By giving New York City teenagers the tools to tell stories specific to their realities for over a decade, it is no surprise that Radio Rookies’ stories reflect how some teen issues have evolved over the years. This is especially true when it comes to the thin line between gossiping and bullying. Going through the Rookies archive, one can hear how the emergence of the internet and social media has amplified this issue.

Three cheers for another successful year! Bravo to our youth organizers who did an incredible job of creating what is a now a great tradition of bringing together youth, youth media enthusiasts and media professionals! 

Recently a New York Times article delved into the issue of online gaming and sexual harassment. “Sexism, racism, homophobia and general name-calling are longstanding facts of life in certain corners of online video games.” But when do we draw the line?

When online gaming becomes a type of misogynistic and bigoted-bullying that goes beyond the world of avatars.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (US DOT Photo)

US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has stepped up federal efforts to combat distracted driving, which he says are responsible for ten percent of all traffic fatalities.

The Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving, released Thursday, builds on efforts first piloted in Syracuse and Hartford. It calls for more public awareness, police enforcement, and driver education about the dangers of texting while driving. It also encourages the 11 remaining states that lack anti-texting laws to pass them.

While a recent government survey found that teen seatbelt use is up and drunk driving is down, over half of all high school seniors admitted to texting or emailing while driving.

On his blog, LaHood wrote that deaths from distracted driving are entirely preventable.  "In 2010, at least 3,092 people were killed on our nation's roads in distraction-affected crashes. That's approximately one in every ten fatalities, and we can put an end to it."

The DOT is also funding a $2.4 million pilot program in California and Delaware that will examine whether increased police enforcement coupled with advertising and news coverage can significantly reduce distracted driving.

The blueprint can be downloaded here (pdf).

The Takeaway has been talking about child labor in America this week, from paper routes to custodial work. Now, a look at the farm. Should children be restricted from doing certain kinds of agricultural work? The Department of Labor thinks so. In a new proposal, they are hoping to bar most farm hands younger than 16 years old from jobs such as driving tractors, rounding up cattle on horseback, and working on ladders over six feet high. Is the proposal in the best interest of the children, or going too far?

Later this morning, The Takeaway will speak with sociologist Amy Schalet about her new book, "Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex." Schalet compares American and Dutch families, and their attitudes about teenage sex. Beth Brotz, a parent in California, was thrilled to learn about Schalet's work. She talks about how she and her husband handled her teenage daughter's confession that she was sexually active with her boyfriend, and how their openness made them closer as a family.

DIY (Do It Yourself) galore at World Maker Faire NYC 2011

(Houston, Texas) In Texas they call it the “One Hundred Deadliest Days for Drivers”.  It’s the summer stretch where students are finished school and taking to the roads. Statistics from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety say 366 of all fatal collisions were caused by teenagers in 2009, the most recent year statistics were available.

Now the Houston-Galveston Area Council is trying to reduce that number through a new documentary “Chronicles of a Teen Killer”.

Jeff Kaufman, Transport Safety Coordinator with the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) says the idea started with local police Assistant Chief Vicky King.  “She had come up with the idea that she wanted to do a documentary about the dangers of driving while intoxicated and gear it towards younger drivers."

Erica Moriarty, a local high school senior, was one of 13 teens recruited to work on the project. Moriarty would regularly see her peers drinking too much at parties -- and think it was okay to drive home.

The documentary  opens with a young girl slurring her words saying how she wanted to “get drunk and get her party on." The same teen later on admits that she plans on driving home. Some of the teen producers went to the local detox facility and the morgue to see the real side of what drinking and driving can do.

One of these stories in the documentary is told by ‘Milly’. Milly was 17 when she got drunk and drove her three friends home -- one of whom, Danny, never made it. While recording for the documentary Moriarty  said Milly’s story was so powerful that the room was silent, “We were a team of 13 teenagers, we were never quiet we were always talking. I just remember that being super impactful because it really showed what the consequences are in just one person.”

Although the accident happened seven years ago, while recounting it Milly breaks down and tearfully relates how much her one mistake cost everyone, including herself. “I had everything in my world. I had amazing parents and family and I had my whole life in front of me and Danny had, Danny had her whole life ahead of her. She was smart and amazing and the center of everyone’s world…everyone loved her So I took her promising future and all the opportunities that she was gonna have away from her.”

Since its release five weeks ago the documentary has received nearly six thousand hits on YouTube.

For the full story, listen to the radio version at KUHF.

(Washington, DC --Todd Zwillich, Transportation Nation) Lawmakers introduced a bill Tuesday forcing states to meet a national standard for teens’ drivers licenses or take a hit on their federal highway funding.

The bill pushes graduated drivers license programs, or GDL’s, which phase in driving privileges for teens in the hopes of taking some of the danger out of getting behind the wheel.

All 50 states already have some form of phased-in driving for teens, but standards vary widely. Six states allow permits for 14-year olds, while South Dakota has no restricts at all for 16-year-old drivers.

Safety groups and insurance companies have long backed GDL programs, as a way to improve teen driving safety and also to lock in one set of nationwide rules.

Car crashes remain the number-one cause of death for US teens, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Crashes killed more than 40,000 teens over the last five years.

“This is a national problem that requires a national solution,” said Rep. Tim Bishop (R-NY).

Teens are notoriously bad risk takers, but advocates have become increasingly alarmed by the rise of cell phones and other electronic devices. Distracted driving campaigns have zeroed in on adolescents and their texting.

The bill would force states to take on three-stage licensing schemes with unrestricted driving privileges delayed until age 18. The process involves learners permits with passenger restrictions and cell phone bans. It would also let the federal government set standards withholding full licenses from kids caught driving recklessly, with DUIs or other violations.

Teens in the intermediate license phase would face restrictions on night driving and on the number of car passengers.

States would have three years to put in minimum requirements.

“If they don’t, they would face penalties and reductions in funding,” said Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand, D-NY.

The bill authorizes $25 million to help states put new laws in place. Lawmakers said they intend to attach the bill to surface transportation legislation expected to move in Congress later this year.

(Kate Hinds, Transportation Nation) How well are parents doing in terms of teaching their teenagers to drive?  Not so great, according to a recent study.

"Teens have the highest crash rate of any group in the United States." And motor vehicle accidents remain the leading cause of death for teenagers in the United States.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center installed cameras in the cars of 52 families for four months shortly after the teenagers obtained their learner's permits.  (The sample videos on the AAA website range from bracing to hair-raising.)  The tapes revealed parents often don't spend enough time teaching their teens to drive -- and they tend to stick to the same types of driving situations.

Image: AAA

Supervised driving experience often accounted for less than two hours a week, and a lot of that experience was under benign conditions in residential neighborhoods. There was very little practice under more challenging circumstances-- highways, heavy city traffic, at night, or in bad weather.

The parent-teen relationship was also key, with many parents and teens struggling to maintain equilibrium during the emotionally charged process of learning to drive.  On the one hand, you have to feel for the parents, whom the study says, has to balance being "a driving instructor, mentor, role model and psychologist." On the other hand:  16% of teens refused to drive with one of the parents because they perceived them as being hypercritical.  But as always, perception is key:   "From the driving clips, yelling between parents and teens was rarely observed. On the other hand, there were a number of instances where a teen told their parent to stop yelling when the parent’s voice was barely raised, if at all."

While most states require 50 hours of practice before a license is awarded, the AAA Foundation would like to see 100 hours of quality time.  As the report says, "Parents in the present study seemed well aware that  'lots of driving experience' is key to learning. What they did not seem to grasp is the importance of 'appropriate experience."

Read the report here (pdf).

To see the permit and licensing systems are in each state, click here (pdf).

Watch clips of the driving videos here. (.wmv)

People of a certain age will remember hanging out at the Peach Pit or West Beverly Hills High vicariously through the hit Fox TV show, Beverly Hills, 90210.

Dr. Janice Trent, a doctor of audiology with the American Speech Language Hearing Association, discusses a recent JAMA study that shows an increase in hearing loss among teens.

Yesterday, we talked about high schools in eight states that are considering an initiative to let students place out of their senior year in high school and enter community college. It sparked a heated debate among listeners on the merits of the program, so we revisit the issue with a psychology professor and an expert in early graduation.

There are plenty of teen and tween movies in theaters these days – from this weekend's Michael Cera vehicle Youth in Revolt [see the trailer above] to the hugely popular Twilight series. But many of them leave our movie critic Rafer Guzman scratching his head and wondering: where are the real teens and tweens in teen movies? Has the honest teen film character as we once knew it (RIP John Hughes) died? And do any of the uncomplicated and self-possessed teen characters in movies today resemble real teenagers? Guzman and Nicole Corriveau, a 16-year-old movie buff from Long Island, share their opinions.