By Janjabill Tahsin
Staff Writer
The Good News Lion is the Nation & World section’s biweekly news segment, highlighting positive news in the country and around the world. The theme of this article is traveling for the upcoming holiday season.
U.S. airlines must automatically refund passengers for canceled flights
The Department of Transportation’s automatic refund rule went into effect on Oct. 28, where U.S. airlines are now required to offer passengers cash refunds — not vouchers — when airlines cancel or significantly change their flights, even if that person does not explicitly ask for a refund. They are implementing the major change only a month before the upcoming holiday travel season.
ABC7 News reported that the new rule mandates airlines to automatically process refunds if a passenger’s flight is canceled or significantly changed and they do not accept the changed flight, rebooking or alternative compensation. This includes flights delayed by more than three hours domestically or six hours internationally, according to USA Today.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted, “Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them-without headaches or haggling.”
The Department of Transportation says airlines must refund passengers within seven days for credit card purchases and within 20 calendar days for other forms of payment.
Airlines for America, an American trade association and lobbying group, said in a statement, “we support the automatic refund rule and are happy to accommodate customers with a refund when they choose not to be rebooked.”
Hawaii receives $9.1 million to support reforestation
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) announced that Hawaii will receive over $9.1 million in federal funding in order to support reforestation projects within the state. The goal of the projects is to ultimately fight against climate change and also restore local ecosystems.
“Restoring our diverse ecosystems is critical to both mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring a healthy environment,” Schatz said. “This new funding helps continue our work to preserve our environment in Hawai’i and boost our resilience to the increasing risks we face from climate change.”
According to Ground Truth, about $4.2 million will go to the organization, Terraformation, which is Kailua-Kona-based reforestation company. The company hopes to use the money to produce technology that can capture carbon and help local plants and crops to adapt to changing environmental conditions.
Terraformation already has a Terraware platform that allows the company to track forest growth in real-time and will simplify this project.
“Terraware translates science-backed methods for managing and measuring forestry projects into simple, accessible data and digestible action steps for forestry organizations,” said Yishan Wong, the founder and CEO of Terraformation. “This type of technology is a mission-critical component in the global effort to combat climate change through reforestation and that is why we made a conscious decision to make it available to everyone.”
The other $4.9 million will fund projects spearheaded by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife. These projects will restore forests by planting native trees and removing invasive plant species. Ultimately, this will aid in habitat building for endangered species.
New drink testing kit could save lives
On Oct. 28, Overdrive Defense, the first and only test kit to detect all three of the most common date-rape drugs: GHB, Rohypnol and ketamine, was released.
Founder Brian Bordainick discovered that many drink spike tests on the market were ineffective, often detecting only one or two drugs or lacking scientific reliability.
“After months of rigorous R&D, our Drink Spike Defense kits are setting a new standard with superior sensitivity and reliability,” Bordainick said in an interview with Nylon.
According to the brand, Overdrive’s test is 99% accurate when used correctly and is 24 times more sensitive for GHB and more than 250 times more sensitive for ketamine than leading competitor tests.
Overdrive’s Drink Spike Defense packs are available online through Amazon, GoPuff and their website, overdrivedefense.com. They can also be purchased in-store at 5,000 CVS stores nationwide.
