The best good news stories from August

August was filled with so much good news, it’s easy to overlook some of it!

Today, we’re highlighting some of the most popular stories from the past month — to help make sure you catch all the good news you might have missed.

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New research shows Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had a proven impact on kids all over the world

Children enrolled in the Imagination Library were significantly more likely to display foundational early literacy skills and to develop an interest in reading.

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New York City broke ground on 50K affordable homes — the public can track construction in real-time

A new interactive tracking tool called the LIFT Tracker is available any member of the public and shows real-time progress on these housing projects and available land across the city.

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Kentucky asked 40 people to figure out what to do about childcare. They achieved bipartisan reform

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Trump paused border wall construction in Big Bend. Activists are still fighting to protect the region for good

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Kazakhstan just released its first tiger into the wild, 70 years after they were last seen

A 1.1 million-acre nature reserve was established in 2018 to create the conditions for the tigers’ return to the wild.

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Leonardo DiCaprio launched a new project dedicated to saving 100 of the world’s most endangered species

The Phoenix Species Project is not just looking to manage the decline of critically endangered animals; it aims to recover them to the point that a species can survive in the wild on its own.

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Food influencer Keith Lee distributed food and supplies to Gary, Indiana after storms caused ongoing power outages

Lee and Indiana Pacers player Tyeese Haliburton partnered with the Salvation Army, Ace Hardware, and city officials to host a relief drive for locals, distributing food and supplies.

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​Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger restored voting rights to 66,000 people with past felony convictions

The announcement comes ahead of the November referendum that would automatically restore the right to vote after release from incarceration.

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A man in Canada saved otter strangled by a fishing net using mouth-to-mouth CPR

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For 60 years, people have mispronounced the world’s third-smallest country — it reclaimed its traditional name

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New basketball courts in New York City double as ‘sponges’ that mitigate flash flooding

The Water Square courts are not just a vibrant transformation of the neighborhood’s once-derelict courts, but a built-in flood mitigation system, retaining water during flash floods.

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Today’s children could be the first generation since the 1970s to do better than their parents, new studies suggest

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Amid the Spokane wildfires, a local bootmaker gave firefighters new work boots for free

Wildfires in the Spokane, Washington area burned through more than 10,400 acres and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate.

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​Three U.S. states have now banned ‘surveillance pricing’ to charge certain customers more

Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey have all cracked down on surveillance pricing, which uses personal data such as browsing history or shopping habits to set individualized prices on goods and services.

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Rescued as poaching victims, 6 rhinos defy all odds by giving birth to calves in the wild

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The nation’s first public ‘nature library’ just opened in Colorado: ‘Part REI, part library’

Visitors can play in an on-site mud pit, walk along a trail system, become a green thumb in the “kinship garden,” and grab free outdoor gear for the whole family.

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​College students in New York City were facing homelessness, so a group of nuns welcomed them into their convent

At the University of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, eight women pay $250 a month for a room of their own — and the stability to pursue a college degree.

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​A new report found that a late summer monsoon led to ‘signs of recovery’ in the Great Barrier Reef

Cycles of disturbance and recovery threaten to turn the reef’s colorful coral gardens into algal-dominated seascapes — then back again — and these cycles are becoming more volatile as our world warms.

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​A mass evacuation drill weeks before fires broke out helped save residents of Spokane

More than 950 vehicles participated, nearly three times the number that took part in the city’s first drill the previous year, making it one of the largest neighborhood evacuation exercises of its kind in the region.

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John Oliver has beef with Buc-ee’s. It’s led him to raise $500K for charity

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​Researchers in Hawaii developed a better, low-impact way to track humpback whales by using drones

The drone-integrated tagging technology allows scientists to collect detailed data without approaching by boat, which can disrupt a whale’s natural environment.

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​A stranded mountain biker was saved by a memorial honoring a heat stroke victim who died on the same trail

“We’re grateful that a space created in Jeff Higgins’ memory provided shade and comfort when it was needed,” officials said.

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California’s new ‘tire efficiency’ rules will save drivers $1 billion a year and reduce 2 million tons of carbon emissions

The rules also establish a labeling system that gives tires a “leaf” rating, to make it easier for consumers to find the best options.

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Six thousand digitized portraits of Black history are now available and free to the public for the first time

“What we are seeing when we look at these pictures is African Americans the way they wanted to be seen and remembered,” said one historian.

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​A 41,000-person Facebook group is leading the fight against data center proposals in Pennsylvania

A recent poll of Pennsylvania voters found that 74% opposed having a data center built in their community while 16% said they supported it.

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​Two of Africa’s rarest birds broke a dry spell after the dad finally stepped in to raise his eggs, a first in 95 years

Secretarybirds are an endangered species, and like many other wild animals, the biggest threat they currently face is rapid habitat loss.

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More good from August

❤️ Dolly says everyone has the right to be who they are.