Last month we lost Elijah Cummings, a man who served his country with dignity, integrity, and kindness. This is a huge loss but his spirit and his words will live on.
"I’m begging the American people to pay attention to what is going on. “Because if you want to have a democracy intact for your children and your children’s children and generations yet unborn, we have got to guard against this moment. This is our watch.”
Onwards,
Alison
VICTORIES!
1. The House of Representatives has voted on a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump, laying out the ground rules for the public hearings.
2. The North Carolina legislature has yet again been ordered to redraw their district maps after a state court found that Republicans intentionally gerrymandered the maps in their favor.
3. Chicago teachers went on strike demanding higher wages, smaller class sizes, and nurses, librarians and social workers at each school. And after 15 days, they reached a new five-year agreement with the city.
4. Thanks to rapid population growth and automatic voter registration, over 350,000 people have signed up to vote in the past 11 months. But now this is happening so if you want to help protect the right to vote, check out this and this.
5. Thanks to organizing by Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform, voters in Oklahoma approved a measure in 2016 that would change low level drug offenses and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Yesterday, over 400 people were released from prison—the largest mass commutation in the country.
6. A federal judge in Alabama has temporarily blocked a law that would have eliminated nearly all abortions in the state.
7. Another federal judge in Idaho temporarily blocked a plan by the Trump administration that would ease protections for this fabulous bird across 10 states.
8. The Department of Education was found to be in contempt of court and fined $100,000 for continuing to collect money from students who had been defrauded by Corinthian Colleges.
9. Deadspin—a website that ran high performing political stories like this—saw its entire editorial team quit after new management tried to silence them by telling them to “stick to sports.”
10. Two members of the Proud Boys have been sentenced to four years in jail for attacking protestors outside one of their events in New York City last year.
11. Following public outcry, Delta airlines will restore the deleted sex scenes from Book Smart and Rocketman .
12. NBC digital news employees announced they are unionizing.
13. New York’s City Council voted to close the jail complex on Riker’s Island, but this is more complicated because the city is planning to replace it with four new jails around the city. What we really need is no new jails.
14. After nearly six weeks on strike, GM workers have reached a new deal with the company.
15. Thanks to supporters of the World Wildlife Foundation, bison will now have over 22,000 additional acres to roam in the Badlands National Park.
16. In Chile, over a million people marched through Santiago to protest the inequality plaguing the country, and we’re seeing signs that the president is starting to listen.
17. Same-sex marriage and abortion are now legal in Northern Ireland.
GRATITUDE JOURNAL
Back in 2016, Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro created the “City of Women” map, which I absolutely loved. So, I was delighted when I learned that the map recently got an update. Also, for the first time in NYC, I voted early (If you haven’t voted already, today is Election Day nationwide!). I’m loving these amazing seventh graders for their creative baking skills and these pups for putting the “happy” in Halloween for me this year. I also support making more classics less date-rapey—here are two great versions I’ll be putting on the holiday playlist. And finally making me happy this week: byyeeeee. 
Here’s this week’s #TruthTalk.
Originally published at celebratesmallvictories.com. Republished with permission.
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