ENTERTAINMENT
January 21, 2010 | By Liesl Bradner
On the surface, "To Save a Life" doesn't sound that different from a host of indie films -- a drama involving a teen coping with the aftermath of a student's suicide who finds solace in a group of outsiders. The film, which opens Friday, deals with myriad real-life issues facing teens such as drugs, sex and social acceptance. The plot focuses on star athlete Jake Taylor, who seemingly has it all; he has a basketball scholarship, good looks, a cheerleader girlfriend and hangs with the in-crowd.
BUSINESS
February 1, 2009 | Dawn C. Chmielewski and Meg James
The TV series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" opens with a 15-year-old girl coming home from band practice, reaching into her French horn case and pulling out a home pregnancy test. Her horrified look confirms the results. No less startled are some parents whose children watch the ABC Family cable program that revolves around the sex lives of high school students.
BUSINESS
September 11, 2006 | Charles Duhigg, Times Staff Writer
The Internet has transformed how bands interact with their fans. But that can lead to troublesome consequences. A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges that Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records and other music industry organizations helped coerce a 16-year-old girl into making pornographic rock videos when a band advertised for extras on MySpace, News Corp.'s teen-oriented social networking site. The companies and musicians' representatives deny they did anything wrong.
NEWS
August 20, 1998 | KATHRYN BOLD, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
With their leather sleeves, collegiate colors and embroidered mascots, letterman jackets long have symbolized school spirit and athletic ability. They're traditionally awarded to students for success on the playing field, but these days even those who didn't make the team are wearing the classic jackets--the vintage ones once owned by jocks whose glory days are long past.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 27, 2009 | Andrew Blankstein, Robert Faturechi and Richard Winton
Like many teenage girls, these friends were fascinated by the high fashion and flashy bling of such young Hollywood celebrities as Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Audrina Patridge. But unlike other fans, they allegedly didn't stop at Hollywood fantasy. According to Los Angeles police detectives, the group studied television shows, celebrity magazines and websites picking out clothing and jewelry they wanted. Then they figured out where the celebrities lived and, after casing the homes, broke in and took what they wanted, detectives allege.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 13, 2010 | By Garrett Therolf
Three plaintiffs who were incarcerated by the Los Angeles County Probation Department as minors filed a class-action complaint in federal court Tuesday alleging a total breakdown in the school at Camp Challenger in Lancaster. The three allege that teachers at the county's largest probation camp routinely missed classes without explanation, punished students who asked for instruction by sending them out of the classroom and, in the case of one plaintiff, awarded a high school diploma despite the fact that the student was illiterate.
NATIONAL
November 16, 2009 | Georgia Garvey
Donna Yehl's fourth-grade students bob behind their desks, heads nodding up and down as if the children were on the deck of a ship. But they aren't fidgeting. The two dozen children in Yehl's Elgin, Ill., classroom read and write -- in fact, do all of their classwork -- perched on exercise balls. The inflatable balls are commonly used in Pilates, yoga and exercise classes. Some teachers say they belong in school classrooms too because they sharpen students' attention and improve their posture.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 7, 2006 | Lori Aratani, Washington Post
James Armstrong's got style, and he likes to smell good. Real good. And to smell good, he's got to have his Axe. "Axe is one of my favorite things in life," he said. "You don't want to be smelling bad in class." He's 13. He wears outfits, not clothes. And he has one scent for every day. And one for, well, you know, special occasions. "Sometimes when you wear it," said Milai Henriet, his classmate at A. Mario Loiederman Middle School in suburban Silver Spring, Md.
NATIONAL
August 30, 2009 | Kim Geiger
When Abby Berendt Lavoi graduated from college, she got a job in New York making television commercials as a full-time contractor for one of the largest media companies in the world. She was eligible for health insurance only after she had been working there for a year. Ten months into the job, Berendt Lavoi came down with painful stomach cramps. Terrified, she used Google to find a hospital that would accept patients without insurance, and underwent surgery to remove an ovarian cyst the size of a softball.
NATIONAL
December 17, 2008 | Erika Hayasaki
All she has left of the person she used to be is contained in a 5-by-7 photo album with "Aliyah Bacchus" written in blue pen on its cover, each picture inside tucked beneath a slip of clear plastic. There she is at 17, barely 90 pounds, smiling sourly on her wedding day in Queens, N.Y., dressed in hijab -- a pearl-toned princess bridal gown shimmering with beads, her slender hands dipped in sleek white gloves, a veil attached to a white qimar, or head scarf, fastened snugly around her face.