Update – Family Council

Arkansas to Get Millions from Meta — Plus Aggressive Ads Fuel “Addiction Economy” and More

Sep 4, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsUpdate, Weekly Rewind

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Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

What Will Arkansas Get from the Settlement with Meta? Last week, social media giant Meta agreed to a $17.1 billion settlement with dozens of state attorneys general over a slate of consumer protection lawsuits. How much of that money will go to Arkansas? Keep Reading.

Arkansans Wager $2.5M Every Day on Sports Betting. Data from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration shows that from January 1 through July 31, sports bets totaled $529,050,612.76. Nearly all of those bets were placed online. All told, Arkansans have wagered an average of more than $75.5 million every month, or roughly $2.5 million per day. That figure is likely to increase once football season gets underway. Keep Reading.

Study Shows Staggering Number of Young Men Trapped in “Addiction Economy” of Gambling, Pornography. Approximately one in eight men ages 18 to 29 use pornography, gamble, and play video games — all three — every single day, according to the Institute for Family Studies (IFS). Keep Reading.

Sportsbooks Still Use Aggressive Advertising. Gambling has exploded in recent years, and studies show large segments of the population now have an active sportsbook account online. But some are concerned that online gambling and sports betting may fuel gambling problems. Keep Reading.

Unpacking Attorney General Griffin’s Lawsuit Against Snapchat. Earlier this summer, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Snap — owner of the popular social media platform Snapchat — alleging the company deliberately designed its app to attract and addict teenagers, while publicly claiming the platform was safe for young users. Keep Reading.

Nearly 200 People in New Mexico Received Lethal Prescriptions for Assisted Suicide Last Year. Government data shows healthcare providers in New Mexico prescribed lethal drugs to 170 people last year under the state’s End-of-Life Options Act. Keep Reading.

Inoculating Your Children from Socialism: Guest Column. According to a 2025 survey, 62% of Americans under 40 have a positive view of socialism or communism. Where did this come from, and what should be done? That’s the question we asked Eric Patterson, president of the Victims of Communism Museum and Memorial Foundation: Keep Reading.

Socialism: Same Old Pitch, New Packaging. Rasmussen reports that support for capitalism has declined since 2023, and a growing share of likely voters now say socialism is better. Last November, Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election. Mamdani, 34, belongs to the socialist Working Families Party. In his victory speech, Mamdani promised New Yorkers a “new age,” saying, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.” But this modern socialism is really just a repackaging of the same arguments and soundbites that communism used in the last century. Keep Reading.

From Our Friends

Gaslighting Americans About What They Did to the Kids from Breakpoint.

DOJ Sues Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools Over ‘Transgender’ Secrecy Policies from Daily Citizen.

Florida Surrogate Gets Glimmer of Hope in Custody Battle Over Abandoned Toddlers from LiveAction.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Big News on Big Tech — Plus Defending Life, Fighting Assisted Suicide, and More Stories from the Week

Aug 28, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsCurrent Events, Update, Weekly Rewind

Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

Homeschool Surge Continues in Arkansas. In 2016, there were 19,520 homeschoolers across the state. Today, that number has more than doubled. Keep Reading.

U.S. Sen. Cotton Praises Pregnancy Resource Center for “Doing the Lord’s Work,” Building Strong Families. Last week, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas posted a video at the New Beginnings Pregnancy Center in Saline County, praising the center and saying, “They’re doing the Lord’s work for young moms and dads and babies, helping to turn them into strong families.” Cotton said protecting the unborn is one of his top priorities in the U.S. Senate. Keep Reading.

Meta Settles Teen Social Media Addiction Lawsuits for $17 Billion. If approved in court, Arkansas would receive nearly $172.5 million. Keep Reading.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Files Lawsuit Similar to Arkansas’ Against TikTok. The lawsuit is similar to a pair of consumer protection lawsuits Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed in 2023. Keep Reading.

Chinese-Backed Temu has Until End of this Week to Respond to A.G. Griffin’s Deceptive Trade Allegations. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sued Temu in 2024, alleging Temu uses bargain pricing as a lure so the company can secretly harvest users’ private information. Keep Reading.

U.S. Senators Ask TikTok to Answer for its “Depraved” Safety Experiment. Two U.S. senators are demanding answers from TikTok over a “depraved” experiment it ran that involved secretly withholding a safety feature from millions of users — including children — on its platform. Keep Reading.

Reinventing the Sabbath: Guest Column. A recent article by science writer Elizabeth Svoboda at the Wall Street Journal argued that an occasional 24-hour break is good for mind and body. As she wrote: Keep Reading.

News Report Shows How Legalizing Marijuana Fails to Stop the Black Market. WXYZ-TV News in Detroit reported last week that police raided a gas station accused of selling tobacco and marijuana to minors. Nationwide, states like Michigan have legalized marijuana to varying degrees, and federal regulators have eased restrictions on the drug. But while policymakers push for more marijuana, pundits continue to raise concerns about legalization’s unintended consequences. Keep Reading.

Colorado’s Assisted Suicide Reports Show Incomplete Medical Data, Lack of Mental Health Evaluations. Public health data from Colorado shows that patients approved for assisted suicide likely are not being screened by mental health experts, and the assisted suicide reports that doctors submit to the State are sometimes incomplete. Keep Reading.

From Our Friends

Redefining “American Exceptionalism” from Breakpoint.

McKenna West: They Would Have Shot Baby Gabriel in the Heart With Poison to Abort Him from LifeNews.

ADF Warns WNBA that Censoring Fans May Come at Legal Cost from Alliance Defending Freedom.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

From Celebrating a Pro-Life Milestone to Protecting Kids Online, Here are the Week’s Top Stories:

Aug 21, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsUpdate, Weekly Rewind

Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

Here are Two Ways to Help Oppose Chemical Abortion in Arkansas. Family Council is encouraging everyone to take two simple steps to help oppose chemical abortion drugs in Arkansas. The first is to send a message asking Congress to support the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act. The second is to ask the federal government to stop letting abortionists deliver abortion drugs through the mail. Keep Reading.

Arkansas Supreme Court Dismisses Lawsuit from Ballot Measure Campaign. On Wednesday, the Arkansas Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit from Protect AR Rights, the group backing the Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment. The decision means the measure will not appear on the ballot. Keep Reading.

Pro-Life Efforts in Arkansas Hit a Milestone. Back in 2021, I received a call from someone in eastern Arkansas who felt called to do something impactful in her community. Keep Reading.

New Lawsuit Filed to Block Assisted Suicide in Illinois. On December 12, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed legislation letting healthcare providers help terminally ill patients end their lives. The law is slated to take effect next month, but a new lawsuit is asking the federal courts to block the law. Keep Reading.

Speaker Johnson Warns About the Threat Socialism and Communism Pose to Americans. Recently, Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins sat down with House Speaker Mike Johnson to discuss some of the issues facing our nation. Among them was the rise of socialism and socialist candidates as well as the threat that socialist ideology poses to everyday Americans. Keep Reading.

California Shows Legalizing Marijuana Does Not Stop the Black Market. Marijuana has been legalized to varying degrees under different state laws, and the Trump Administration has eased federal restrictions on the drug. But instead of weakening drug cartels or decreasing crime, legalization has created new problems for law enforcement. Keep Reading.

Colorado Says No to “Bet Now, Pay Later.” Arkansas Should Too. As of last week, Colorado gamblers can no longer use credit cards to fund sports betting apps, and they are limited to six deposits per day. The new rules come from a bipartisan bill passed in May after lawmakers grew alarmed by rising addiction rates — especially among young men and boys. Keep Reading.

Gambling’s Toll on College Students. Gambling has exploded in recent years, and studies show more than half of men ages 18-49 now have an active sportsbook account online. But experts are also questioning what this type of gambling may do to our society. Keep Reading.

Facebook Owner Faces Avalanche of Lawsuits for Allegedly Harming Kids. The U.S. Surgeon General says 95% of American teenagers use social media, and about one-third use it “almost constantly.” But federal lawsuits have raised concerns about the harm that Big Tech can do to kids. Keep Reading.

In Louisiana, Ten Commandments Go Back to School. KSLA reports some Louisiana schools began displaying the Ten Commandments during the past school year while others plan to begin displaying them this year. Keep Reading.