Don’t Give Up Hope! Even 2025 Had Bright Spots.

It was a very bad year. Israel continues to methodically destroy Gaza, the Taliban is intensifying its suppression of Afghan women, the civil war in Sudan has killed hundreds of thousands, democracy around the world is in decline, Elon Musk and Trump have done everything they can to destroy the federal government, ICE is detaining immigrants without due process and often with great violence, RFK Jr. wants to deprive children of life-saving vaccines, and on and on. To keep me from giving up completely and spending the rest of my days drunk on the couch, I subscribe to positive news sites.Good news, good good good, Good News Network– full of joyful stories about medical advances, rescued dogs and children who donate their proceeds from selling lemonade to charity. Most people, I tell myself, are good, and sometimes I even believe it. So let's bid farewell to the year on a hopeful note. Here are 11 stories that will remind us that even in 2025 there were bright spots. Let there be many more of them in 2026.

1. US homicide rate down 20 percentcontinued decline in 2023 and 2024. Among cities, the top spot goes to Birmingham, Alabama, which has seen 49 percent fewer homicides since 2024. Many cities are seeing rates not seen since the 1960s, with San Francisco having its lowest rate since 1942.
2. New York City's Downtown Manhattan Congestion Charge, which charges passenger vehicles $9 to enter downtown Manhattan, is success. There were many skeptics when it began on Jan. 7 and President Donald Trump vowed to repeal it, but it has cut traffic, pollution, crashes, injuries and noise complaints while increasing public transit use and raising nearly half a billion dollars for major MTA improvements. In addition, people used the city center more, not less.
3. For some reason, the ACLU was against it, but when New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a law banning students from using cell phones in school, she joined about 18 states from Vermont to Texas. Seven more states ban cell phone use during school hours, and nearly all the rest are working on restrictions. Result: Students talk to each other and listen carefully to the lesson. Preliminary studies suggests that teachers are delighted: children are less distracted in class, test scores are up, as is physical activity during recess.
4. According to the estimates of verified Wikipedia editors, this year there were three of the five largest protest marches in US history: “Hands Off” in April, “No Kings” in June and “No Kings” in October. According to Crowd Counting Consortium“Protests in 2025 spanned more of the United States than at any time in history. And the geographic spread of protest activity—the proportion of U.S. counties hosting at least one event—remained surprisingly high throughout the year.”
5. Mamdani, Mamdani, Mamdani! Who would have thought that a 34-year-old Ugandan-born Muslim socialist would win the New York mayoral election by offering free daycare, free buses, lower rents and city grocery stores? He joins a growing cohort of left-wing mayors of major cities—Katie Wilson in Seattle, Michelle Wu in Boston and Brandon Johnson in Chicago. Additionally, Janice Lewis George appears to have a good chance of becoming the next mayor of Washington, DC.
6. More good news at the ballot box: Despite Elon Musk's attempt to influence the vote by donating nearly $10 million to his Republican opponent, Judge Susan Crawfordliberal, won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court by an 11-point margin, securing a liberal majority through 2028. 21 percent Republican-held state legislature seats are up for election. Republicans did not flip a single seat held by a Democrat.
7. Science is moving forward: Black coffee is good for you. Take it, killers who keep looking for reasons to give up one of life's simple and accessible pleasures. According to Nutrition JournalA cup or two of black coffee reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, some types of cancer and all-cause mortality. But cream and sugar cancel out the benefits, so avoid the million-calorie syrup drinks at Starbucks and do like the Italians: only black after 11am.
8. According to a UN report, women's rights have stagnated or gone backward in one in four countries, from Poland and Iraq to Russia and the United States. But there are countries that have made progress: in Italy, femicide, the killing of a woman based on her gender, has become separate and specific crime. Moved by the horror of the Giselle Pelicot case, in which a husband drugged his wife and invited dozens of men to rape her, France adds lack of consent to definition of rape. And despite the continued compulsory wearing of the hijab in Iran, Women continue to show off their hair in protest. Never believe it when proponents say that a veil is “just a piece of cloth.” If this were true, the mullahs would not have arrested women for taking it off.
9. IN Voters in seven states added abortion rights. their state constitutions: Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York and Nevada. Unfortunately, pro-choice measures failed in Nebraska, South Dakota and Florida, where a proposal to add abortion rights to the state constitution failed to pass the required 60 percent threshold by 3 percent. Moreover, despite 20 states banning or restricting abortion after the Supreme Court overturned CaviarThe number of abortions has actually increased due to the widespread use of abortion pills. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean everyone who wants them gets them: In Texas, for example, after years of decline, the teen birth rate is rising, as are the number of pregnancies and births caused by rape.
10. Book sales are growing. Surprised? Fewer people are reading, so those who do read—disproportionately women—should buy more books. Unfortunately (there's that word again) most of what they buy is junk, but that's probably always been the case. And in general, reading is a habit, and you have to start somewhere. Today, Onyx StormTomorrow, To the lighthouse.
11. Hundreds of new species have been discovered and/or described (apparently this happens every year). Here are just a few of them: new type of tinamoua small, very beautiful bird living in the mountain forests of Brazil, with a wonderful name jewel talker in the hood in Papua New Guinea, a tiny mouse possum called Marmoza Chachapoya with a long tail, a long nose and huge sad eyes, as well as many fish, insects, arachnids, plants and long-extinct dinosaurs, including feathered the last meal is still in the stomach. The world is still full of wonders, so in 2026, let's try to keep it that way.