MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) — Jennifer Cornley, a special education teacher in Montgomery County, says she always wanted to be a mother.

In January 2021, she began researching adoption and decided she wanted an international adoption.

In October, there was a match.

“I got to review her file and see her photos, and it was an instant ‘yes’ in my heart,” Cornley told CBS News Philadelphia.

Cornley and her mother flew to Vietnam to meet Cara, who had spent her first three years in an orphanage with hundreds of other children.

Cornley describes the moment she first saw Cara.

“She came over and stood with me and then we went and sat on a little bench and played,” she said. “It was awesome.”

Getting to this point wasn’t easy, Cornley said. There were binders full of paperwork, home visits and interviews.

Then she saw a story on CBS News Philadelphia about Marjorie Margolies, who, at age 25 in 1970, was a CBS News correspondent covering a story on “hard-to-place children.”

The story ultimately led Margolies to adopt a little girl from Korea.

“Just hearing that, you know, she did it, she did it as a single person and that her children are home and thriving was just another reminder that this is the journey that you’re on,” Cornley said. “This is the journey that you want and you have always wanted.”

Just days ahead of Cornley’s first Mother’s Day, she had the opportunity to meet Margolies, who offered some motherly advice.

“Listen,” says Margolies, “there will be incredible challenges, but [being a mother], it’s such a wonderful experience, the highs and the lows, just go with it.”

Cara is now focused on learning English. Cornley has some positive words of advice for anyone hoping to become a mother.

“It’s so worth it,” she said. “Every second of her is absolutely worth every second of crying that happened before she came home, you know, every second of waiting and worrying. She is the best.”

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (WPVI) — Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is set to sign a bill that makes it illegal to misuse the animal tranquilizer xylazine.

Officials say the drug is being mixed into fentanyl and other illicit opioids, contributing to a growing number of overdose deaths.

Xylazine is a sedative used by veterinarians and would still be available for its intended use under the new bill.

Pennsylvania taking steps to control access to xylazine, a drug also known as tranq

Under the bill, xylazine would be listed as a Schedule III drug, which is a controlled substance subject to various rules.

Both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Senate approved the bill in the past week.

Emerging drug ‘Tranq’ leading to amputations among users

By MARC LEVY (Associated Press)

HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania’s state House of Representatives on Wednesday approved legislation aimed at regulating how online social media platforms interact with children, although its provisions are similar to those in state laws being blocked in federal courts or in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The bill passed nearly along party lines, 105-95, with 10 Republicans voting with most Democrats for it and seven Democrats voting with most Republicans against it.

It faces an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled state Senate, and the nation’s highest court may soon decide whether state-level provisions like the ones in the bill can be enforced.

The bill would require social media platforms to allow users to report “hateful conduct,” such as threats or bullying, and publicize a policy for how they will respond to such reports. It also would require users under 18 to get parental consent and bar the platforms from “data mining” users under 18, or sifting through their user data to find specific information or develop insight into patterns or habits.

The sponsor, Rep. Brian Munroe, D-Bucks, said the concepts in the bill are nothing new and similar to age-related restrictions that the government has put on movies, driving, drinking alcohol or smoking, or the parental permissions that are required for things like field trips or school sports.

“Time and time again, we’ve acted in the best interests of children by looking at the exposure to potentially harmful activities and said, ‘not at that age and not without your parents’ OK,’” Munroe told colleagues during floor debate.

Parents and children are asking for such regulation, Munroe said.

The Washington-based Computer and Communications Industry Association — whose members include Google, owner of YouTube, and Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram — pointed out that the legislation, called House Bill 2017, has similarities to laws in other states that are being challenged in court.

“While the goal of protecting younger users is commendable, HB2017 risks infringing upon younger users’ ability to access and engage in open online expression and could cut off access to communities of support,” the association said in a statement. “There are also significant data privacy and security concerns associated with the data collection that would be required to verify a user’s age and a parent/legal guardian’s relationship to a minor.”

California-based Meta has said parental supervision tools and other measures already are in place to ensure teens have age-appropriate experiences online, and that algorithms are used to filter out harmful content.

The bill’s “hateful conduct” provision is based on a 2022 New York law that has been blocked in federal court.

Last year, Utah became the first state to pass laws that require minors to get parental consent before using social media. That law has been challenged in federal court by the trade group NetChoice.

Also, last year, federal judges put on hold an Arkansas law that required parental consent for children to create social media accounts and a California law barring tech companies from profiling children or using personal information in ways that could harm children physically or mentally.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that sprang from legal challenges to state laws in Florida and Texas that seek to regulate Facebook, TikTok, X and other social media platforms.

The details of the two laws vary, but both sought to prevent the social media companies from censoring users based on their viewpoints.

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Follow Marc Levy at twitter.com/timelywriter.