Newswatch Media State-by-State
Arkansas
Arkansas Attorney General suing Discord and Roblox
June 22, 2026 07:55 PM EDT
Fort Smith Television, LLC.
AG Tim Griffin says Discord and Roblox will be held accountable for putting the safety of children at risk.
California
Loud streaming ads woke a baby — now a California law will turn them down
June 22, 2026 02:00 PM EDT
The Desert Sun.
A California law inspired by a startled baby will require streaming services to keep ad volume in line with the content starting July 1.
Florida
Angie Nixon posts Florida Channel footage on social media despite restriction on campaign use
June 22, 2026 11:50 AM EDT
The Miami Times
As Angie Nixon runs for U.S. Senate, she has touted her record speaking for progressive policy on the House floor.
Illinois
Pritzker plans to sign social media law despite criticisms
June 22, 2026 04:27 PM EDT
The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Illinois may now face one less potential hurdle enacting a law requiring social media and other online platforms to verify the age of users and restrict
Illinois
Will Illinois' new social media tax be struck down in court? Legal challenges likely as first-in-nation law takes shape
June 22, 2026 03:47 PM EDT
Yahoo! Inc.
The tax applies to platforms with more than 100,000 Illinois users, with fees increasing as user counts rise.
Illinois
'Half-baked' Illinois social media tax poised to tee up court challenges
June 22, 2026 09:00 AM EDT
Cities 929.
Illinois is poised to be headed back into court to defend another constitutionally questionable law, as tech companies and internet freedom advocates this time take aim at a new measure, jammed through with virtually no discussion by D...
Iowa
Iowa Anchor Chokes Up During Last Broadcast, Protests 'Sanitized News' On-Air: 'Facts Matter' | Video
June 21, 2026 12:52 PM EDT
The Wrap.
Iowa KWQC's morning anchor Dustin Nolan announced his depature from the station Friday in an emotional message
Missouri
Missouri's costly cut to young readers
June 21, 2026 05:00 PM EDT
Qatar Tribune
<p>When it comes to preparing young children for successful lives, few factors weigh more heavily than early reading.</p><p>A Harvard Graduate School of Education study found that reading to children starting very early — even as babies — gives them measurable advantages later over those who don’t have that exposure. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that “reading together with infants and young children … lays the groundwork for school readiness and long-term benefits throughout life.”</p><p>Providing kids with that early benefit is surely even more crucial in a state like Missouri, with its chronically underfunded and underperforming education system.</p><p>Yet, in the latest stark illustration of the skewed priorities of state’s leaders, Missouri’s new budget guts a nationally lauded, modestly priced book-gifting program for young kids to achieve $4 million in savings — an inconsequential sum in the state’s bigger budget picture. Gov. Mike Kehoe and the Legislature can and must undo this shortsighted mistake.</p><p>Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a renowned program that mails one free age-appropriate book a month to children from birth to age 5. Operating in all 50 states (as well as overseas), it is funded in part by the Dollywood Foundation, along with public and private support.</p><p>Missouri has had a special relationship with the program since 2024, when it became the first state to fully fund it. Parton, the country music superstar, joined then-Gov. Mike Parson in Kansas City in August of that year in a celebration recognizing the milestone.</p><p>Parson declared it “Imagination Library of Missouri” Day and praised both Parton and the program for bringing literacy to kids. The following year, Missouri’s state-funded program handed out 1.9 million books — significantly more than the 1.6 million that its much larger neighbor Illinois handed out that year.</p><p>That was then. In state budget negotiations this year, Gov. Kehoe, scraping for savings wherever they could be found amid predictions of coming budgetary shortfalls, asked the Legislature to nix $4 million of the $6 million that had been requested for the program in Fiscal 2027.</p><p>That the cut wasn’t widely reported during the flurry of budgetary action last month isn’t surprising; $4 million out of a total budget of more than $50 billion is little more than a rounding error.</p><p>Press coverage of the budget has focused largely on bigger issues — like the$190 million it shorts the state’s education foundation formula. Missouri’s weak education system is all the more reason to help kids get a head start with this low-cost book program.</p><p>While the $4 million cut barely registers within the state budget, the impact on the ground is literally existential to the program.</p><p>There were almost 170,000 Missouri kids enrolled in the program as of the end of March. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which administers it, says it won’t enroll additional kids in the program after July 1. Those already enrolled will continue to receive books until the money runs out.</p><p>Then the books — the reading — will stop.</p><p>As word of the cut has gotten out, it has seen a surge of local, state and even national media coverage in recent weeks. Had that happened during last month’s budget negotiations, we’re guessing it never would have ended up on the chopping block. But again, it’s not a level of money that either policymakers, lobbyists or journalists are focused on when billions of dollars are being bandied about.</p><p>Sometimes, dollar amounts don’t begin to define the value of something.</p><p>“They can’t wait to go to the mailbox and get that little book,” Parton told her Kansas City audience two years ago, “and they’re going to take it in the house and they’re going to make somebody read to them.”</p><p>Missouri’s constitution doesn’t allow the governor to unilaterally restore funding that wasn’t appropriated by the Legislature. But he can seek a supplemental appropriation to restore the $4 million and the Legislature can grant it. And that’s what should happen, as soon as possible.</p>
New Mexico
New Mexico prisons' policy not a valid reason to hide use-of-force records, Supreme Court says
June 22, 2026 01:00 AM EDT
The Santa Fe New Mexican.
The state's highest court issued the opinion earlier this month as part of a five-year legal battle initiated by the ACLU.
Ohio
Court lifts block on Ohio's age assurance law for social media in defeat for NetChoice | Biometric Update
June 22, 2026 04:32 PM EDT
Biometric Update.
NetChoice claimed that the Ohio Social Media Parental Notification Act, H.B. 33, violates the First Amendment in requiring ID to access lawful online material.
Ohio
Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act found lawful after tech company argument
June 22, 2026 03:01 PM EDT
WHIO-TV.
The act was signed by Gov. DeWine in 2023. Net Choice argued that the law was too broad and vague. A federal appeals court said the act was constitutional.
Ohio
U.S. court rules Ohio can restrict children's use of social media
June 22, 2026 03:13 AM EDT
The Hindu.
Ohio can implement a law requiring social media companies, including Meta Platforms’ Instagram, to obtain parental consent before allowing children under 16 to use their platforms, a U.S. appeals court ruled
Ohio
Split Cincinnati court rules to reinstate Ohio law on parental consent in minors' social media use
June 21, 2026 08:53 PM EDT
Canadian Lawyer Magazine.
The NetChoice group indicated that it would appeal the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision
Ohio
Ohio law requiring parental consent for minors on social media lands a win - NewsBreak
June 21, 2026 04:35 PM EDT
News Break, Inc
The best local & breaking news source in the US, featuring local weather, alerts, deals, events and more.
Virginia
Experts discuss the impacts of a social media ban for kids
June 22, 2026 05:21 PM EDT
WDBJ7
Virginia thought it had a fix, limit kids under 16 to one hour a day on social media, but Tech companies sued. A federal judge said it went too far and now, an ocean away, the U.K. isn’t just limiting screen time, it’s banning it altogether.
