Heroin may be about to get a mean on. That’s what JJIE’s Ryan Schill writes in a three-part series this week. Though statistics don’t show an enormous surge in heroin arrests, both current and former users, as well as counselors report an upsurge in use among teens, mostly white, mostly suburban. Increased supply, its relative…

Aren’t experiments cool? Well, OK, not always. Sometimes the chemistry set blows up, but most of the time you learn something at least. We just finished up an experiment here at JJIE, and thanks to you it was successful. Bill Sanders, a former features writer at the Atlanta Journal Constitution brought us a story idea…

The Francis L. Abreu Charitable Trust for metro Atlanta, provides grants for children and youth services, education, health associations, arts and culture organizations. The trust supports capital campaigns, program development, seed money and matching funds. The deadline for this grant is September 30.  

Connor Whitesell, 17, was riding his dirt bike and wanted to try out a homemade ramp. Cody Holder, 16, dove into a shallow pool at a relative’s house – despite his father’s warnings. Kristyn Osterhaus, 19, was joyriding — without a seatbelt — in the backseat of an overloaded Jeep, following a summer party.  The…

Georgia’s First Lady is expanding her service role to children in the state. Sandra Deal, wife of Gov. Nathan Deal, has agreed to lead the advisory board for the Governor’s Office for Children and Families (GOCF). “It’s important for us to concentrate on our children and our families for the sake of our state,” Mrs….

Strong antipsychotic medications are being prescribed to incarcerated juveniles across Louisiana despite lacking diagnoses for the conditions they were designed to treat, according to an investigative report by New Orlean’s The Lens. The medications are meant to help with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. After examining their records, The Lens found 22 percent of medications prescribed…

The Georgia-Pacific Foundation Grant seeks to invest in innovative and result-driven educational initiatives. It values creating, supporting and nurturing worthy educational projects. The grant helps kids transition from school to the workforce. For 2011 funding, the GP Foundation accepts proposals for grants and in-kind donations. The deadline for this grant is Oct. 31, 2011.  

Boston teens got a lesson in the do’s and don’ts of Facebook romance late last month during a one-day conference on “healthy break-ups.” According to The New York Times Magazine, the seminar, sponsored by the Boston Public Health Commission, attempted to answer such pressing questions as: how fast is too fast to change your relationship…

Not long ago, authorities discovered a 15-year-old Wisconsin girl in a suburban Atlanta hotel room who was “employed” in the sex trade. With her at the time, was her one-year-old daughter. If we don’t understand how a girl can end up thousands of miles away from home, we really don’t understand the tragedy of human…

Georgia’s juvenile code rewrite may have hit another bump on its long road to passage. In a letter signed by Athens-Clarke County, Ga., District Attorney Kenneth Mauldin, the District Attorney’s Association of Georgia asked the Georgia Assembly’s Advisory Committee on Legislation to “withhold consideration” of the bill currently in the State House containing the rewrite….