Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion and add stronger child-safety measures as part of a landmark legal settlement that ended a trial over teen social media addiction and settled claims filed by 47 states, including Michigan -- Welcome to Thursday!
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🍇 Grapevine
🌅 Good morning! On this day in 1970, Jimi Hendrix creates his last studio recording at Electric Lady Studios in NYC, an instrumental called “Slow Blues.”
Here are a few things to know for Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026:
⛅ 4Warn Weather: Seasonable temperatures (highs around 80) and mainly dry weather are expected across Southeast Michigan today through Saturday. Check out the 10-day forecast.
⚖️ Officer Sues Township: A Grosse Ile police officer has sued the township and the chairperson of its Police Commission, alleging she was retaliated against after reporting suspected witness intimidation. Watch more.
🔎 Health Facilities Searched: The FBI searched several locations connected to Quality Behavioral Health on Tuesday, including facilities in Troy and Detroit, officials said. Learn more.
🎙️ Jill Scott Reschedules: Jill Scott’s Aug. 26 and Aug. 27 performances at Detroit’s Fox Theatre have been rescheduled due to an illness, organizers announced. Read more.
⚖️ John Skelton Case Continues: Day three of a preliminary hearing to determine whether John Skelton will stand trial for the murder of his three young sons wrapped up Wednesday afternoon, with six witnesses taking the stand. Get caught up.
🏊 Morning Dive
Good morning ☀️
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Michigan will receive at least $171 million under Meta’s settlement agreement reached Wednesday.
As part of the landmark settlement, Meta will also be required to implement a series of safety features on Instagram and Facebook, including:
- Hard cap daily time limits and “Productive Pauses” for children: for its two platforms, Instagram and Facebook, a combined two-hour daily time limit with mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes to interrupt endless scrolling. These limits will remain in effect for five years. If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube
- adopt comparable terms, the daily limit on each platform will drop to 60 minutes for 10 years.
- “Nighttime blocks” restricting children’s access from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
- Limited school-time access for children, eliminating push notifications on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. during the school year.
- Robust age assurance measures to more effectively verify the age of young users.
- Safer, age-appropriate content controls, including stronger safeguards against bullying, content promoting eating disorders, and content related to suicide and self-harm.
- Stronger, more user-friendly parental controls.
- Limits on social comparison features, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts, that have been linked to poor mental health outcomes in kids and teens.
🗞️ Other headlines to know today
🌎 Meanwhile
News from around the world via the Associated Press:
A glacier collapse in Tibet caused catastrophic flash flooding in a border area of China and Nepal. Authorities in both countries have reported at least 273 deaths and more than 1,300 people missing as of Thursday. Many were foreigners in the area for trekking or a pilgrimage to a sacred Hindu site.
The number of missing from Wednesday’s disaster may vary across agencies because of differences in how they collected data, when it was reported and how it was verified, as well as gaps in coordination between those assembling data and those conducting rescue efforts in the affected area. Police reported at least 270 dead and 826 missing.(Read more)
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The U.S. Army announced Wednesday that it plans to add nuclear microreactors at five military bases from New York to Texas as a reliable source of energy independent of the commercial electric grid.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration pushes hard to develop the next generation of nuclear power, including billions in loans for large nuclear reactors to meet skyrocketing power demand from data centers and a pilot program to boost advanced reactor designs and projects for military and civilian use. No nuclear microreactors are supplying power to the commercial electric grid in the United States today. The Army expects that more than 20 nuclear microreactors will be built and operated. (Read more)
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As Canada moves to reduce its dependence on American military suppliers, the push is on display inside a Toronto garment factory.
Hunched over sewing machines, two workers rapidly stitch together pieces of camouflage-patterned fabric and Velcro strips. In the next room, workers snip stray threads as they inspect the finished product: helmet covers for the Canadian military.
The factory is assembling uniforms for Wuxly, a luxury parka maker that is among a flurry of Canadian companies branching into defense contracting. As Canadian military spending surges, others are developing remote sensors for the country’s vast Arctic region, making drones to resupply soldiers, and building autonomous robots. (Read more)
---> Find more headlines from around the world right here <---
📝 Word Up
Today’s Word Up is: Doughty /ˈdau̇-tē/ (adjective) -- defined as “Marked by fearless resolution; valiant.”
Example: “The doughty firefighter rushed into the burning building to save the family.”
🧹 Housekeeping
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✍🏽 Written and curated by: Jenny Sherman (Have something to say? Feel free to send an email here.)
