Youth

SACRAMENTO - California lawmakers Wednesday advanced a dozen gun-control measures, including background checks for ammunition buyers, and gave early approval to a tax penalty on the Boy Scouts for barring openly gay leaders. Legislators also voted for a new $75 charge on real estate transactions to pay for affordable-housing projects. Mass shootings such as the one in Newtown, Conn., in December spurred Democratic lawmakers to look for ways to tighten California's gun laws, already some of the toughest in the nation.

As the wind propelled the Robert C. Seamans toward Santa Catalina Island, Rudy Vigil controlled the helm of the 135-foot, $8.1-million ship. Rudy is 17, with a ring in his eyebrow and a stud in his nose. The last thing the high school senior from Wilmington steered was a Honda Civic. Rudy was seasick for most of the 10 days he and 20 other students cruised the California coast with the Sea Education Assn.

A 12-year-old boy whose father died climbing Mt. Everest has become the youngest person to conquer Mt. McKinley, North America's tallest peak. Taras Genet of Talkeetna, Alaska, reached the 20,320-foot summit on Friday with six members of his expedition, the National Park Service said Monday. Genet is a son of Ray Genet, a mountain-climbing guide who died in October, 1979, trying to climb the world's tallest peak.

A neighbor of a 15-year-old girl who was kidnapped in this western Nebraska town was arrested after her body was found Wednesday, authorities said Thursday. Heather Guerrero's body was discovered in an abandoned house 12 miles from Gering, where she was abducted while delivering newspapers before dawn Tuesday. Jeffrey A. Hessler, 24, of Gering was arrested on suspicion of murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and use of a firearm to commit a felony, said the Scotts Bluff County attorney's office.

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.

There's been parental panic in Portland, Ore., severe tropical depression in Tampa, Fla., and a mad scramble in Minneapolis. There was so much outrage among families in Little Rock that the Arkansas attorney general promised a swift investigation, as did his counterpart in Missouri after seeing the dust-up in Kansas City. All over the country, little girls are crying that they want -- they need -- tickets to see their idol, a 14-year-old named Miley Cyrus (a.k.a.

Mastering classical music within the Hsieh family means practice--and lots of it. The two Hsieh children--Tiffany, 14, and Timothy, 10--spend hours every day practicing, just as each has done since before their fifth birthdays. But they have a lot further to go to catch up with their mother, Shirley Hsieh, who studied piano with top-ranking teachers for 25 years and is now a teacher herself.

It could be the rhinestone stud in her cheek, her thin resume, or her unwillingness to interview before noon, lest job-seeking disrupt her gym routine or interrupt her beauty sleep. Or it could be that this is the weakest job market for teenagers looking for summer work in more than half a century. But two weeks of pounding the pavement -- or at least occasionally scrolling through "help wanted" ads on Craigslist -- have produced not a single employment offer for my 17-year-old daughter . . .

MICHIGAN * A teenager who survived a suicide pact that killed her husband was sentenced to prison for her role in the rape of a teenage girl. In a Lansing courtroom, Circuit Judge Thomas Brown sentenced Jennifer Holey, 19, to four to 15 years in prison, prosecutors said. Holey had pleaded no contest to criminal sexual conduct. Prosecutors accused Holey of helping in her husband's April 1 rape of the 14-year-old.

Amber Medina has been looking for a job for five months, ever since her father, a metal-worker, was laid off and her mom began struggling to support the family of seven on her $15-per-hour job. But the 17-year-old has yet to find anything permanent, despite sending out resumes and visiting dozens of potential employers, including the clothing stores Old Navy and PacSun. "I'm looking for any job to help my parents," she said.