It was a very bad year. Israel continued its methodical destruction of Gaza, the Taliban increased its suppression of Afghan women, civil war in Sudan killed hundreds of thousands, democracy is on the decline around the world, Elon Musk and Trump did their best to destroy the federal government, ICE rounded up immigrants without due process and often with great violence, RFK Jr. wants to deprive children of life-saving vaccines, and so on and so on. To keep me from giving up entirely and spending the rest of my days drunk on the sofa, I subscribe to websites of positive news—Nice News, Goodgoodgood, Good News Network—full of happy stories about medical advances, rescued dogs, and children who give their lemonade-stand earnings to charity. Most people, I tell myself, are good, and sometimes I even believe it. So let’s bid the year farewell on a hopeful note. Here are 11 stories to remind us that even 2025 had bright spots. May 2026 have many, many more.

1. The US murder rate fell 20 percent, continuing declines in 2023 and 2024. Among cities, Birmingham, Alabama, gets first prize, with 49 percent fewer murders since 2024. Many cities recorded rates not seen since the 1960s, with San Francisco having the lowest rate since 1942.
2. New York’s congestion pricing, which charges passenger vehicles $9 to enter midtown Manhattan, is a success. There were lots of naysayers when it started on January 7, and President Donald Trump has sworn to quash it, but it’s reduced traffic, pollution, crashes, injuries, and noise complaints, while increasing use of public transportation and raising around half a billion dollars for capital improvements for the MTA. Plus, people used midtown more, not less.
3. The ACLU was against it for some reason, but when New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation banning students from using cell phones in school, she joined some 18 states from Vermont to Texas. Another seven states ban cell phone use during instructional time, and almost all the rest are working on restrictions. Result: Students are talking to each other and paying attention in class. Preliminary research suggests teachers are thrilled: Kids are less distracted in class, test scores are up, and so is physical activity in recess.
4. According to the tabulation of the trusty editors of Wikipedia, this year saw three of the five biggest protest marches in US history: Hands off in April, No Kings in June, and No Kings in October. According to the Crowd Counting Consortium, “Protests in 2025 have reached a wider swath of the United States than at any other point on record. And the geographic reach of protest activity—the share of U.S. counties hosting at least one event—has remained remarkably high throughout the year.”
5. Mamdani, Mamdani, Mamdani! Who’d a thunk that a 34-year-old Uganda-born Muslim socialist would win NYC’s mayoral election with proposals for free daycare, free buses, lower rents, and city-run grocery stores? He joins a growing cohort of left-wing big-city mayors—Katie Wilson in Seattle, Michelle Wu in Boston, and Brandon Johnson in Chicago. Plus Janeese Lewis George seems in a strong position to be the next mayor of Washington, DC.
6. More good news at the ballot box: Despite Elon Musk ‘s attempt to swing the vote by donating around $10 million to her Republican opponent, Judge Susan Crawford, a liberal, won a seat on Wisconsin State Supreme Court by 11 points, ensuring a liberal majority until 2028. Around the nation, Democrats flipped 21 percent of Republican-held state legislative seats up for election. Republicans didn’t flip a single seat held by a Dem.
7. Science marches on: Black coffee is good for you. Take that, killjoys who keep hunting for reasons to give up one of life’s simple, affordable pleasures. According to The Journal of Nutrition, a cup or two of black coffee lowers risk of heart disease, certain cancers, and all-cause mortality. But cream and sugar negate the benefit, so avoid those million-calorie syrup-laden drinks at Starbucks and do like the Italians: only black after eleven in the morning.
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 places that have made progress: Italy has made femicide, the murder of a woman because of her sex, a separate and specific crime. Propelled by the horror of the Gisèle Pelicot case, in which a husband drugged his wife and invited dozens of men to rape her, France added lack of consent to the definition of rape. And despite Iran’s continued compulsory wearing of the hijab, women continue to show their hair in defiance. Never believe it when proponents say the veil is “just a piece of cloth.” If that were true, the mullahs wouldn’t arrest women for taking it off.
9. In seven states, voters added abortion rights to 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 clear the required 60 percent threshold by 3 percent. Also, despite the banning or restricting of abortion in 20 states since the Supreme Court struck down Roe, the number of abortions has actually increased, thanks to widespread use of abortion pills. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean everyone who might want them gets them: In Texas, for example, teen births are on the rise after years of decline, and so are pregnancies and births caused by rape.
10. Sales of books are up. Surprised? Fewer people are reading, so those who read—disproportionately women—must be buying more books. Unfortunately (that word again), much of what they buy is junk, but that was probably always true. And anyway, reading is habit forming, and you have to start somewhere. Today, Onyx Storm, tomorrow, To the Lighthouse.
11. Hundreds of new species were discovered and/or described (apparently this happens every year.) To mention just a few: a new kind of tinamou, a small very pretty bird who lives in the mountain forests of Brazil, the wonderfully named hooded jewel-babbler in Papua New Guinea, a tiny mouse opossum called the Marmosa chachapoya with a long tail, a long nose, and huge, sad eyes—plus lots of fish, insects, arachnids, plants, and long-extinct dinosaurs, including a feathered one with its last meal still in its stomach. It’s still a world of marvels out there, so in 2026 let’s try to keep it that way.