells, and billions of gallons of wastewater dumped into the marsh. The case was the first of dozens of pending lawsuits to reach trial in Louisiana against the world’s leading oil companies for their role in accelerating land loss along the state’s rapidly disappearing coast.
Thailand has become the world’s 68th country to ban corporal punishment of minors. With this step, the Southeast Asian country is aligning with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in force since 1990. According to the latest survey by the National Statistical Office, published in 2022, 54% of Thais under the age of 14 have received some form of physical or psychological punishment at home, down from 75% in 2005. UNICEF is promoting the total ban of the practice worldwide.
The Prairie Land Potawatomi Nation has reclaimed land in Illinois that was promised to the tribe’s leader 175 years ago but stolen by the federal government 20 years later. A law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last week transferred Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area, 1,500 acres in north-central Illinois. “We are proud to once again call this land home,” said Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick, chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation based in Mayetta, Kansas.
The FireSat constellation, which will consist of more than 50 satellites when it goes live, is the first of its kind that’s built to detect and track fires. It’s an initiative launched by nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance, which includes Google and Muon Space as partners, among others. According to Google, current satellite systems rely on low-resolution imagery and cover a particular area only once every 12 hours to spot large wildfires spanning a couple of acres. FireSat will be able to detect wildfires as small as the size of a classroom and deliver high-resolution visual updates every 20 minutes.
