Boys

A new study showing an estimated 7% of American teens and adults carry the human papillomavirus in their mouths may help health experts finally understand why rates of mouth and throat cancer have been climbing for nearly 25 years. The evidence makes it clear that oral sex practices play a key role in transmission. The new data, published online Thursday by the Journal of the American Medical Assn., are the first to assess the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the U.S. population.

NEW YORK - A New Jersey man who was a teenage store clerk when 6-year-old Etan Patz vanished 33 years ago Friday told police he lured the boy into the store with promises of a soda, strangled him, then dumped the body into an alley - a dramatic confession that could solve one of the country's most chilling missing-child mysteries. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, speaking at a news conference Thursday night, said Pedro Hernandez, 51, of Maple Shade, N.J., had spoken to investigators for more than three hours, that his confession had been videotaped, and that Hernandez had told people over the years that he'd been involved in a horrible crime.

So how many omega-3 fatty acids are enough — and how should you get them? That likely depends on your age and your specific health concerns. The United States does not yet have guidelines for DHA or EPA, and consensus among nutrition experts is elusive. But specialty groups, some governmental agencies and individual experts have started to take a stand. For healthy adults without major medical issues, the European Food Safety Agency recommends a daily dose of 250 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA, while the National Heart Foundation of Australia suggests 500 milligrams.

Meanwhile, back on the third rock from the sun the rest of us live on, the Dodgers lost. Lost big, lost like regular mortals and everything. The Dodgers fell 11-4 Wednesday to the Diamondbacks in Phoenix to snap their six-game winning streak. There was no pixie dust on this night, no wide-eyed comeback, just a good old-fashioned derriere kicking.

Hard-core Harry Potter fans who devoured the books, camped out for the movies and trekked through the theme park now have a new way to relive the boy wizard's adventures. PHOTOS: Making of Harry Potter studio tour Debuting Saturday, the Making of Harry Potter behind-the-scenes tour at theWarner Bros.studios in England will let wizards, mudbloods and muggles pull back the curtain on the movie-making secrets of the most successful film series of all time. Located 20 miles outside of London, the three-hour self-guided tour will take visitors past sets, props, costumes, models and special effects exhibits from the eight "Harry Potter" movies.

"Battleship"is not the first major motion picture to be based on a board game - who could forget 1985's benighted "Clue"? - but it is surely the most expensive. With every superhero more celebrated than Amazing-Man or the Chameleon already spoken for (ditto for hot toys like Transformers), Hollywood has fallen back on popular games as likely fodder for action epics. If "Scrabble: The Movie" or "Qwirkle or Death" appears on a future marquee, don't say you weren't warned. As its north-of-$200-million budget indicates, "Battleship" has been expanded considerably from its origins as a pre-World War I pencil and paper game to include a major alien invasion that puts the very fate of the human race at stake.

At a memorial service Saturday attended by more than 1,000 people, Charles and Braden Powell, the two young brothers killed last week by their father, were remembered as "clever" and "curious" boys. The boys' grandfather, Charles Cox, thanked people for their prayers, saying, "It helps us to know that there are good people in the world. " The service at the Life Center church in Tacoma, Wash., drew people from as far away as Utah, where the boys previously lived. A children's choir sang "Amazing Grace.

A case whose sad twists and turns perplexed authorities for more than two years took a last, tragic turn Sunday when what was left of missing Utah stockbroker Susan Powell's family died in a powerful and apparently murderous fire. Her two young sons had just arrived for a supervised visit with her husband, Josh Powell, when an explosive fire ripped through his home near Graham, Wash., killing him, 5-year-old Braden and 7-year-old Charles. Authorities said Josh Powell, who has been a person of interest in his wife's 2009 disappearance from their Utah home during a snowstorm, is believed to have set the fast-moving blaze.

Antwine Barfield SCHOOL: Cleveland SPORT: Football YEAR: Junior SEASON AT A GLANCE: Barfield, a fast, mobile quarterback, replaced the graduated Eddie Whitaker and has led Cleveland (2-0) to victories over Palisades and Reseda. As a sophomore, Barfield was a sprinter on the Cavaliers' high-powered track team. WEEK AT A GLANCE: Barfield completed his first five passes and finished 10 of 15 for 206 yards and three touchdowns.

I am the author of "Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking the Link Between Masculinity and Violence," which was reviewed by Alex Raksin (Book Review, June 23). While I am pleased that Raksin found the book to be "powerful" and "offering many insights" about crime in America, I am deeply disturbed that he states erroneously that I make various errors of fact, interpretation and omission. He cites one alleged example of each. In fact, I make none of the cited errors, and therefore would like to set the record straight.

Snooki has class.  You heard me right. News came out Wednesday morning that the now-very-round "Jersey Shore" star would be having a boy.  Amid the congrats, one re-tweeter filled in the blank on "#JerseyShore's @Snooki is having a ..." with "Demon? Spawn? Giraffe? Iguana? Rhino?"  Snooki replied, " Iguana!"  Fetus humor is not easy for a pregnant woman.  It's just not.

Dorsey High turned its football players loose at Wednesday's City Section track and field championships, and the competition was overwhelmed. Leading the Dons to their 15th boys' championship was 6-foot-5, 215-pound senior Rashard Clark, who plays tight end and is headed to Arizona State for track. He turned in an individual performance that reminded Dorsey alumni of their great 400-meter champion David Gettis, who went on to Baylor and the NFL's Carolina Panthers. First Clark took the baton on the anchor leg of the 400-meter relay team and rallied from three yards back on the final handoff to pass Taft's anchor runner and win in 41.64.

AURORA, Colo. - On May 2, D'Avonte Meadows, a 6-year-old with an infectious grin and rambunctious streak, was suspended for three days from Sable Elementary in suburban Denver for crooning "[I'm] Sexy and I Know It" to a girl in lunch line. The school declared it sexual harassment and told his parents that, because D'Avonte sang the same song to the same girl before, he is a repeat offender. The news media pounced. And Stephanie Meadows, D'Avonte's 29-year-old mother, gave her bewildered son, a special needs student, a crash course in birds, bees and sexual boundaries.

In the stream of photos on their Facebook pages, Javier Bolden and Bryan Barnes look like the life of the party. The young men hung out with a group that dubbed itself "No Respect Inc.," a "party crew" that followed a local DJ to parties and other events across South Los Angeles. The photos show Bolden and Barnes dancing, shirtless, showing off their tattoos and muscles, and striking poses with young women. Under one photo Barnes took of himself in December, he wrote: "Merry Christmas To All Da Females Dat Didnt Have A Good Christmas :)"

Junior Khalfani Muhammad of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High thrives on having a target on his back as the sprinter you have to beat to be considered the fastest teenager in California. "Everybody wants to come after me," he said. "I love it. I love the pressure. " On Saturday at the Southern Section track and field championships, Muhammad recovered from a momentary slip at the start of the Division 3 100 meters to win in a wind-aided 10.45 seconds, the fastest time in the state this year.

An American woman who set off an international furor when she sent a Russian child whom she had adopted back to Moscow, has been ordered to pay $1,000 a month in child support and $150,000 in various fees.

The probable starting pitchers were two improbable dreams. On the mound for the Lake Balboa Birmingham High boys' baseball team was a 5-foot-2 righty with a wicked changeup, a cut fastball, and a whole heap of black hair stuffed under her cap. Her name was Marti Sementelli, and she does not throw like a girl. "I've used that line," she said, giggling. "But I've used it on boys. " On the mound for the opposing San Marcos High boys' team from Santa Barbara was a 5-3 righty with a floating curve, a sneaky fastball, and two pink batting gloves.

Seven deputies from the Los Angeles County sheriff's gang unit have been placed on leave on suspicion that they belong to a secret clique that celebrates shootings and brands its members with matching tattoos, sources confirmed. The move is a sign of the intensifying nature of the investigation of the "Jump Out Boys. " Suspicion about the group's existence was sparked several weeks ago when a supervisor found a pamphlet describing the group's creed, which promoted aggressive policing and portrayed officer shootings in a positive light.

The investigation into a secret clique within the Los Angeles County sheriff's elite gang unit has uncovered allegations that members had matching tattoos of a gun-toting skeleton, which deputies would modify to celebrate their involvement in a shooting, according to sources close to the internal probe. One deputy, who has admitted belonging to a clique called the "Jump Out Boys," has identified about half a dozen other deputies as members, one source confirmed. Those men are expected to be summoned for interviews with internal affairs investigators, the source said.