by Bob Cesca
WASHINGTON, DC – It might not seem like it, but there’s actual good news happening all around us. I know, crazy, right? To be clear: the crisis we face, with democracy as a cliffhanger, is very real. But it’s also important to keep in mind that regular people are striving to make life better for all of us every day.
Here are some good news stories happening right now.
A personalized mRNA cancer vaccine just succeeded in a large Phase 3 trial. This is legitimately big. Moderna and Merck announced Wednesday that their individualized mRNA vaccine, combined with Keytruda, significantly reduced the odds that high-risk melanoma would recur or spread after surgery in a trial involving more than 1,000 patients. Each vaccine is essentially custom-built around mutations in that patient’s tumor. Since it’s the same class of vaccines as the COVID inoculation, I wonder whether anti-vaxers will accept treatment.
The Supreme Court rejected Trump on E. Jean Carroll — again. The Supreme Court refused to reconsider its June decision declining Trump’s appeal of the $5 million judgment for certified bad ass E. Jean Carroll. A jury found Donald liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll; his lawyers asked the Supremes for the unusual step of reconsideration, and the justices simply denied it without explanation. This appears to exhaust Donald’s Supreme Court route on that verdict.
North Carolina’s Democratic governor just vetoed sweeping new voting restrictions. Josh Stein vetoed a Republican elections bill recently that would have cut early voting from 17 days to 10, lengthened the period for challenging votes and expanded voter-roll purges. Stein called it an “anti-voter law,” and he’s correct. Republicans have overridden several of his vetoes this year, so this fight isn’t necessarily finished, but this action stopped the restrictions from becoming law for now.
Britons have now earned about $135 million selling rooftop solar electricity back to the grid. Octopus Energy says its UK customers have collectively earned roughly £100 million by exporting excess solar electricity. The company is also reporting record demand for solar panels, with home batteries allowing households to store cheap daytime electricity and either use or sell it when power is more valuable.
Democratic candidate flips a Donald +18 district in Pennsylvania. Democrat Brandon Dukes won a special election for Pennsylvania’s 12th state House district in Butler County by just 88 votes. Donald carried the district by about 18 points in 2024, Republicans have roughly a 53 percent to 30 percent registration advantage, and the seat hasn’t been held by a Democrat in more than three decades. Dukes’ victory also increases Democrats’ narrow majority in the Pennsylvania House. Even allowing for special-election turnout, that’s an enormous Democratic overperformance heading toward November.
Democrats also got encouraging Senate news out of Alaska. Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola advanced from Tuesday’s open primary for U.S. Senate, keeping alive one of Democrats’ more interesting opportunities to expand the map this fall. Reuters specifically described the result as bolstering Democratic hopes of winning Senate control. Donald’s endorsed candidates, meanwhile, had mixed results across Tuesday’s primaries.
Medical organizations are mounting an immediate revolt against Donald’s vaccine order. Trump’s new executive order calls for major changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, including breaking up MMR and dropping some federal recommendations. The encouraging part is the reaction: physicians, public-health experts and lawmakers immediately pushed back, stressing that the changes contradict established evidence and warning families not to abandon proven vaccines. The institutional scientific resistance is loud and immediate.
Don’t get happy – and I suspect you probably won’t. But in an era when outrage is a commodity, and bad news is profitable, it’s important to find the helpers, as Fred Rogers once said. They exist and they’re doing great work.
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