Michael Orlandus Darrion Brown, state wins for voter rights, and the latest on Planned Parenthood funding cuts.

Here’s this week’s recap of progressive wins from cities and states across the country! Note some of the trends and consider: what could be applied to your community? Which organizations do you know locally doing similar work?

• Michigan Supreme Court threw out a state permit for Enbridge's pipeline tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac, ruling regulators failed to fully weigh the environmental impact and sending the case back for further review. Grist >

• Missouri voters rejected Amendment 4, a policy that would have required citizen-led initiatives to win a majority in every congressional district rather than statewide. Bolts >

• Kansas voters rejected a constitutional amendment to reshape the state Supreme Court, a measure widely read as an effort to reshape the court that has protected abortion rights in the state. The 19th >

• Delaware enacts a state Voting Rights Act for Black voters. The new John Lewis–style law creates state legal protections against election discrimination as federal enforcement erodes. Capital B News >

• Danyel Smith wins a new trial after more than 20 years in prison. A judge granted Smith a new trial, citing the discredited "shaken baby syndrome" forensic evidence used to convict him. He remains incarcerated pending the retrial. The Appeal >

• Montana regulators pull a waiver for a $2 billion Bridger Pipeline Expansion, forcing the company to submit financial and environmental data it had left out. Grist >

• Solar became Utah's top electricity source for the first time. In May, solar produced nearly a third of the state's power — a reversal from a decade ago, when coal supplied as much as 78 percent. Grist >

• A New Mexico court adds $567 million to Meta's penalty for harming children. A judge ordered the additional payment on top of an earlier jury verdict. Truthout >

Democracy

Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan's Democratic Senate primary over AIPAC-backed spending. El-Sayed defeated establishment-backed Haley Stevens despite heavy outside spending against him. The Intercept >

Maine's incarcerated organizers work to protect a rare right to vote. Maine is one of the few U.S. jurisdictions that lets people vote from prison. Organizers are pushing to overcome the barriers that keep many from casting ballots. Bolts >

Moral Mondays shifts from Washington to the states. Bishop William Barber and clergy were arrested at a Senate office building as the movement pivots toward state-level voter organizing. Word In Black >

Immigration

A congressional proposal would give ICE authority over shoplifting cases. The measure would expand ICE's reach and surveillance to pursue people accused of retail theft. The Intercept >

Communities push back as ICE surveillance intertwines with data centers. Organizing is growing against the entanglement of ICE infrastructure with the buildout of data centers. Truthout >

NYC advocates push for facial-recognition limits to protect immigrants. Immigrant-rights groups are organizing for new city rules on facial recognition and biometric data they warn could endanger immigrants. Documented >

The State Department moves to bar visas over "economic sabotage." Under Marco Rubio, the department is working to deny visas to foreigners it deems supporters of "economic sabotage," a category critics say targets activists and the left. The Intercept >

Haitian New Yorkers brace for deportation after TPS ends. The city's Haitian community faces mass-deportation fears following the end of Temporary Protected Status. Documented >

Health

Medicaid work requirements are stripping coverage from unhoused people. New rules are pushing people who can't meet documentation and employment requirements off Medicaid, with exemptions that advocates call unworkable. KFF Health News >

Kennedy and Oz call Medicaid cuts a "myth." STAT checks the math. Analysts actually measure the coverage and spending reductions the two officials dispute. STAT >

People with disabilities fear service cuts as DOJ questions legal protections. Advocates worry about home- and community-based services as the Justice Department challenges the legal basis for community integration. KFF Health News >

The main autism therapy faces changes under Medicaid. Applied behavior analysis, the most common therapy for autistic children, faces coverage and policy shifts that could affect access. STAT >

Reproductive Right

Planned Parenthood of Michigan will close three clinics after funding cuts. The closures reduce reproductive-health access across the state. Rewire News Group >

Abortion becomes a central issue in Maine's Senate race. Reproductive rights have emerged as a fault line in the contest involving Susan Collins and challengers Graham Platner and Troy Jackson. Rewire News Group >

Criminal Legal System

Illinois lawmakers demand change at a prison after a fire investigation. Following a Marshall Project report documenting more than 70 fires in three years at the Joliet Treatment Center, legislators are pressing for fire-safety and mental-health improvements. The Marshall Project >

Calls grow for Gov. Newsom to commute California's death sentences. Advocates are pressing the governor to act amid renewed anti-death-penalty organizing. Prism Reports >

Climate

Federal plan imposes steep Colorado River cuts on Arizona, California and Nevada. The Bureau of Reclamation's 10-year plan would require mandatory Lower Basin reductions while leaving Upper Basin cuts voluntary. High Country News >

The administration is blocking $12.5 billion in grid grants. A DOE Alumni Network report found 356 grid-improvement awards terminated, with another $12.2 billion threatened, stalling projects nationwide. Grist >

Tribal nations weigh whether to host AI data centers on their lands. Nations are debating the economic and environmental tradeoffs of the buildout. Prism Reports >

“His name is Michael Orlandus Darrion Brown.” On the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown Jr., as the media has referred to him, an 18-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by a white police officer, Zedé interviews Lezley McSpadden-Head, Michael Brown’s mother, on navigating grief and reclaiming her son’s name.

Yesterday, on the second Saturday of August, Chicago's South Side celebrates the Bud Billiken Parade, the largest African American parade in the country and a tradition since 1929.

It began with Robert Sengstacke Abbott, founder of the Chicago Defender, who created the fictional youth editor "Bud Billiken" and a club for young readers before coordinator David Kellum organized the first march to honor the paper's newsboys.

More than a million people now line the route down Martin Luther King Drive through Bronzeville, where drill teams, dancers, and public figures carry the celebration into Washington Park.

Read more about the parade – and countless stories of Black history – on our website, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Stories that inspire me to stay aware, engaged, and hopeful for tomorrow.

A Fresno land trust bought a building and opened a bookstore. The South Tower Community Land Trust used community organizing and creative financing to buy its first commercial property, giving the local-owned Judging by the Cover a home in the Tower District. Next City >

Chicago's Local School Councils, and what they can actually do. A look at one of the most direct ways West Side residents shape decisions at neighborhood schools — and the work of getting more people to the table. Borderless Magazine >

Neighbors pool knowledge and buying power to go greener. "Heat pump coaches" and neighborhood solar co-ops help residents make home energy cleaner together. Reasons to be Cheerful >

Five Minnesota festivals celebrate the African and Afro-Latinx diaspora. IgboFest, Let's Gidi and others bring music and community gatherings across the state this month. Sahan Journal >

A "Trans Requiem" carries the fight for trans lives into church. Composer-cellist Andrew Yee's work mourns and honors the trans community as musical testimony. The Nation >

In Inupiaq, when the weather talks, you listen. Laureli Ivanoff writes on traditional weather knowledge and Sila as a living force, set against the flooding facing Alaska's coastal communities. High Country News >