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Indiana does not appear to be a champion of green energy, with carbon emissions consistently putting us among the 10 biggest offenders in the United States.

On a warm September morning, we sat in our elementary school classrooms and watched collapsing towers on T.V. We heard whispers of an attack, and many of our classmates were whisked out of school by nervous parents.

Ayanna Porter has watched kids in her class casually put a stick of gum in their mouths, then use the wrapper to scribble down test or homework answers.

Considering how important young people have been to this election cycle, it's not surprising that their journalistic peers have the same enthusiasm for covering it.

Instead of awakening to Spot barking or Frisky purring, Lauren Van Atter listens to Fiyero sing a solo at 6 a.m. Fiyero, named for a character in the musical "Wicked" is Lauren's cockatiel. Most kids have pet dogs and cats, but according to Dr. Angela Lennox, more young people are choosing to own exotic pets than ever before.

This election, much fuss has been made about the voting potential of young adults. Candidates have reached out to youth through social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, and in frequent visits to college campuses.But part of this demographic has long been overlooked.

With the rise in gas prices Indiana families still had hidden treasures in the state. One is about a little an hour and half northeast of Indianapolis the Peru amateur circus.

When Tamika Catchings was a kid, she did not show any signs of becoming an international basketball superstar. She was a girl with a speech impediment, hearing aids and braces. Children teased her, and she'd often come home crying, frustrated with school and life.

Prior their concert at the Verizon Wireless Center, the Jonas Brothers held a press conference at the Conrad Hotel to discuss their charitable work.

John Colbert, an Indianapolis father of 10, says it's time parents take charge. "Kids walk over their parents, but I blame that on the parents. The parents aren't being parents.

Touching things methodically. Reading the same book pages repeatedly while the rest of the class moves on to future chapters. Worrying about how she's different from other kids.

Do Latinos vote as a bloc? According to students at Duarte High School in Los Angeles County, the answer is sometimes.

Several Indianapolis teens – be they Indian, black, Latino or white – said they would consider marrying outside of their race, now that they have been part of the interracial dating scene. Raymond Jami, who is black, and Rocio Mendez, who is Latina, have been dating for more than three years.

George Yancey, an associate professor of sociology at the University of North Texas, studies interracial dating and marriage. He shared some of his findings with Y-Press.

A year ago, Nina Wainscott was at risk of dropping out of Shelbyville High School, and her counselor told her that she didn’t have enough credits to graduate.

If every freshman, sophomore, junior and senior at Broad Ripple, Carmel and Zionsville High Schools dropped out, that would be about the same number of secondary school students – 6,829 -- that drop out every day across America.

Tameria Aldrich might have passed as a typical American teen-ager if it weren’t for the camouflage uniform she wore daily.Her weekday schedule last spring was different from what most youth face too: The 17-year-old was up before dawn, helping clean her barracks before breakfast, then marching in formations, followed by school and a full day of other military-style events.

Pollsters and analysts love to identify voting blocs, using them to explain voting trends and to make projections. The Latino voting bloc has been repeatedly analyzed, often getting credit for swaying elections, such as the 2004 presidential contest in which incumbent George W. Bush defeated U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

Being an integral part of his family’s business is priceless, says Marco Andretti, an IRL racer who finished second in the Indianapolis 500 when he was only 19 years old. Andretti said he can’t imagine being in the racing business without his legendary grandfather Mario Andretti, one of the most famous race car drivers of all time.