Youth

This is the time of year when, like a character from a bad sci-fi movie, I leap into the brains of a bunch of L.A. teenagers, eager to hear what they think about the nonstop onslaught of summer movies. I call them my Summer Movie Posse. We watch the trailers from a dozen or so upcoming films, then I take notes as the kids pick them apart, offering acerbic, insightful and sometimes surprising thoughts on what they liked and what they loathed.

Los Angeles County officials must do more to protect, treat and support at-risk youths, according to an annual report released this morning by the county's Civil Grand Jury. More than a fifth of county youths -- about 400,000 between the ages of 12 and 24 -- live in poverty, according to the panel. Many rely on county child welfare, medical and employment programs that could be better coordinated to save money and protect children from abuse, the panel found.

Zac Sunderland is wedged in his small bunk, reading, as his 36-foot sailboat ascends and careens down mountainous, shifting peaks. Just ahead on this late June morning is Mexico's first seasonal tropical depression, whose winds have roiled the Pacific. To the south, churning up the coast: a larger storm building into a hurricane. Sunderland, 17, is more than 100 miles offshore on the final leg of a 13-month, around-the-world odyssey.

Several months ago, Pouneh, a 24-year-old Iranian American college student, announced to her father that she would be voting for opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi in the Iranian presidential election. After Mousavi lost, she joined thousands of demonstrators in Westwood calling the results a fraud. Avesta, her 70-year-old father, shakes his head over what he sees as his daughter's youthful naivete.

Dennis Joe Rodgers Jr. grew up without his father. Twenty years ago, his father was shot to death outside the Imperial Courts Housing Project in South Los Angeles, only months before Rodgers was born. On Wednesday night, the anniversary of his father's death, Rodgers was shot and killed. He was 19. Police said three men had driven to Rodgers' Exposition Park home near Normandie Avenue and 37th Street, where the killer got out of the car and shot Rodgers once in the chest.

A Liberian man whose 8-year-old daughter allegedly was raped by four boys, then reportedly shunned by her family, must wait at least three months before possibly regaining custody of the girl. The father, who is not being named to protect the girl's identity, met with Child Protective Services on Monday. The girl was taken into state custody after officials said her parents blamed her for the assault and said they didn't want her anymore. But on Monday, the father denied the accusations.

Avoiding a showdown with a federal judge, the Obama administration agreed Wednesday to release from Guantanamo Bay an Afghan prisoner who was captured as a teenager and held nearly seven years for allegedly throwing a grenade at U.S. soldiers. The government said it would "promptly release" Mohammed Jawad, now 23, and send him to Afghanistan -- but only after it sent a required notification to Congress explaining whether his release would pose a risk to national security.

Three teenagers, including a U.S. soldier, have been charged with capital murder for their roles in the contract killing of a Mexican drug cartel lieutenant who was cooperating with U.S. authorities, police said Wednesday. Army Pfc. Michael Jackson Apodaca, 18, and Christopher Duran, 17, were arrested Monday. A 16-year-old boy, whom police did not identify because of his age, was arrested Wednesday. Investigators said Apodaca, an El Paso native who joined the Army last year, admitted taking money from a mid-level cartel official to be the triggerman.

The classroom swelters in 102-degree heat. The students, all boys in first and second grade, wipe the sweat off their faces as they bark out a spelling exercise in unison. " A-P-P-L-E, apple! B-O-X, box! M-O-N-K-E-Y, monkey!" School is back in session for the children of Swat, the verdant, mountainous valley that this year became the prime battlefield in the Pakistani military's bid to neutralize local Taliban groups. After more than two months of fighting, soldiers regained control of Swat's major towns, and thousands of refugees who fled the conflict have been returning home.

Among her many accomplishments, Otana Jakpor, 15, has managed to break up the monotonous atmosphere of air-quality hearings. It's no easy task. Typically, environmentalists spout acronyms and percentages, while industry lobbyists predict the economy will collapse under new rules. Then the 5-foot-6 African American high school senior steps forward in defense of clean air. "My name is Otana Jakpor, and I am a senior at Woodcrest Christian High School in Riverside," she began at a recent Environmental Protection Agency hearing on nitrogen dioxide regulations.