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Tag: teens

  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom nudges school districts to restrict student cellphone use

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom nudges school districts to restrict student cellphone use

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom sent letters Tuesday to school districts, urging them to restrict students’ use of smartphones on campus — a move that comes amid an ongoing nationwide debate about the mental health impacts of social media on teens and young children.

    In South Carolina, the State Board of Education took up guidelines to tell local districts to ban cellphone use during class time, but postponed a final vote until next month to take more time to craft the proposal.

    The efforts mark a broader push by officials in Utah, Florida, Louisiana and elsewhere to try to limit cellphone use in schools in order to reduce distractions in the classroom.

    But progress can be challenging. Cellphone bans are already in place at many schools. But they aren’t always enforced, and students often find ways to bend the rules, like hiding phones on their laps. Some parents have expressed concerns that bans could cut them off from their kids if there is an emergency.

    Districts should “act now” to help students focus at school by restricting their smartphone use, Newsom said in the letter. He also cited risks to the well-being of young people, a subject which garnered renewed attention in June after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms.

    “Every classroom should be a place of focus, learning, and growth,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in his letter. “Working together, educators, administrators, and parents can create an environment where students are fully engaged in their education, free from the distractions on the phones and pressures of social media.”

    Newsom said earlier this summer that he was planning to address student smartphone use, and his letter says he is working on it with the state Legislature. Tuesday’s announcement is not a mandate but nudges districts to act.

    Newsom signed a law in 2019 granting districts the authority to regulate student smartphone access during school hours.

    The debate over banning cellphones in schools to improve academic outcomes is not new. But officials often resort to bans as a solution rather than find ways to integrate digital devices as tools for learning, said Antero Garcia, a professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.

    “What I’m struck by is society’s inability to kind of move forward and find other kinds of solutions other than perpetually going back to this ‘Should we ban devices?’ conversation as the primary solution to something that hasn’t worked,” Garcia said.

    “Suggesting curtailing cellphone use in schools is a great thing to say,” he added. “What that means for the middle school teacher come next week when many schools start is a very different picture.”

    But some parents say banning cellphones would help their kids focus during class. Jessica French, a parent of a 16-year old and a 12-year-old living in the Northern California town of Palo Cedro, said her son has played games on a classmate’s phone while at school, further distracting him from learning. There should be a statewide ban on phones in class, she said.

    Nathalie Hrizi, a parent and teacher in San Francisco, said phone bans can help minimize distractions in class and that parents would still be able to get in touch with their children if needed by calling the school.

    Some schools and districts in California have already taken action. Los Angeles Unified, the second-largest school district in the nation with more than 500,000 students, recently passed a ban on student cellphone use during school hours that is set to take effect in January. District staff are working out how to implement the policy, but the goal is to avoid the onus of enforcing it to fall on teachers, school board Member Nick Melvoin said in a statement.

    Troy Flint, a spokesperson for the California School Boards Association, said decisions about student device access “are very specific to certain schools and certain communities” and should “be made at a local level.”

    It’s important to limit distractions in class, but cellphone bans that don’t have parameters could burden some students who are learning English as a second language, said Laurie Miles, a spokesperson for the California Association for Bilingual Education. For example, some teachers allow phones in class for help with translation, she said.

    South Carolina lawmakers this summer passed a one-year rule in the state budget requiring schools to ban student cellphone use or lose state funding. The schools have until the start of 2025 to get their specific rules and punishments for breaking them in place. Lawmakers will either have to make the cellphone-free requirement permanent or pass another proposal forcing school districts to keep the rule to continue getting state money.

    The state school board rushed to get the proposal together so districts would have time to tailor their own rules around the state guidelines.

    But Chairman David O’Shields said Tuesday there was no need to rush and give the districts “runny eggs” when a little more time could be spent working on the rules, getting more input from teachers, parents and administrators.

    “Let’s get these eggs right. I want a good omelet,” O’Shields said. He added that he didn’t want the rules to cause a situation where students “might take a suspended day” as punishment for not following the policy “when they need to be in the classroom.”

    There are questions about whether to ban cellphones during bus rides or field trips or only during class time.

    A brief survey of South Carolina teachers in May showed 92% supported limiting cellphone access in classrooms and 55% wanted a total ban. The survey from Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver also found 83% of teachers think cellphones are a daily distraction to learning, the Education Department wrote in a memo to the board.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Jeffrey Collins contributed to this report from West Columbia, South Carolina, and video journalist Terry Chea contributed from San Francisco. Austin 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 Austin on X: @sophieadanna

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  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom nudges school districts to restrict student cellphone use

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom nudges school districts to restrict student cellphone use

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California and South Carolina could become the next states to limit cellphone use in schools, with state officials planning to take up the issue Tuesday.

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom is sending letters to school districts, urging them to restrict students’ use of smartphones on campus. And the South Carolina State Board of Education is expected to approve guidelines Tuesday on limiting student phone access.

    The efforts mark a broader push by officials in Utah, Florida, Louisiana and elsewhere to try to limit cellphone use in schools in order to reduce distractions in the classroom — and address the impacts of social media on the mental health of children and teens.

    But progress can be challenging. Cellphone bans are already in place at many schools, but they aren’t always enforced.

    Districts should “act now” to help students focus at school by restricting their smartphone use, Newsom said in the letter. He also cited risks to the well-being of young people, a subject which garnered renewed attention in June after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms.

    “Every classroom should be a place of focus, learning, and growth,” the Democrat said in his letter. “Working together, educators, administrators, and parents can create an environment where students are fully engaged in their education, free from the distractions on the phones and pressures of social media.”

    Newsom said earlier this summer that he was planning to address student smartphone use, and his letter says he is working on it with the state Legislature. Tuesday’s announcement is not a mandate but nudges districts to act.

    Newsom signed a law in 2019 granting districts the authority to regulate student smartphone access during school hours.

    The debate over banning cellphones in schools to improve academic outcomes is not new. But officials often resort to bans as a solution rather than find ways to integrate digital devices as tools for learning, said Antero Garcia, a professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.

    “What I’m struck by is society’s inability to kind of move forward and find other kinds of solutions other than perpetually going back to this ‘Should we ban devices?’ conversation as the primary solution to something that hasn’t worked,” Garcia said.

    “Suggesting curtailing cellphone use in schools is a great thing to say,” he added. “What that means for the middle school teacher come next week when many schools start is a very different picture.”

    Some schools and districts in California have already taken action. The Santa Barbara Unified and Los Angeles Unified school districts passed bans on student cellphone use in recent years.

    But some school board advocates say the state should not go further by passing a blanket ban on cellphone use. That decision should be left up to districts, said Troy Flint, spokesperson for the California School Boards Association.

    “Cellphone usage and social media usage on campus is certainly a serious issue and one that deserves a close examination,” Flint said. “But those decisions are very specific to certain schools and certain communities, and they need to be made at a local level.”

    There is no cure-all for protecting students from the risks posed by smartphones, but the state is “opening up a conversation” on how districts could act, said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association.

    “It makes sense for us as adults to be looking and trying to take care of students and allow them to have safe spaces to learn,” he said. “How we do it is also very important — that we make sure that we bring students into these conversations and educators into these conversations.”

    ___

    Austin 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 Austin on X: @sophieadanna

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  • In the age of bots and AI, how can students identify misinformation online?

    In the age of bots and AI, how can students identify misinformation online?

    Key points:

    In this digital age of AI and misinformation, today’s students need to be better armed to discern fact from fiction.

    A 2023 survey by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that fights misinformation, found that “60 percent of 13- [to] 17-year-old Americans surveyed agreed with four or more harmful conspiracy statements–compared with just 49 percent of adults. For teens who spend four or more hours a day on any single social media platform, the figure was as high as 69 percent.”

    Whether it’s relying too heavily on ChatGPT to write a paper resulting in an assignment filled with inaccurate information, or relying solely on social media to learn about world issues like the conflict in Gaza or upcoming national elections, learning to understand primary sources, question information, analyze data, and discern hidden agendas are top skills all students need.

    While reading, writing, and arithmetic are still important, today’s middle and high school students are bombarded with misinformation daily. Now that AI can effortlessly create convincing but fabricated stories, today’s curricula must prepare students to navigate the murky waters of AI, bias, and misinformation.

    It’s possible to work this into interesting learning segments. For instance, a course or learning unit might explore issues like the Bermuda Triangle and examine which news sources are credible or not, what misinformation really means, and how to write an argumentative paper correctly. The subject matter translates into critical real-world cognitive skills. 

    Another learning opportunity could evaluate AI tools through ethical frameworks. Students might read and engage with the ideas of renowned philosophers and apply them to modern dilemmas in artificial intelligence. They could ask questions like, “How do I measure and assess the benefits vs potential harms of this AI tool?” and “What can Immanuel Kant’s Theory of the Categorical Imperative illuminate about how we make decisions around AI?”

    My advice for educators is to:

    • Incorporate skills like critical thinking into segments on current events that students will find interesting. Students can engage with questions like:
      • What kind of content am I encountering?
      • Is the information complete; and if not, what is missing?
      • Who or what are the sources, and why should I believe them?
      • What evidence is presented, and how was it tested or vetted?
    • Explicitly teach students how to identify an op-ed versus a news article, and to consider who’s behind a website or social media account.

    Today, institutional brand names like CNN or NBC News are no guarantee of a single set of norms, values, or approaches to quality. Knowing what distinguishes news from propaganda, advertising, publicity, or entertainment is increasingly important. In their book The Elements of Journalism, Rosentiel and Kovach have identified the four following models of media (note that all or some of these models may be found within a single issue of a newspaper and its online outlets):

    • Journalism of Verification: A traditional model that puts the highest value on accuracy and context (sense-making)
    • Journalism of Assertion: A newer model that puts the highest value on immediacy and volume and in doing so tends to become a passive conduit of information (relays information without providing much further context)
    • Journalism of Affirmation: A new political media that builds loyalty less on accuracy, completeness, or verification than on affirming the beliefs of its audiences, and so tends to cherry-pick information that serves that purpose 
    • Interest-Group Journalism: Targeted websites or pieces of work, often investigative, that are usually funded by special interests rather than media institutions; they are designed to look like news
    • Help students understand the differences among:
      • Facts
      • Bias (pre-judgment about an idea, thing, or person, usually in a way that is unfair) 
      • Well-reasoned opinion based on facts-based analysis
      • Poorly reasoned opinion based on bias or assumptions 
    • Incorporate AI tools into the classroom so students understand the power and limitations:
      • Aim for transparent and thoughtful AI usage, which involves citing the AI tool and user input, evaluating the output, and editing, combining, and elaborating on the output
      • Explain the differences between using AI as an assistant and tutor and using AI to execute tasks for you
      • Use an AI competency rubric or scale to illustrate the skill sets required to use AI responsibly
    • Teach students how to fact-check information:
      • Help students explore how to corroborate information they see online
      • A good rule of thumb is to “trust, but verify”
      • If a statement looks suspect, determine if you can find 2-3 credible, unbiased sources that can corroborate it

    We cannot ignore the new set of skills students today need as they graduate and head into the real world. A key part of our job as educators is to prepare students to be critical thinkers and help them decipher information. It’s also more than just teaching students to navigate online sources; we must prepare them for the new challenges AI presents. 

    Latest posts by eSchool Media Contributors (see all)

    Garrett Smiley, Sora Schools

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  • Senate passes bill to protect kids online, make tech companies accountable for harmful content

    Senate passes bill to protect kids online, make tech companies accountable for harmful content

    WASHINGTON — The Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday that is designed to protect children from dangerous online content, pushing forward with what would be the first major effort by Congress in decades to hold tech companies more accountable for the harm that they cause.

    The bill, which passed 91-3, has been pushed by parents of children who died by suicide after online bullying or have otherwise been harmed by online content. It would force companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm on online platforms frequently used by minors, requiring them to exercise “duty of care” and ensure that they generally default to the safest settings possible.

    The House has not yet acted on the bill, but Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he is “committed to working to find consensus.” Supporters are hoping that the strong Senate vote will push the House to act before the end of the congressional session in January.

    The legislation is about allowing children, teens and parents “to take back control of their lives online,” said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who wrote the bill with Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. He said that the message to big tech companies is that “we no longer trust you to make decisions for us.”

    The bill would be the first major tech regulation package to move in years, and it could potentially pave the way for other bills that would strengthen online privacy laws or set parameters for the growing use of artificial intelligence, among others. While there has long been bipartisan support for the idea that the biggest technology companies should face more government scrutiny, there has been little consensus on how it should be done. Congress passed legislation earlier this year that would force China-based social media company TikTok to sell or face a ban, but that law only targets one company.

    “This is a good first step, but we have more to go,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

    If the child safety bill becomes law, companies would be required to mitigate harm to children, including bullying and violence, the promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation and advertisements for illegal products such as narcotics, tobacco or alcohol.

    To do that, social media platforms would have to provide minors with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features and opt out of personalized algorithmic recommendations. They would also be required to limit other users from communicating with children and limit features that “increase, sustain, or extend the use” of the platform — such as autoplay for videos or platform rewards.

    The idea, Blumenthal and Blackburn say, is for the platforms to be “safe by design.”

    “The message we are sending to big tech is that kids are not your product,” Blackburn said at a news conference as the Senate passed the bill. “Kids are not your profit source. And we are going to protect them in the virtual space.”

    Several tech companies, including Microsoft, X and Snap, have supported the legislation. But NetChoice, a a tech industry group that represents X and Snap, along with Google, TikTok and Meta Platforms, called it unconstitutional.

    Carl Szabo, a vice president and counsel for the group, said in a statement that the law’s “cybersecurity, censorship, and constitutional risks remain unaddressed.” He did not elaborate.

    Blumenthal and Blackburn have said they worked to find a balance between forcing companies to become more responsible for what children see online while also ensuring that Congress does not go too far in regulating what individuals post — an effort to head off potential legal challenges and win over lawmakers who worry that regulation could impose on freedom of expression.

    In addition to First Amendment concerns, some critics have said the legislation could harm kids who wouldn’t be able to access information on LGBTQ+ issues or reproductive rights — although the bill has been revised to address many of those criticisms, and major LGBTQ+ groups have decided to support the proposed legislation.

    The bill also includes an update to child privacy laws that prohibit online companies from collecting personal information from users under 13, raising that age to 17. It would also ban targeted advertising to teenagers and allow teens or guardians to delete a minor’s personal information.

    Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, sponsored the original legislation in 1998 — the last time Congress passed a child online safety law — and worked with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on the update. Markey said that the online space “has come a long way” since the first bill and new tools are needed for parents as teens have struggled with mental health.

    As their bill stalled for several months, Blumenthal and Blackburn worked closely with the parents of children who have been harmed by social media — either by cyberbullying or social media challenges, extortion attempts, eating disorders, drug deals or other potential dangers. At an emotional news conference last week, the parents said they were pleased that the Senate is finally moving ahead with the legislation.

    Maurine Molak, the mother of a 16-year-old who died by suicide after “months of relentless and threatening cyberbullying,” said she believes the bill can save lives. She urged every senator to vote for it.

    “Anyone who believes that children’s well-being and safety should come before big tech’s greed ought to put their mark on this historic legislation,” Molak said.

    ___

    Ortutay reported from San Francisco.

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  • Unbowed by Oct. 7 aftermath, Israeli, Palestinian teens come together for future of troubled region

    Unbowed by Oct. 7 aftermath, Israeli, Palestinian teens come together for future of troubled region

    GENEVA — They are teens from the U.S. and a torn Middle East: mostly Christians, Jews and Muslims, who have been taking part in a years-long program to become leaders and peace-builders. While a lot changed on Oct. 7, they persist in working for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.

    Unbowed by the Hamas-led attacks and Israel’s ongoing military response in Gaza, the Jerusalem Peacebuilders Program, a small nongovernmental organization, have escorted 16 teens to Geneva to explore the mechanics of global institutions and diplomacy. Organizers are hoping to shape open-minded leaders who could help lead the troubled region one day.

    The group, created to help foster cross-cultural understanding after the Sept. 11 attacks by now-retired Episcopal priest Rev. Nicholas Porter and his wife Dorothy, has survived off donations and a persistence in keeping hope alive from both the teens and their parents.

    “It is incredibly important at this time of war and division in the Holy Land, that there are people who are willing to cross that line of difference,” Porter said.

    Anger and a state of emergency initially led some Israeli and Arabic-speaking schools to cancel participation with the program, but “slowly they came back,” he said.

    Their continued efforts come at a time when coexistence initiatives in the Middle East, which support understanding and shared land among Palestinians and Israelis, have been devastated since the attacks.

    Despite the deepened divisions, the youths are focusing on their personal relationships and their futures. The weeklong trip to Geneva is part of a “Diplomacy Institute” program by JPB for 16- and 17-year-olds.

    “We were so afraid for our families back in Oct. 7, but now we’re a bit calmer because we can talk with people who have been experiencing a lot of hard things — and we can, like, relate to each other,” said Tina Shammas, a 17-year-old Christian from Nazareth in northern Israel.

    Of those who made the trip, six are Muslim, five are Jews, and five are Christian. They live in Israel, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and the United States.

    Some are hopeful, but fear about antisemitism or anti-Arab sentiment lingers in many minds. The group has built friendships despite discussions about tough and divisive issues.

    “It’s always great to disagree. I think it makes the conversation between Israelis and Palestinians and Americans healthier,” said Adileh, a 29-year-old Muslim from east Jerusalem. “If we can’t sit and talk about our narratives and acknowledge them, we will never have a brighter future.

    “I will never accept war as a solution of this conflict,” he said. “Peace is the answer.”

    The 8-day visit that began Tuesday included stops at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies headquarters and U.N. offices in Geneva as well as a meeting with a Swiss diplomat who focuses on the Middle East.

    Some teens on the program stayed home because they feared discrimination and racism.

    “I have two friends that couldn’t come this year,” said Ali Salman, 17, a Muslim from Ghajar in the Golan Heights. “They were scared to come — because they might face discrimination, racism, anti-Semitism. They’re both Jewish.”

    Ary Hammerman, a 16-year-old from White Plains, New York who attends a Jewish school and was born in Israel, said it’s been hard for her to balance her secular identity with her religious one.

    Some people in her community back home who might be unfamiliar with Muslim or Palestinians “don’t understand any perspective, besides what they believe the terrorist perspective is,” she said. Meanwhile, some non-Jews consider Israel a “colonial state” and “have no understanding of the Jewish connection to Israel.”

    “I think that for me, finding my place in the middle of that was hard prior to October 7th. And now it’s even harder,” she said, alluding to tensions on college campuses in the United States over the Mideast conflict.

    Other such groups have fallen on hard times, or even shut down.

    A similar group with a young leaders program known as Hands of Peace — which was also born out of a hopeful response to the Sept. 11 attacks — closed in March.

    One of its alumna was Naama Levy, a 20-year-old Israeli soldier who was taken hostage on Oct. 7.

    Her brother, Amit Levy, said she believed deeply in the values of the Hands of Peace mission. “She believed that through young people you could achieve things that older people hadn’t been able to achieve,” he said.

    Levy said that in the long term, he still dreams of peace and a lasting solution with the Palestinians. But right now he’s just focused on bringing his younger sister home.

    Other groups that have similar young leaders programs with Israelis and Palestinians also remain unbowed by the aftermath of the attacks.

    “Since October 7, we’ve invested in the arduous work of rebuilding trust – and trauma healing,” said Holly Morris, executive director of Tomorrow’s Women/

    “This year’s cohort is particularly brave in that they are coming to stand in the fire – together – and that is not something embraced in their homeland right now,” she wrote in an e-mail. “Not everybody can move through the trauma and get back to a base of co-existence — but most want to.”

    ___

    Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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  • Walmart retools its young adult clothing line in pursuit of fashion credibility

    Walmart retools its young adult clothing line in pursuit of fashion credibility

    NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart has spent three years overhauling its mix of adult apparel to make it stylish as well as sensible for middle America. Now, the nation’s largest retailer is seizing the back-to-school shopping season to take another shot at fashion respectability.

    The company plans to relaunch its 30-year-old brand for teenagers and young adults on Tuesday with a new 130-piece fall collection aimed at Generation Z. The retooling of the No Boundaries label is part of a strategy to get customers to think of Walmart as a place to buy cool clothes along with groceries.

    The new collection includes of-the-moment styles like baggy jeans, cropped T-shirts, faux leather corsets and bomber jackets. Most items cost $15 or less. Some pieces are made from recycled fabrics to appeal to a generation that values sustainability. The size range was expanded to run from XXS to 5X to be more inclusive.

    The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company is marketing the revamped No Boundaries on TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest and the online gaming site Roblox. It plans to test new prototypes in stores located in major college towns.

    The intended audience is noticing.

    “It’s basic, but cute,” Za’Kryra Davis, 16, said while looking at the camouflage pants and denim rompers at a Walmart store in Secaucus, New Jersey, where the new No Boundaries was getting rolled out last week.

    Davis, who shops at chains like Rue21 and Forever 21 and gets inspired by trends popping up on social media, said she’s been more open to buying clothes at Walmart in the past few months because she says they look more modern.

    Walmart previously relied on a variety of suppliers with separate design teams to build the No Boundaries line, which focused largely on everyday basics like T-shirts and denim. The company hired a dedicated design team to create the relaunch collection, a sign of the brand’s importance to Walmart’s broader fashion strategy.

    Still, winning over customers born between 1997 and 2012 will be challenging given Walmart’s heavy competition. The generation of digital natives is known to be price conscious and willing to shop around, frequenting everything from second-hand shops and ultra-fast-fashion online retailer Shein to discounters like Target, and mall-based stores like American Eagle Outfitters.

    Olivia Meyer, 22, who lives in Riverview, Florida, gets inspired by trends on the internet and makes most of her fashion purchases online, typically from Amazon, to ensure quick delivery. She approved of the cargo pants and strappy tops she saw while checking out the fall No Boundaries collection on Walmart’s website.

    “I’m not loyal to one place,” Meyer said. But she added, “I think Walmart has a shot at targeting Gen Z and getting our dollars.”

    While Gen Z spends the least amount on fashion of any demographic cohort except the so-called Silent Generation, retailers are eager to court young consumers because they represent the future, said Neil Saunders, managing director of research firm GlobalData.

    “If you don’t capture them today, you run the risk of them going to a rival,” he said. “Traditionally, Walmart has not been appealing to this kind of younger demographic, which is why it’s trying to change.”

    Walmart said No Boundaries generates annual sales of $2 billion, but Saunders thinks the numbers have been stagnant for a few years. He said the retailer needs to overcome the perception that its fashion aspirations end at floral prints, pull-on pants and other styles more typically worn by older adults.

    Walmart signaled just how much it wants to get taken seriously as a fashion destination three years ago when it hired Brandon Maxwell, an American designer who has dressed celebrities such as Lady Gaga, as the creative director for its “elevated” fashion brands, Free Assembly and Scoop.

    In February, the company hosted social media influencers who focus on trendy but affordable style at a fashion show that featured Maxwell’s designer collection, which is sold at high-end Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

    “It’s always about the women in my life who define what I do, and it’s no different at Walmart,” said Maxwell, who mingled with the Walmart guests during a luncheon after the show.

    To boost its legitimacy as a one-stop shop for fashionistas, Walmart has added store mannequins and colorful displays of its clothing. Under the stewardship of Denise Incandela, executive vice president of apparel and private-label brands, the company has featured more than 1,000 brands and partnered with celebrities like Sofia Vergara.

    Incandela said at a recent industry conference in New York that Walmart’s scale — it operates more than 4,600 stores in the U.S. — can help drive quality and low prices. But the big growth opportunity in clothing is with the Gen Z customer who “cares about style,” she said.

    “We have created a brand that is more modern, has better quality, has silhouettes that are more relevant to the Gen Z customer,” Incandela said. “We’re improving the shopping experience, but we have to change that perception.”

    At the Walmart in Secaucus, Elizabeth Fernandez, 58, and her daughter, Destiny Fernandez, 38, said they found the women’s clothing more appealing than in the past. They were also drawn to the overhauled No Boundaries line. Their shopping cart brimmed with pants, shorts, tops and skirts drawn from throughout the store.

    Citing the cropped puffer jackets and different denim washes on the racks, Destiny Fernandez judged Walmart to be on the mark in the way it had recycled and refreshed earlier trends.

    “It’s all stuff that is coming back,” she said. “So I am going to take a look.”

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  • Spanish police say body found on Tenerife is likely missing British teen

    Spanish police say body found on Tenerife is likely missing British teen

    LONDON — Human remains have been found in the search for a British teen who went missing almost a month ago on the island of Tenerife, Spanish police said Monday.

    It is likely to be the body of Jay Slater, though formal identification has not been made, police said.

    “The Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group of the Civil Guard has located the lifeless body of a young man in the Masca area after 29 days of constant search,” according to the statement. “All indications indicate that it could be the young British man who has been missing since last June 17.”

    LBT Global, a charity that supported Slater’s family, said the body was found with Slater’s clothing and possessions near the last location of his mobile phone.

    Slater, 19, was last seen as he set out to walk from Masca, a village in the northwest of the Canary Island, to where he had been staying in Los Cristianos in the south. It was a trip that would have taken about 11 hours on foot over rugged terrain.

    Slater frantically called his friend, Lucy Law, that morning and said he was “lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on 1%,” she said.

    Police said the body was found in a very remote area and that an autopsy will be performed “to confirm that the death was accidental.”

    Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle in northwest England, had attended a music festival the day before his disappearance.

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  • ‘I’m so big back’: Experts break down the latest trend in teen fat-speak

    ‘I’m so big back’: Experts break down the latest trend in teen fat-speak

    “I’m so big back!”

    “We’re being such biggies right now!”

    Welcome to the latest teen-girl parlance—a TikTok-trend spinoff that’s become the new language of casual, constant joking used to poke fun at each other, and one’s self, for eating. 

    And while many teens say the jargon is simply meant to be playful, others admit they find it hurtful, or at least jarring. Experts find the explosion of this kind of slang alarming.

    “This is a problem for everybody,” says Zöe Bisbing, a body-image and eating-disorders psychotherapist. “It has a lot to do with this really, really entrenched anti-fat bias in our culture that normalizes microaggressions toward fat people.” 

    Complicating the problem, though, is that the jokes are made by and about thin girls. 

    “With this new language, they’ve given each other permission to comment not only on weight but on eating itself. So there’s nothing good about this,” Barbara Greenberg, a teen and adolescent therapist based in Connecticut who is familiar with the terminology, tells Fortune. “It’s going backwards.”

    Chanea Bond, a Texas high school English teacher and education influencer, tells Fortune she was disturbed as she watched the trend pick up steam before summer. “It started this school year. At first it was mostly students referring to themselves. But now ‘big back’ it’s so common in their vernacular, they say it anytime there’s eating happening. Also, ‘You’re a fatty.’ ‘Fatty’ has definitely come back,” she says. “I definitely wish it would go away.”

    Never was that truer for Bond than it was earlier this week, when her 6-year-old daughter came home from daycare and asked, “Mom, do I have the biggest back?” After some digging, Bond learned her kid had been told by the teacher that she had “the biggest back” after asking for extra crackers at snack time. 

    “I asked if it hurt her feelings. I told her that her body is proportional, and that if she wants extra snack, she’s allowed to eat extra snack without someone commenting on her body,” says Bond, who shared the exchange with her daughter on X, where it’s been viewed over 1.3 million times, prompting a slew of supportive responses. 

    She notes that the young teacher—whom Bond plans on talking to about the situation—is probably not too much older than her students. “I don’t think she meant to be hurtful,” she says. But it showed Bond that the trend, despite her wish that it might calm down over the summer, “is definitely still very much there.”

    What ‘big back’ and other terms mean—and how we got here

    As with so many troubling trends, the latest form of fat-speak can be traced to TikTok—specifically, to a “big back” video trend (currently with over 174 million posts) that appears to have peaked in the spring. That involved sharing videos with one of two themes: 1) showing yourself eating a lot or someone else eating a lot (typically someone thin) with comments about it being “big back” behavior, or 2) stuffing your clothes to make your back (or even a baby’s) appear larger and then either running to get food or, once again, just eating. 

    Those videos in turn led to criticism of the trend, with some calling it out for “making fun of fat people” and “creating new insecurities.” Then came videos appearing to mock the trend altogether. 

    But what does “big back” actually mean? That’s where things get complicated, as many have noted that the term and possibly the trend appear to have roots in African American English (AAE) and in Black spaces online. But the trend is “pretty new, so there hasn’t been a bunch of research done on it,” says Kimberley Baxter, linguistics PhD candidate at New York University who specializes in AAE. 

    NYU professor of linguistics Renee Blake says that the term has roots in the “Black London community, meaning ‘derrière’ in a positive light,” and that it only became negative through appropriation.

    Baxter theorizes that “big back” became “a term to be levied at all fat people, but also towards people who engage in stereotypes associated with fatness,” and that it has connections with the term “bad built” as well as the old-school “built like a linebacker.” She observes it was propelled across social media recently in part by reactions to a popular TikTok series by Reese Teesa. 

    Its origins have prompted some—including a therapist who goes by Therapy Dojo on TikTok—to say that current uses of “big back” feel like “cultural appropriation,” and can make white criticisms of the trend feel like the “policing of Black culture.” That’s despite the therapist’s belief that the term, on its face, is “absolutely fatphobic.”  

    Lizzo has even weighed in, calling the trend “horribly fatphobic,” but noting that the term was just “something Black people say” and that it wasn’t until it “got turned into a trend” that it got “out of control,” with people using it “in a harmful way.”

    The nuance is why Bisbing says she looks at “big back” and “fatty” as “two distinct phenomena.” 

    Still, “big back” now gets used interchangeably with other current terms in this realm, including “fatty” and “biggie,” according to teens around the country.  

    “‘Big-back’ is something you say to your friends when they’re eating, like, ‘Oh, you’re such a little big back, you ate four cookies!’” F., a New Jersey 16-year-old, tells Fortune. (The young people in this article are being referred to by their initial to protect their privacy.) “It’s only said when a person is eating. But you would never call your overweight friend ‘big back.’” She feels like its rise in popularity could be due to “backlash” over the body-positivity movement, noting, “Like, it was OK to look like Lizzo, but then it’s suddenly not OK anymore.”

    “I think people are kind of saying it casually,” says S., 17, from Massachusetts. “I haven’t heard them saying it to insult people. It’s kind of more of a self-deprecating joke.”

    S., 17, of Rhode Island, agrees. “I definitely think it can be harmful to some but for me, I just think it’s funny. I definitely wouldn’t say it around an actual fat person,” she says, “but I have heard other people [do that].” 

    L., 16, of Connecticut, explains, “We say, ‘Hey, fatty,’ as if you’d say, ‘You’re so silly.’ It’s an insult but it’s playful, you know what I mean? I will often say ‘I’m being so big-backed right now,’ like if someone offers me part of their lunch and I eat all of it … It feels like a joke. But,” she adds, “in some ways I guess it does strengthen mental bias.”

    That’s why the fat-phobic jargon worries experts

    “There are so many layers to this, because there’s been such a movement to reclaim words like ‘big’ or ‘fat,’ to use them as a neutral descriptor for folks who feel strongly about fat positivity,” notes educator and parent coach Oona Hansen, who specializes in helping families battle diet culture. Instead, the terms are back to being used as insults that mock somebody’s size or appetite. “That tends to reinforce this idea that if you’re in a bigger body, you’re always consuming massive amounts of food. It reinforces that notion of gluttony.”

    That it’s mostly “thinner white women” is not a coincidence, she adds, due to “the backdrop of the weight-loss drugs and people not having appetites, and linking appetite and body size. I think it really reinforces harmful ideas both about body size and about food, and makes it socially acceptable to comment on people’s bodies.” 

    Greenberg worries that it might encourage secret eating among teen girls. “It increases the self-conscious feelings, the social-emotional feelings of shame and embarrassment,” she says.

    What the trend highlights, Bisbing believes, is that “fatphobia and anti-fat bias is still super acceptable.”

    And while that is “a problem for everybody,” she says, “where I’ve seen it really, acutely injure teens is where there’s a peer group with a minority of kids who are in larger bodies … Because that language that’s being used in this playful way is going to hit very differently to a kid who is actually fat.”

    Using the language, she adds, “almost creates this invisibility for the actual fat kid in the group—and then also a hypervisibility.”

    Finally, it’s harmful because kids who are not in larger bodies are not-so-subtly expressing that they’d never want to be—basically saying, with “big back,” “ ‘We strive to not be that way,’” Bisbing explains, while, “ ‘I’m such a fatty’ is more like, ’That is such a gross thing. Ew, look at me!’ 

    “I think that everyone is harmed by this discourse because it maintains a cultural norm that makes it really hard to establish emotional safety for all,” she says. “So I’m worried more about the collective harm, sort of whether they know it or not—and they don’t know it—contributing to an oppressive culture.”

    How to address the trend’s potential harm with your kids

    “I don’t think it’s a one and done conversation for a family or parent,” offers Bisbing, who notes that, in an ideal scenario, you’ll have already had so many other “values-oriented conversations about body oppression in our culture.”

    If that’s not been the case, she says, this might be a conversation starter—and an opportunity to not only address this specific jargon, but to highlight that this is just one example of a societal problem. 

    And keep in mind, she suggests, that “when you have a teen, you don’t have any control over what they say.” But it’s worth them rolling their eyes and likely hearing you on some level if you say, “I’m just letting you know: It’s oppressive. Even though your friends are laughing, I bet they’re hurting inside.” Make it clear that you’re not going to deliver a lecture, but point out that the issue touches on feminism, anti-racism, and general social justice.

    “Find those points of connection between this stupid trend and how absolutely oppressive it is, and help them connect the dots,” she says. 

    Hansen suggests approaching your teen or tween with curiosity, perhaps saying, “Tell me more about the trend. How are your friends using it? Do you think they’re feeling the same way?”

    With a kid who might be really upset about it, help them talk it through and figure out how they want to respond next time somebody throws the terms around. “I think teens come up with better ideas than we do, in general,” she says. It’s also helpful to not overreact or shut them down if they come to you with the issue, as they may not come to you next time.

    Bottom line, Hansen says: “For parents, it’s an opportunity to think about how you’re building your kid’s skills in navigating awkward social conversations and social media. It’ll keep evolving, but it’s really about, can you connect with your teen? Can you have a conversation that sparks critical thinking?”

    Beth Greenfield

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  • Teen safely stops runaway boat speeding in circles on New Hampshire’s largest lake

    Teen safely stops runaway boat speeding in circles on New Hampshire’s largest lake

    GILFORD, N.H. — An empty runaway boat speeding in circles on New Hampshire’s largest lake was brought safely to a stop by a teenager who jumped aboard from a personal watercraft.

    Rich Bono, who captured the events on video, said he was on the dock Wednesday in Lake Winnipesaukee’s Smith Cove when he heard some commotion in what is usually a quiet, no-wake zone.

    “I can hear an engine revving, and I looked down the end of the dock toward the noise and saw a boat circling, circling, circling, and no one was in it,” he said. “Obviously, that’s not good.”

    Bono later learned that the boat’s operator, a sailing instructor, had reached into the water to pick up a tennis ball used for teaching when one of the students’ sailboats tipped over. The sailboat’s mast hit the motor boat’s throttle, sending the instructor overboard and the boat into a spiral.

    Brady Procon, 17, hopped on the back of his neighbor’s personal watercraft. They pulled alongside the runaway boat, and Procon jumped onto it and cut the engine.

    “Brady was a hero,” Bono said in an interview Monday.

    Though there were multiple children in sailboats and other vessels docked nearby, no one was injured, nor was any property damaged, Bono said.

    “That boat was under power, throttled up,” he said. “Motors on boats are like meat grinders, they’re not very forgiving if someone gets hit.”

    Procon, who is joining the U.S. Navy in the fall, told WMUR-TV the experience was both scary and fun.

    “I’d do it again,” he said.

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  • 2 teenagers die while swimming at New York’s Coney Island Beach, police say

    2 teenagers die while swimming at New York’s Coney Island Beach, police say

    FILE- Children play in the sand while others jog as a New York City Parks officer, center, walks the beach making sure no one goes in the water, at Coney Island Beach during the current coronavirus outbreak, on May 24, 2020, in New York. Police in New York said two teenagers died while swimming at Coney Island Beach in Brooklyn, a news report said. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

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  • Snapchat is rolling out new safety tools aimed at protecting teens from sextortion

    Snapchat is rolling out new safety tools aimed at protecting teens from sextortion

    Snapchat is working to make it harder for teenagers to be contacted on the app by people they don’t know, its latest effort to stop the sexual and financial exploitation scam known as sextortion.The company on Tuesday announced a set of new safety features, including expanded warning pop-ups that appear when a teen receives a message from someone they don’t share mutual friends with or have in their contacts. Now, teens will also receive a warning message if they receive a chat from a user who has been blocked or reported by others or who is from a region where the teen’s other contacts aren’t located, “signs that the person may be a scammer,” Snapchat said in a blog post Tuesday.Related video above: FBI warns of growing sextortion threat targeting young peopleAnd Snapchat will now prevent the delivery of friend requests for teens to or from an account that they don’t share mutual friends with that is also located in regions often associated with scammers.In addition to expanding Snapchat’s broader suite of youth safety measures, the new features are aimed specifically at preventing financial sextortion, a worrying and growing type of scam across social media where bad actors gain the trust of young users, convince them to send sexual or explicit photos and then demand payment in exchange for keeping the pictures a secret.”These features were designed to better protect teens from potential online harms and to enhance the real-friend connections that make Snapchat so unique,” Snap’s Global Head of Platform Safety Jacqueline Beauchere said in an exclusive statement to CNN ahead of the announcement.Video below: FBI agent shares tips for parents to prevent sextortionLaw enforcement officials have in recent years warned of an uptick in online sextortion scams, in which bad actors, typically located overseas, target children and teens, often with profiles that appear to belong to friendly fellow teenagers. In some cases, sextortion has resulted in suicides.Meta in April also announced new features aimed at combating sextortion, including informing users when they’ve interacted with someone who engaged in financial sextortion. And the chief executives of Meta and Snap, along with other social media leaders, were called to testify earlier this year in a Senate subcommittee hearing about their efforts to protect young people from online exploitation.Also among Snapchat’s announcements on Tuesday are improvements to the app’s blocking tools, which will prevent users from simply creating new accounts to get around a block. Now, when a user blocks another account, any new accounts created on the same device will also automatically be blocked.Snapchat is also introducing more frequent reminders to all users, including teens, about their location settings on the app’s “Snap Map” feature, which is toggled off by default but which users can update to share their location live with friends. The company said it will make it possible for users to update their location settings, remove their location from the map and customize which friends they share their location with – all in one spot on the app.The updates build on Snapchat’s existing teen safety features, which include a “Family Center” where parents can supervise the behavior of 13- to 17-year-old users, and mechanisms for removing age-inappropriate content.Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 (or 800-273-8255) to connect with a trained counselor or visit the NSPL site.

    Snapchat is working to make it harder for teenagers to be contacted on the app by people they don’t know, its latest effort to stop the sexual and financial exploitation scam known as sextortion.

    The company on Tuesday announced a set of new safety features, including expanded warning pop-ups that appear when a teen receives a message from someone they don’t share mutual friends with or have in their contacts. Now, teens will also receive a warning message if they receive a chat from a user who has been blocked or reported by others or who is from a region where the teen’s other contacts aren’t located, “signs that the person may be a scammer,” Snapchat said in a blog post Tuesday.

    Related video above: FBI warns of growing sextortion threat targeting young people

    And Snapchat will now prevent the delivery of friend requests for teens to or from an account that they don’t share mutual friends with that is also located in regions often associated with scammers.

    In addition to expanding Snapchat’s broader suite of youth safety measures, the new features are aimed specifically at preventing financial sextortion, a worrying and growing type of scam across social media where bad actors gain the trust of young users, convince them to send sexual or explicit photos and then demand payment in exchange for keeping the pictures a secret.

    “These features were designed to better protect teens from potential online harms and to enhance the real-friend connections that make Snapchat so unique,” Snap’s Global Head of Platform Safety Jacqueline Beauchere said in an exclusive statement to CNN ahead of the announcement.

    Video below: FBI agent shares tips for parents to prevent sextortion

    Law enforcement officials have in recent years warned of an uptick in online sextortion scams, in which bad actors, typically located overseas, target children and teens, often with profiles that appear to belong to friendly fellow teenagers. In some cases, sextortion has resulted in suicides.

    Meta in April also announced new features aimed at combating sextortion, including informing users when they’ve interacted with someone who engaged in financial sextortion. And the chief executives of Meta and Snap, along with other social media leaders, were called to testify earlier this year in a Senate subcommittee hearing about their efforts to protect young people from online exploitation.

    Also among Snapchat’s announcements on Tuesday are improvements to the app’s blocking tools, which will prevent users from simply creating new accounts to get around a block. Now, when a user blocks another account, any new accounts created on the same device will also automatically be blocked.

    Snapchat is also introducing more frequent reminders to all users, including teens, about their location settings on the app’s “Snap Map” feature, which is toggled off by default but which users can update to share their location live with friends. The company said it will make it possible for users to update their location settings, remove their location from the map and customize which friends they share their location with – all in one spot on the app.

    The updates build on Snapchat’s existing teen safety features, which include a “Family Center” where parents can supervise the behavior of 13- to 17-year-old users, and mechanisms for removing age-inappropriate content.

    Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 (or 800-273-8255) to connect with a trained counselor or visit the NSPL site.

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  • Pursuit of Milwaukee carjacking suspects ends with police shooting 2 teens in stolen vehicle

    Pursuit of Milwaukee carjacking suspects ends with police shooting 2 teens in stolen vehicle

    A police pursuit of carjacking suspects in Milwaukee ended with police firing into the vehicle, injuring two teens, one of whom was pregnant and lost her baby

    MILWAUKEE — A police pursuit of carjacking suspects in Milwaukee ended Thursday with police firing into the vehicle and injuring two teens, one of whom was pregnant and lost her baby, Milwaukee police said.

    Officers tried to stop the stolen vehicle just before 2:30 p.m. on Interstate 43 north of Milwaukee. The pursuit ended when the driver moved into a construction lane and the vehicle was blocked by construction work and a cement truck, Police Chief Jeffrey B. Norman said.

    Police officers ordered the driver to stop and ordered the passengers out of the vehicle, but the driver twice backed into a marked SWAT car, once while an officer was standing behind it. Another officer fired shots into the vehicle, injuring an 18-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy, Norman said.

    The woman suffered life-threatening injuries and “unfortunately, the baby did not survive,” Norman said at a news conference.

    The 17-year-old has serious injuries, he said.

    A total of six suspects were in the vehicle, which had been stolen, Norman said. The other four, who range in age from 15 to 18, were taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

    The officer involved is a 25-year-old man with over four years of service. He was placed on administrative duty, which is routine in an officer involved shooting, Norman said.

    The suspects were being pursued in connection with an armed robbery and carjacking and an attempted armed robbery and carjacking. A gun was found in the vehicle, Norman said.

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  • Messi napkin that sealed Barcelona move sells for $965,000 at auction

    Messi napkin that sealed Barcelona move sells for $965,000 at auction

    LONDON — The famous napkin that linked a young Lionel Messi to Barcelona sold for 762,400 pounds ($965,000) on Friday, British auction house Bonhams said.

    An agreement in principle to sign the-then 13-year-old Messi was written on the napkin almost 25 years ago at a Barcelona tennis club. A more formal and detailed contract with the club followed soon after.

    An undisclosed percentage of the sale price pays administrative fees for the online auction, in what’s called the buyer’s premium.

    Bonhams said the auction was on behalf of Horacio Gaggioli, an agent from Messi’s home country of Argentina who was part of the deal.

    The contract language, written in blue ink, was intended to reassure the teenager’s father, Jorge Messi, that the deal would go through.

    Jorge Messi had threatened to take his son back to Argentina because negotiations with Barcelona had stalled.

    The napkin, containing the date Dec. 14, 2000, bears the signatures of Gaggioli, another agent, Josep Maria Minguella and Barcelona’s then-sporting director, Carles Rexach, who met at a tennis club.

    Rexach had asked a waiter for paper and was given a blank napkin.

    The starting price was 300,000 pounds ($379,000).

    Messi spent nearly two decades with Barcelona after arriving from Argentina at 13 to play in its youth squads. He made his first-team debut in 2004 and played 17 seasons with the main squad. He helped the club win every major trophy including the Champions League four times and the Spanish league 10 times.

    Messi left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021. He has since joined Inter Miami.

    ___

    AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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  • Teen died from eating spicy chip in social media challenge, autopsy report concludes

    Teen died from eating spicy chip in social media challenge, autopsy report concludes

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge on social media died from eating a large quantity of chile pepper extract and also had a congenital heart defect, according to autopsy results obtained by The Associated Press.

    Harris Wolobah, a 10th grader from the city of Worcester, died on Sept. 1, 2023, after eating the chip manufactured by Paqui, a Texas-based subsidiary of the Hershey Co.

    Paqui pulled the product from store shelves shortly after Harris’ death. The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to Hershey on Thursday.

    A phone number listed for Harris’ family was disconnected. The Associated Press left messages seeking comment with family friends.

    Harris died of cardiopulmonary arrest “in the setting of recent ingestion of food substance with high capsaicin concentration,” according to the autopsy from the Chief Office of the Medical Examiner. Capsaicin is the component that gives chile peppers their heat.

    The autopsy also said that Harris had cardiomegaly, meaning an enlarged heart, and a congenital defect described as “myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending coronary artery.”

    A myocardial bridge occurs when a segment of a major artery of the heart runs within the heart muscle instead of on its surface, according to Dr. James Udelson, chief of cardiology at Tufts Medical Center.

    “It is possible that with significant stimulation of the heart, the muscle beyond the bridge suddenly had abnormal blood flow (‘ischemia’) and could have been a cause of a severe arrhythmia,” Udelson told the AP in an email. “There have been reports of acute toxicity with capsaicin causing ischemia of the heart muscle.”

    Large doses of capsaicin can increase how the heart squeezes, putting extra pressure on the artery, noted Dr. Syed Haider, a cardiologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

    But while the autopsy results suggest that a heart defect probably made Harris more vulnerable to the negative effects of the chile pepper extract, people without underlying risk factors can also experience serious heart problems from ingesting large amounts of capsaicin, Haider said.

    Udelson and Haider both spoke in general terms; neither was involved in Harris’ case.

    The cause of Harris’ death was determined on Feb. 27, and a death certificate was released to the Worcester city clerk’s office on March 5, according to Elaine Driscoll, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. The state only released the cause and manner of death. Officials will not release a full report, which is not considered part of the public record, she said.

    The Paqui chip, sold individually for about $10, came wrapped in foil in a coffin-shaped box containing the warning that it was intended for the “vengeful pleasure of intense heat and pain.” The warning noted that the chip was for adult consumption only, and should be kept out of the reach of children.

    Despite the warning, children had no problem buying the chips, and there had been reports from around the country of teens who got sick after taking part in the chip-eating challenge. Among them were three California high school students who were taken to a hospital and seven students in Minnesota who were treated by paramedics after taking part in the challenge in 2022.

    The challenge called for participants to eat the Paqui chip and then see how long they could go without consuming other food and water. Sales of the chip seemed largely driven by people posting videos on social media of them or their friends taking the challenge. They showed people, including children, unwrapping the packaging, eating the chips and then reacting to the heat. Some videos showed people gagging, coughing and begging for water.

    Spicy food challenges have been around for years. From local chile pepper eating contests to restaurant walls of fame for those who finished extra hot dishes, people around the world have been daring each other to eat especially fiery foods, with some experts pointing to the internal rush of competition and risk-taking.

    A YouTube series called “Hot Ones” rose to internet fame several years ago with videos of celebrities’ reactions to eating spicy wings. Meanwhile, restaurants nationwide have offered in-person challenges — from Buffalo Wild Wings’ “Blazin’ Challenge” to the “Hell Challenge” of Wing King in Las Vegas. In both challenges, patrons over 18 can attempt to eat a certain amount of wings doused in extra hot sauce in limited time without drinking or eating other food. Chile pepper eating contests are also regularly hosted around the world.

    Extremely spicy products created and marketed solely for the challenges — and possible internet fame — represent a more recent phenomenon exacerbated by social media.

    Harris’ death spurred warnings from Massachusetts authorities and physicians, who cautioned that eating such spicy foods can have unintended consequences. Since the chip fad emerged, poison control centers have warned that the concentrated amount could cause allergic reactions, trouble breathing, irregular heartbeats and even heart attacks or strokes.

    ___

    This story has been edited to conform to AP style: chile, instead of chili.

    ___

    AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard in Washington and AP Business Writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this report.

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  • Signs Your Kid May Be Using Marijuana

    Signs Your Kid May Be Using Marijuana

    Until the 80s – parents worried about alcohol, but is a marijuana concern now? 

    The world is changing rapidly with Canada and parts of the US and Europe legalizing weed. And the majority of the public believes it should be legal, should it increase concern from parents?  Everyone agrees, like alcohol, marijuana shouldn’t be used until the early 20s.  Part of the reason is both have an impact on the brain development, and the more use, the more change could happen.

    RELATED: Science Says Medical Marijuana Improves Quality Of Life

    There has been a slight yet significant decline in marijuana use was seen for eighth, ninth, and 12th graders, which is very positive.  In a general health way, Gen Z is drifting away from alcohol and moving slightly more to weed. Alcohol is more damaging to the brain and general development than marijuana.  Overall, it is a healthy trend and California sober is becoming a thing among all ages. But if you have concern, here are signs you kid my be using marijuana.

    Photo by Dương Nhân via Pexels

    Look At Eyes/Face

    People who have been smoking marijuana often have a difficult time hiding the fact they are stoned. THC helps turn eyes red and squinty and, depending on the magnitude of their buzz, their faces can sometimes more closely resemble a cartoon character. Experienced consumers learn how to hide state. They use eye drops to eliminate the redness, and they’ve learned how much weed they can smoke without getting so blasted that they fall apart at the seams. But teenagers still have a lot to learn about getting high before getting to this level. Changes in their laughter (they are easily amused while alone in their room) could also be an indication.

    RELATED: Marijuana Legalization Discourages Teenage Use, Study Finds

    This is only a sign, allergies, colds, or over screen use can make for red eyes and happiness  or drinking can be a reason for increased laughter. If you have a concern, pay attention to routine and behaviors. 

    Check Laundry For Odors

    While smoking is still popular, it tends to be for an older audience. If you notice your kidsclothing smells like weed, this might also be a sign that they are using. Vapes and edibles, do not have the signature odor, making them difficult to detect. Spillage from a vape or unknown gummies can be a clue.

    Look for vaping equipment and other smoking devices. It also never hurts to see what’s in their trash. In the mind of a teen, you’d never dig through their garbage to see what the are doing.

    Notice Eating Habits

    Kids are physical growing, and their metabolisms can go to warp speed. It is the usual reason kids always seem to be in the refrigerator looking for something to eat. They may have had dinner an hour ago, yet they are somehow hungry again. Still, a side effects of marijuana is the munchies, so paying attention to eating habits can sometimes be a tell. If they are making an extra sandwich from time to time, that’s probably nothing to worry about.

    THCV: Powerful Appetite-Suppressing Cannabinoid
    Photo by rawpixel.com

    But if they start coming out of the kitchen with bizarre culinary creations (we always mixed peanut butter and marshmallow fluff), that may be a clue that they are consuming.. The best way to find out for sure is to just call them out on it. When they sit down with a bowl of ice cream topped with Fruity Pebbles, just say, “What, are you high?” What happens next, the squirming, the paranoid behavior might be all the evidence you need.

    RELATED: Teens Are Trying Marijuana Before Alcohol and Tobacco

    Have An Open Conversation

    The most effective method is to have an open, honest and calm conversation. Teens are smart (although they don’t always act like it), so explaining to them how their actions could have repercussions is not beyond their comprehension. We believe showing teens that we are “on their side” is a better approach to parenting than flipping out.

    Everyone makes mistakes, and no one is perfect when it comes to following the rules. Help them understand your aversion to marijuana use is really just about ensuring that they have the best opportunities in life.

    Amy Hansen

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  • Parents’ Watchful Eye May Keep Young Teens From Trying Alcohol, Drugs: Study

    Parents’ Watchful Eye May Keep Young Teens From Trying Alcohol, Drugs: Study


    PISCATAWAY, N.J., May 7, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Teenagers are less likely to drink, smoke or use drugs when their parents keep tabs on their activities–but not necessarily because kids are more likely to be punished for substance use, suggests a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

    Researchers found that, contrary to common belief, parents’ “monitoring” does not seem to boost the odds of catching kids using substances. However, when kids simply are aware their parents are monitoring behavior, they avoid trying alcohol or drugs in the first place.

    It is the fear of being caught, rather than actually being punished.

    Many studies have found that adolescents are less likely to use substances when they have parents who monitor–meaning that parents are aware of their kids’ activities, know their friends and know their whereabouts when they are not at home.

    The assumption has been that monitoring works because parents are more likely to catch substance use and make sure there are consequences–grounding their kids or taking away their smartphones, for example, said William Pelham, lead researcher on the study. That, in turn, might keep kids from making the same mistake twice.

    But it appears that assumption is wrong, said Pelham, an assistant adjunct professor of psychiatry at UCSD.

    Instead, he explained, the new findings suggest that monitoring teenagers can reduce their chances of using alcohol or drugs simply by making them think twice, whether or not parents succeed in catching them.

    The results are based on survey responses from over 4,500 11- to 15-year-olds from 21 communities across the United States. Participants were asked about their substance use in the past month, including whether their parents found out about it. They also completed a standard questionnaire on parental monitoring (how often their parents knew their whereabouts or asked about their plans for the day, for instance).

    Overall, 3.6% of kids said they had used alcohol or drugs in the past month, and there was no evidence that parents’ monitoring increased their likelihood of finding out about those instances.

    In contrast, some kids said there were times in the past month that they planned or had the chance to drink or use drugs, but they chose not to out of fear their parents would find out. If not for those second thoughts, Pelham’s team found, substance use would have been 40% higher in the study group as a whole.

    Understanding why monitoring works is important, Pelham said, in order to give parents more specific advice on how to do it. These findings suggest that it might not be necessary to catch kids in the act of substance use: If they know their parents are keeping track of them, that might be enough.

    However, that may not always apply, Pelham pointed out. This study focused on younger adolescents who were not heavy substance users. When kids have serious substance use issues, negative consequences might become more important.

    Source: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

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  • This it the Family Weekend You’ve Been Looking For!

    This it the Family Weekend You’ve Been Looking For!

    Did you know you can stay in a cabin at Upstate Zipline? Set in a private and beautiful portion of Keowee-Toxaway State Park, Upstate Zipline operates cabins, tent sites, and even an event venue with options for families or groups. We got a chance to stay in a cabin and enjoy the site. WOW did our family have a blast. This is such a great place for families to enjoy some time exceptional quality time together. We’ll take you through our visit and tell you how you can plan your own stay at Upstate Zipline’s cabins.

    Thanks to Upstate Zipline for inviting us to stay, zip and gem mine so we could bring this review to our readers!

    Watch! Our Visit Was Epic, See For Yourself

    Is it Glamping? Cabins at Upstate Zipline

    I have to tell you a secret. I do not camp. Me in a tent, it’s happened like two nights in the last 20 years. It’s just not my thing. But I do love spending time by a nice campfire, listening to the birds, taking a break from the everyday hum drum, and watching my tweens and teenage kids remember that not all of life has to be complicated. It’s ok to kick back, be silly, and let the pressure of final exams and approaching SATs take the back seat for a while.

    Cooking hot dogs at the cabin, Upstate Zipline

    I’m not entirely sure about the definition of “glamping.” But if it involves peaceful, outdoor enjoyment, along with a comfy bed, hot shower, Keurig Machine, and a microwave in a spotless cabin, then we can definitely call our experience in our Upstate Zipline cabin a “glamping” trip.

    The Cabins

    In case you aren’t familiar, Upstate Zipline operates an amazing canopy zipline tour through a portion of Keowee-Toxaway State Park. The tour ends in a section of the park called Camp Cedar Creek, just a few minutes from their office location. Originally operated by the state park, Upstate Zipline has taken over managing this camp and they’ve done some awesome things for families!

    Interior of the cabin, Upstate Zipline
    Cabin at Upstate Zipline

    Families can stay in one of two family cabins at Camp Cedar Creek that sleep 6 to 8 people. They are extremely clean and comfortable cabins, with air conditioning and a kitchenette. The cabin we stayed in had a king-size bed and two bunk beds with linens, a couch seating area, fluffy towels, a dining table that seats 6, and even a television.

    And of course outside the cabin was a fireplace with a grill over the top that we could cook on, two picnic tables, and two rocking chairs on the porch. Honestly, we spent most of our time outside! We cooked over the fire both nights of our stay, hamburgers one night and hot dogs the other. And of course, there’s always room for s’mores.

    Cooking hot dogs at Upstate Zipline
    Hamburgers over the fire
    Smores at our cabin, Upstate Zipline

    If you’re not the cooking outdoors type, the cabin does have a microwave and a hot plate. There’s also a mini fridge with a freezer, a Keurig machine, plus basic utensils and dishes.

    The bathrooms are located at a central bathhouse which is really only a few steps from the cabin. And what I love, love, love about this bathhouse is that each cabin is assigned a private, locking bathroom. It has a hot shower, mirror, toilet, sink, towel holders, bench, all the things you need in a bathroom. It’s clean and your family will be the only ones using it so you can leave your towels in there, toothbrush, shampoo, whatever!

    You remember how I don’t camp? Normal bathhouses are part of that. This is NOT a normal bathhouse. So much better.

    Bathroom at the cabin Upstate Zipline

    The two family cabins and the group cabin, more on that in a minute, are all located together on a little dead-end circle in the park. My kids brought their skateboards and loved riding them around this area. The circle would be a perfect place for small kids to enjoy scooters or bikes, so make sure to bring them along!

    Group Cabin

    The third cabin is meant for groups and is furnished with bunk beds, sleeping 12. It also has a kitchenette and table, plus an outdoor fireplace and picnic tables. This cabin would be good for a large family, small youth group, scouts, or any small group.

    More to Love at Camp Cedar Creek

    The property is located on a private cove of Lake Keowee. “Beautiful” is not a strong enough word, “stunning” and “magnificent” get a little closer. From the cabins, there is a short trail down to a driveway that ends in another dead-end circle. Here you’ll find the lake and Upstate Zipline’s The Venue.

    The Venue

    The Venue, as the name implies, is an event venue that can be rented for events like weddings, family reunions, baby showers, birthdays, and even work retreats. With a full kitchen inside, it has a gorgeous view of the water, an outdoor stone fireplace, a fishing pier, a lake shore for relaxing, and lots of outdoor space. The Venue can accommodate groups of up to 100.

    Upstate Zipline, Lake Keowee

    The Lake

    Sit on the shore and enjoy the view of a private Lake Keowee cove. The shoreline all around the cove is tree-lined and beautiful. We saw fish jumping, turtles, and even a goose family with goslings in the lake and wandering the shore.

    My children did enjoy wading in the lake, however, we were told later that alligator snapping turtles had been seen in the cove. After that, we did not swim, and that’s definitely something you’ll want to watch out for. But, we did make use of the kayaks provided by Upstate Zipline.

    If kayaking is something you’d like to enjoy, just ask about them when you book. They were left for us on the shore of the lake along with life jackets and paddles. It was so easy, and such a fun way to spend the sunny afternoon!

    Kayaks at Lake Keowee

    From the shore, you can see two ziplines crossing the lake. These are part of the zipline tour, which again, is awesome. But, my kids also really enjoyed paddling out in the kayaks to watch a group come through on the ziplines. If you’re lucky you might catch a group coming through from the shore or a kayak, too. Make sure to give them a wave.

    Kayaks and zipliner over Lake Keowee

    Why You’ll Want to Go

    So, let’s recap. Comfy cabin, air conditioning, time spent outdoors, happy kids (and even teens!). What did we leave out?

    Zipping! The cabins are just about a 5-minute drive to Upstate Zipline’s office where your family can start your zipline adventure, zip through the trees AND mine for gems! We have all the details on that in our story on Upstate Zipline.

    You can zip and mine for gems without staying in the cabins, too. So, if you’re looking for a totally cool day trip, this would be fabulous.

    Zipline over Lake Keowee at Upstate Zipline

    My kids and I had never ziplined and we had the best time zipping through the trees and over the lake. It was such a great adventure to share together. The folks at Upstate Zipline are just about the kindest and most welcoming family ever. It was an absolute blast.

    Fun ziplining at Upstate Zipline

    And then we got to mine for gems at the sluice beside the office. My kids found amethyst, fossils, coral, and all kinds of treasures. They are still having fun identifying all their finds.

    Gem mining at Upstate Zipline
    Gem mining at Upstate Zipline

    For a unique family adventure, we really can’t recommend Upstate Zipline enough. Book your cabin for a couple of nights, zip, mine for gems, enjoy the lake, kayak, and most of all enjoy your family sitting together beside that campfire making s’mores. It doesn’t get much better than that.

    Book your stay or your event!

    Head to Upstate Zipline’s website for The Venue. You’ll find all the cabin information and event information right there!

    Upstate Zipline
    138 Museum Circle, Sunset, SC (Main Office)

    Maria Bassett

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  • Paris Hilton backs California bill to bring more transparency to youth treatment facilities

    Paris Hilton backs California bill to bring more transparency to youth treatment facilities

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Paris Hilton joined California state lawmakers Monday to push for legislation aimed at cracking down on the industry that cares for troubled teens by requiring more transparency from youth treatment facilities.

    The bill supported by the Hilton Hotel heiress and media personality aims to pry open information on how short-term residential facilities for youth dealing with substance abuse and behavioral issues use disciplinary methods such as restraints or seclusion against minors. It would require such centers to notify parents and the state any time they use restrains or seclusion rooms for minors. It’s authored by Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove and Democratic state Sens. Aisha Wahab and Angelique Ashby.

    On Monday, Hilton testified in a legislative hearing in support of the bill, detailing her harrowing abuse as a teenager at a facility in Utah that she said still haunts her and urging lawmakers to take actions before more children have to suffer similar treatment.

    “Our current system designed to reform, in some horrific instances, does the exact opposite,” Hilton told lawmakers Monday. “It breaks spirits and instills fear, and it perpetuates a cycle of abuse. But today, we have the power to change that.”

    The California bill passed committee with bipartisan support on Monday. Under the bill, facilities would have to report details such as what disciplinary actions were taken, why and who had approved the plan. The state department regulating the facilities also would be required to make public the reports and update the database on the quarterly basis. It would not ban the use of such practices.

    Hilton has become a prominent advocate for more oversight and regulation of teen treatment centers after publicly sharing the physical and mental abuse she suffered as a teenager. She alleged staff members would beat her, force her to take unknown pills, watch her shower and send her to solitary confinement without clothes as punishment.

    In 2021, her testimony about her experience at Utah’s Provo Canyon School helped pass a bill to impose stricter oversight over youth treatment centers in the state. Hilton has also traveled to Washington D.C. to advocate for federal reforms and helped changed laws to protect minors in at least eight states. Earlier this month, she spoke in support of boys sent to a private school for troubled teens in Jamaica.

    Hilton, whose company called 11:11 Media is sponsoring the bill, called the legislation “a game changer” that would shed light on child abuse at youth residential treatments and hold them accountable.

    “This would have been so helpful to myself and so many others to have known what was happening behind closed doors,” Paris said in an interview. “Because I was cut off from the outside world, I couldn’t tell my family anything, and that’s what they do.”

    Between 2015 and 2020, California sent more than 1,240 children with behavior problems to out-of-state facilities due to the lack of locked treatment centers for youths, according to Sen. Grove’s office. As reports about abuse happening at these programs emerged, including an incident where a 16-year-old boy died after being restrained for about 12 minutes at a Michigan facility, California also found significant licensing violations at these facilities and decided to do away with the program in 2020. Legislation passed in 2021 formally banned the use of out-of-state residential centers. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom also authorized $8 million to bring all the minors home by last year.

    Minors with behavioral issues are now sent to in-state short-term residential centers, which were created in 2017 to replace group homes. But under current laws, these facilities are not required to share information on how often they use seclusion rooms, restraints, and how many times those methods result in serious injuries or deaths.

    Children at these facilities make up one of the most vulnerable populations, including foster youths who have previously been sexually exploited, Grove said.

    “It’s a small but critical step to ensure the increased transparency and accountability for California’s children,” she said Monday.

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  • Legal Cannabis And Adolescent Use

    Legal Cannabis And Adolescent Use

    The Biden administration has finally asked for cannabis to be considering for rescheduling.  The industry has been a boon for states, veterans, patients, and everyday citizens who just want to relax.  But the old argument of if you legalize it, youth use will skyrocket is being paraded out.  But what are the facts about legal cannabis and adolescent use?

    RELATED: Science Says Medical Marijuana Improves Quality Of Life

    No one in the industry promotes youth use.  Product companies, dispensaries and farms are very focused on the adult market. There are no cartoon camels shilling joints to the under 18 crowd. The industry recognizes until the age of 21, the brain is still developing and use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana can have an impact.  Also, cannabis has clear medical benefits including help with chronic pain, seizures, cancer and more. Alcohol, which is clearly available, has no medical benefits and is much more harmful.

    Photo by Javi Julio Photography/Getty Images

    States have been watching how this works and have enacted marketing regulations and regionalized data information.. While more work needs to be done, there are studies who say if you have legal weed and adolescent use usually. declines it is on par with data collected.

    In addition, Gen Z is drifting away from alcohol to a more California lifestyle. This does not mean they do not use alcohol or marijuana at all, rather it means it isn’t increasing. A study from UC Davis says 16-18 year old use is about 30% compared to alcohol at 32%.

    In fact  the Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report found the percentage of high-schoolers who report having used cannabis over the past 30 days fell from 23 percent in 2011 to 16 percent in 2021. The decline was more pronounced among males than females.

    One study, published in the journal Substance Abuse, researchers from Harvard University, John Hopkins and the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission reviewed data from 46 states collected over a 24-year period.

    The study found that there is no evidence that suggests medical marijuana programs resulted in more cannabis consumption in teens. Overall, states with legal medical marijuana had fewer instances of teens consuming cannabis.

    RELATED: Washington Teens Used Less Marijuana Following Legalization

    “This study found no evidence between 1991 and 2015 of increases in adolescents reporting past 30-day marijuana use or heavy marijuana use associated with state MML [medical marijuana law] enactment or operational MML dispensaries,” cited researchers.

    Terry Hacienda

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  • Instagram begins blurring nudity in messages to protect teens and fight sexual extortion

    Instagram begins blurring nudity in messages to protect teens and fight sexual extortion

    LONDON — Instagram says it’s deploying new tools to protect young people and combat sexual extortion, including a feature that will automatically blur nudity in direct messages.

    The social media platform said in a blog post Thursday that it’s testing out the features as part of its campaign to fight sexual scams and other forms of “image abuse,” and to make it tougher for criminals to contact teens.

    Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading a person to send explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or engages in sexual favors. Recent high-profile cases include two Nigerian brothers who pleaded guilty to sexually extorting teen boys and young men in Michigan, including one who took his own life, and a Virginia sheriff’s deputy who sexually extorted and kidnapped a 15-year-old girl.

    Instagram and other social media companies have faced growing criticism for not doing enough to protect young people. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Instagram’s owner Meta Platforms, apologized to the parents of victims of such abuse during a Senate hearing earlier this year.

    Meta, which is based in Menlo Park, California, also owns Facebook and WhatsApp but the nudity blur feature won’t be added to messages sent on those platforms.

    Instagram said scammers often use direct messages to ask for “intimate images.” To counter this, it will soon start testing out a nudity-protection feature for direct messages that blurs any images with nudity “and encourages people to think twice before sending nude images.”

    “The feature is designed not only to protect people from seeing unwanted nudity in their DMs, but also to protect them from scammers who may send nude images to trick people into sending their own images in return,” Instagram said.

    The feature will be turned on by default globally for teens under 18. Adult users will get a notification encouraging them to activate it.

    Images with nudity will be blurred with a warning, giving users the option to view it. They’ll also get an option to block the sender and report the chat.

    For people sending direct messages with nudity, they will get a message reminding them to be cautious when sending “sensitive photos.” They’ll also be informed that they can unsend the photos if they change their mind, but that there’s a chance others may have already seen them.

    Instagram said it’s working on technology to help identify accounts that could be potentially be engaging in sexual extortion scams, “based on a range of signals that could indicate sextortion behavior.”

    To stop criminals from connecting with young people, it’s also taking measures including not showing the “message” button on a teen’s profile to potential sextortion accounts, even if they already follow each other, and testing new ways to hide teens from these accounts.

    In January, the FBI warned of a “huge increase” in sextortion cases targeting children — including financial sextortion, where someone threatens to release compromising images unless the victim pays. The targeted victims are often boys between the ages of 14 to 17, but the FBI said any child can become a victim. In the six-month period from October 2022 to March 2023, the FBI saw a more than 20% increase in reporting of financially motivated sextortion cases involving minor victims compared to the same period in the previous year.

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