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Youths drawn into prostitution while living at residential facilities

A world of sexual exploitation seems to be accepted as a fact of life at some of the large residential treatment centers that get millions of taxpayer dollars each year to care for Illinois’ most destitute and troubled young wards, a Tribune investigation found.

Congress to block marijuana legalization in DC

The Republican-led US House is using a crucial spending bill in an effort to block legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington, DC, where a ballot initiative last month received nearly 70-percent support.

"Injustice system" feels more like it all-too-often.

Eric Garner’s final words.

Obama seeks purchase of 50,000 police body cameras

President Barack Obama announced Monday that he will seek $263 million in order to better train police officers – and a large chunk of that money will fund the purchase of roughly 50,000 body cameras.

Additionally, the White House said that the controversial Pentagon program that transfers old equipment – including vehicles and other military gear – will remain largely intact, though more money will be used to improve training and reform law enforcement agencies across the United States.

If Noelle Johnson had a bachelor’s degree, she’d be able to live closer to work, she says. She wouldn’t have to spend so much of her free time hustling for babysitting gigs. She’d shop at the farmers market. She’d be able to treat her sister to dinner for once. She and her husband could go on trips together — they’d be able to afford two tickets instead of one.

There are dozens of ways that not having a college degree and dealing with student loans affects Johnson’s life.

Johnson, 27, lives in Manassas, Va., and commutes 90 minutes each way by bus and train to Arlington, Va. She likes her job as an office manager at a nonprofit, and makes around $40,000 a year — about $10,000 more than the national average for people with some college education, though the capital region has a higher cost of living as well.

But young college graduates make $58,000 a year, on average. And after nine years of changing schools, trying to choose a major, dealing with an illness and managing tuition costs, Johnson has about $20,000 in student loan debt and no degree to show for it.

For Millions Of Millennials: Some College, No Degree, Lots Of Debt

"In some places, tests — and preparation for them — are dominating the calendar and culture of schools and causing undue stress for students and educators."

The quote comes not from an angry parent or firebrand school leader but from Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Of course, he’s the guy currently in charge of a big chunk of those tests: the No Child Left Behind requirement of annual standardized testing in grades 3-8, plus once during grades 10-12.

And those tests are just the start. Lately everyone from the president on down has been weighing in on the question: Are kids really being tested too much? And their answer, mostly, is a big “Yes.”

Meet “Jordan,” an 11th grader in Florida. By graduation, he’ll have taken 113 standardized tests.  

Testing: How Much Is Too Much?