The author of “Friday Night Lights” goes on the road with his young-adult son, a savant with serious intellectual deficits, and writes an unflinchingly honest memoir.

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Books of The Times: ‘Father’s Day’ Is Buzz Bissinger’s Memoir About His Son

Kindergartners in Georgia — many of whom don’t yet read — could soon play an important role in deciding which teachers get raises or get fired. Under a new pilot program, 5-year-olds will be guided through a survey that includes such statements as “My teacher knows a lot about what he or she teaches” and “My teacher gives me help when I need it.” As the youngsters circle a smiley face, a neutral face or a frowning face, they will be playing their part in new high-stakes teacher evaluations. Read full article > >

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Student surveys for children as young as 5 years old may help rate teachers

Vulnerable young girls in Northern Ireland are being sexually exploited in the same way as those in a recent case in Rochdale, a charity has said.

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Rochdale-type cases ‘occur in NI’

Police are appealing for witnesses to two fatal road accidents which claimed the lives of two young men.

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Appeal over motorcyclist death

The former brother-in-law of the actress and singer Jennifer Hudson was convicted on Friday of murdering her mother, brother and young nephew.

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William Balfour Guilty in Killing of Hudson’s Family

Children as young as 11 are to be targeted in a major new drive to encourage them to stop smoking.

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Quit smoking advice for children

Most deaths of young children around the world are from mainly preventable infectious causes, experts say.

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Most child deaths ‘preventable’

At the end of this year, Nancy Keenan will step down from her post as president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the country’s oldest abortion-rights advocacy group. The 60-year-old Keenan said she is leaving out of concern for the future of the pro-choice movement — and thinks she could be holding it back.In recent years, Keenan has worried about an “intensity gap” on abortion rights among millennials, which the group considers to be the generation of Americans born between 1980 and 1991. While most young, antiabortion voters see abortion as a crucial political issue, NARAL’s own internal research does not find similar passion among abortion-rights supporters. If the pro-choice movement is to successfully defend abortion rights, Keenan contends, it needs more young people in leadership roles, including hers. Read full article > >

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Exclusive: NARAL President Nancy Keenan to step down

If there’s a trend in the movie biz these days, it isn’t stories with young female heroines, although, admittedly, something’s going on there (see “The Hunger Games,” “Brave,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild”).Rather, it’s movies with an established brand. Read full article > >

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Summer movie preview: Putting their trademark on big-screen sizzle

A mother who subjected her two youngest children to five years of cruelty, including forcing them into unpaid work and locking them in freezing bedrooms, is jailed.

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Mother jailed for child cruelty

Two people are arrested in a fraud inquiry involving dance schools for children as young as nine who believed they were preparing to dance in the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

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Arrests over Olympic dance fraud

Two people are arrested in a fraud inquiry involving dance schools for children as young as nine who believed they were preparing to dance in the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

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Arrests over Olympic dance fraud

Several young authors of financial advice books say they were taught at an early age to be mindful about money.

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Your Money: How to Raise a Financial Guru

“ What’s Going On ,” Marvin Gaye’s 1971 album, is a landmark. It was Motown’s first protest-music song cycle, as well as a template for the lusher, jazzier, more grown-up style that supplanted the label’s “Sound of Young America.” But even a landmark can be upstaged, which is what happened Thursday night at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, site of John Legend and the National Symphony Orchestra Pops’ “What’s Going On . . . Now.” Read full article > >

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‘What’s Going On’ tribute at Kennedy Center upstages Marvin Gaye’s landmark work

Chefs with Issues is a platform for chefs and farmers we love, fired up for causes about which they're passionate. Patricia Jinich is chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute. She also hosts “Pati’s Mexican Table” on National Public Television and blogs at Pati's Mexican Table. I was born and raised in Mexico City, in a family where every taco happens to be, as my dad boasts, “the best taco you’ve ever had in your entire life.” That is, until you eat the next one. Living in the US, I am often dismayed at how my home country is portrayed in the media. For some, it’s easy to just write off the entire country as dangerous and riddled with cartel violence. As a former political analyst, I am not in denial about the hurdles my country faces, but the Mexico illustrated in some news reports is certainly not the Mexico I know and love – nor is it the Mexico experienced by the  22.67 million international tourists that visited last year. Cooking, eating and sharing Mexican food has helped me and my Mexican-American boys connect with our heritage. Plus, I truly believe that its warm, generous, colorful cuisine has the power to make Americans fall in love with Mexico – one bite at a time. Unlike my three older sisters, I did not join the food world early on. Labeled “the intellectual” in the family, I studied to become a political analyst and delved into Mexico’s history, leaving tacos for mealtime. It wasn’t until I was married and living in Texas that my interest in Mexican food grew beyond my plate. I became hungrier for the food and culture that nurtured my childhood. I started cooking at home; it was the best way I knew how to take care of my husband, and later my boys.  Saucy huevos rancheros on late morning weekends, steaming tamales when we had friends over, soothing caldo de pollo when they got sick, panqu é marmoleado to finish with something sweet, aguas frescas to freshen our meals. I began my hunt for Mexican ingredients, which as the years moved on, became increasingly available as the American appetite grew for a wider Mexican food experience. Eventually, I traded my policy papers for cooking pots. As a chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute , where I direct and teach a Mexican Culinary Program, I embrace the opportunity to share Mexico’s rich culture and diverse cuisine. In fact, it is so rich and unique it has UNESCO world heritage status. When my students, TV show viewers and American friends raise the inevitable questions about traveling to Mexico, I point to my own experience traveling with my young family. Each time we’ve returned to Mexico, I delightfully find the Mexico that I know. Overall and underneath, there is a country and culture that is just like its food: incredibly rich, colorful, genuine, giving and accommodating. Just like a luscious mole sauce , with subtle layers of warmth, comfort, ease and hospitality. Together, we have ridden the entire Copper Canyon route, sampling our way from Los Mochis in Sinaloa to Chihuahua, where the cook of a local restaurant drove us in the back of her wagon to the hotel as our littlest one fell asleep. We’ve eaten such tasty freshly made gorditas in the train stops that, to this day, I hear complaints about how we need to go back for those exact same ones. We almost missed the train as I chased after the fresh fruit cart man, who quickly opened sweet ripe mangoes and topped them with fresh lime juice, salt and ground pequin chile, because it is better to miss the train than to eat the mango without the whole works. In a market in Merida, we were invited into a stranger’s kitchen to learn the secret to the perfect achiote recado, the paste that has uniquely seasoned countless dishes in the Yucatan for centuries. The sweetest Purepecha cook taught the boys how to work the Michoacán black clay into the cutest mugs and cups, so that the cook's aunt could show me how to prepare corundas (similar to tamales) in her own kitchen. It’s our culture to feed the people we love, and share it with those who are interested in exploring it. As varied as the places I’ve been throughout the country, they all share an eclectic and wonderful mix of centuries-old traditions with a weaving of the new and modern. Mexicans are natural hosts – they will do everything they can to make you feel at home in their country and in their homes. We will place our own plates in front of you, if you happen to be hungry. This warmth and openness really sets Mexico apart as a tourist destination. The travel and tourism industry is crucial to Mexico. It’s the source of jobs, opportunities and tremendous pride for millions of people. When you read certain headlines, please take your margarita with more than a grain of salt; what you read in the news is not necessarily gospel. Mexico is a vast, beautiful and diverse country. The overwhelming majority of incidents have taken place in the border areas, more than a two-hour flight from popular tourist destinations like Los Cabos or the Riviera Maya – and cartel-related incidents targeted at tourists are incredibly rare, virtually unheard of. If you open your mind and your heart you will find a Mexico that is as warm, vibrant and as nurturing as the food itself. The more I savor Mexico, the more I realize how much more I have yet to taste, to travel, to see, to learn and to share. In fact, I think experiences of Mexico are just like tacos – you think you’ve had the best one ever, until you try the next.

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Chefs with Issues: The Mexico I know