SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California and South Carolina could become the next states to limit cellphone use in schools, with state officials taking up the issue Tuesday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is sending letters to school districts, urging them to restrict students’ use of smartphones on campus. South Carolina’s State Board of Education took up guidelines … Read more
MEXICO CITY — The smell of hairspray clouds Alexa Flores López as she gets the finishing touches of an intricate updo on her thick black hair. When Alexa found out she was going to have a quinceañera — the traditional celebration for a 15th birthday in Mexico — she could barely contain herself. “She got … Read more
Within hours of Vice President Kamala Harris announcing her running mate, certain corners of the internet had exploded with “Tampon Tim” memes, a reference to a bill that Tim Walz signed ensuring free period products in Minnesota public schools. Republicans gleefully used the policy to take yet another jab at trans kids. The object of their ire? The bill’s inclusive language, which … Read more
Photo: Jaromir Chalabala / Getty LONDON — The evidence linking smartphone use with mental health harms in children is growing and one grassroots organization in the U.K. is supporting parents who are refraining from giving their kids the devices. Smartphone Free Childhood, founded by Daisy Greenwell and Clare Fernyhough in February, set up various group … Read more
Now well into her 80s, prolific American author Joyce Carol Oates keeps cranking out the books, most recently the disturbing novel “Butcher.” The author of more than 50 novels, including “Blonde, ” a fictional account of the life of Marilyn Monroe, Oates has often drawn from historical people and events. In “Butcher,” she pulls from … Read more
NEW YORK — It’s fitting that Kecia Lewis has had her most successful theater season while playing a mentor. The Broadway veteran — now celebrating 40 years in the business — portrays the formidable piano teacher Miss Liza Jane in “Hell’s Kitchen” who inspires the show’s young heroine to embrace music. “Sit. Learn,” she says … Read more
Carlton Gillespie | Miami Herald (TNS) Hennessy Sepulveda thought she was going to die. “I began dissociating as I was driving. I was 10 minutes away from my house. My vision started warping and the lights were hitting me really bright,” she said. “I felt my chest pounding, I felt a wave of panic hit … Read more
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 … Read more
RIO DE JANEIRO — Dozens of kids and teenagers from Rio de Janeiro’s Mare neighborhood gathered for the launch of a book in which they show, with their own words and pictures, how violence in their poor, bayside community weighs on their young lives. The book, titled “I Was Supposed to be at School,” features … Read more
WASHINGTON — Download the mental health chatbot Earkick and you’re greeted by a bandana-wearing panda who could easily fit into a kids’ cartoon. Start talking or typing about anxiety and the app generates the kind of comforting, sympathetic statements therapists are trained to deliver. The panda might then suggest a guided breathing exercise, ways to … Read more