Good news on health, butterflies, oceans, renewables
Among the items in the free section of this week’s Fix the News:
— Since 1990, the world has made “remarkable progress” as the mortality rate of children under five has dropped 60 percent, says UNICEF.
— The number of monarch butterflies in Mexico increased 64 percent this winter, compared with the same period in 2025, The Guardian reports.
Behind the paywall:
— The Ocean Cleanup Project, which Fix the News says is the biggest trash removal project on Earth, has been awarded $121 million to tackle up to a third of ocean-bound river pollution from 30 cities in Southeast Asia and the Americas.
— Global renewable energy capacity surged in 2025, with 814 gigawatts of new solar and wind installations — more than the entire electricity capacity of the EU and the fastest expansion on record, says Fix the News, citing data from Ember, an independent energy think tank.
Note to readers
I’m going to take a small spring break. I’ll see you next on Thursday, April 9.
BBC live: NASA spacecraft orbiting Earth after ‘spectacular’ launch of Artemis II moon mission
Nearly 3 dozen countries to hold virtual meeting Thursday to plot ways of reopening the Strait of Hormuz
Takeaways from Trump’s address to the nation on Iran war: No end date and few details on strategy ahead
AP: False claims Trump made in his Iran war address
Appeals court pauses judge’s nationwide decisions rejecting Trump immigration detention policy while administration pursues appeal
Immigrants seeking asylum are ordered to countries they’ve never been to, but changes in U.S. policy are leaving them in limbo
Scotusblog analysis: Supreme Court seems likely to side against Trump on birthright citizenship
Congressional GOP leaders announce plan to end Homeland Security shutdown
Democrats sue Trump administration to block mail-in-voting order
Politico: Congressional scrutiny of Kalshi, Polymarket prediction markets ‘explodes’
ProPublica: Trump’s EPA official in charge of methane regulations, Aaron Szabo, helped write oil industry argument against those rules
GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis signs Florida’s version of SAVE America Act, draws immediate lawsuit
Messy California governor’s race raises Democratic fears of potential loss
New neighborhood could take shape in D.C. amid the sale of federal buildings
Robert Reich: What will be the biggest long-term consequence of Trump’s war with Iran?
Heather Cox Richardson on the history of birthright citizenship
SpaceX files initial paperwork to sell shares to the public and likely make Elon Musk a trillionaire
Tips for Gen Z and millennials to build wealth, cut costs
WSJ: ‘Nursing is the surefire new path to American prosperity’
AP: CDC has paused more than 2 dozen types of diagnostic testing
KFF: State-run insurance plans for foster children leave some of them without doctors
FDA approves Eli Lilly GLP-1 pill, opening next phase of the weight loss drug market
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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
Senate Majority Leader John Thune