Independent News Drop

KELI From Inkwell, this is the Amarillo News Drop. I'm Keli, with Hast.

HAST Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will pay one billion dollars to Texas and implement new child safety controls on its platforms. The settlement came down from the state attorney general's office after months of negotiation over how the company handles minors' access to addictive features and exposure to harmful content. The billion goes into the state's general revenue. The company will now restrict algorithmic recommendation features for users under eighteen, limit targeted advertising to minors, and disable auto-play video on accounts belonging to children under thirteen. This is the largest settlement Texas has secured against a social media company on child protection grounds.

KELI Counter on that: The simple read is "Big Tech pays up." The structural reality underneath is different. Meta agreed to change some features, but it didn't admit wrongdoing and didn't agree to meaningful parental consent requirements or to alter its core business model—data harvesting from minors. What you're watching is a fine-and-adjust settlement, not a structural reckoning. The checkable piece: watch whether Meta's earnings or user engagement among teens shifts measurably in the next two quarters. If it doesn't, the settlement was a cost of doing business, not a pivot. If it does, then the safety controls mattered.

HAST On the road in Amarillo this week, TxDOT has lane closures running through the end of the month on I-40 between Lakeside Drive and Hayden Street for bridge work. Single-lane traffic both directions during daylight hours. Same corridor saw delays last month, so commuters and through-traffic on the interstate need to plan twenty to thirty minutes extra through that stretch. Full closure details are on the TxDOT Amarillo website.

KELI Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is accusing Democrat candidate Kel Talarico of having a record of being soft on China policy. Paxton's campaign released a statement saying Talarico's past statements on U.S.-China trade and tech restrictions don't align with aggressive protection of Texas interests. Talarico's camp says the charge is a distraction from Paxton's own legal record, which includes past indictments and ongoing ethics questions. The race for attorney general is tightening heading into the fall.

HAST One date marker: In nineteen forty, the Second Vienna Award reassigned Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary, reshaping the map of Eastern Europe and laying groundwork for conflict that would ripple through the region for decades.

KELI That's the Amarillo News Drop. Full script and sources at inkwell.wiki/news/amarillo.

KELI Before we close, a word from Inkwell. Over at Gil's Intelligent Version there's a piece on what the original words of scripture actually say about the Trinity — before any translation decided for us.

HAST Six words, examined in Hebrew and Greek. It's at inkwell dot wiki, slash trinity.