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Tag: children

  • Newborns are becoming victims of legalized marijuana use – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Newborns are becoming victims of legalized marijuana use – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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  • Utah toddler hit in the head by a stray bullet while playing in a fenced area of day care, police say | CNN

    Utah toddler hit in the head by a stray bullet while playing in a fenced area of day care, police say | CNN

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    A 2-year-old boy is recovering at a Utah hospital after being hit in the head by a stray bullet while playing with other children outside in the fenced area of a day care, police said.

    Police have identified a man who was shooting birds with a .22 caliber air rifle in an area west of the day care, which is located in Spanish Fork. The man is cooperating with investigators and will be identified only if formal charges against him are filed, according to the Spanish Fork Police Department.

    On Monday, several children were playing “in the vinyl fenced area” staffed by two adults when a child “appeared to stumble and was seen bleeding from the face,” police said. The day care notified the parents who then brought their child to the hospital for treatment, police said.

    “Detectives are continuing to investigate where the bullet may have been shot from and why,” Spanish Fork police said in a statement Tuesday. “It appears this was a tragic accident. Open fields are directly west of the daycare and it is believed the round may have come from that area.”

    At the hospital, doctors discovered a small caliber bullet lodged in the toddler’s head and he was then transferred to Primary Children’s Hospital where he’s currently in stable condition and improving, according to a Wednesday update from police.

    When the investigation is completed, the case will be handed over to Spanish Fork city prosecutors for review of any charges, police said.

    “I still feel like I’m in shock,” said Lane Mugleston, who owns the day care with his wife, told CNN affiliate KSLTV. “We are absolutely surprised. We are dumbfounded that this would happen in Spanish Fork.”

    Mugleston told KSLTV that at first, the staff didn’t think the child was injured by a stray bullet.

    “Initially, we thought he just had tripped and hit his head,” he said.

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  • Iowa governor signs bill loosening child labor laws

    Iowa governor signs bill loosening child labor laws

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    Iowa teenagers could work more jobs and for longer hours under a bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Kim Reynolds

    BySCOTT McFETRIDGE and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press

    DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa teenagers could work more jobs and for longer hours under a bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

    The Republican governor signed the law after it was approved by the Legislature earlier in May with only Republican support. Several states are embracing a rollback of child labor laws in response to complaints from business owners that they can’t find enough workers. Iowa’s April unemployment rate was 2.7%.

    “With this legislation Iowa joins 20 other states in providing tailored, common sense labor provisions that allow young adults to develop their skills in the workforce,” Reynolds said in a statement.

    Child welfare advocates worry the measures represent a coordinated push to scale back hard-won protections for minors.

    Legislators removed language in earlier versions of the bill that would have let state officials allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work in jobs now banned for minors. Some potentially dangerous work such as mining and meatpacking also would be off limits to those younger than 18.

    The new law would let 16- and 17-year-olds work in areas such as manufacturing as long as it was in a work-based learning program given an exemption by the Iowa Department of Education or Iowa Workforce Development. Those jobs could potentially mean the teens would operate power saws or join in demolition.

    Under the new rules, 16- and 17-year-olds also could serve alcohol in restaurants as long as business owners have written permission from the worker’s parent or guardian. Two adult employees would need to be in an area where the children served drinks, and restaurant employees would need to complete sexual harassment prevention training.

    The law would also let children younger than 16 work up to six hours a day while school is in session. They previously could work no more than four hours.

    Reynolds on Friday signed a dozen bills into law ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, including high-profile legislation that bans instruction on gender identity from classrooms through grade six, and books that include sex acts from school libraries.

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  • CHOP Researchers Show that IgA Fine Tunes the Body’s Interactions with Microbes

    CHOP Researchers Show that IgA Fine Tunes the Body’s Interactions with Microbes

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    Newswise — Philadelphia, May 26, 2023—IgA deficiency is the most common primary immune deficiency worldwide, but its presentation has puzzled physicians and researchers. Some with the disorder present with symptoms like recurrent infections, autoimmune disease, or allergies, whereas others have no symptoms at all and only become aware of their IgA-deficient status through an incidental finding on a blood test. This variability has raised the question among researchers: Why aren’t many of those with IgA deficiency sicker? 

    A new study by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has begun to answer that question, demonstrating that IgA acts as a “tuner” that regulates the number of microbes the body sees every day, restraining the systemic immune response to these commensal microbes and limiting the development of systemic immune dysregulation.

    “Right now, if we identify IgA deficiency in a patient through a blood test, we have no way of knowing whether the patient will become symptomatic if they aren’t already, and we don’t know whether or when they might go on to develop a more serious immune deficiency,” said Sarah E. Henrickson, MD, PhD, an assistant professor and attending physician in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at CHOP and co-senior author of the paper, which was published today in Science Immunology. “Our paper lays the groundwork for being able to answer these critically important questions by providing a lens into how IgA and the microbiome interact and how an imbalance in that interaction could lead to symptomatic disease.”

    IgA (short for Immunoglobulin A) is an antibody protein that is part of the immune system and plays a role in fighting disease. It is found mainly in the respiratory and digestive tracts, but it can also be found in blood, saliva, tears, and breastmilk. To be diagnosed with IgA deficiency, patients must be over 4 years of age and have no IgA as determined through a blood test, as well as normal serum levels of IgG and IgM, without other known causes of immune deficiency. 

    Some researchers have suggested that perhaps IgM provides a “backup” role in some patients with IgA deficiency, explaining why some patients are asymptomatic. However, how secretory IgA and IgM work together in the mucosal system and whether their roles were redundant or distinct remained unclear.

    To investigate this further, the researchers analyzed samples from 19 pediatric patients with IgA deficiency and 13 pediatric control patients, from 15 families, and they then complemented that analysis with studies of IgA deficient mice. They sought to answer two questions: how mucosal antibodies like IgA and IgM and system antibodies like IgG interact with mucosal microbes, and how IgA deficiency affects equilibrium of the immune system. 

    Analyzing both blood and fecal samples, the researchers measured antibody levels; identified the microbial targets of IgA, IgM, and IgG antibodies; and performed immune profiling to gauge the activation of the immune system. In doing so, they showed that although IgA, IgM and IgG target overlapping sets of microbes, the role of IgA is distinct from IgM in restraining commensal microbes in the gut, and IgM only modestly compensates for the absence of intestinal IgA.

    They also determined that 26% of patients who were IgA deficient via blood tests had normal levels of IgA in their feces. Intriguingly, the patients with normal fecal IgA were less likely to develop immune dysregulation and clinical disease, as demonstrated through immune analysis of cytokine levels, whereas those deficient in both blood and fecal IgA were more likely to have elevated inflammatory cytokines and exhibit clinical symptoms.

    To validate their findings, the researchers studied knockout mice who lacked IgA. Mirroring the findings in human patients, these mice exhibited elevated cytokines and immune dysregulation. The researchers also found live microbes in fat tissue of the knockout mice, which was not found in healthy control mice, providing further evidence for a role for IgA in modulating systemic microbial exposure.

    “Based on these results, we propose that IgA supports the intestinal barrier to keep the proper balance of commensal microbes interacting with the immune system, acting as a tuner to keep the immune system in check,” said co-senior author Michael Silverman, MD, PhD, an Assistant Professor and attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at CHOP. “Without IgA protecting the gut, commensal bacteria can get through, increasing a patient’s systemic exposure to these microbes and creating an inflammatory environment. Future studies with larger patient populations should investigate IgA levels in other target tissues and determine if these findings can be used to predict disease course and outcomes.” 

    Conrey et al. “IgA deficiency destabilizes immune homeostasis towards intestinal microbiota and increases the risk of systemic immune dysregulation,” Science Immunology, May 26, 2023, DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.ade2335

    #

    About Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: A non-profit, charitable organization, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation’s first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals, and pioneering major research initiatives, the 595-bed hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. The institution has a well-established history of providing advanced pediatric care close to home through its CHOP Care Network, which includes more than 50 primary care practices, specialty care and surgical centers, urgent care centers, and community hospital alliances throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as an inpatient hospital with a dedicated pediatric emergency department in King of Prussia. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit https://www.chop.edu. 

     

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  • Latest GOP 2024 hopeful DeSantis ‘blazing a trail’ on book bans in Republican-controlled states

    Latest GOP 2024 hopeful DeSantis ‘blazing a trail’ on book bans in Republican-controlled states

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    TALLAHASSEE, Florida — As he vies for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is touting a series of measures he has pushed that have led to an upswing in banned or restricted books — not just in Florida schools but in an increasing number of other conservative states.

    Florida last year became the first in a wave of red states to enact laws making it easier for parents to challenge books in school libraries they deem to be pornographic, deal improperly with racial issues or are in other ways inappropriate for students.

    Books ensnared in the Florida regulations include explicit graphic novels about growing up LGBTQ+, a children’s book based on a true story of two male penguins raising a chick in a zoo and “The Bluest Eye,” a novel by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison that includes descriptions of child sexual abuse. Certain books covering racial themes also have been pulled from library shelves, sometimes temporarily, as school administrators try to assess what material is allowed under the new rules.

    The day before DeSantis entered the presidential race earlier this week, a K-8 school in Miami-Dade County put the poem “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman on a restricted list for elementary students after a parent complained. The reasons for the objection to the poem, which Gorman read during President Joe Biden’s inauguration, were not clear. The book version remains available to the middle school students, but Gorman criticized the decision to restrict it for younger grades, saying it robbed “children of the chance to find their voices in literature.”

    While efforts to ban books or censor education material have come up sporadically over the years, critics and supporters credit DeSantis with inspiring a new wave of legislation in other conservative states to regulate the books available in schools — and sometimes even in public libraries. The number of attempts to ban or restrict books across the U.S. last year was the highest in the 20 years the American Library Association has been tracking such efforts.

    EveryLibrary, a national political action committee, said it’s tracking at least 121 different proposals introduced in state legislatures this year targeting libraries, librarians, educators and access to materials. The group said 39 of those proposals would allow for criminal prosecution.

    “He really is blazing a trail,” said Tiffany Justice, the Florida-based co-founder of the conservative parents group Moms for Liberty, whose members have filed challenges to books in libraries in several states. “What Ron DeSantis does that I think is effective is he uses all the levers of power to make long-term change happen.”

    “Other governors,” Justice said, “are paying attention and following suit.”

    In Arkansas, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law, set to take effect this summer, that could impose criminal penalties on librarians who knowingly provide “harmful” materials to minors. The law also would establish a process for the public to challenge materials and ask they be relocated to a section minors can’t access.

    “It’s a perverse world when we’re talking about trying to criminalize librarians,” said Nate Coulter, executive director of the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock, which is expected to sue over Arkansas’ law.

    In Indiana, school libraries will be required by July 1 to publicly post a list of books they offer and provide a complaint process for community members under a law Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed this month. In Texas, a bill creating new standards for banning books from schools that the government considers too explicit has been sent to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.

    In Oklahoma, the state school board has approved new rules that prohibit “pornographic materials and sexualized content” in school libraries and allow parents to submit formal complaints. The rules still must be approved by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.

    DeSantis insists books aren’t actually being “banned” in his state’s schools, preferring to call the forced removal of some books “curation choices that are consistent with state standards.”

    “There has not been a single book banned in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said during a live appearance on Twitter Wednesday when he announced his campaign. He later said “our mantra in Florida is education, not indoctrination.”

    Librarians, free speech advocates and some parents and educators say the push is driven by a small, conservative minority that happens to have outsized clout in Republican primaries, like the one DeSantis is now competing in.

    “This is all part of his plan to run for president, and he believes his vilification of books and what’s happening in public schools is his path to the presidency,” said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s main teachers union.

    Kasey Meehan, who directs the Freedom to Read program at the writers’ organization PEN America, said that, when books are targeted in Florida, they later become the subject of complaints filed by parents in other states.

    “It’s something that continues to cause alarm for individuals who are advocating for the freedom to read or for a diversity of knowledge, ideas and books to be available to students across the country,” Meehan said.

    PEN earlier this month sued the Escambia school district in Florida over the removal of 10 books, including “The Bluest Eye” and “Lucky,” a bestselling memoir by Alice Sebold about her rape when she was 18 years old.

    There have been challenges to books in schools for decades — “The Bluest Eye” has been targeted in various states for years, long before DeSantis became governor. But the restrictions accelerated in Florida after DeSantis signed bills last year barring discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms, a ban that has since expanded through 12th grade. He also created a mechanism for parents to challenge books in school libraries and has targeted how race is taught in Florida schools.

    Many teachers and districts complain that the laws’ standards are so vague they don’t know what books might place them in legal jeopardy.

    Michael Woods, a special education teacher in Palm Beach, said new rules compelling him to catalog books in his classroom led him to empty a small library he set up where students could choose to read something that interested them. Now those volumes are stored in a box he’s stashed in his closet for fear of getting in trouble.

    “That kind of positive connection to reading is no longer there,” he said.

    The individual challenges to books might be coming from a fairly narrow segment of the population, according to PEN and the American Library Association, which track requests to pull books. The library association said 40% of all requests challenged 100 or more books at a time.

    Raegan Miller of Florida Freedom to Read, a group fighting the book restrictions, said she has talked about education issues with fellow parents of all political persuasions for years, and no one has ever complained about inappropriate material in their children’s schools. She contends the issue has been ginned up by a small group of conservative activists.

    “Do you really think we are all just happily dropping our kids off at Marxist indoctrination and pornography?” Miller said. “You only hear this stuff at school board meetings.”

    Moms for Liberty, which boasts 285 chapters, has a strong presence at school board meetings in the state and nationwide. It also has successfully backed several candidates for school board.

    Justice, the group’s co-founder, notes the books are still available in public libraries and through booksellers. The question, she said, is whether it’s appropriate for taxpayer-funded schools to provide them to children.

    Some books don’t belong in certain settings, she said: “A seminary library would have different books than a medical school library.”

    It’s the local, elected officials, she added, who should determine what’s appropriate.

    “That’s representative government,” Justice said.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and Arleigh Rodgers in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

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  • State lawmakers want children to fill labor shortages, even in bars and on school nights

    State lawmakers want children to fill labor shortages, even in bars and on school nights

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    MADISON, Wis. — As the federal government cracks down on child labor violations, some state lawmakers are embracing legislation to let children work longer hours and in more hazardous occupations.

    The legislators, mostly Republicans, argue that relaxing child labor laws could ease nationwide labor shortages.

    But child welfare advocates worry the measures represent a coordinated push to scale back hard-won protections for minors.

    “The consequences are potentially disastrous,” said Reid Maki, director of the Child Labor Coalition, which advocates against exploitative labor policies. “You can’t balance a perceived labor shortage on the backs of teen workers.”

    Lawmakers proposed loosening child labor laws in at least 10 states over the past two years, according to a report published last month by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Some bills became law, while others were withdrawn or vetoed.

    Legislators in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa are actively considering relaxing child labor laws to address worker shortages. Employers have struggled to fill open positions after a spike in retirements, deaths and illnesses from COVID-19, decreases in legal immigration and other factors.

    Wisconsin lawmakers back a proposal to allow 14-year-olds to serve alcohol in bars and restaurants. If passed, Wisconsin would have the lowest such limit nationwide, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

    The Ohio Legislature is on track to pass a bill allowing students ages 14 and 15 to work until 9 p.m. during the school year with their parents’ permission. That’s later than federal law allows, so a companion measure asks the U.S. Congress to amend its own laws.

    Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, students that age can only work until 7 p.m. during the school year. Congress passed the law in 1938 to stop children from being exposed to dangerous conditions and abusive practices in mines, factories, farms and street trades.

    Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law in March eliminating permits that required employers to verify a child’s age and their parent’s consent. Without work permit requirements, companies caught violating child labor laws can more easily claim ignorance. Other measures to loosen child labor laws have been passed into law in New Jersey, New Hampshire and Iowa.

    Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law last year allowing teens aged 16 and 17 to work unsupervised in child care centers. The state Legislature approved a bill this month to allow teens of that age to serve alcohol in restaurants. It would also expand the hours minors can work. Reynolds, who said in April she supports more youth employment, has until June 3 to sign or veto the measure.

    Republicans dropped provisions from a version of the bill allowing children aged 14 and 15 to work in dangerous fields including mining, logging and meatpacking. But it kept some provisions that the Labor Department say violate federal law, including allowing children as young as 14 to briefly work in freezers and meat coolers, and extending work hours in industrial laundries and assembly lines.

    Teen workers are more likely to accept low pay and less likely to unionize or push for better working conditions, said Maki, of the Child Labor Coalition, a Washington-based advocacy network.

    “There are employers that benefit from having kind of docile teen workers,” Maki said, adding that teens are easy targets for industries that rely on vulnerable populations such as immigrants and the formerly incarcerated to fill dangerous jobs.

    The Department of Labor reported in February that child labor violations had increased by nearly 70% since 2018. The agency is increasing enforcement and asking Congress to allow larger fines against violators.

    It fined one of the nation’s largest meatpacking sanitation contractors $1.5 million in February after investigators found the company illegally employed more than 100 children at locations in eight states. The child workers cleaned bone saws and other dangerous equipment in meatpacking plants, often using hazardous chemicals.

    National business lobbyists, chambers of commerce and well-funded conservative groups are backing the state bills to increase teen participation in the workforce, including Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political network and the National Federation of Independent Business, which typically aligns with Republicans.

    The conservative Opportunity Solutions Project and its parent organization, Florida-based think tank Foundation for Government Accountability, helped lawmakers in Arkansas and Missouri draft bills to roll back child labor protections, The Washington Post reported. The groups, and allied lawmakers, often say their efforts are about expanding parental rights and giving teenagers more work experience.

    “There’s no reason why anyone should have to get the government’s permission to get a job,” Republican Arkansas Rep. Rebecca Burkes, who sponsored the bill to eliminate child work permits, said on the House floor. “This is simply about eliminating the bureaucracy that is required and taking away the parent’s decision about whether their child can work.”

    Margaret Wurth, a children’s rights researcher with Human Rights Watch, a member of the Child Labor Coalition, described bills like the one passed in Arkansas as “attempts to undermine safe and important workplace protections and to reduce workers’ power.”

    Current laws fail to protect many child workers, Wurth said.

    She wants lawmakers to end exceptions for child labor in agriculture. Federal law allows children 12 and older to work on farms for any amount of time outside of school hours, with parental permission. Farm workers over 16 can work at dangerous heights or operate heavy machinery, hazardous tasks reserved for adult workers in other industries.

    Twenty-four children died from work injuries in in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Around half of deadly work incidents happened on farms, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office covering child deaths between 2003 and 2016.

    “More children die working in agriculture than in any other sector,” Wurth said. “Enforcement isn’t going to help much for child farm workers unless the standards improve.”

    ___

    Harm Venhuizen is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Venhuizen on Twitter.

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  • At Tennessee museum, fans remember Tina Turner’s talent, strength, influence

    At Tennessee museum, fans remember Tina Turner’s talent, strength, influence

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    BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. — Standing in a Tennessee museum, near exhibits of shimmering dresses worn by Tina Turner, Lisa Lyons wiped tears from her cheeks as she remembered the impact the singer and actor had on her life.

    Lyons recalled watching Turner’s performance in the film “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” as Auntie Entity, the tyrannical leader of a post-apocalyptic civilization.

    “She was fierce, and she was strong, and she was powerful, and that has stayed with me,” said Lyons, who, like Turner, is Black. “As a little girl of color who didn’t have that type of role model in real life, it has stuck with me all these years.”

    Turner, 83, died Wednesday, after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, according to her manager. Her Grammy-winning singing career includes the hit songs “Nutbush City Limits,” “Proud Mary,” “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” from “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.” Her film credits also include “Tommy” and “Last Action Hero.”

    Lyons, 56, said she heard about Turner’s death on Wednesday and drove to the museum in Brownsville, west of Jackson, where Lyons lives.

    When it comes to her musical legacy in a region known for its blues, rock and roll, R&B and soul music, Turner was the “cream of the crop,” Lyons said.

    “She is the standard. She is the goal to aspire for,” Lyons said. “She did it and she did it well, and she did it on her own terms.”

    The museum opened in 2014 inside the renovated Flagg Grove School at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Memphis. Turner attended school in the one-room building as a child growing up in nearby Nutbush, one of the small, rural towns that dot the farms and fields of West Tennessee.

    The building was on farmland owned by Benjamin Flagg, who saw a need for a school for the area’s black children and began building it in 1889. The school is representative of the schoolhouses for African-American children that sprang up in the rural South after the Civil War.

    The school closed in the 1960s and was used as a barn before the dilapidated building was moved by tractor-trailer from Nutbush to Brownsville.

    The museum contains a setup of the classroom, including the original blackboard and wooden desks used by Turner and her fellow students. It also contains photos of Turner, and the Armani, Versace and Bob Mackie dresses Turner wore on stage during the energetic performances for which she was known.

    On Wednesday, Turner fans went to the museum to pay their respects. Some of them had already planned to visit before news of Turner’s death broke, while others made a special trip after they found out.

    Sherry Raggett and her husband, Tom, had already planned to visit the center as the final stop of a museum tour that took them from their home in the Memphis suburb of Collierville to a few places in Kentucky and Nashville, then back to west Tennessee.

    Sherry Raggett called Turner “a wonderful person” and praised her for “her strong influence on women and how they can overcome so many things.”

    “I grew up listening to her, and she was a fantastic entertainer,” Tom Raggett said. “I loved every minute watching her.”

    The heritage center’s director, Sonia Outlaw-Clark, said she met Turner in 2019 in New York during the opening of “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.”

    “It was such an honor to be in her presence, but it was also such a feeling of ease,” Outlaw-Clark said. “Even though she was an international icon, a superstar, I still felt that she was a hometown girl. It was like meeting a neighbor.”

    Outlaw-Clark said the center was hoping to honor Turner this weekend during its annual Exit 56 Blues Fest and during another event in September that takes place on the anniversary of the museum’s opening.

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  • State lawmakers want children to fill labor shortages, even in bars and on school nights

    State lawmakers want children to fill labor shortages, even in bars and on school nights

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    MADISON, Wis. — As the federal government cracks down on child labor violations, some state lawmakers are embracing legislation to let children work longer hours and in more hazardous occupations.

    The legislators, mostly Republicans, argue that relaxing child labor laws could ease nationwide labor shortages.

    But child welfare advocates worry the measures represent a coordinated push to scale back hard-won protections for minors.

    “The consequences are potentially disastrous,” said Reid Maki, director of the Child Labor Coalition, which advocates against exploitative labor policies. “You can’t balance a perceived labor shortage on the backs of teen workers.”

    Lawmakers proposed loosening child labor laws in at least 10 states over the past two years, according to a report published last month by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Some bills became law, while others were withdrawn or vetoed.

    Legislators in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa are actively considering relaxing child labor laws to address worker shortages. Employers have struggled to fill open positions after a spike in retirements, deaths and illnesses from COVID-19, decreases in legal immigration and other factors.

    Wisconsin lawmakers back a proposal to allow 14-year-olds to serve alcohol in bars and restaurants. If passed, Wisconsin would have the lowest such limit nationwide, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

    The Ohio Legislature is on track to pass a bill allowing students ages 14 and 15 to work until 9 p.m. during the school year with their parents’ permission. That’s later than federal law allows, so a companion measure asks the U.S. Congress to amend its own laws.

    Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, students that age can only work until 7 p.m. during the school year. Congress passed the law in 1938 to stop children from being exposed to dangerous conditions and abusive practices in mines, factories, farms and street trades.

    Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law in March eliminating permits that required employers to verify a child’s age and their parent’s consent. Without work permit requirements, companies caught violating child labor laws can more easily claim ignorance. Other measures to loosen child labor laws have been passed into law in New Jersey, New Hampshire and Iowa.

    Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law last year allowing teens aged 16 and 17 to work unsupervised in child care centers. The state Legislature approved a bill this month to allow teens of that age to serve alcohol in restaurants. It would also expand the hours minors can work. Reynolds, who said in April she supports more youth employment, has until June 3 to sign or veto the measure.

    Republicans dropped provisions from a version of the bill allowing children aged 14 and 15 to work in dangerous fields including mining, logging and meatpacking. But it kept some provisions that the Labor Department say violate federal law, including allowing children as young as 14 to briefly work in freezers and meat coolers, and extending work hours in industrial laundries and assembly lines.

    Teen workers are more likely to accept low pay and less likely to unionize or push for better working conditions, said Maki, of the Child Labor Coalition, a Washington-based advocacy network.

    “There are employers that benefit from having kind of docile teen workers,” Maki said, adding that teens are easy targets for industries that rely on vulnerable populations such as immigrants and the formerly incarcerated to fill dangerous jobs.

    The Department of Labor reported in February that child labor violations had increased by nearly 70% since 2018. The agency is increasing enforcement and asking Congress to allow larger fines against violators.

    It fined one of the nation’s largest meatpacking sanitation contractors $1.5 million in February after investigators found the company illegally employed more than 100 children at locations in eight states. The child workers cleaned bone saws and other dangerous equipment in meatpacking plants, often using hazardous chemicals.

    National business lobbyists, chambers of commerce and well-funded conservative groups are backing the state bills to increase teen participation in the workforce, including Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political network and the National Federation of Independent Business, which typically aligns with Republicans.

    The conservative Opportunity Solutions Project and its parent organization, Florida-based think tank Foundation for Government Accountability, helped lawmakers in Arkansas and Missouri draft bills to roll back child labor protections, The Washington Post reported. The groups, and allied lawmakers, often say their efforts are about expanding parental rights and giving teenagers more work experience.

    “There’s no reason why anyone should have to get the government’s permission to get a job,” Republican Arkansas Rep. Rebecca Burkes, who sponsored the bill to eliminate child work permits, said on the House floor. “This is simply about eliminating the bureaucracy that is required and taking away the parent’s decision about whether their child can work.”

    Margaret Wurth, a children’s rights researcher with Human Rights Watch, a member of the Child Labor Coalition, described bills like the one passed in Arkansas as “attempts to undermine safe and important workplace protections and to reduce workers’ power.”

    Current laws fail to protect many child workers, Wurth said.

    She wants lawmakers to end exceptions for child labor in agriculture. Federal law allows children 12 and older to work on farms for any amount of time outside of school hours, with parental permission. Farm workers over 16 can work at dangerous heights or operate heavy machinery, hazardous tasks reserved for adult workers in other industries.

    Twenty-four children died from work injuries in in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Around half of deadly work incidents happened on farms, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office covering child deaths between 2003 and 2016.

    “More children die working in agriculture than in any other sector,” Wurth said. “Enforcement isn’t going to help much for child farm workers unless the standards improve.”

    ___

    Harm Venhuizen is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Venhuizen on Twitter.

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  • Fuzzy falcon chicks who nest at Michigan State football stadium get tracking bands

    Fuzzy falcon chicks who nest at Michigan State football stadium get tracking bands

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    EAST LANSING, Mich. — Newly fitted with tracking bands, four peregrine falcon chicks named Pickles, Muhammad, Egbert and Swooper have a nest in one of the best seats — make that perches — at Michigan State University’s stadium.

    Scientists and college students on Wednesday carefully attached metal tracking bands to the fluffy white chicks’ legs. At about a month old, they’re still not much bigger than a pigeon and can’t yet fly away from their manmade nest atop Spartan Stadium. But the boisterous birds already have sharp talons and beaks, so the banding process was handled with care.

    The chicks weren’t too happy about the experience, writhing and squawking. Once a tag was applied to a chick’s leg, the bird was placed back in a box. And the squawking ceased.

    The chicks have become celebrities in East Lansing and around the globe, thanks to a web camera and livestream by the school’s Fisheries and Wildlife Club, which installed the nest box on the stadium roof last year. The chicks could be seen resting calmly in their nest later Wednesday, under the watchful eye of a parent.

    Club members helped band the chicks on the stadium’s 8th floor near the press box, overseen by Chad Fedewa, a wildlife biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

    Moments earlier, Fedewa and Jim Schneider with the university’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife journeyed up to the roof to retrieve the chicks despite their parents — Freyja and Apollo — angrily screeching and hovering above. They were named in a Twitter contest, and a Michigan elementary school decided on the chicks’ monikers.

    “I’ve seen what they do when you have to get to their chicks. Fortunately, they didn’t get too close,” said Schneider, who held an umbrella aloft in case mom or dad made a move toward the humans tasked with retrieving their offspring.

    “They make a lot of noise, but they’re not too intimidating,” he said, adding that there were “a couple of stoops in there,” referring to a falcon’s hunting dive.

    Peregrine falcons are considered the world’s fastest birds. They can reach 200 mph (322 kph) during a dive.

    The American birds were declared endangered in the 1970s due to ingesting prey that was poisoned by pesticides. Recovery programs have brought the raptor back from potential extinction.

    Now that the chicks are tagged, researchers will be able to keep tabs on the birds’ eventual migration patterns and survival rate. Until then, viewers at home can follow along as the baby falcons grow up.

    “It’s really gratifying to see people get involved with it and make the same personal connections that we do,” said Molly Engelman, the club’s president and a senior from Plymouth, Michigan. “It’s like they’re our children, a little bit.”

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  • Police: Student arrested in shooting death of another student outside Pittsburgh school

    Police: Student arrested in shooting death of another student outside Pittsburgh school

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    PITTSBURGH — A student was taken into custody in the shooting death of another student early Wednesday just outside a school in Pittsburgh shortly before classes were due to start, police said.

    The shooting happened just before 7:30 a.m. by the front steps of Oliver Citywide Academy, police said. Officers found the victim with gunshot wounds in front of the school and gave first aid, Major Crimes Commander Richard Ford told reporters at the scene.

    An officer saw another student running from the school with a gun. The student was arrested and police recovered a gun, Ford said. The victim was taken to a hospital in critical condition and later died, he said. No other injuries were reported.

    Ford said the students were minors, but didn’t specify their ages or release their names. Oliver Citywide Academy is a full-time special education center serving grades 3-12, according to the city school district’s website. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the shooting.

    Most students were still on their way to the school when the shooting happened, and buses were rerouted to another school building, according to city spokesperson Maria Montano. Students who were already in the school were kept in the building and classes were canceled for the day.

    “We believe, based on the information that we have and the video we’ve been able to see, that we have the actor in custody and there’s no potential threat to the other schools,” Ford said.

    The city’s new police chief, Larry Scirotto, on the job for his first full day following confirmation Tuesday, said at the scene that such violence was “unacceptable.”

    “The tragedies cannot continue unchecked,” Scirotto told WTAE-TV, vowing to work to assure parents that “when they send their kids to school that their kids won’t become a victim of gun violence.”

    Mayor Ed Gainey vowed to help students affected by the shooting and said his administration would connect the family with support services.

    “No child should ever have to fear going to school, and no parent should ever worry about their child never coming home,” Gainey said.

    “We have cultivated a culture of violence and death, celebrated guns, and glorified shooting,” he said in a statement. “… We have to cultivate a new culture, create a new path forward for our kids.”

    The shooting came a little more than a year after another student was gunned down at the same school. Fifteen-year-old Marquis Campbell was killed in January 2022 as he sat in a school van waiting to go home. The alleged shooters — two brothers who Campbell knew from another school — were charged earlier this year with murder and conspiracy.

    The shooting also came exactly one year after 19 students and two teachers were gunned down at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

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  • Just in case: Anxious retirees, social service groups among those making default contingency plans

    Just in case: Anxious retirees, social service groups among those making default contingency plans

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    WASHINGTON — Phoenix retiree Saundra Cole has been watching the news about the debt limit negotiations in Washington with dismay — and limiting her air conditioning use to save money just in case her monthly Social Security check is delayed due to a default.

    For her, air conditioning is no small thing in a city where the average daily high hits 94 degrees in May. If the government can’t make good on its obligations, she says, “I would be devastated.”

    “What I’m worried about is food banks and electricity here because you know, we’ve had deaths with seniors because of the heat,” says Cole.

    Politicians in Washington may be offering assurance that the government will figure out a way to avert default, but around the country, economic anxiety is rising and some people already are adjusting their routines.

    Government beneficiaries, social service groups that receive state and federal subsidies and millions more across the country are contemplating the possibility of massive and immediate cuts if the U.S. were to default on its financial obligations.

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned last week that a default would destroy jobs and businesses, and leave millions of families who rely on federal government payments to “likely go unpaid,” including Social Security beneficiaries, veterans and military families.

    “A default could cause widespread suffering as Americans lose the income that they need to get by,” she said.

    The number of people potentially impacted is huge. According to the Census Bureau, in 2020 roughly 35% of U.S. households included someone receiving Social Security benefits, 36% received Medicaid benefits and more than 13% of the total population received food stamps.

    A recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 66% of Americans said they’re very or extremely concerned about the impact on the U.S. economy if the debt limit is not raised and the government defaults, though only 21% said they’re following the debate closely.

    Robert Gault, 63, who depends on a $1,900 monthly Social Security disability payment, says an economic default “would make life so real awfully hard on me.” The former longtime factory worker said he suffers from chronic back pain caused by degenerating disks in his spine.

    Gault, who lives in Bradford, Pennsylvania, near that state’s border with New York, said he thinks about the debate — and the stalemate — in Washington a lot.

    He hasn’t made any drastic changes to the way he lives, but said, “I’m more conscientious of everything and I think about everything I do now.”

    Negotiations between the president and congressional leaders are down to the wire as they try to break an impasse. GOP lawmakers have been pressing for spending cuts in exchange for agreeing to increase the government’s borrowing authority and President Joe Biden wanted a “clean” debt ceiling increase without conditions.

    Without a deal, the U.S. could default as soon as June 1, according to Yellen.

    House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was asked Monday if people should start preparing for default, and insisted “no, no, no, no.”

    But people on fixed incomes and organizations that serve the poor — already feeling the after-effects of the pandemic and dealing with inflation — are bracing for a potential debt default that would deal an overwhelming blow to their finances.

    Clare Higgins, executive director of Community Action Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts, said demand at the organization’s food banks has skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic, and is growing again.

    With a possible debt default, she said, she’s seeing more demand for food from the three pantries that the organization either runs or financially supports.

    “Yes, demand has gone up — but it was already up before,” she said.

    “We’re already behind the eight-ball in what we’re able to pay teachers,” she said of the organization’s head start and early learning programs. “And the inflation that has happened in the economy has already reduced our ability to stretch the dollar.”

    Higgins said while she’s hopeful that Biden and McCarthy can reach a compromise, she’s concerned the deal will include Republican-sought budget cuts that would affect the organizations she manages. And if a default does happen, Higgins said, “I hope it’s for a short period.”

    William Howell, a political science professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, said the notion of older people and recipients of government benefits doomsday prepping for disruptions every time budget season comes around is symptomatic of a “dysfunctional” democracy.

    “It’s not how a healthy democracy handles its business,” he said, adding that the consequences of the brinksmanship will impact the government’s ability to function and plan in coming years.

    “In this era of hyper-polarization, the way you get compromise is walking right up to the edge of economic catastrophe and threatening default — on the other side we have a president almost threatening to invoke the 14th Amendment to do away with the debt ceiling,” he said. “This is the stuff of partisan politics.”

    Adriene Clifford, 58, knows about balance sheets because she is an accounting professor in New York state. The Delhi resident said she was concerned enough about possible disruptions to the banking system in the event of a default that she withdrew money from the bank “just to tie me over.”

    “I’ve been most concerned about the banking system going down and the FDIC not being there,” Clifford said. She was referring to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the independent federal agency that exists to maintain stability and public confidence in the U.S. financial system.

    At the Kids’ Stop Learning Center in Rome, Georgia, Lance Elam, owner of the family business that has been in operation since 1984, says he’s not worried that a default will actually occur. But he still has done the calculation on how long operations could last without the subsidies that the organization receives for its three locations in Rome and Cartersville, Georgia.

    “We have enough liquid funds to carry on for six to eight months,” he said, adding that state and federal funds helped the Kids’ Stop Learning Center stay in business through the pandemic.

    “We have so many kids on our waiting list,” he said, that the center would likely begin dropping kids who couldn’t pay without subsidies and prioritize families that can pay out of pocket.

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  • Drag performers sue St. George, Utah, over denying permit for show in public park

    Drag performers sue St. George, Utah, over denying permit for show in public park

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    SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah-based group that organizes drag performances is suing a city over the denial of permits for an all-ages show it aimed to host in a public park in April.

    The group, Southern Utah Drag Stars, and its CEO Mitski Avalōx accuse the city of St. George of “flagrant and ongoing violations of their free speech, due process, and equal protection rights” and, in a complaint filed in federal court on Tuesday, are asking for damages and for St. George to reverse its decision and authorize a drag show at the end of June.

    “This is the latest offense in a larger pattern of attacks discriminating against gender-diverse and LGBTQ+ people and their rights in Utah and throughout the country,” said Emerson Sykes, an attorney with the ACLU, which is representing the group.

    The lawsuit marks the most recent development in a fight over drag shows in St. George, Utah, a conservative city 111 miles (179 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. Since HBO filmed a drag show in a public park for an episode of its series “We’re Here” last year, the city has emerged as a flashpoint in the nationwide battle over drag performances as they’ve garnered newfound political scrutiny in Republican-controlled cities and states.

    Public events like drag queen story hours and the all-ages event that Avalōx intended to put together have been increasingly targeted in legislatures throughout the country. This week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a ban on minors from attending drag shows and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a ban on people dressed in drag from reading books to children at public schools and libraries.

    In Utah, a proposal from a St. George Republican to require warning notices for events like drag shows or pride parades in public places stalled after advancing through the state House of Representatives in March. The proposal stemmed from the pushback that resulted from the June 2022 HBO-produced drag show in St. George. City officials issued permits for the event over the objection from some council members and community activists. City Manager Adam Lenhard resigned months later over the incident after writing councilmembers that he could not legally deny the show permits, according to emails obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune.

    Anti-drag activists in Utah and throughout the United States have cast the artform, which often involves dressing and acting exaggeratedly as another gender for entertainment, as sexually deviant and a subversive attempt to influence children.

    Avalōx, who goes by she and they pronouns, founded Southern Utah Drag Stars after the fallout, hoping to showcase drag for members of the LGBTQ+ community in a rural place where such forms of entertainment are often lacking.

    “I made it my mission to continue to do these events and not just one month out of the year, but to do so people that were like me when I was little … can see that there are queer adults that get to live a long and fulfilled life,” Avalōx said in an interview. “My biggest ambition was to provide a public space where people can go to a park and enjoy a show that’s meant for everyone.”

    Avalōx said that Drag Stars intended to host a show in a St. George city park in April and were told by a city events coordinator that they could start advertising before obtaining a permit. The city council later denied the group’s permit, citing an ordinance that forbids advertising before permit approval.

    St. George declined to comment on the lawsuit but its city attorney at the time defended its enforcement of the ordinance and the events coordinator denied approving a request from Avalōx to begin advertising.

    In their complaint, Avalōx and lawyers with the ACLU frame St. George’s decision to deny them event permits as part of a broader nationwide assault on drag performers and, accuse the city of “flagrant and ongoing violations of their free speech, due process, and equal protection rights.”

    They argue that St. George invoked an ordinance that had never been enforced in a manner that was selective and discriminatory toward the LGBTQ+ community.

    “The City has employed its unfettered discretion under the ordinances to discriminatorily enforce them,” they argue in the complaint.

    The complaint also says city councilwoman Michelle Tanner has been “stoking conflict” and broadly fostering an anti-LGBTQ climate in St. George, including by accusing those who perform in drag in front of children of “predatory behavior.”

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  • 8 tips for parents and teens on social media use — from the US surgeon general

    8 tips for parents and teens on social media use — from the US surgeon general

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    The U.S. surgeon general is calling for tech companies and lawmakers to take “immediate action” to protect kids’ and adolescents’ mental health on social media.

    But after years of insufficient action by both social media platforms and policymakers, parents and young people still bear most of the burden in navigating the fast-changing, often harmful world of secretive algorithms, addictive apps and extreme and inappropriate content found on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

    So what can parents and young people do now? Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has some tips.

    “Our children and adolescents don’t have the luxury of waiting years until we know the full extent of social media’s impact,” Murthy said in an advisory released Tuesday. “Their childhoods and development are happening now.”

    TIPS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

    — Reach out for help: If you or someone you know is being negatively affected by social media, reach out to a trusted friend or adult for help. Check the American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidance on social media.

    — Create boundaries: Limit the use of phones, tablets, and computers for at least one hour before bedtime and through the night to make sure you get enough sleep. Keep mealtimes and in-person gatherings device‑free to help build social bonds and engage in two‑way conversations with others. Connect with people in person and make unplugged interactions a daily priority.

    — Be cautious about what you share: Personal information about you has value. Be selective with what you post and share online and with whom, as it is often public and can be stored permanently. If you aren’t sure if you should post something, it’s usually best if you don’t.

    — Don’t keep harassment or abuse a secret: Reach out to at least one person you trust, such as a close friend, family member, counselor, or teacher, who can give you the help and support you deserve. Visit stopbullying.gov for tips on how to report cyberbullying. If you have experienced online harassment and abuse by a dating partner, contact an expert at Love is Respect for support. If your private images have been taken and shared online without your permission, visit Take It Down to help get them removed.

    TIPS FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS

    — Create a family media plan: Agreed-upon expectations can help establish healthy technology boundaries at home – including social media use. A family media plan can promote open family discussion and rules about media use and include topics such as balancing screen/online time, content boundaries, and not disclosing personal information

    — Create tech-free zones: Restrict the use of electronics at least one hour before bedtime and through the night. Keep meal times and other in-person gatherings tech-free. Help children develop social skills and nurture their in‑person relationships by encouraging unstructured and offline connections with others.

    — Model responsible behavior: Parents can set a good example of what responsible and healthy social media use looks like by limiting their own use, being mindful of social media habits (including when and how parents share information or content about their child), and modeling positive behavior on your social media accounts.

    — Empower kids: Teach kids about technology and empower them to be responsible online participants at the appropriate age. Discuss with children the benefits and risks of social media as well as the importance of respecting privacy and protecting personal information in age-appropriate ways. Have conversations with children about who they are connecting with, their privacy settings, their online experiences, and how they are spending their time online.

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  • Car seats and baby formula are regulated. Is social media next?

    Car seats and baby formula are regulated. Is social media next?

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    The U.S. surgeon general is warning there is not enough evidence to show that social media is safe for children and teens — and is calling on tech companies, parents and caregivers to take “immediate action to protect kids now.”

    With young people’s social media use “near universal” but its true impact on mental health not fully understood, Dr. Vivek Murthy is asking tech companies to share data and increase transparency with researchers and the public and prioritize users’ health and safety when designing their products.

    “I recognize technology companies have taken steps to try to make their platforms healthier and safer, but it’s simply not enough,” Murthy told The Associated Press in an interview. “You can just look at the age requirements, where platforms have said 13 is the age at which people can start using their platforms. Yet 40% of kids 8 through 12 are on social media. How does that happen if you’re actually enforcing your policies?”

    To comply with federal regulation, social media companies already ban kids under 13 from signing up to their platforms — but children have been shown to easily get around the bans, both with and without their parents’ consent.

    Other measures social platforms have taken to address concerns about children’s mental health are also easily circumvented. For instance, TikTok recently introduced a default 60-minute time limit for users under 18. But once the limit is reached, minors can simply enter a passcode to keep watching.

    It’s not that the companies are unaware of the harms their platforms are causing. Meta, for instance, studied the effects of Instagram on teens’ mental health years ago and found that the peer pressure generated by the visually focused app led to mental health and body-image problems, and in some cases, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts in teens — especially in girls. One internal study cited 13.5% of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse.

    The research was revealed in 2021 by whistleblower Frances Haugen. Meta sought to downplay the harmful effects of its platform on teens at the time, but put on hold its work on a kids’ version of Instagram, which the company says is meant mainly for tweens aged 10 to 12.

    “The bottom line is we do not have enough evidence to conclude that social media is, in fact, sufficiently safe for our kids. And that’s really important for parents to know,” said Murthy, who’s been traveling around the country talking to parents and young people about the youth mental health crisis. “The most common question I get from parents is whether social media is safe for their kids.”

    Policymakers need to address the harms of social media the same way they regulate things like car seats, baby formula, medication and other products children use, Murthy said in a report published Tuesday. Parents — and kids — simply can’t do it all.

    “We’re asking parents to manage a technology that’s rapidly evolving that fundamentally changes how their kids think about themselves, how they build friendships, how they experience the world — and technology, by the way, that prior generations never had to manage,” Murthy said. “And we’re putting all of that on the shoulders of parents, which is just simply not fair.”

    While Murthy is calling for more research, he says there is ample evidence now that social media can have a “profound risk of harm” on the mental health and well-being of children and teenagers.

    One critical factor is children’s brain development. Adults can suffer from the harmful effects of social media. But children and adolescents are at a “fundamentally different stage of brain development, where the pathways in their brains, their social relationships, their self-esteem and identity are all under development,” Murthy said. “And in this case, they’re even more prone to be influenced by social cues, social pressure and social comparison — and those three things exist in overwhelming abundance on social media.”

    In fact, frequent social media use may be associated with “distinct changes” in the developing brain, and could could increase sensitivity to social rewards and punishments, according to a study cited in the surgeon general’s report.

    How and how often they use social media, as well as extreme, inappropriate and harmful content they see could have profound effects on kids’ and teens’ mental health.

    And research shows they are using it a lot. al. Up to 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 report using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use social media “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center.

    A systematic review of 42 studies found a “consistent relationship between social media use and poor sleep quality, reduced sleep duration, sleep difficulties, and depression among youth.” On a typical weekday, nearly one in three adolescents report using screen media until midnight or later.

    What they see on social media also matters. From being bombarded unrealistic body images to a culture of “hyper-comparison” to bullying, hate and abuse, Murthy said he’s worried that its effects on young people’s mental health are showing up in the “disturbing mental health statistics that we are seeing in our country, which are telling us that depression, anxiety, suicide, loneliness are all going up.”

    Murthy’s report doesn’t tell young people to stop using social media altogether. There are benefits, too. It’s where teens can find a community and have a space for self-expression. LGBTQ+ youth, in particular, have been shown to benefit from social media through connecting with peers, developing an identity and finding social support.

    “For every family, it may not be feasible to stop your child from using social media or there may be benefit,” Murthy said. “But drawing boundaries around the use of social media in your child’s life so there are times and spaces that are protected, that are tech free, that can be really helpful.”

    Murthy’s own children are 5 and 6, but like many parents, he’s already thinking about their future on social media.

    “We are planning to delay the use of social media for our kids until after middle school,” he said. “And you know, that’s not going to be easy. But we’re hoping to find other parents and families that we can partner with to make this a little easier, because we know there’s strength in numbers and sometimes making changes on your own is hard.”

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  • Disgraced children’s TV entertainer Rolf Harris dies at 93

    Disgraced children’s TV entertainer Rolf Harris dies at 93

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    LONDON — Rolf Harris, the veteran entertainer whose decades-long career as a family favorite on British and Australian television was shattered when he was convicted of sexual assaults on young girls, has died. He was 93.

    Harris “died peacefully surrounded by family and friends and has now been laid to rest,” said a family statement released Tuesday. It did not provide details.

    Harris, who had a hit record with “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport,” was adored by generations of children for his jovial on-screen persona, and was so respected in Britain that he was once granted the rare privilege of painting a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

    But his TV career, which spanned half a century, collapsed in 2013, when he was arrested in Britain in relation to sexual abuse allegations.

    Many were left in disbelief when in July 2014 Harris was found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault on four young girls from the 1960s to the ’80s. Prosecutors said he had a “Jekyll and Hyde” personality and used his fame to exploit his victims.

    Among the victims was a friend of Harris’ daughter, who claimed he molested her from age 13 to 19. Harris had said their relationship was consensual, and his relatives and friends supported him throughout the trial.

    But a jury convicted him of all charges, and a judge sentenced him to five years and nine months in prison.

    Harris was released on license in May 2017. That same month he was also cleared of four unconnected sex offenses that he had denied. Later that year, the Court of Appeal overturned one of his 12 indecent assault convictions.

    Harris had enjoyed a 60-year career as a successful television presenter, songwriter and artist. He was best known for his children’s television shows such as “Rolf’s Cartoon Time” and “Animal Hospital,” and had a number of hit songs in the 1960s.

    Born in 1930, Harris grew up in a suburb of Perth, Australia, and was an award-winning swimmer as a teenager. After several failed attempts at art school, Harris launched his television career with a slot on a BBC show in 1952.

    As well as hosting children’s shows like “Rolf’s Cartoon Club,” Harris was also known in the ’60s for performing popular songs including “Two Little Boys,” which became a No. 1 Christmas hit in Britain.

    By the 2000s, he was considered by many to be a national treasure of sorts: The queen sat for a portrait painted by him in 2005 to mark her 80th birthday, and the painting was displayed at Buckingham Palace. He also starred in a concert celebrating the monarch’s Diamond Jubilee outside the palace in 2012.

    After his conviction Harris was stripped of multiple honors bestowed on him, including awards appointing him to the Order of the British Empire and the Order of Australia. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which had described Harris as “one of the world’s most iconic entertainers,” said it would withdraw his fellowship.

    After his release from prison Harris withdrew from public life and spent his time at his home in Berkshire, southern England.

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  • Car seats and baby formula are regulated. Is social media next?

    Car seats and baby formula are regulated. Is social media next?

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    The U.S. Surgeon General is warning there is not enough evidence to show that social media is safe for children and teens — and is calling on tech companies, parents and caregivers to take “immediate action to protect kids now.”

    With young people’s social media use “near universal” but its true impact on mental health not fully understood, Dr. Vivek Murthy is asking tech companies to share data and increase transparency with researchers and the public and prioritize users’ health and safety when designing their products.

    “I recognize technology companies have taken steps to try to make their platforms healthier and safer, but it’s simply not enough,” Murthy told The Associated Press in an interview. “You can just look at the age requirements, where platforms have said 13 is the age at which people can start using their platforms. Yet 40% of kids eight through 12 are on social media. How does that happen if you’re actually enforcing your policies?”

    To comply with federal regulation, social media companies already ban kids under 13 from signing up to their platforms — but children have been shown to easily get around the bans, both with and without their parents’ consent.

    Other measures social platforms have taken to address concerns about children’s mental health are also easily circumvented. For instance, TikTok recently introduced a default 60-minute time limit for users under 18. But once the limit is reached, minors can simply enter a passcode to keep watching.

    It’s not that the companies are unaware of the harms their platforms are causing. Meta, for instance studied the effects of Instagram on teens’ mental health years ago and found that the peer pressure generated by the visually focused app led to mental health and body-image problems, and in some cases, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts in teens — especially in girls. One internal study cited 13.5% of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse.

    The research was revealed in 2021 by whistleblower Frances Haugen. Meta sought to downplay the harmful effects of its platform on teens at the time, but put on hold its work on a kids’ version of Instagram, which the company says is meant mainly for tweens aged 10 to 12.

    “The bottom line is we do not have enough evidence to conclude that social media is, in fact, sufficiently safe for our kids. And that’s really important for parents to know,” said Murthy, who’s been traveling around the country talking to parents and young people about the youth mental health crisis. “The most common question I get from parents is whether social media is safe for their kids.”

    Policymakers need to address the harms of social media the same way they regulate things like car seats, baby formula, medication and other products children use, Murthy said in a report published Tuesday. Parents — and kids — simply can’t do it all.

    “We’re asking parents to manage a technology that’s rapidly evolving that fundamentally changes how their kids think about themselves, how they build friendships, how they experience the world — and technology, by the way, that prior generations never had to manage,” Murthy said. “And we’re putting all of that on the shoulders of parents, which is just simply not fair.”

    While Murthy is calling for more research, he says there is ample evidence now that social media can have a “profound risk of harm” on the mental health and well-being of children and teenagers.

    One critical factor is children’s brain development. Adults can suffer from the harmful effects of social media. But children and adolescents are at a “fundamentally different stage of brain development, where the pathways in their brains, their social relationships, their self-esteem and identity are all under development,” Murthy said. “And in this case, they’re even more prone to be influenced by social cues, social pressure and social comparison — and those three things exist in overwhelming abundance on social media.”

    In fact, frequent social media use may be associated with “distinct changes” in the developing brain, and could could increase sensitivity to social rewards and punishments, according to a study cited in the Surgeon General’s report.

    How and how often they use social media, as well as extreme, inappropriate and harmful content they see could have profound effects on kids’ and teens’ mental health.

    And research shows they are using it a lot. al. Up to 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 report using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use social media “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center.

    A systematic review of 42 studies found a “consistent relationship between social media use and poor sleep quality, reduced sleep duration, sleep difficulties, and depression among youth.” On a typical weekday, nearly one in three adolescents report using screen media until midnight or later.

    What they see on social media also matters. From being bombarded unrealistic body images to a culture of “hyper-comparison” to bullying, hate and abuse, Murthy said he’s worried that its effects on young people’s mental health is showing up in the “disturbing mental health statistics that we are seeing in our country, which are telling us that depression, anxiety, suicide, loneliness are all going up.”

    Murthy’s report doesn’t tell young people to stop using social media altogether. There are benefits, too. It’s where teens can find a community and have a space for self-expression. LGBTQ+ youth, in particular, has been shown to benefit from social media through connecting with peers, developing an identity and finding social support.

    “For every family, it may not be feasible to stop your child from using social media or there may be benefit,” Murthy said. “But drawing boundaries around the use of social media in your child’s life so there are times and spaces that are protected, that are tech free, that can be really helpful.”

    Murthy’s own children are 5 and 6, but like many parents he’s already thinking about their future on social media.

    “We are planning to delay the use of social media for our kids until after middle school,” he said. “And you know, that’s not going to be easy. But we’re hoping to find other parents and families that we can partner with to make this a little easier, because we know there’s strength in numbers and sometimes making changes on your own is hard.”

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    Unbelievable facts

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  • Nebraska governor signs 12-week abortion ban, limits on gender-affirming care for minors

    Nebraska governor signs 12-week abortion ban, limits on gender-affirming care for minors

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    LINCOLN, Neb. — Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed a bill Monday that bans abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy and restricts gender-affirming medical care for people younger than 19.

    The abortion ban takes effect immediately, while the ban on gender-affirming care takes effect on Oct. 1. The hybrid measure ties together restrictions that Republicans have pursued across the U.S.

    Pillen called the law “the most significant win for social conservative agenda in over a generation of Nebraska” before he signed the law while holding the 5-day-old daughter of some friends as his two oldest granddaughters stood next to him.

    “It’s about protecting our kids and saving babies. Pure and simple,” Pillen said.

    Opponents have promised to sue to try and block the law. The head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, Mindy Rush Chipman, said in a statement that “every option is on the table to undo these regressive measures.”

    “The governor’s decision to sign these sweeping restrictions into law betrays a total disregard for Nebraskans’ freedom, health and well-being,” Rush Chipman said. “Just as we have seen in other states, these bans will result in significant harm, most intensely hurting already vulnerable communities.”

    Nebraska had not passed a new abortion ban since 2010, when it became the first state to limit the procedure at around 20 weeks of pregnancy. The 12-week ban includes exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.

    State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, who pursued even tougher abortion restrictions during the session, wiped away tears as she said she hopes to eventually enact a ban at all stages of pregnancy.

    North Carolina also recently passed a 12-week abortion ban, among a slew of restrictions enacted in states after the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established a nationwide right to abortion. Fourteen states have approved an abortion ban throughout pregnancy.

    Nebraska’s law also will prevent transgender people under 19 from receiving any gender-confirming surgery. It restricts the use of hormone treatments and puberty blockers in minors, putting the state’s chief medical officer — a political appointee who is an ear, nose and throat doctor — in charge of setting the rules for those therapies. In Nebraska, people younger than 19 are considered minors.

    The state’s unicameral Legislature passed the bill with the two contentious issues on Friday after hours of heated debate. Conservative lawmakers wrangled just enough votes to end a filibuster before approving the bill.

    The proposal restricting gender-affirming care was the flashpoint of an epic filibuster led by Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh. She and a handful of progressive allies slowed the business of passing laws to a crawl by introducing amendment after amendment to every bill that made it to the Senate floor. That sent leadership scrambling to prioritize which bills to push through.

    Omaha Sen. Kathleen Kauth, who introduced the proposal restricting gender-affirming care, said Monday that the filibuster actually gave senators more time to discuss and research the issue.

    “The filibuster actually is what made this happen,” Kauth said. “And so I doubt it was their intention, but that gave us the time to make this work.”

    Nebraska is now among at least 18 states that have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for minors. Proposals are pending before the governors of Texas and Missouri. Medical groups and advocates say such restrictions are further marginalizing transgender youth and threatening their health.

    One Nebraska lawmaker, Omaha state Sen. Megan Hunt, disclosed in March that her teenage son is transgender and said Friday that she now plans to leave the state.

    Pillen said he didn’t want Nebraska families considering gender-affirming medical care to be “duped into the silliness that if you do this, you’re going to become happy.”

    ___

    Funk contributed to this story from Omaha, Neb.

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  • Couple killed at Texas mall shooting along with 3-year-old son had ‘perfect synergy’

    Couple killed at Texas mall shooting along with 3-year-old son had ‘perfect synergy’

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    DALLAS — Kyu Cho had a generous spirit and joyous belly laugh that delighted his friends. His wife, Cindy Cho, was quieter, described by those who knew her as sweet and kind. Together, the parents of two young sons complemented each other perfectly, strong in their faith and devoted to family and friends.

    “That’s what I keep hearing in my head when I think of them: Just Kyu laughing so deeply and Cindy just kind of shaking her head and laughing along,” said their friend, Phyllis Myung. “Every interaction I ever had with them, we were always laughing so hard.”

    Cindy and Kyu grew up in Texas. They met while pursuing their careers as young adults in Boston — her as a dentist, him as an attorney. Wanting to be near their families, they decided it was time to return to Texas when they started a family of their own.

    The couple and their sons — 6-year-old William and 3-year-old James — were not far from their Dallas home when a gunman opened fire at an outdoor mall as they shopped earlier this month in the suburb of Allen. Kyu, 37, Cindy, 35, and James were among the eight people killed that sunny Saturday afternoon. The family’s only survivor was William, who was wounded.

    Those killed represented a multicultural cross-section of the increasingly diverse area. Authorities haven’t yet established the motive of the gunman, who was killed by a police officer, but have said he was a neo-Nazi who left a trail of online posts describing his white supremacist and misogynistic views.

    The tragedy that befell the Cho family touched so many that a GoFundMe page quickly raised over $1.8 million for before being closed. With William home from the hospital, family members said in a statement that they are focused on making sure he “leads a happy, healthy life with his extended family who love him dearly.”

    Cindy and Kyu, who met through their Boston church, “really, really wanted to have kids,” Myung said.

    “It was a common thing to see one of them holding one of the kids at our church,” said Myung, who worshipped with them in Boston. “They were really ready to be parents.”

    Thomas Huang, another friend from their church, said the phrase that always came to mind when he’d see Kyu and Cindy together was “relationship goals.”

    “Even though Cindy was definitely a little bit more on the introverted side and Kyu was more extroverted, they kind of had this balance where it was like this perfect synergy of that energy,” Huang said.

    For instance, he said, Kyu was more into dancing than his wife, but at their wedding, she worked to get people on the dance floor.

    “She really made an effort to dance and kind of get people into it because she knew that Kyu loved to dance and wanted to get everyone involved and get everyone excited about it,” Huang said.

    Both “had incredible strength,” he said, and were like older siblings to many.

    “Everywhere they’ve gone, every stage of their lives, they’ve just impacted people in such deep and profound ways,” Huang said.

    Kyu, who worked as an immigration attorney at Porter Legal Group, was born in South Korea and raised in Dallas, according to the law firm’s website, which said he had “a deep pride, respect, and appreciation for the American Dream.”

    He graduated with his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 2007, then graduated in 2010 from the Ave Maria School of Law in Florida, the website said.

    Cindy, who grew up in College Station and Houston, graduated with her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas in 2009, then graduated in 2013 from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry.

    The dentistry school’s dean, Dr. Peter M. Loomer, said Cindy — whose name was Cindy Kang before she married, the name she went by when practicing dentistry — was “a kind and caring student, always doing the best to help improve the health and lives of her patients.”

    A Facebook post from Thrive Dental and Orthodontics, where she worked, said she was “the sweetest, most beautiful soul with the kindest heart.”

    Growing up, Cindy loved reading and was serious-minded when she needed to be, said David Kim, whose family went to the same Korean church as her family in College Station. He said the families stayed close even when Cindy’s family moved to Houston, where they’d still meet up for outings to places like the old AstroWorld amusement park.

    “She’s just a sweet soul,” Kim said.

    Kyu was not only skilled in the art of tae kwon do but also could play everything from classical music to Coldplay on the piano, his friends said. Friend Young Min Kim said he was someone who could talk to anyone.

    Adam Dame, Kyu’s roommate all four years at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, said he knew within a week or two of meeting that he’d “hit the roommate lottery.” Kyu, he said, had an “infectious, big laugh.”

    “I always wanted to make him laugh because I just loved hearing it,” Dame said. “He filled you with a lot of joy.”

    Myung said both Kyu and Cindy worked to make sure people felt “included and cared for and seen.” She said that as she grieves, she comforts herself with the hope she will see her friends again in heaven.

    “I think that’s the only thing that’s helping the grief, is to know that one day we’ll all be laughing together again,” Myung said.

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  • 8-year-old girl sought medical help 3 times on day she died, US immigration officials say

    8-year-old girl sought medical help 3 times on day she died, US immigration officials say

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    HARLINGEN, Texas — HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) — An 8-year-old girl who died last week in Border Patrol custody was seen at least three separate times by medical personnel on the day of her death — complaining of vomiting, a stomachache and later suffering what appeared to be a seizure — before she was taken to a hospital, U.S. immigration officials said Sunday.

    The girl’s mother had previously told The Associated Press that agents had repeatedly ignored her pleas to hospitalize her medically fragile daughter, who had a history of heart problems and sick cell anemia. Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez, whose parents are Honduran, was born in Panama with congenital heart disease.

    “She cried and begged for her life, and they ignored her. They didn’t do anything for her,” Mabel Alvarez Benedicks, the mother of Anadith, had previously told The Associated Press during an interview Friday.

    In a statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it knew about the girl’s medical history when personnel began treating her for influenza four days before her death on May 17.

    CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement that while his agency awaits the results of an internal investigation, he has ordered several steps be taken to ensure appropriate care for all medically fragile people in his agency’s custody.

    These actions include reviewing cases of all known medically fragile individuals currently in custody to ensure their time being held is limited and examining medical-care practices at CBP facilities to see if more personnel are needed.

    “We must ensure that medically fragile individuals receive the best possible care and spend the minimum amount of time possible in CBP custody,” Miller said, adding his agency is “deeply saddened” by the girl’s “tragic death.”

    Anadith’s death has raised questions about whether the Border Patrol properly handled the situation. It was the second child migrant death in two weeks in U.S. government custody after a rush of illegal border crossings amid the expiration of pandemic-related asylum limits known as Title 42 severely strained holding facilities.

    According to a CBP statement, Anadith had first voiced complaints of abdominal pain, nasal congestion, and cough on the afternoon of May 14. She had a temperature of 101.8 degrees Fahrenheit (38.7 Celsius)

    After a test showed she had influenza, Anadith was given acetaminophen, ibuprofen, medicine for nausea and Tamiflu, a flu treatment, according to CBP.

    The family was then transferred from a facility in Donna, Texas, to one in Harlingen, Texas.

    She continued to be given Tamiflu for the next two days. She was also given ibuprofen, according to CBP.

    Alvarez Benedicks had told the AP her daughter’s health got progressively worse during those days and that doctors at the station denied her repeated requests for an ambulance to take the girl to a hospital.

    “I felt like they didn’t believe me,” Alvarez Benedicks said.

    On May 17, the girl and her mother went to the Harlingen Border Patrol Station’s medical unit at least three times, CBP said. In the first visit, Anadith complained of vomiting. In the second, she child complained of a stomachache. By the third visit at 1:55 p.m., “the mother was carrying the girl who appeared to be having a seizure, after which records indicate the child became unresponsive,” according to CBP.

    Medical personnel began performing CPR before she was taken to a hospital in Harlingen, where she was pronounced dead at 2:50 p.m.

    A medical examiner is waiting for additional tests before determining a cause of death.

    Her death came a week after a 17-year-old Honduran boy, Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, died in U.S. Health and Human Services Department custody. He was traveling alone.

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