Results tagged “teens”

One week ago, 16-year-old Wilson High student Melody Ross was with her friends, watching the school's Homecoming football game. Last night the team observed a moment of silence in her honor, as Ross was gunned down minutes after she exited the Long Beach school's stadium. At last night's game students wrote MR on their cheeks, the team turned the school's "W" on their helmets upside down to make an "M" in their classmates honor, and attendees faced upped security, according to the Press-Telegram. Earlier that day in a Long Beach court Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis, both 16-year-old gang members, found themselves charged as adults; the Deputy DA said the charges are as a result of the "seriousness of the crime" and the fact that it was gang-related, notes LA Now. Ross was an innocent bystander; two young men who were wounded "may have been the intended targets."

Since 1991, California's teen birth rate has dropped by 48 percent, according to the California Department of Public Health today: "From 1997 to 2007, birth rates decreased among both younger and older teens. The birth rate among 18 and 19-year-olds dropped from 85.5 per 1,000 in 1997 to 64.3 in 2007. The birth rate among teens ages 15-17 decreased from 33.8 per 1,000 in 1997 to 19.9 in 2007." All told, 53,393 babies were born to teen mothers, aged 15 to 19, in 2007, which is the most recent data available from the state. That still seems like a lot, but a downward trend is a good thing.

$20.3 million of stimulus money from the federal government will go towards Hire LA, the city's program to place 16- to 24-year-olds in summer and permanent full time jobs around the city. “Hire LA will create over 16,000 jobs for Los Angeles youth and set them on-course toward a steady paycheck and a better life,” Mayor Villaraigosa said in a statement. “Today, Los Angeles becomes the first city in the nation to create jobs for young people using federal stimulus dollars dedicated towards youth employment.” In all, 7,388 positions will come from stimulus money. The remaining 8,500 positions will be funded through the annual programs from the city, school and community college district and private sector.

Two teen boys, one sixteen and one fifteen, have died following being shot by suspected gang members Friday afternoon in Highland Park, according to an LAPD press release. The shooting took place just before 3:30 p.m. in the 1600 block of North Figueroa Street. Officers arriving on scene found Alejandro Garcia, 16, and Carlos Hernandez, 15, lying on the sidewalk suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Both victims later died at the hospital. "According to detectives, a group of men believed to be gang members confronted the teens while they were on a sidewalk. A fracas broke out and one of the gunmen pulled out a handgun and fatally shot them. The suspects then ran from the scene." Police believe the shooting was "gang motivated," and the suspects remain at large.

After reading about the street robberies in Sherman Oaks, a nearby resident e-mails this intersting tip:

The LAPD's Northeast Division officially announced today the capture of two teenage suspects who may be responsible for at least two of the recent street robberies in Silver Lake and could be linked to similar ones in a other neighborhoods in a nearby police division, Jesus Sanchez from The Eastsider LA reports from an earlier press conference. Police recovered iPods, cell phones, guns and knives from the suspects homes. Two other adult males reported to be arrested Monday are also under investigation for the recent crimes in Silver Lake. No suspects linked to the robberies in Echo Park have been caught yet.

If last week's deaths of three kids (one of them was at the wheel) in a police pursuit wasn't enough, five were involved in one last night that began in Norwalk. Shortly before midnight, police tried to pull over a red Chevy Corsica that was reported to be stolen when the 13 or 14-year-old driver sped off with four other passengers aged 12 to 14. About an hour later, California Highway Patrol performed the PIT maneuver causing the car to crash into the fence. No one was injured and the teens were all taken into custody.

The latest death on curvy and high speed Palisades Drive in Pacific Palisades has prompted local residents to call a meeting tonight in order to request "immediate action by the City of Los Angeles to implement safety measures on Palisades Drive and Sunset Blvd."

Tween and teen boys and girls around the world may have gone into panic if they stumbled on either Yahoo! news or Wikipedia on Friday and learned that their beloved Hannah Montana, aka 15-year-old actress and singer Miley Cyrus, had died in a horrible car accident in Los Angeles. The report was a hoax that sent shockwave ripples through the internet, but was easily confirmed as false. MyFox Los Angeles knows it just couldn't be true because, well, they are The Media: "We would have heard about the story if it were true, especially since it was reported to have happened here in Los Angeles," the explain in an article posted today on their site. They also direct us towards the "old" version of the Wikipedia page that listed Cyrus' death. Only, well, another way to know it couldn't be true--look at the given date of death. Hopefully Wiki isn't in the prediction business.

Some people never give up.

On July 1st, after a two year warning, driving while talking on your cell phone, unless it is with a hands free device, will be illegal. There's some confusion, however, on how it all plays out and it depends on whether you are a teen or adult.

Now there's an attention grabbing quote, spoken by Dick Messer, director of the Petersen Automotive Museum, up there in the headline. With the onslaught of laws and proposed ideas for drivers of cars (there are 33.5 million registered vehicles in California), many think it's getting a bit ridiculous in a report by the LA Times. From smoking with minors present in the car to driving with a pet on your lap (the Paris Hilton law), there's at least one law affecting someone (no more handheld cell phones anyone?)

A scuffle between a group of teens that apparently knew each other left one 14-year-old shot and killed. The incident happened last night around 8:30 p.m. near the intersection of Van Nuys and Glen Oaks Boulevards in the Valley neighborhood of Pacoima.

Probably the worst place to do a crime spree within a short period of time is Burbank. There are police everywhere and they are total squares, which makes for police who don't fuck around. Add in dumb teenager arsonists suspected of setting a fire at Michael's Bar and Grill in Burbank and four or five other small fires within a 15-minute time span early this morning.