Good news on forest rebound, clean energy, blood infections

<p><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_fA9!,f_auto,q_auto:best,fl_pro…; alt="https%3A%2F%2Fcitizencartwright.substack"></p><div><p><span>Among the items behind the paywall in this edition of </span><a href="https://fixthenews.com/p/345-first-scroll-tuk-tuk-labour-standards">Fix the News</a><span>:</span></p><p><span>— “The regrowth of forest in the Northeast U.S., particularly New England, is the greatest forest recovery in the history of the world,” Bill Moomaw, a Tufts University emeritus professor and distinguished visiting scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, tells </span><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04072026/new-england-reforestation/"… Climate News</a><span>.</span></p><p>Massachusetts probably was more than 90 percent wooded when Europeans arrived, but 80 to 90 percent of the forest was removed. Now the state is 60 percent wooded. Moomaw credits “benign neglect”: when farmers abandoned rocky New England fields for the fertile Ohio territories after 1850, trees reclaimed the land.</p><p>“Northeast temperature rise with global warming is significantly less because we are so heavily forested,” Moomaw says. “Boston, for example, is probably three or four degrees cooler than it has any right to be.”</p><p><span>— Even after last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill rescinded or restricted the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean-energy policies, the U.S. power sector still is on track for 74 percent of the new clean capacity and 67 percent of the emissions cuts the IRA would have delivered through 2035, says a new MIT and </span><a href="https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/new-analysis-shows-that-after-the… University</a><span> analysis.</span></p><p><span>— A landmark international clinical trial has identified the optimal antibiotics for staph blood infection, a breakthrough that’s expected to reshape treatment for the life-threatening condition, reports </span><a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/jun/global-trial-shows-safer-antibiotic… College London</a><span>.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/world/asia/india-youth-protest-modi-…; youth-led movement angry over education system and lack of jobs is posing rare challenge to government</span></p><p><span>UNESCO adds West Bank site and Lebanese castles to its </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/unesco-sebastia-lebanon-mount-amel-israel-he… Heritage List</span></a><span> despite Israel objections</span></p><p><span>What an AP reporter learned covering the impact of USAID cuts on aid workers-turned-sex workers in </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/usaid-nepal-sex-workers-reporter-qa-1db4069a… </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigrants-cope-temporary-protected-status-m…, Hondurans, Salvadorans</span></a><span> are coping with end of Temporary Protected Status</span></p><p><span>Trump imposing new </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-supreme-court-forced-labor-4ea…; on countries accounting for 99 percent of U.S. imports, as his current levies expire Friday</span></p><br><a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-saudia-arabia-nuclear-israel-abraham-a… Arabia</span></a><span> nuclear deal in doubt after Trump adds new condition: It must establish diplomatic relations with Israel</span><p><span>House again passes resolution seeking to halt military action in </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-congress-war-powers-resolution-vote-0ba…; as the conflict escalates, Senate narrowly rejects similar resolution</span></p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026/07/23/education-dept-elim… Department</a><span> scraps decades-old rules that allowed statistical disparities to be used as proof of racial discrimination</span></p><p><span>Trump administration drops demands for list of Jewish employees at </span><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/23/university-of-pennsylvania-jew… of Pennsylvania</a></p><p><span>Government withdraws subpoenas of </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/usmediatimesair-force-one-42429e4d4da8accc42… reporters</a><span> after admitting legal errors</span></p><p><span>Trump expands voluntary pledge to protect consumers from high utility bills from </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-ai-data-centers-pledge-490ea7e4c7227d5… data centers</a></p><p><span>Democratic candidates seizing on </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-texas-ai-gina-hinojosa-abbott-3… data center</a><span> backlash that’s dividing rural Republicans in places like Texas</span></p><p><span>Comparison of </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/07/23/us/politics/president-tr…’s revenue</a><span> from his businesses in 2017 and 2025</span></p><p><span>More than 24 states sue Trump administration for requiring them to comply with election, immigration conditions to get </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/fema-dhs-trump-administration-lawsuit-a1745a… funding</a></p><p><span>Nearly 150,000 mail ballots were rejected in </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-primary-rejected-mail-ballots-vot…; primary, possibly because of Postal Service changes </span></p><p><span>Black members of </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/muscogee-nation-freedmen-tribal-citizenship-…; Native American tribe file federal lawsuit to gain tribal citizenship rights</span></p><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-scotus-kagan-roberts-tariffs-t… Court</a><span> isn’t a rubber stamp for Trump, Justice Kagan says</span></p><p><a href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-23-2026?utm_source=pos… Cox Richardson</a><span> on taxes, war and what the government should do for its people</span></p><p><a href="https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-real-reason-trump-subpoenaed?utm… Reich</span></a><span>: At Friday press corps dinner, NYTimes reporter Tyler Pager, subpoenaed over Qatar jet, will receive award for most objective reporting</span></p><p><span>Could </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/07/23/technology/ai-agents-off…; do an office job? </span></p><p><span>FDA advisory panel narrowly backs unapproved </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/peptides-fda-rfk-kennedy-bpc157-tb500-7267d0… drugs</span></a><span> favored by RFK Jr. and wellness influencers</span></p></div>