Results tagged “youth”

Virginia Railway Express is thinking about no longer selling its discounted youth tickets because they believe more and more adults are abusing the system by pretending to be younger than they really are, the Examiner reports today. Currently, anyone under 21 can get VRE tickets for half-price, so it's not too hard to imagine a number of 20-somethings are getting away with paying less than they should. There will have to be a public hearing before anything more happens, but VRE is proposing raising the age of children who ride for free when accompanied by an adult to 10, up from 6, in order to make up for the change. The commuter rail agency estimates eliminating the youth discount could generate $300,000 per year.

Here's a story we missed last night from WJLA: as of January, bars in D.C. that are caught selling alcohol to minors for the first time now get a warning instead of a $1,000 fine and a two-day liquor license suspension. In a surprise twist, the change in the law pits Jim "Shut 'Em Down" Graham against the D.C./Va. chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), with MADD expressing concern over becoming too lenient on liquor sales violations, and Graham insisting the new law is more fair. Repeat offenders are actually penalized more now than they were before, Graham notes.

We had been mulling over yesterday's Washington Post story about an apparent increase in teens and kids even younger committing crimes like robbery and assault in groups, and then last night's FOX 5 report on violent crime in Adams Morgan really crystallized it: we have to come up with some better words for describing this phenomenon, if it is one. About a third of the way through the FOX 5 video, reporter Roby Chavez has a member of the Guardian Angels, who have recently starting patrolling Adams Morgan, describe groups of kids who are purposefully engaged in criminal activity together as "wolf packs." The Post similarly goes with "pack robberies," describing how these groups of juveniles are "roaming" the city streets looking for opportunities to assault and rob unsuspecting citizens.

Civic-minded young Washingtonians have a chance to be a part of something bigger than just D.C., while at the same time helping their neighbors. Thousands of young people will give back this weekend as part of Global Youth Service Day (each individual project is one day, but the event runs from April 25-27).