Midwest
Gov. Sanders announces plan to empower parents to sue Big Tech for role in teen mental health crisis
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Friday she will be addressing her state’s share of the national youth mental health crisis by planning to give parents the power to sue Big Tech companies and “hold bad actors accountable.”
Sanders will also be addressing the issue at the World Economic Forum next week in Davos, Switzerland. She will join “The Anxious Generation” author Jonathan Haidt to discuss the role of smartphones and social media in causing harm to America’s youth.
BIDEN WARNS OF ‘ULTRA-WEALTHY’ OLIGARCHY IN BIG TECH DESPITE ACCEPTING DONATIONS FROM MEGADONORS
Sarah Huckabee Sanders (AFP Getty)
At Davos, Sanders will also join Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for a bipartisan session discussing state priorities and state governments’ role in a presidential transition – as President Biden yields to President-elect Trump.
As for the Big Tech issue, Sanders told Fox News Digital that protecting children is paramount to her administration.
“In the past decade, across America, anxiety, depression and suicide among teens have skyrocketed, and the culprit is clear: unrestricted access to phones and social media,” she said.
“Under my leadership, Arkansas will act to empower parents and protect kids.”
FLASHBACK: SANDERS GIVE SOTU RESPONSE
“I look forward to … Davos to talk about this critical issue and how my administration is stepping up to hold Big Tech accountable.”
In terms of addressing Big Tech’s alleged role in accentuating the nationwide youth mental health crisis, Sanders noted that she had previously launched a phone-free-school pilot program in 2024. The program offers schools state funding for phone pouches to prevent use during the school day.
Sanders, whose father, Mike Huckabee, previously served as Arkansas governor, said she plans to update the state’s Social Media Safety Act as well.
In terms of holding Big Tech responsible in the mental health crisis, Sanders said that “modern threats … require modern solutions.”
“Nowhere is that truer than with our kids,” she said in her State of the State.
“In the past decade, across America, suicide rates among teens have tripled, self-harm among girls has risen by nearly 200%, and depression among teenagers has increased by 150%. The culprit is clear: unrestricted access to phones and social media.”
She had invited a Centerton, Ark., mother whose 16-year-old son took his own life after going from an active, sports-loving teen to one who spent more and more time watching social media videos on his phone.
Social media applications are seen on an iPhone screen. (Getty)
The boy’s mother tried to take his phone away, and he eventually retreated to his room, where within 13 minutes he had already taken his own life.
“Months later, reeling from grief,” Sanders said, “[The boy’s mother] decided to go through [his] phone. She got on his TikTok, and what she saw shocked her: video after video giving step-by-step instructions on how to take his own life.”
“We will give moms like [her] the right to sue Big Tech companies under state law, so that they can hold bad actors accountable.”
In a recent New Yorker interview, Haidt – the author appearing with Sanders at Davos – expressed shock at the difference between the “You’re sitting too close to the television, your eyes will burn out” generation and the new generation being warned about the pitfalls of social media.
“The technological environment in the ’90s was miraculous. We loved it. The millennial generation grew up on it. Their mental health was fine. . . . And then in 2012 and 2013: Boom. The graphs go way, way up. Mental health falls off a cliff. It’s incredibly sudden,” Haidt said.
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TEMPE, AZ – JANUARY 02: Head coach Jim Tressel of the Ohio State Buckeyes holds the football from the trophy after the Buckeyes defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Tostito’s Fiesta Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium on January 2, 2006 in Tempe, Arizona. The Buckeyes defeated the Fighting Irish 34-20. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
It’s an annual tradition, a sensation of the summertime – the Oahe Days Music & Arts Festival, a weekend-long congregation of vendors, crafters, makers and entertainers, ushering in the season with food and fun.
“It’s a huge event, an entire weekend completely free, everything is completely free – granted, you know, we have the carnival, we have a full slate of activities, (but) there’s something for everyone,” John Sterling, Vice President of the Oahe Days Music & Arts Festival, told the Capital Journal. “We have a magician going right now, earlier she was doing balloon animals, there was a canine show, they were doing canine stunts.”
Iain Woessner
Oahe Days consists of shows, food, the carnival section and a diverse collection of vendor tents, selling everything from knives and kitchenware to fresh-baked bread, vintage antique pottery, jewelry, stones and crystals, artwork to spices.
The air rings with peals of laughter as children race from magic shows to ferris wheels and adults indulge in fried food, funnel cakes, gyros and barbecue. In a town where families remain the cornerstone of community culture, Oahe Days is evident in its focus on family-friendly-fun.
“I think this is a fantastic community event and it brings out children, families and everybody and I think this is critical to the future of Pierre and Central South Dakota,” Kevin Larsen of Pierre/Fort Pierre Kiwanis said. “This is really one of those community activities that has sustained for many years and I’d like to encourage more volunteers. That’s what makes this event a success, the volunteers.”
The event relies on volunteers to help in the unsung and unseen logistics of something on this scale, and the organizers of Oahe Days echoed the need for the community to continue to invest time and money to keep the beloved event alive.
Iain Woessner
“There is a call for volunteers,” Julie Diedrich, President of the Oahe Days Music & Arts Festival, said. “If you are a local business and you want to contribute to making this a free event, we’re always open to donations and (regarding volunteers), it can be a little or just volunteering throughout the weekend.”
It’s not just in the official elements that the community works to keep Oahe Days going – beloved events are organized and integrated into the Festival by members of the community themselves, demonstrating the collaborative spirit of the event. This is best exemplified by the Soggy Bottom Race, a cardboard boat race that had once been held every year before going on an extended hiatus, only to have been revived last year by locals who missed it.
“I think that Oahe Days is such a good event, it brings everybody down here, and I used to participate in the cardboard boat race myself, I always had a ton of fun building the boats and it’s super fun. We thought it was something that had been missing,” Blake Severyn with the Independent Insurance Agents of South Dakota, told the Capital Journal.
The Soggy Bottom Race serves nonprofits in the area as well, with entry fees going to a different organization each year, this year supporting Soterra. Boats are judged both on the skill of their crews in navigating the river as they race to the other shore and also on their craftsmanship, with each cardboard boat boasting a unique and fun design.
Of course, half the fun is wondering which of the colorful cardboard crafts will actually prove seaworthy.
“Some of them won’t make it more than six feet and some of them will make it all the way,” Severyn said.
The spirit fueling Oahe Days, from its concerts to its competitions, is one of local pride.
“This is our event, it is the event of the summer in Pierre, it kicks off summer officially and it’s what people look forward to year after year,” Sterling said.
Iain Woessner is the editor of the Capital Journal in Pierre, South Dakota. Iain can be reached by calling 605-307-5502, ext. 5012, or emailing Iain.woessner@capjournal.com.
A Wisconsin man has been arrested in Colorado in connection with a fatal north suburban hit-and-run earlier this year that left a 50-year-old woman killed.
According to the Winthrop Harbor Police Department, Travis Kern, 35, of Pleasant Prairie, turned himself into police in Lakewood Colorado on an arrest warrant. Kern was charged with two felonies, police said, and remains in custody in Colorado pending extradition proceedings.
About 11:10 p.m. on February 26, a pedestrian was struck in the 1400 block of Sheridan Road in Winthrop Harbor by a driver of a vehicle heading northbound. The vehicle then fled the scene, police said.
The pedestrian, later identified as Shanna White, 50, of Waukegan, was transported to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead.
According to court documents, Kern’s next scheduled court date is set for July 22.
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