As I sat at my son's high school concert last night, bursting with pride , I also felt a huge relief . Year 11, happy, well, thriving. Alive . But then I thought about the parents in the audience: Who will be next? Who's about to have their lives ripped apart when their child takes their own life thanks to online bullying? That may seem dire, but as a Parenting editor, I've been living and breathing the stories of the children whose lives have been lost in the most heartbreaking way - so many , in just a few months. Too many. This is parenting in 2024. Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this. RELATED: Tweens are crowdfunding parties from online predators "Desperate efforts from social media giants" You know what else I've seen a lot of recently? Increasingly piss-weak, desperate efforts from the social media giants - Snapchat, Meta, Instagram - about parenting controls. Talk about victim-blaming. Taking no responsibility whatsoever, akin to the "guns don't kill people, people kill people" argument. They won't act on the blatant evidence until they're forced to - but the head in the sand approach about social media is not working . Which is why yesterday's news about the Albanese government's age-limits on social media (no one under 16), and enforcing a Duty of Care on the companies (which they've technically always had) is very welcome news. Image: Nama Winston That's an understatement: it's a revolution. The reforms are hopefully the first of a wave of steps that will make those exposing children to inappropriate content, and allowing them to weaponise their platforms, accountable. I'm hoping this is the beginning of the end of an era, just like when cigarettes were finally acknowledged for what they are: poison, responsible for deaths. As the Barefoot Investor quoted recently , "Social Media is the new smoking." Important viewing: RELATED: The kids are not ok: Schools begin mobile phone ban There's a difference between phone and internet access, and social media I've been a long-term advocate of allowing kids access to phones - for communication and information. Expert advice is that educating parents on how to talk to their kids about the content they create and consume is a much more practical and pragmatic approach. But social media is an entirely different beast; one that's killing our children. Destroying families. From the insidious fatal TikTok trends , to the cruelty of the verbal assaults, the spread of fake photos, sextortion , and outright threats, we owe the next generation escalated protection. Many of us - myself included - are the first generation of parents dealing with the nuclear fallout of social media. A decade ago, I would never have imagined we'd lose children on the scale that we have. But here we are. Let's not be the generation of parents that allowed more kids to die. More Coverage My son tried to take his life after bullying. The school’s response shocked me Anonymous Heartbreaking details after Sydney schoolgirl's suicide Heath Parkes-Hupton Originally published as 'Social media is the new smoking': Thanks for finally calling time on it Parenting Don't miss out on the headlines from Parenting. Followed categories will be added to My News. More related stories Parenting I’m a mum living where violence against Jewish people has escalated – in Sydney "When I saw the news, I had to think: Can I send my kids to school today? Should I?" Read more Lifestyle Red flags with Roblox’s new rule for under 13s Many are rejoicing over the change coming to the popular kid's game. But they're missing some important points. Read moresuper ace cheat 。

Rico Carty, who won the 1970 NL batting title when he hit a major league-best .366 for the Atlanta Braves, has died. He was 85. Major League Baseball , the players' association and the Braves paid tribute to Carty on social media on Sunday. No further details on Carty's death were provided. “Carty was one of the first groundbreaking Latino stars in the major leagues, and he established himself as a hero to millions in his native Dominican Republic, his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris, and the city of Atlanta, where he was a beloved fan favorite,” the players' association said in its statement . The Braves said Carty left an indelible mark on the organization. “While his on-field accomplishments will never be forgotten, his unforgettable smile and generous nature will be sorely missed,” the team said in its statement. Carty made his big league debut with the Braves in September 1963. He batted .330 with 22 homers and 88 RBIs in his first full season in 1964, finishing second to Dick Allen in voting for NL Rookie of the Year. The Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta after the 1965 season, and Carty got the franchise's first hit in its new home on April 12, 1966, against Pittsburgh. Carty had his best year in 1970, batting .366 with 25 homers and a career-best 101 RBIs. He started the All-Star Game after he was elected as a write-in candidate, joining Willie Mays and Hank Aaron in the NL outfield. Carty batted .299 with 204 homers and 890 RBIs over 15 years in the majors, also playing for Cleveland, Toronto, Oakland, Texas and the Chicago Cubs. He retired after the 1979 season. AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

A 27-year-old man who was criminally charged in the death of a St. Francis teacher has two prior drunk driving offenses on his record. Troy Vaillancourt, appeared in Milwaukee County Court on Wednesday. According to a criminal complaint, Vaillancourt told police that the night before the crash he had three beers while watching the Packers game, then stayed up late drinking several glasses of wine, and 3⁄4 of a bottle of bourbon. Vaillancourt slept for about two hours then went to work. RELATED: -Family and friends remember Greenfield woman killed after car crash Watch: Oak Creek man accused of another OWI, charged in death of St. Francis teacher When Vaillancourt left work in St. Francis, he collided with Engman's car around 3 p.m. "It was just senseless," Cory Hicks told TMJ4 News. Hicks says he was outside with his dog last Friday afternoon when he noticed a car rush by him. "I saw him come off of Allerton Avenue and he passed me. He had to be doing like 45. I was like, 'Wow he's kind of going too fast.' A second after he passed me I heard the crash," Hicks said. Friday's crash sent 48-year-old Michelle Engman to the hospital. The beloved wife, mother to two children, and teacher in the St. Francis Public School District later died. "He was trying to help as much as he could, but I don’t think there was anything he could do," Hicks recalled. Vaillancourt stayed at the scene knowing with his previous OWI cases, he would likely be arrested. Court records show Vaillancourt has two OWI offenses within the last five years. Police say Vaillancourt showed signs that he was impaired following last week's crash. "My adrenaline was going so I wasn’t paying attention. I was trying to make sure he didn't leave," Hicks stated. Authorities say Vaillancourt performed poorly during field sobriety tests and blew a 0.16 on a preliminary breath test. Vaillancourt's family declined to comment. During a conversation on Tuesday, Engman's husband Adam did not show any hate toward Vaillancourt. "It can't be undone, but one thing that she [Michelle] taught me was when you don't know where to go from here you always have to turn to love," Adam said. Vaillancourt's cash bond was set at $60,000. If convicted Vaillancourt could face a $100,000 fine, 40 years in prison or both. It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device. Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more. Report a typo or error // Submit a news tipNone

After multiple Helena businesses sued the city for its street assessment policy, the city approved a settlement Monday that will cost it nearly $200,000 and require future policy change. The lawsuit – RGB, et al. v. City of Helena – was filed in 2022 by three Helena business owners who alleged the way Helena calculated how much to bill properties within a street district violated Montana law. Petitioners demanded Helena refund them and other similar property owners for their assessments and change the policy. They were represented by Michael Green of Crowley Fleck. As of Dec 9, the petitioners are as follows: There’s one overarching street district the city uses to assess property. Every building within that street district is sorted into a category, such as commercial and residential, which comes with a yearly price tag. That money is meant to go toward maintaining and building Helena roads. However, plaintiffs argued the city was unfairly slotting buildings into the commercial category, which charged more per year than any other group, according to documents filed early 2022 by Green. The city reasoned commercial buildings generated more wear and tear on the roads due to higher foot traffic, city documents state. As the plaintiffs’ buildings were assessed, three buildings were paying the full commercial rates on massive chunks of underdeveloped land, an attorney for the city, Murry Warhank, said Monday. They were being charged a commercial rate for land that wasn't used for commercial business. While there were other allegations, some were settled early on in summary judgment with District Court Judge Christopher Abbott. On Dec. 9, city commissioners approved a settlement deal 5-0 that would refund the plaintiffs $193,126.11 for prior assessments. It also agreed to change its methodology for charging buildings in the future. A proposed change is to create more caveats for businesses that are partially underdeveloped, Warhank said. The city isn't bound to the proposed changes recommended by the settlement agreement, documents state, but plaintiffs would be allowed to continue the lawsuit to trial if the city creates its own changes that plaintiffs didn't agree with. If the commissioners hadn’t approved the settlement, the lawsuit would have returned to civil court, Warhank told city commissioners Monday. The goal is for codes to be updated before the next street assessment, which usually happens during the summer, Warhank said. While this was a major milestone, there are still a few steps left in the settlement process, city spokesman Jacob Garcin said via email. The settlement agreement will need to be signed by all parties, including individual plaintiffs. Payment also needs to be issued, and the City Commission needs to consider and approve changes to street assessment methodology. If all the steps are followed and the city either approves the recommended changes or finds new ones the plaintiffs agree to, a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice would be filed, ending the lawsuit. Green, who represented the plaintiffs, did not respond to request for comment before publication.

NoneAP News Summary at 4:45 p.m. EST

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