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Good morning and welcome to Kid News, funded in part by the Nicholas B.
Ottoway Foundation and its commitment to quality journalism.
I'm Kim. Today is Wednesday, September 18th, 2024.
And we begin with a seismic shift for Instagram that will be felt by 100 million kids around the world.
Starting this week, the company is automatically making accounts for anyone under 18 private.
That means no one can interact with a teenager unless a follow request is accepted.
The app will also mute notifications between 10 at night and seven in the morning, reduce inappropriate content and allow parents to block their kids from the site between certain hours.
If you're already thinking about a sneaky workaround, think again.
Insta says it's one step ahead.
And next year, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company will use AI to identify kids who lie about their age.
CEO Adam Massari says he fully expects to lose business with the changes, but hopes to regain the trust of parents who worry about the app's impact on their kids' mental health.
The storm didn't even have a name, but it still managed to create a once in a thousand year rain event in North Carolina.
On Monday, a whopping 18 inches fell in just 12 hours, flooding homes, stranding cars and forcing rescues, especially along the coast.
According to the National Weather Service, at least one school in Carolina Beach had to close early when water seeped into classrooms.
Many students won't soon forget that ride home.
With roads impassable and no way for parents to reach the campus, police and firefighters put kids in high water vehicles to ferry them to their families.
Oh, Miley, say it isn't so.
The singer is again being sued, this time for allegedly ripping off a Bruno Mars hit to make one of her own.
Tempo Music Investments, which owns a share of Bruno's When I Was Your Man, accuses Ms.
Cyrus of intentionally copying its melody, harmony and chord progression, saying it's undeniable that her song Flowers would not exist without When I Was Your Man.
Tempo is asking for an undisclosed amount of money and wants Miley banned from performing Flowers in the future.
Neither Miley nor Bruno Mars, who is reportedly not part of the lawsuit, has commented.
Business Insider reports that this is the fourth time Miley has been accused of copyright infringement.
Twice she settled out of court, and one time the case was dropped.
Holy guacamole, the robots are coming.
Fast Mexican chain Chipotle is turning over avocado duties in Huntington Beach, California to a test machine called an autocado.
The robot can cut, core and peel the fruit in about 26 seconds, half the time it takes a human to do it.
That'll be a huge time saver for a company that expects to use 129 .5 million pounds of avocado this year at locations across the U .S., Canada, and Europe.
A second collaborative robot, or cobot, is being tried at the Chipotle in Corona del Mar, also in California, to build bowls and salads.
Chipotle isn't alone.
McDonald's has added self -serve kiosks.
Sweetgreen is automating its salad making, and according to The Morning Brew, robots are manning the fryers at some jack -in -the -boxes and White Castle drive -throughs.
Remember Tom Cruise's epic Olympic stunt?
Guess how much he got paid to parachute into the stadium, race through Paris with the Olympic flag, fly to the next host city of Los Angeles, and skydive down to the Hollywood sign to decorate it with the rings?
Not a dime. The actor was approached with the idea using stunt doubles.
He said he'd do it only if he did everything himself, and he did it for free.
For the pre -taped California scene, he left London at 6 pm.
After shooting parts of Mission Impossible, landed in LA at 4 am, filmed one jump, didn't like it, re -shot it, spent four hours at the Hollywood sign, raced back to LA, and flew back to London the very same day.
Mission accomplished.
Still to come, a gross -out on the gridiron.
You've been warned.
But first, today's Kid News Quiz.
How many teens are impacted by Instagram sweeping new safety features?
About a hundred million.
What's the name of Chipotle's new avocado robot?
Autocado. How much rain fell on coastal North Carolina in 12 hours?
18 inches in some places.
A lawsuit accuses Miley Cyrus of copying what song to make flowers?
Bruno Mars 2012 Hit When I Was Your Man In today's Kid News kicker, a center for the Green Bay Packers left it all on the field.
Literally. Josh Meyers was lined up in the second quarter Sunday, but just before hiking the ball, he threw up on it.
Rookie quarterback Malik Willis was on the receiving end of the now -slick snap, but wisely, instead of passing as he would normally do on third and 10, he tucked the ball and ran.
He didn't get far, but as he told his coach afterward, it wouldn't have been a good idea to try and throw it.
At the post -game presser, Josh said it was probably a combination of the heat and downing too many electrolyte drinks that messed with his stomach, and admitted it's not the first time he lost his lunch during a game.
It was, however, the first time it landed on the ball.
As he told reporters afterward, I'm going to apologize.
That was probably pretty gross.
Before we go, we want to recognize some of our amazing kid news classrooms.
Mrs. Bradley and her Bell Bulldogs at Bell in Papillion, Nebraska, Mrs.
Bird and her Grand Isle Grizzlies at Grand Isle in Grimes, California, and Mrs.
Porter and her Trail Blazers at Lincoln Trail in Lamar, Indiana.
Thanks for listening.
A reminder that Kid News is a non -profit supported by wonderful organizations like the Nicholas B.
Ottoway Foundation and listeners like you.
Please consider making a tax -deductible donation on our website.
Have a great day, and we'll see you back here for more Kid News tomorrow morning.