This Thanksgiving, let’s be pleased about giving thanks. Analysis has proven that training gratitude is an efficient technique to cope with stress or anxiousness. The easy act of claiming a honest thanks, or simply counting one’s blessings, can supply a cornucopia of mental and physical benefits.
So we’re lucky to have a nationwide vacation devoted to displaying appreciation, reminding us to hunt the great in our fellow People, our shared experiences and ourselves. In that spirit, listed here are a few of the individuals, occasions and extra for which we’re grateful:
— Voters within the metropolis and county of Los Angeles embraced main ethics and authorities reforms this fall. Town will get impartial redistricting and a stronger Ethics Fee, whereas the county will achieve a bigger Board of Supervisors, an elected govt (a sort of county mayor) and, for the primary time, its personal ethics fee. These modifications ought to give residents extra illustration, transparency and accountability.
— The federal authorities designated the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary off California’s Central Coast to guard the world’s biodiversity and cultural heritage. The greater than 4,500-square-mile protect would be the first in California to be managed in cooperation with Indigenous peoples.
— Californians handed Proposition 3, guaranteeing marriage rights for same-sex {couples}. The state’s voters had outlawed such marriages in 2008 by approving Proposition 8, and though that initiative was overturned by the courts, its language remained within the state Structure. Now voters have amended the Structure to acknowledge a basic proper to marry and a higher measure of dignity for all.
— The Dodgers clinched their eighth World Sequence title with an exhilarating, come-from-behind Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. Freddie Freeman’s MVP efficiency all through the sequence was one thing to behold, from his walk-off grand slam within the first recreation to the two-run single that helped the Dodgers win all of it.
— The Los Angeles Unified College District is shifting ahead with a ban on pupil cellphone use through the faculty day. It gained’t be straightforward to pry the telephones out of youngsters’ arms, but it surely’s the appropriate factor to do for his or her educational success and well-being.
— Disneyland will exchange the fume-spewing gasoline engines powering its well-liked Autopia attraction with clear, climate-friendly electric vehicles by 2026 — lastly bringing the park’s Tomorrowland again to the long run.
— Because of voters’ assist for a gross sales tax improve below Measure A, Los Angeles County will get billions of {dollars} a 12 months for intervention and prevention providers and reasonably priced housing to alleviate the area’s homelessness disaster.
— The nation is more and more embracing the concept not everyone needs to go to college to have a significant, well-compensated profession and a full life. New alternatives in coaching and employment are opening up, and it’s about time; Switzerland has been doing this for years.
— California voters approved Proposition 4, a $10-billion state bond measure to finance clear water, local weather and conservation tasks. A number of the cash will probably be spent to guard in opposition to wildfires, cut back air air pollution and cope with excessive warmth occasions.
— School admissions might develop into fairer now that many faculties are bringing back the requirement that candidates submit SAT or ACT scores. The standardized assessments are imperfect, however they’re nearer to an goal, across-the-board measure than the rest obtainable, particularly in mild of grade inflation.
— Angelenos overwhelming backed Measure HLA on the March poll, requiring town so as to add bike and bus lanes and pedestrian enhancements. The sturdy assist despatched a transparent message that voters need safer streets and climate-friendly transportation decisions.
— DreamWorks launched the humorous and exquisite animated movie “The Wild Robotic,” which reminded us of the that means of household and the liberty to like even below oppression.
— Wild creatures nonetheless handle to share our city and suburban areas with us: Deer choose their means by means of L.A.’s hillsides, coyotes howl at passing sirens, mockingbirds run by means of their repertoires like DJs making megamixes, and mountain lions slink out of canyons and into backyards earlier than vanishing once more into the darkish.
