www.abccolumbia.com – Associated Press – 2025-07-10 09:44:00

SUMMARY: Years of U.S.-led investment in AIDS programs drastically reduced AIDS deaths and provided life-saving medicines worldwide. However, since the U.S. abruptly withdrew \$4 billion in funding in January 2025 under President Trump, UNAIDS warns of a “systemic shock” risking over 4 million AIDS-related deaths and 6 million new HIV infections by 2029. The funding cut has destabilized health services, closed clinics, and disrupted prevention efforts in Africa and elsewhere. PEPFAR, launched in 2003, was vital in fighting HIV, supporting millions in testing and treatment. Experts fear the loss of U.S. support and HIV data will stall progress, despite new drugs offering hope.

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The post UN says if US funding for HIV programs is not replaced, millions more will die by 2029 appeared first on www.abccolumbia.com

carolinapublicpress.org – Kate Denning – 2025-07-10 07:02:00

by Kate Denning, Carolina Public Press
July 10, 2025

Public school regulation of cellphone use is now law in North Carolina after Gov. Josh Stein signed House Bill 959 last week. 

The new law prompts public schools to develop a wireless device policy that will limit students’ access to their cellphones and other wireless electronic devices throughout the school day. It will require the Department of Public Instruction to submit a yearly compliance report to legislators.

This completes the legislature’s mission to effectively ban cellphones in schools. This particular legislation was once a social media literacy bill aiming to “protect students in a digital age,” but previous failed attempts at cellphone regulation this session forced lawmakers to adapt.

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The signed bill calls on schools to require the regulation of students’ use of wireless communication devices during instructional time, as well as education on the dangers of social media, as was intended in the original legislation sponsored by state Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke. 

Wireless communication devices are defined in the bill as “any portable wireless device that has the capability to provide voice, messaging, or other data communication between two or more parties,” and includes cellphones, tablets, laptops, gaming devices, two-way radios and pagers. 

While the bill does not establish a policy itself, it requires public schools to develop their own and specifies that it shall “prohibit students from using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device turned on during instructional time.” 

It allows the schools to determine the consequences for violating the cellphone policy, including confiscation and further disciplinary measures as permitted by the school’s code of conduct. 

President of the North Carolina Association of Educators Tamika Walker Kelly told Carolina Public Press educators are overwhelmingly concerned about the impact of cellphones and social media on the learning environment. Students are technology consumers, and that doesn’t just stop because they are at school, she said.

“It does cause disruptions that are unrelated to the learning of our students, but more so peer-to-peer relationships in the classroom that spill over because of something that happened on social media,” Kelly said. 

“Educators do welcome the level of protecting the learning environment, not only for them as the facilitators of teaching in that space, but also especially for the students, so that they have a chance to engage with one another more authentically through person-to-person relationships, but also that they are able to have that focus on the academics.”

While each school will determine its own policy, the legislation will help maintain consistency in enforcement and potential consequences, Kelly said. It also removes a burden from teachers, who have tended to be responsible for setting and enforcing device policies on a classroom-by-classroom basis.

“This actually takes one more task out of the realm of the educator, gives it to the school district to not only train and equip their school leaders, principals, assistant principals across the board, but also school district staff on how to encourage that enforcement because it allows the educator in the room to teach and not have to worry about policing cellphones in the classroom,” Kelly said.

The bill leaves room for exceptions to the cellphone law, including if a device is needed in accordance with a student’s individualized education plan or to manage a student’s health care and for educational purposes or in the event of an emergency if authorized by the teacher.

Some lawmakers raised concerns about the bill’s restrictions. Prior to the Senate’s vote, state Sen. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, said while he was generally on board with the bill, requiring students turn their phones off gave him pause.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in the last 15 years making sure that we promote the proliferation of handguns and firearms,” Everitt said. 

“Now we’re waiting on a veto override so we can get guns in the hands of 18 year olds with concealed carry without a permit. We’re making this state more and more dangerous, and more and more dangerous for our kids at school, and what I don’t want is for some child — we’ve all heard the 911 calls, those last moments when they’re calling for help or wanting a kind word from their parents or some sort of comfort — I don’t want their last moments to be spent waiting for their phone to turn on.”

For that reason, it will be important for districts to engage families when crafting its cellphone policy and create it with these safety concerns in mind, Kelly said. 

“Parents and caregivers do really have concerns, and one of the reasons why they give their children cellphones is because they have great concerns around school safety,” she said. 

“It’s really important to establish guidelines and be overly communicative with parents around their safety concerns so that they understand why we want to have cellphone free learning environments. But it doesn’t mean that students won’t have access to ways to communicate in case there is a school safety emergency on campus.”

Kelly noted that many schools and classrooms have systems like cellphone cubbies or lockers that allow students’ phones to be nearby, but not physically on their persons during instruction time, which could alleviate some parents’ concerns. 

State Rep. Neal Jackson, R-Moore, said this very system at Union Pine High School is what gave him inspiration for House Bill 87, one of the first attempts at cellphone regulation earlier this year.

Social media instruction and cellphones

In addition to cellphone regulation, the bill maintained its initial goal of providing social media education.

All districts will be required to include instruction on social media and effects on health at least once during elementary school, once during middle school and twice during high school beginning at the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

Legislators view the instruction as related to cellphone use, as these are a key means by which students access social media.

According to the new law, the instruction must include education on the negative effects of social media on:

• mental health such as addiction
• the distribution of misinformation on social media, methods of manipulating behavior using social media
• the permanency of information shared online, how to maintain personal security
• how to identify cyberbullying
• predatory behavior and human trafficking on the internet
• how to report suspicious behavior encountered on the internet
• personal and interpersonal skills or character education that enhances individual level protective factors and mitigates or reduces risk-taking or harmful behavior 

Bipartisanship

The cellphone and social media bill passed unanimously in the House and with just one negative vote in the Senate. Both chambers have strong Republican majorities.

The governor, a Democrat, praised the bill, highlighting its bipartisanship and alignment with a report issued by the Advisory Council on Student Safety and Well-being, a council Stein organized earlier this year with the intention of focusing on student safety and cellphones in classrooms.

“When teachers don’t have to compete with cellphones for student attention, real learning happens,” Stein said in a press release. 

“This bipartisan bill gives students a distraction-free learning environment so they can focus on their education, and it provides a seven-hour mental break from the unrelenting pressures of phones and social media.

“Earlier this month, my Advisory Council on Student Safety and Well-being released its first report recommending this step and outlining best practices for creating cellphone-free classrooms.

“It will serve as a resource for our school systems as they implement these common-sense policies. I appreciate the General Assembly’s work here. Let’s keep working together to set up North Carolina students for success.” 

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Cellphone use in schools to be regulated under new NC law appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org

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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

The article presents the cellphone regulation law in North Carolina in a mostly factual and balanced tone, highlighting bipartisan support and quoting lawmakers from both parties. However, the inclusion of concerns raised by a Democratic senator linking cellphone restrictions with broader gun policy issues, as well as the positive framing of social media education and student mental health, reflects a subtle emphasis on progressive social concerns like student wellbeing and safety. The article’s respectful portrayal of educator and parental perspectives alongside bipartisan cooperation suggests a center-left leaning, supportive of regulatory measures aimed at improving educational environments without strong ideological rhetoric.

www.youtube.com – WPDE ABC15 – 2025-07-09 09:53:50

SUMMARY: Over 170 people are missing after devastating floods hit Texas Hill Country, more than triple initial estimates, fueled by holiday weekend visitors staying off the official radar. Families like Thad Heartfield’s are personally joining search efforts, desperate to find loved ones. The Department of Homeland Security, overseeing FEMA, has granted Texas supplemental funds to support recovery, promising a new FEMA response model. Longtime resident reactions reveal the depth of loss—homes, antiques, and heirlooms destroyed in moments. Despite the shock and destruction, the community unites, with neighbors rallying to support and aid those affected amid this ongoing tragedy.

It has been five days since catastrophic flooding hit Texas on what was supposed to be a joyous Fourth of July, and at least 170 people are still missing in Kerr County as the death toll across the state rises to 111.

Rescue teams in helicopters and on horseback continue to scour through debris as officials warned that unaccounted victims could still be found.

“Know this: We will not stop until every missing person is accounted for. Know this also: There very likely could be more added to that list,” Gov. Greg Abbott said during a news conference Tuesday.

Public officials in charge of locating the victims were grilled during a news conference about their response to the Friday morning flooding, with several reporters appearing to get heated when an answer could not be provided.

Read more: https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/texas-flood-rescue-efforts-intensify-as-number-of-missing-hits-triple-digits-kerrville-kerr-county-fourth-of-july-death-toll-search-and-rescue-gov-greg-abbott-camp-mystic-emergency-response-president-trump-major-disaster#

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