Teen Texting

Marion Underwood is drowning in teenage texting data. For the last four years, the University of Texas at Dallas professor has been collecting texts sent by and to 175 adolescent students at a large suburban Texas high school as part of a study dubbed the BlackBerry Project. Participating students receive free BlackBerrys from Underwood's team, as well as a data plan that includes unlimited texting and a limited number of voice minutes. In return, the young participants allow researchers to record all the texts and emails they send and receive from the phone, which they agree to use as their primary communication device.

Decrying "how much was lost for so little," a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Friday sentenced two men to lengthy prison terms for killing a teenager three years ago over an insulting text message. Zareh Manjikian was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, and Vahagn Jurian was given a 25-years-to-life term in the shooting death of 19-year-old Gombert "Mike" Yepremyan. "The life of a young man … is lost over a single, thoughtless word in a text message," Judge Gregory A. Dohi said.

A text message sent by a missing 14-year-old to her mother led to her rescue Saturday, when police found her in a hand-dug, booby-trapped bunker. Elizabeth Shoaf's message also led investigators to name a suspect in her abduction more than a week ago. Police were searching for 37-year-old Vinson Filyaw, said Kershaw County Sheriff Steve McCaskill. Shoaf was found by deputies about a mile from her home in a 15-foot-deep hole in the side of a hill that was covered with plywood.

Kids these days! They heed your warnings to buckle up and to call for a ride if their lift home has been drinking. But then they go and text their BFF while driving to soccer practice after school. Efforts to keep them safe are indeed reducing injuries and death among American adolescents, a new study says. But there are new risks, some posed by new technologies, that we never thought to warn them about. This is the kind of mixed picture of youth "risk-taking behavior" the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday.

Decrying "how much was lost for so little," a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Friday sentenced two men to lengthy prison terms for killing a teenager three years ago over an insulting text message. Zareh Manjikian was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, and Vahagn Jurian was given a 25-years-to-life term in the shooting death of 19-year-old Gombert "Mike" Yepremyan. "The life of a young man … is lost over a single, thoughtless word in a text message," Judge Gregory A. Dohi said.

Kids these days! They heed your warnings to buckle up and to call for a ride if their lift home has been drinking. But then they go and text their BFF while driving to soccer practice after school. Efforts to keep them safe are indeed reducing injuries and death among American adolescents, a new study says. But there are new risks, some posed by new technologies, that we never thought to warn them about. This is the kind of mixed picture of youth "risk-taking behavior" the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday.

The Metrolink engineer involved in a deadly rail disaster in Chatsworth last fall not only allowed unauthorized rail enthusiasts to sometimes ride in his cab, but on at least one occasion let a teen take the controls. And he planned to do it again on the day of the crash, records show. The conduct, a serious violation of safety regulations, was disclosed Tuesday in a series of cellphone text messages presented as evidence in a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the collision.

Marion Underwood is drowning in teenage texting data. For the last four years, the University of Texas at Dallas professor has been collecting texts sent by and to 175 adolescent students at a large suburban Texas high school as part of a study dubbed the BlackBerry Project. Participating students receive free BlackBerrys from Underwood's team, as well as a data plan that includes unlimited texting and a limited number of voice minutes. In return, the young participants allow researchers to record all the texts and emails they send and receive from the phone, which they agree to use as their primary communication device.

The Metrolink engineer involved in a deadly rail disaster in Chatsworth last fall not only allowed unauthorized rail enthusiasts to sometimes ride in his cab, but on at least one occasion let a teen take the controls. And he planned to do it again on the day of the crash, records show. The conduct, a serious violation of safety regulations, was disclosed Tuesday in a series of cellphone text messages presented as evidence in a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the collision.

A text message sent by a missing 14-year-old to her mother led to her rescue Saturday, when police found her in a hand-dug, booby-trapped bunker. Elizabeth Shoaf's message also led investigators to name a suspect in her abduction more than a week ago. Police were searching for 37-year-old Vinson Filyaw, said Kershaw County Sheriff Steve McCaskill. Shoaf was found by deputies about a mile from her home in a 15-foot-deep hole in the side of a hill that was covered with plywood.