Meta reaches landmark $18 billion settlement with states in trial over teen social media addiction

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Meta agreed Wednesday to pay up to $18 billion and add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms as part of a landmark legal settlement that ended a trial over teen social media addiction and settled claims filed by nearly every state.

The settlement resolved a pivotal case years in the making that sought to hold the tech giant accountable for the role its platforms played in undermining children’s mental health. The effort targeted features designed to hook young people’s attention.

The agreement “institutes real change, real transparency, real protections for children and teens across the country,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

If approved by the court, the deal will stop an avalanche of litigation by states against Meta, although the company still faces lawsuits from individuals and school districts throughout the U.S. For the states, the settlement delivers money for mental-health programs for kids, including after-school or summer activities and digital literacy counselors.

Arts & Life team taste-tests new Kraft concoction

Prepare your tongue for the ultimate thrill, as Kraft Dinner has once again veered wildly out of its box and into new territory.

Tundra Inn renovations highlight Churchill’s ‘growth potential’

Frontiers North Adventures has completed a major renovation and expansion of the Tundra Inn in Churchill, modernizing one of the northern Manitoba community’s best-known hotels.

The project added 21 new guest rooms and expanded common areas, bringing the total room count to 44. (The net increase was 13 guest rooms, after an aging section of the building containing eight rooms was demolished.)

Lisa-Joy Gunter, president and co-owner of Frontiers North Adventures, said the project was driven by a desire to improve the guest experience and invest in the community.

“It really just needed an update,” Gunter said on Tuesday.

Northern Manitoba mobile MRI makes first move in 15 months

Northern Manitoba’s mobile MRI made its first move since it began scanning in Thompson nearly 15 months ago, setting up shop Monday in The Pas.

Waverley West council candidates say city services haven’t kept up with fastest-growing ward

A new city councillor will be elected this fall to lead Winnipeg’s fastest-growing ward that remains short on city services despite it being the most populated.

Software engineer who built lessons on AI for kids was ‘terrified’ into action

When Mohamad Alhamoud witnessed his young son ask an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to do his homework for him, the software engineer felt “terrified.”

It was midway through the 2024-25 school year and the boy, then a Grade 3 student in Winnipeg’s Louis Riel School Division, had been tasked with inventing something new.

“This was supposed to be his moment of innovation, of imagination, of trying to come up with something on his own,” Alhamoud said.

The father of three has since turned his panic into motivation to help his kids and their classmates become digitally literate.

How to reset your child’s sleep schedule for back-to-school season

NEW YORK (AP) — After a summer of vacations and late nights, it's time to set those back-to-school alarms.

A good night’s sleep helps students stay focused and attentive in class. Experts say it's worth easing kids back into a routine with the start of a new school year.

“We don't say ‘ get good sleep ’ just because,” said pediatrician Dr. Gabrina Dixon with Children's National Hospital. “It really helps kids learn and it helps them function throughout the day.”

The amount of sleep kids need changes as they age. Preschoolers should get up to 13 hours of sleep. Tweens need between nine and 12 hours. Teenagers do best with eight to 10 hours of shut-eye.

Library opera shows let kids take control of the action

Virtually everyone would choose a treat over a mouldy sandwich. But the youngsters attending Rufus and Rita in Winnipeg libraries often choose the latter.

A bigger grid, and a tougher one

The Free Press editorial of Aug. 21, Time for a stronger Canadian grid, makes a case that should unsettle anyone who read it. A co-ordinated attack on nine substations could bring down the American electrical grid.

Earth is simmering in its hottest water temps on record, and that’s bad for fish and us

The world's oceans simmered to their hottest temperatures on record over the weekend and are likely to warm even further in the next few months, putting stress on life in the water and on land too, the European climate service Copernicus announced Monday.

Spurred by a still growing but already supersized natural El Nino and human-caused climate change, the world's ocean temperatures hit 21.1 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday and Saturday, narrowly edging out the average daily record set in March 2024, said Samantha Burgess, strategic climate lead for Copernicus.

“This is yet another sign of our climate system under strain and the ocean under immense pressure,” Burgess said.

Jane Lubchenco, an oceanographer and former chief of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called the record “very troubling.”

Quebecers support a right to cooling during heat waves, poll finds

MONTRÉAL - A new Léger poll has found that three-quarters of Quebecers support recognizing a so-called right to coolness that would guarantee safe places during heat waves.

Overall, 74 per cent of survey respondents said they support the Quebec government recognizing a person's right to living conditions that include temperatures that are considered safe for human health. Sixteen per cent of respondents said they were opposed, while 10 per cent declined to say.

The results also show that 64 per cent of respondents have experienced at least one effect of extreme heat over the past three years.

Those can include headaches, sleep disturbances or breathing difficulties, as well as a need to adjust daily or work activities.

Cool spots for more summer sweets

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream. Missed seeing your favourite ice cream joint in last month’s Chill Out feature? Cheer up: we’ve compiled our reader suggestions.

Pretty, purple and pernicious plants plaguing Prairies

After noticing mysterious purple flowers popping up in little patches around the Wolseley neighbourhood last summer, Vic Penner didn’t give it too much thought.

However, this summer, the deceivingly beautiful flowers were impossible to ignore.

“They were just everywhere,” said Penner, 37.

Wolseley isn’t the only neighbourhood being overrun by the plant.

Winnipeg team behind national LGBT monument spent six years bringing it to fruition

The Winnipeg team behind a national monument recognizing the LGBT Purge were in Ottawa to celebrate its official unveiling Friday.

Thunderhead is the work of local artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Liz Wreford and Peter Sampson of Public City Architecture, and knowledge keeper Albert McLeod, who served as cultural adviser for the project.

The team beat out 31 international submissions for the project, which is permanently located at 201 Wellington St. in Ottawa along the Ottawa River, in view of Parliament.

“We are a beacon internationally around the world of what democracies can do about inclusion, about human rights,” McLeod said.

Mobility tests can tell doctors a lot about how you’re aging, but there are many other factors

Hand grip strength. Balance tests. Standing up from a seated position on the floor. These physical challenges are often touted as measurements of healthy aging and even predictors of longevity.

They can provide valuable indications of your stamina and strength. They can estimate the risk of falls, which increase older adults ' risk of death. And they're useful to doctors who work to address aging or people with injuries.

But they're no crystal ball.

“A poor or declining result is a reason for a health professional to investigate why function is changing, rather than gauging how long someone will live,” said Auriel Willette, an expert on brain aging at Rutgers University.

Residents fear mailbox crime sprees

Some North End residents are concerned new community mailboxes will become a target for vandalism and crime after the base of one was recently lit ablaze — before it was even installed.

The community mailboxes started to show up on Andrews Street within the last two weeks. Some have been installed, while at other locations, only the concrete foundation is in place.

“They just dumped them on the boulevard,” said Stephen Giesbrecht, who lives beside one of the boxes in the St. John’s neighbourhood. “They dumped them on the corner and then they were gone.”

One of the concrete slabs has already played host to a fire and some of the hardware needed to install the mailbox melted.

Préserver à bout de bras

La Maison Gabrielle-Roy s’apprête à abattre trois ormes plantés devant le musée depuis 1905. Une décision prise à contrecœur pour assurer la sécurité du bâtiment et du voisinage, mais qui illustre surtout les défis financiers auxquels sont confrontés les petits organismes patrimoniaux, contraints de jongler entre entretien, programmation culturelle et ressources limitées.

Avec beaucoup de peine, la Maison Gabrielle-Roy va de l’avant pour faire abattre les trois ormes qui trônent devant le musée depuis plus d’un siècle.

Du fait de leur grand âge et de la météo difficile de ces derniers mois, c’est un peu dos au mur que le conseil d’administration a pris la décision de couper ces arbres.

Une décision jugée “très importante” par la présidente du CA Louise Plamondon.

Ahava Rabba’s alternative service attracts alternative Jews

Winnipeg Jewish community members have always had several options to choose from when it comes to deciding where to attend High Holiday services.

Those options have included local ultra-orthodox, orthodox, conservative and reform synagogues — many of which have shut down, moved or merged over the decades — as well as a variety of other alternatives that have been offered on and off at summer camps, nursing homes, private homes, hotels and rented spaces throughout the city.

When the 2026 High Holidays begin with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year at sunset on Friday, Sept. 11, there will be one more option for community members to consider.

That option is a new service being hosted on the second morning of the holiday, Sept. 13, by Ahava Rabba, a fledgling grassroots congregation that began meeting almost a year ago and is coming together for the Jewish New Year for the first time ever. Ahava Rabba, which translates from the Hebrew as Abundant Love, takes its name from the blessing that observant Ashkenazi Jews recite every morning just before the Sh’ma, Judaism’s central declaration of faith.

Rail-traffic alert beacons, signs will give drivers chance to change routes, save time

A new rail-crossing alert system will help Winnipeg drivers avoid train delays.

Roadside TRAINFO beacons and digital message boards will now flash at locations prior to select rail crossings. They will alert drivers to approaching trains, with adequate time to let them choose an alternate route and avoid the wait.

The flashing beacons are now located at the following high train-traffic spots:

Pandora Avenue at Day Street, Redonda Street and Ravenhurst Street, to note trains at the Ravenhurst rail crossing north of Dugald Road.East and west of the multiple rail crossings on Marion Avenue between Archibald Street and Lagimodiere Boulevard, to note trains along the corridor.At the intersection of McGillivray Boulevard and Waverley Street, to note trains crossing McGillivray at Pembina Highway.Digital message sign boards will also be placed on Sterling Lyon Boulevard and Kenaston Boulevard to note when trains are present at the McGillivray/Pembina crossing.

Winnipeg’s postwar architecture well-documented by online archive

We live in a city rich with Chicago School high rises, mid-century modernism and much more. And, for the past three decades, Paul Clerkin has amassed arguably the most comprehensive archive of this architecture.

‘How can we grow back the herd in Canada?’

Amid high beef prices and trade uncertainty, a Farm Credit Canada executive touched down in Winnipeg with a message: it’s time for cattle producers to grow.

“What they face right now is … opportunity,” said Jean-Philippe Gervais, the federal Crown corporation’s executive vice-president of agricultural production.

Gervais was representing FCC, the country’s top agricultural lender, at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference.

He spoke to the Free Press ahead of his keynote speech Thursday afternoon. Hundreds of cattle farmers and industry leaders gathered at the RBC Convention Centre for the four-day event, which began on Monday.

Texas barbecue is getting a halal makeover

FORT WORTH, Texas (RNS) — At 9 a.m. on a scorching Saturday in June, nearly 100 people were already lined up outside Goldee’s BBQ, a small, wooden-shack restaurant.

First in line was 30-year-old Thanh Huynh, who had been sitting in a lawn chair on the joint’s rustic porch since 6:30 a.m.

“I have, like, a whole list, and I’m going to spend lots of money here. It’ll be worth it,” he said, laughing while rattling off a long order of meats and sides from his phone’s Notes app as a sweet, smoky scent from nearby pits hung in the air.

Opened in 2020 by a group of his friends, the restaurant was named the No. 1 barbecue spot in the state by Texas Monthly a year later, and then won a Bib Gourmand award from the prestigious Michelin Guide, given for “great food at a great value.”