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2025-06-06 06.06.2025

Aaron’s New Team, Status Unknown, Happiest City in the US, Switch Hype Train, Best AI Bots & Seed Snack Stumps TSA! Sponsored today by www.lxllearning.com/kidnuz

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Ah summer, it's almost here. Help your kids make the most of the sun, sand, and slower pace without losing a single step in their studies. The answer is IXL, the online learning platform that'll help keep skills sharp when they sometimes slump. And it's all organized by grade, subject, topic, and subtopic, making it super simple to find exactly what you're looking for. Best of all, it's there when you want it, out of sight when you don't. In other words, it's the perfect summer companion. Kid News listeners get 20% off. Check it out at IXL.com slash Kid News. Good morning and welcome to Kid News. I'm Tori. Today is Friday, June 6, 2025. And we begin with one of the biggest names in football, finally calling an audible. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who found fame with the Packers and misery with the Jets, will be suiting up for the Pittsburgh Steelers this coming season. According to multiple sources, he's flying into Pittsburgh today and will sign on the dotted line ahead of mandatory minicamp next week. And what better way to start his season than with a high-stakes showdown? Game one for the 41-year-old four-time MVP will be against his old team, the Jets. In the end, resilience may not have lived up to its name. The private lunar lander went silent while attempting to touch down on the moon yesterday afternoon. Information is scant as of this recording, but mission control for the company Ispace lost contact with the rover during its descent and abruptly cut the feed for live coverage. If the company can't restart communications, it'll be Ispace's second failed attempt in two years. Firefly's Blue Ghost rover was the first and so far remains the only private craft to successfully stick its moon landing. Long lines and plenty of hype, those were the constants for yesterday's big reveal of Switch 2, the successor to Nintendo's wildly popular gaming console. Fans camped out hours before stores opened, which Best Buy did at midnight to help fuel the fire of those who pre-ordered. The Nintendo store in New York City also changed its hours. According to NBC News, would-be buyers brought tents and lawn chairs, others stood in a line that stretched several city blocks, and a few even dressed up as Luigi, the brother and sidekick in the video game Super Mario. Their fandom doesn't come cheap. The launch price for the new console is $449.99. Which AI bot is Best? Jeffrey A. Fowler, the Washington Post technology columnist, decided to find out he pit five AI programs against one another reading various items, a novel, medical research, legal agreements, and even a speech by President Trump to see which could summarize Best. He gave the AI outputs to various experts to grade for accuracy. It turns out all of them hallucinated or made up some facts, except for one, and that one also scored Best overall. The winner was Claude, made by Anthropic AI. Chat GPT, made by OpenAI, scored almost as high. The other three, Copilot, Meta, and Gemini, did very poorly, according to Mr. Fowler, often turning out nonsense. He says the study shows you shouldn't rely too much on AI, and you should definitely check its answers thoroughly. Start spreading the news. New York City is apparently the happiest city in the U.S., according to the Institute for Quality of Life, which releases its Happy City Index each year. While TOPS in the U.S., the Big Apple, ranked 17th worldwide. Copenhagen is king globally, with Zurich, Switzerland, Singapore, and or whose Denmark following close behind. The second highest ranking American city was Minneapolis, Minnesota, at 30th. The study examined 82 different factors, including housing affordability, income levels, and renewable energy sources. Local residents were also interviewed for their thoughts. New York scored high for environmentally friendly transportation, tech culture, and educational opportunities. Still to come, how an actress' simple snack tripped up the TSA. But first, we want to wish a happy, early birthday to Eunice and Iola Oluwali of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Eunice turns 8 on Sunday and we're told she plays netball, basketball, and will soon start tournaments in tennis. Eunice, your mom, dad, and little brother Nelson are proud of the smart and wonderful kid you've grown up to be and can't wait to celebrate this weekend. Now today's Kid News Quiz. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers just signed with what team? The Pittsburgh Steelers. What U.S. city ranks happiest according to a recent annual survey? New York. Which AI program performed best in a recent bot challenge? Claude made by Anthropic AI. What new device had people standing in line at midnight to get? Nintendo's Switch 2. In today's Kid News Kicker, a star of the TV show Grey's Anatomy says she had a rough time boarding a flight recently and it was all because of her carry-on snack. Ellen Pompeo says TSA agents were flummoxed by her bag of Erawan sunflower seeds. Ms. Pompeo says transportation safety officials actually brought in the bomb squad because they didn't recognize the product and held her for an hour, nearly causing her to miss her flight. She finally boarded with the seeds and with the okay of airport security. Officials told her it was most likely an ingredient in the sunflower seeds packaging that set off their sensitive detectors. Thanks again to the Oliwali family of Dubai and the UAE for sponsoring today's quiz. Shout out to Eunice and Iola who turns eight on the eighth and has already written a book called The Gem of Birth. And hello to her teacher Ms. Purchase and all her friends at the Capital School, Dubai. And a big shout out to our other Kid News Classrooms, Mrs. Graziano and her Bulldogs at Roslyn High School in Roslyn Heights, New York. Mrs. Rose and Rocky the Eagle at Van Bockelen School in Severn, Maryland. And Mrs. Gavin and her Panthers at Paddock School in Palatine, Illinois. Thanks for listening. Please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. I will see you back here Monday morning for one more week of Kid News before we take a break to rest and recharge our news batteries. Have a wonderful weekend.