Japanese Town Removes Controversial Photo Barrier
Officials in the town of Fujikawaguchiko in Japan have taken down a giant black net that had blocked a popular view of Mount Fuji. This decision comes after months of controversy and backlash from both tourists and locals. This issue highlights the problem of “overtourism” in Japan. Photo Spot Proves Too Popular Mount Fuji is […]
Senate Passes Bill to Protect Minors Online
The U.S. Senate passed two bills to increase the protection of children and teens online. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), and the Children and Teen’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) were approved with a vote of 91-3 on July 30, 2024. The COPPA 2.0 bill is sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., […]
Montana Bans TikTok
If you’re like many Americans, you probably spend time on the popular social media app TikTok. In fact, about 150 million Americans say they use it regularly. But the governor of Montana has now signed a law banning the app, and other states are likely to follow suit. Is this legal? And how will these […]
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Archaeologists Discover Ancient Gold Coins On October 3, 2022, Israeli archeologists found forty-four pure gold coins hidden in a wall in the Golan Heights. The coins date back to the seventh century and weigh about six ounces each. They feature the faces of Byzantine emperors Phocas and Heraclius. Scientists believe that the coins were hidden […]
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Glass Half Full or Half Empty? The world’s most used natural resource is water. Can you guess the second-most-used resource? It’s not coal or trees: it’s sand. Every year, the world uses fifty billion tons of silica sand. (That’s enough sand to build a wall more than 88 feet high and 88 feet wide around […]
YOU DECIDE: School Social Media Free Speech Case
As a student, what are you allowed to say–and not allowed to say–on social media? That’s the question at the heart of a recent Supreme Court ruling. A high school student from Pennsylvania is at the center of the case. She posted her frustration on Snapchat after not making the varsity cheerleading team. Here, btw […]
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A New Look for the Colosseum The Colosseum in Rome has been around since the first century. And now, it’s getting an update. The Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre (because it was built during the Flavian dynasty), is the largest amphitheater in the world. It’s also one of the most famous landmarks anywhere, […]
Social Media and the 2020 Election
The most recent story on Election Central sees how social media companies are pledging to label their content to help the public stay informed on correct election information. More and more Americans getting their news from social media rather than from traditional news outlets. Companies such as Twitter and Facebook must now take increased responsibility […]
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George Floyd’s Death Spurs Public Protests Last week, a 46-year-old Minneapolis man named George Floyd was killed by police officers. Floyd–who was unarmed–was handcuffed and made to lie face-down on the street while an officer named Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck. Bystander video of the incident shows Floyd begging for the officer to stop […]
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Batterygate Were you an iPhone user before 2018? If so, did you find that your phone slowed down dramatically, or turned off unexpectedly? You’re not alone. Turns out, Apple deliberately slowed down the processors of iPhone6s, iPhone7, and the original iPhoneSE without notifying its customers that it was doing so. This slowing down is called […]