A safer ‘net for kids: The Kids Online Safety Act is worth passing

Whether it’s TikTok or Instagram or Snapchat or some yet-to-be-released app sure to enrapture its users, it’s pretty clear — to us, at least — that too many young people are now spending too much of their time falling all the way down shallow-yet-deep online rabbit holes designed by profit-hungry companies to draw them in.

It’s surreal when the lie machine comes for your hometown

Whether it’s TikTok or Instagram or Snapchat or some yet-to-be-released app sure to enrapture its users, it’s pretty clear — to us, at least — that too many young people are now spending too much of their time falling all the way down shallow-yet-deep online rabbit holes designed by profit-hungry companies to draw them in.

Redefining America’s political lingua franca

A seismic shift has occurred in America’s race, identity and power discourse. Like tectonic plates beneath the Earth’s surface, long-held assumptions are adjusting and giving way to a reimagined lingua franca for civic engagement. This revived language of liberation redefines the terms of debate. It empowers us to reclaim and reinvigorate words once weaponized principally against marginalized communities.

Want cheaper grocery bills? Give kids free school meals

For American households, the good news is that inflation rates have largely returned to pre-pandemic levels. Perhaps most importantly, economists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture predict that gains in food price will continue to moderate. Indeed, data compiled by Adobe Inc. shows that online grocery prices fell 3.7% in August from a month earlier, the largest decline since the firm began tracking the numbers in 2014.

Could Tyreek Hill’s traffic stop have ended differently?

The Tyreek Hill rough takedown case is still unfolding, but one thing has become clear: From the moment Miami-Dade police officers yanked the Dolphins star player by the neck from his gull-wing McLaren and forced him to the ground last Sunday, a routine traffic stop in South Florida became part of the painful, national discussion about driving while Black and use of force by police.

Irwin: Some thoughts about leadership

A new friend recently asked me what I think my job is. Leadership being so hard to define, I often reply that I go to meetings and I sign stuff. That indeed is how I spend much of my time. There are also the events, of course — receptions, athletic competitions, dinners and luncheons — and at each of those events, I know my attendance is representative not only of me personally but also of the university as a whole.

Not a value ad: Google’s ad services monopoly needs to end

This week began the federal antitrust trial against Google for alleged monopolistic practices when it comes to the online advertising space, with the Justice Department contending that the company has outsize dominion over what is a lifeline for industries including online publishing. Google, of course, doesn’t see it that way.

COUNTERPOINT: JD Vance speaks for rural America

Far too often, rural Americans feel ignored by presidential campaigns. While elites in Washington, New York and Los Angeles generate the headlines, focusing primarily on the two coasts, Americans outside major cities continue to fly under the radar.

POINT: Walz wants policies to empower rural Americans

After rural voters turned out big for Donald Trump, a narrative emerged that rural America was made up of majority White communities who used to vote reliably Democratic but had shifted right. The emergence of Tim Walz and JD Vance in this election cycle offers a chance for a deeper understanding of rural America, the Americans who live there — and what each candidate’s policies would do for these communities.