Global:

Closed AI
The race to innovate new artificial intelligence (AI) continues to ramp up, but a new market has emerged: private defense and security. While previous iterations were immediately made available to the general public as chatbots, new strides like Anthropic’s Mythos model are being restricted to private use out of concern over their newfound ability to discover and exploit cracks in other sites’ security. AI has already been deployed in physical warfare, and this development could extend its use to cyber attacks and other hacks.

War and a Piece of the Japanese Constitution
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may be trying to revise the country’s constitution to remove Article 9, which prohibits Japan from resorting to military force against other countries. Created by American authorities during the post-World War II occupation, the “pacifist” constitution was intended to prevent Japan from engaging in further warfare. Now, some members of the majority Liberal Democratic Party want to remove Article 9, one of a number of proposed changes to the governing document that Japan’s legislature is considering.

National:

Galaga?
This year’s annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner was interrupted by an armed intruder with plans to assassinate President Donald Trump. Cole Allen, an engineer from Los Angeles, charged past security in an attempt to reach the press gala, which the president was attending. After firing at Allen but missing, Secret Service agents tackled and arrested the perpetrator. Security evacuated top officials as the event disbanded.

Canvas Hackers Triumph
Throughout the first week of May, the crime group ShinyHunters mounted a hacking campaign on the learning management system Canvas. Although Instructure, the company that owns Canvas, initially indicated that the breach was under control, ShinyHunters downed the website for all of its 275 million users on May 7. The URL led only to a ransom message that threatened to release user data without payment. More than 8,000 Canvas clients, including hundreds of American universities and school districts, lost access until Instructure resolved the outage on May 8. Instructure later announced that they agreed to pay ShinyHunters to delete the stolen data.

State:

Jobs Council Gets to Work
On March 16, Governor Greg Abbott launched the Texas Jobs Council to address worker shortages in the state. Brent Taylor, a Teamsters leader, and Megan Mauro, the interim president of the Texas Association of Business, will co-chair the 12-member council. It is made up of union and industry officials and administrators whom Abbott appointed to find ways the state can reduce government regulations that could slow development of the workforce. Abbott, who visited South Texas on a brief speaking tour to promote the advisory board, announced that it was a response to the need for skilled infrastructure workers as business in Texas expands. He specified that the council would pursue training for professions like welding, technician work, and plumbing.

Corpus Christi’s Water Blues
Corpus Christi may be the first Texas city to run out of public water. After seven years of drought, the City of Corpus Christi reports that its reservoirs are diminished to 8% of their full volume, and officials are considering expanding restrictions on home water use, which have been in place since 2023. The port city’s water is strained by the industrial plants who export materials and fuel and consume 60% of municipal water provisions according to KRIS 6 News Corpus Christi.

Local:

Are Our Springs Safe?/The Ideal Spring
A proposed expansion of MoPac Expressway has generated pushback from the environmental group Save Our Springs Alliance (SOS). SOS launched the Better MoPac Coalition to oppose the plan and filed a lawsuit against the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), which launched the project to ease congestion. The suit challenges CTRMA’s choice to withhold public comments concerning the construction submitted on their website.

Obama Visits Austin
The restaurant Taco Joint now shares one experience with the White House: Barack Obama came, made some people happy, and left. On May 12, former President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to the Tex-Mex venue. He accompanied two Democrats running for statewide office in Texas: State Senator James Talarico, a candidate for the Senate seat, and State Representative Gina Hinojosa, running for governor.

Engulfed in Extinction

Nik Bayer, Staff Writer • May 29, 2026

There may be no winners in war, but it seems certain that endangered species are among the losers of the ongoing Iran conflict. On March...

Autonomous Cars Hit the Streets

Phoenix Gerome, Staff Writer • May 29, 2026

Some people fear a future dominated by technology. Others embrace it. Austin is already living it. Major U.S. cities, including Austin, Chicago,...

KUT Fest a Hit Despite Venue Change

Jack Zipfel, Staff Writer • May 29, 2026

A last-minute change of venue didn’t stop the first KUT Festival from attracting hundreds of visitors to hear speakers, music, and discussions...

Commentary

Should American Teens Have Access to Social Media?

Clementine Davis, Staffer

May 20, 2026

For better or for worse, social media is everywhere, especially in high school. Whether you are sharing funny TikToks, using Snapchat to communicate with your friends, or posting on Instagram, it’s pretty much inescapable. But do its positives outweigh its negatives? And would it really be such a bad thing if younger teens couldn’t access it?

A 2024 study from the Pew Research center found that 95% of American teens report using social media at least once a day. This includes apps like YouTube, SnapChat, TikTok, Instagram, and many more. But recently, countries have taken steps to decrease the use of social media by teens. Most notably, on December 10, 2025, Australia banned the use of social media by teens under the age of 16. This ban is the first of its kind, and, according to an article by BBC news, is being enforced through financial penalties to major social media companies for allowing under-16s onto their apps. This can be prevented through many different requirements, such as government IDs or facial/vocal recognition. The U.S. had considered an act preventing social media use in people under the age of 13 called the Kids off Social Media Act, but this was struck down due to privacy concerns and worries on its effectiveness.

I propose a ban similar to Australia’s. As a 15 year old, while I enjoy the freedom that I have to browse YouTube and scroll Pinterest, I think that an age limit of 16 on most social media is a step that could improve the mental health and body images of teens my age. Excessive use of social media has long been correlated with depression and anxiety. Studies, including one by the American Psychology Association in 2023, have found a prominent connection between time spent on social media and negative body image. They discovered that when teens reduced their social media use by 50%, they became largely less insecure about their physical appearance.

There are objections to a ban like this. A big concern is whether or not it would work. Because bans like these are so recent, there is no data proving one way or the other, but I believe that something is much better than nothing. Kids will always find a way around the law ― it’s impossible to entirely stamp out the usage of social media in teens. Let’s compare it to the law against personal communication devices at LASA ― is it perfect? No. However, it has made an extreme difference in how present students are in their studies, and it has decreased the use of phones by a large amount.

Another popular worry is that it would deprive teens without healthy or supported home lives from accessing vital resources, like mental health help, sexual education, and just general support. This is an incredibly important concern and should be considered. I do, however, believe that because of the limited scope of this potential act and how many apps it wouldn’t be able to effect that this access to the outside world could still be maintained. For example, in Australia, alternative social apps like Lemon8 have seen a spike in downloads.

A ban preventing people under the age of 16 using social media could be an incredibly helpful tool used to decrease screen time and insecurity in adolescents. It isn’t perfect and would involve some trial and error, but I believe that it is important for our country to protect ourselves and future generations.

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