• Meta reached a $17.1 billion – that’s billion with a “b” – settlement with 47 states, Washington D.C. and several U.S. territories that alleged that it endangered the mental health of children through its addictive Facebook and Instagram social media platforms. Meta still faces a number of other lawsuits from school districts and individuals.
• Jed York, the owner of the San Francisco 49ers, was arrested in a prostitution sting over the weekend. York moved quickly to prevent this situation from dragging out in the media, and by Monday morning he had already pleaded no contest to lesser charges of disorderly conduct.
• It was a bad week for a few big advertisers:
  • Neutrogena is struggling to defend its decision to drop spokesperson Hayden Panettiere several years ago. The actress alleged at the time that the skincare giant dropped her because of her struggles with mental health. When Panettiere took her own life earlier this month, Neutrogena said it was “deeply saddened” and “proud to have partnered with her and understand that we made her feel unsupported during a very difficult time.” But that hasn’t stopped calls for a boycott.
  • Retailing giant Target issued a formal apology for ads promoting a now-pulled Halloween costume that was straight out of the 19th century American Minstrel era. The costume was so bad that Target didn’t even try to equivocate on its apology, saying, “…we are deeply sorry. We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners. Removing the costume is an important first step, and the company is looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again.”
  • Meanwhile, golf equipment manufacturer Callaway has apologized for an ad it approved that featured a man shoving a woman to the ground when she attempted to touch one of his golf clubs. Unlike Target, Callaway did equivocate in its apology, saying, “We are disappointed by the content that was posted, and are appreciative of (our business partner) Good Good for addressing this. We look forward to working together to ensure a more inclusive space in golf.” And then, when the backlash continued, Callaway canceled its partnership with Good Good Golf entirely.
• An arbitrator has ordered The Washington Post to rehire opinion columnist Karen Attiah with back pay after she was fired last September for her social media posts in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk‘s murder. The arbitrator ruled that the dismissal violated the paper’s labor agreement with the union representing Attiah.
• The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) has finally found its missing championship trophy that went missing while being shipped to the hometown of one of the players for the Montreal Victoire, which won this year’s championship. Each player gets the trophy for 24 hours to celebrate with their community.
• From The New York Times: “The listing seemed too good to be true. A prime Park Slope location in a prewar building, close to public transportation and great restaurants, for just $250,000, plus common charges of $400 a month. But in New York City real estate, there’s always a catch. ‘This is a parking spot for sale, not a studio apartment,’ the listing read.”
• President Donald Trump seems to be misdirecting his anger at Iran for not rolling over onto Canada. He announced yet another round of tariffs on our friendly neighbors to the north, and now has renamed Lake Ontario as “Lake America.” After the “Gulf of America” and now “Lake America,” I would joke about the Pacific and Atlantic oceans watching their backs, but they apparently are already on President Trump’s radar.
• U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy apparently didn’t want to be the one chump who didn’t exploit his role in the Trump administration, so he solicited millions of dollars from companies he regulates – Boeing, Toyota, Shell, United Airlines, Royal Caribbean, Waymo, Lyft … the list goes on and on – to sponsor a reality YouTube show “road trip” of him traversing the country with his family. Eric Anderson notes that at about 7,500 views per video, those millions of dollars weren’t invested to strengthen brand awareness.
• Closer to home, current Secretary of State and Attorney General candidate Jena Griswold wouldn’t stand a chance of being elected if most of the Colorado electorate didn’t reflexively vote Democratic. She’s a train wreck and her campaign has endured one problem after another. Most recently, The Denver Post reported that her office accidentally made information for more than 130,000 confidential voters publicly accessible because of an error in updating a voter registration tool. Before that, CBS4 reported that Griswold refused to take receipt of a $25,000 report she commissioned because it was critical of her. Had she accepted it, it would have been CORA-able by media. According to the consultant who drafted the report, she has now “shredded all hard-copy documents and attempted to delete and erase all electronic files,” making it impossible for anyone to access it.
• LSU continues to show that it is willing to hurdle any ethical line in pursuit of winning. Football coach Lane Kiffin sparked an SEC crisis this week by trying to use a court ruling to sign a player who a week earlier was on the Cleveland Browns‘ roster, and women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey drove a member of her team who is from Ukraine to quit by signing a player from Russia. The Ukrainian player’s father currently serves in the Ukrainian military.
• In court filings, social media influencers and alleged sex offenders Andrew and Tristan Tate have admitted that the lavish lifestyle they present online is a fraud, fueled by rented luxury automobiles and boats they can’t actually afford.
• The Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson was under investigation for numerous sexual assault and misconduct allegations when the Browns chose to sign him to a 5-year, $230 million contract, the first fully guaranteed contract for a quarterback in league history. Then karma stepped in. First, the NFL suspended Watson for 11 games during his first season for his behavior, and then a series of injuries meant that Watson only played 19 of the team’s 68 games over the past four years. You would think the Browns would take a page out of the Denver Broncos playbook and dump Watson the way the Broncos dumped QB Russell Wilson and commit to starting over, but these are the Browns. They just named Watson their starting quarterback.
• Universal Studios went to great lengths to sound-proof its newest roller-coaster to address concerns from nearby neighbors, including filling the 4,100-foot track with pea gravel to “mute the vibrations that give coasters their roar.” What they didn’t factor in was the sound of thousands of daily “bloodcurdling screams” from riders.

Who won the week?

• PRSA Colorado has announced its complete list of its 2026 awards:
  • CIG Public Relations is the PR Team of the Year.
  • Tim Carroll, the Senior Director of Media and Public Relations at Metropolitan State University of Denver, is the Sharon Linhart PR Person of the Year.
  • Quinn Kelsey, a Senior Vice President at FleishmanHillard, is the Ayers Chapter Service Award winner.
  • Denver7‘s Jaclyn Allen is the Media Professional of the Year.
  • Dani Sturges is the Joe Fuentes Rookie of the Year.
  • Danielle Moore, the Director of Communications at Noodles & Company, is the Jane Dvorak Mentor of the Year.
  • Wendy Manitta Holmes, has been named the 2026 Swede Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
• Philosophy Communication added Amanda Muller as a project manager.
• Colorado Public Radio profiled Patty Calhoun, who is the editor emeritus of Westword and, in my opinion, one of the 10 most consequential Denverites of the past 50 years.
• Boulder‘s Casa Juani was named one of Bon Appetit‘s “Best New Restaurants for 2026.” Chef Eduardo Valle Lobo opened the restaurant with his wife after spending eight years at Boulder’s most-acclaimed restaurant, Frasca Food & Wine.
• The Colorado Rockies unveiled a 15-foot statue of Larry Walker outside of Coors Field. Walker is the first player to receive a statue, but he will be joined in September by fellow baseball Hall of Famer Todd Helton.
• While family, friends and fans of singer Dolly Parton are mourning her death at the age of 80, it is astounding to see the amount of love she is receiving from nearly every corner of America. Not many people cultivate that kind of widespread respect in our very polarized country.