Despite the desperate backgrounds of Homegirl Café trainees -- everyone is either a previous gang member, drug addict, previously incarcerated or all three -- the place has a sunny interior, colorful artwork on the walls, and food that is fresh and delicious.

Who have been the primary beneficiaries of "school reform?" Duh, the for-profit companies! While consultants and think tanks have done OK, the real money has been in testing and textbooks and technology and construction.

It costs approximately $130,000 to keep one teenager in juvenile detention for one year. It would cost less than $200 per child per year to fund Educating Children for Parenting, a violence prevention program.

A 17-year-old boy in Perth, Australia has been sentenced to 12 months in juvenile detention for pressuring underage girls to perform sexual acts on a ...