An Old woman in her seventies crashed on to a scooter and left the scene to keep an hair stylist appointment.

Louise Davidson, 77, was arrested Thursday for leaving the scene of an injury crash, Boynton Beach police said.

Police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said the woman was turning right when she veered into the path of the oncoming scooter that had the right of way. The man was thrown by the impact onto the windshield and then fell to the road, she added.

Police said they later spotted the woman’s car after she had her hair appointment.

Authorities said the man suffered abrasions all over his body but the injuries were not believed to be life threatening.

Indiana Businessman Marcus Schrenker tried to fake his death in flight crash, but was later reported to be seen walking away from water saying he was involved with a canoeing incident. The officer who helped Marcus Schrenker get a hotel room after his alleged Canoe incident was able to identify the missing pilot. Earlier Schrenker called Air Traffic control and said his windshield was broken and hes bleeding heavily. After the wreckage of the flight was found no blood was found and Windshield was intact. Below is the full story. Currently his location is unknown.

An Indiana businessman whose financial management companies were under investigation apparently bailed out of his small plane and let it crash in what may have been an elaborate attempt to fake his own death.

Authorities searched Monday for Marcus Schrenker after he apparently made a phony distress call and secretly parachuted to safety near Birmingham, Ala. His single-engine plane continued flying on autopilot and eventually crashed late Sunday more than 200 miles away in a swampy area of the Florida Panhandle.

In the weeks before the crash, Schrenker’s life was spiraling downward: He lost a half-million-dollar judgment against one of his companies when he skipped a court hearing. His wife filed for divorce, and investigators probing his businesses for possible securities violations searched his home and office.

Authorities believe Schrenker was last seen Monday morning in Childersburg, Ala., just south of Birmingham, when a man using his Indiana driver’s license told police that he’d been in a canoe accident. He was wet only from the knees down and had what appeared to be goggles made for flying.

The investigation into the crash began Sunday night, when Schrenker’s single-engine Piper Malibu crashed in a swampy area of north Florida.

The plane was en route from Anderson, Ind., to the Florida Panhandle city of Destin when Schrenker reported turbulence. He said the windshield had imploded and he was bleeding profusely, according to the sheriff’s office in Santa Rosa County, where the plane crashed.

But when investigators found the plane, its door was ajar and the wreckage showed no signs of blood or the blown windshield. The sheriff’s office said Schrenker appeared to have intentionally abandoned his plane.

After he stopped responding to air traffic controllers, military jets tried to intercept the plane. They noticed the door was open and the cockpit was dark and continued to follow it until it crashed in a bayou surrounded by homes.

Bill and Debbie Timbie, whose house is less than 100 yards from where the plane crashed, were home Sunday night when they heard the jets flying overhead. Bill Timbie gave rescuers looking for the downed plane a ride through the swamp in his canoe.

“Now, after you think about it, it could have been real bad, it could have taken out two or three houses,” he said Monday.

The case grew stranger Monday morning, when the man with Schrenker’s license told police in Childersburg — about 225 miles from where the plane crashed — that he’d been in a canoe accident with friends.

The officers, unaware of the plane crash, took him to a hotel. He was gone by the time they returned. They learned he had paid for his room in cash before putting on a black cap and running into the woods next to the hotel.

Authorities in Indiana have said little about the nature of the investigation into Schrenker’s businesses — Heritage Wealth Management Inc., Heritage Insurance Services Inc. and Icon Wealth Management — wealth management companies that provide financial advice. Jim Gavin, a spokesman for Indiana’s secretary of state, said investigators are looking at possible securities violations, and officers who searched Schrenker’s home Dec. 31 were looking for laptops, computers, notes, photos and other documents related to those companies.

Court records show his wife, Michelle, filed for divorce a day before the searches.

On Friday, two days before the crash, a federal judge in Maryland issued a $533,500 judgment against Heritage Wealth Management Inc., and in favor of OM Financial Life Insurance Co. The OM lawsuit contended that Heritage Wealth Management should have returned more than $230,000 in commissions because there were problems with insurance or annuity plans Heritage had sold.

Schrenker was an accomplished pilot with a background in aerobatics, said Ron Smith, an interim manager at Anderson Municipal Airport. He usually flew out of the airport about once a week, making regular trips to Florida, he said.

“He’s an outstanding pilot, from what I understand,” Smith said. “If he can fly aerobatics and a Meridian, you’ve got to be pretty decent.”

New Hampshire residents aren’t amused , after a bizarre incident was reported in local media.

A young couple Randi Young, 24, and Heath Blom, 26 were arrested on the Christmas eve for mutual assault complaint. The couple were happily married till Christmas morning when Blom opened his Christmas present from Young and found a WII console, and he wasnt too happy with the gift. He had earlier told Young to get him a remote controlled airplane for Christmas, and he confronted young angrily and after few mutual blows the couple were arrested on mutual complaints and taken to court.

Now the judge has issued a no-contact order.. What a gift for christmas??

Hyundai gave a big boost to its brand value in tough economic times by winning the car of the year award for its Genesis.

The Hyundai Genesis won the prestigious Car of the Year Award Sunday at the start of media preview days for the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. The redesigned Ford F-150 won the Truck of the Year award.

To be eligible for the top prize, a vehicle had to be all-new, completely redesigned or “substantially changed,” and available to customers during calendar year 2008.

From among those vehicles, a jury of 50 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada narrowed the list down to three cars and three trucks that were eligible for the final award.

The three finalists for Car of the Year this year were the Genesis, Ford Flex, and Volkswagen Jetta TDI. The Jetta is powered by a diesel engine.

The nominees for truck of the year were the F-150, Dodge Ram and Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTEC. Like the Jetta TDI, the ML320 BlueTEC is a diesel-powered version of the Mercedes SUV.

Genesis a jump
The Hyundai Genesis represents a big leap for Korea-based Hyundai. The sedan is part of Hyundai’s attempt to reach upscale drivers while still maintaining the brand’s roots with low-cost economy models such as the Accent.

With prices starting at about $32,000 for V6-powered versions, the Genesis looks and drives much like a Mercedes-Benz or Lexus. While it has the size of one of those brands’ top-of-the-line cars, though, it’s similar to one of their smaller entry-level models.

Hyundai executives considered starting a totally new brand, as Toyota did with Lexus and Honda with Acura, but decided instead that it made sense to create new models under the Hyundai name.

Hyundai has sold large luxury cars overseas for quite some time, but this was the brand’s first attempt to launch such a car in the United States.

F-150 top truck
The Ford F-150 has been the top-selling vehicle of any kind in America for the last 27 years. It managed that in 2008 despite truck sales that were depressed by high gas prices early in the year and by the overall economic crisis.

The redesigned 2009 model features the new, angular flat-nosed look of Ford trucks. A new Chassis was designed with a lighter weight for better fuel economy. The new F-150 also boasts safety improvements. It won a Top Safety Pick Award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Like the other Detroit automakers, General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler, Ford (F, Fortune 500) has been working to shift its focus to cars, although trucks remain a mainstay. At this year’s Detroit Auto Show, Ford is also unveiling the 2010 Ford Taurus, a car that will attempt to win back more car buyers. Of the three U.S. automakers, Ford has been the only one not to request federal funding to stave off bankruptcy.

But winning the North American Car or Truck of the Year Award doesn’t always mean a huge leap in sales. Last year’s winner, the Chevrolet Malibu, was a huge success for General Motors. But the year before, GM’s Saturn Aura, a car very similar to the Malibu, won the award but was been considered a sales disappointment.

The teacher’s relationship with the teen seemed almost motherly at first — homework help and invitations to eat with her and her husband.

But prosecutors say Christine McCallum’s lurid obsession with the boy spawned a 21-month escapade of up to 300 sexual encounters.

The 29-year-old Abington elementary school teacher pleaded innocent Friday to seven counts of statutory child rape and was freed after posting $1,000 as bail. She was ordered to wear a tracking device, stay away from the victim, his family and anyone under age 16.

According to Abington and Rockland police reports, the boy said he met McCallum, of 223 Central St., Rockland, at the Abington Public Library when he was 13.

At the time, McCallum worked as a paraprofessional and tutor in the Abington school district, where the boy was a student, and where she was tutoring his younger brother.

The alleged victim, who was never the woman’s student, told police McCallum became aware his father was working two jobs while raising the boys alone.

Authorities said she soon began driving the brothers home after tutoring sessions and quickly became a family friend.

McCallum did not charge the family a fee for her supervision, and the teen’s father told police she often had his sons over for dinner, checked their homework and would tuck them into bed while he worked.

It was on Feb. 7, 2006, that the boy alleges McCallum and he first had sex on a couch in her Rockland home, while her husband and his younger brother slept upstairs.

“He said he remembered the day because it was the first time he ever had sex,” a Rockland police report states.

What unfolded in the coming months, authorities said, was a secretive and obsessive relationship.

McCallum allegedly provided the teen a cell phone, took him to concerts and wrote letters to him. At the same time, prosecutors said, the family accepted McCallum’s invitation to move into a rental property that she and her husband owned.

The teen told police that until he was 15 years old, they had unprotected sex “about every other day” — in his kitchen and bedroom, and in the shower, living room and bedroom of her home in Rockland.

The teen told police McCallum provided him vodka, rum and Jell-O shots on about 150 occasions.

The boy told police that the affair ended in November 2007 when McCallum grew jealous of his relationship with girls his own age and gave him an ultimatum. The last time he saw her was more than a month ago, when McCallum and her husband came to fix the heat in their home, but the two barely spoke.

Police learned of the alleged affair Tuesday when the teen’s father walked into Rockland police station. The mother of one of his son’s friends had called with information about the relationship.

Rockland police arrested McCallum Thursday night, and detectives confiscated a dark-colored shag rug during a search of her house where the teen told police they had sex about 30 times.

McCallum pleaded innocent in separate arraignments in Brockton and Hingham district courts to the seven rape counts that prosecutors believe they can prove took place.

Her next court date is Feb. 27 in Hingham.

Frederick McDermott, an attorney who represented McCallum at her arraignment in Brockton, said authorities had no evidence she had sex with the teen. He described McCallum as a surrogate mother to the boy but said their relationship ended abruptly when she caught the boy stealing liquor from her home in July 2007.

The charges fell into separate jurisdictions because police said the two had sex in both Rockland and Abington.

The school district, where she has worked five years, fired McCallum on Friday. Her most recent assignment was as a fifth-grade teacher at Woodsdale Elementary School.

“We are aware and are deeply concerned about the disturbing allegations against her, and we will be fully cooperating with the authorities,” said Superintendent Peter G. Schafer.

Seated in the front row of the Hingham courtroom was McCallum’s husband of five years, Scott, who clutched his wife’s jacket and stared ahead, emotionless, as his wife pleaded innocent.

McCallum is a native of Coventry, R.I., and graduate of Coventry High School in 1997. She holds a graduate degree from UMass-Boston and graduated from Northeastern University in 2002.

“I hope there are no other victims, but I certainly would not rule it out,” said Abington Police Chief David Majenski.

A drunk electrician started a fire at a world-famous Moscow art museum after he fell asleep while smoking a cigarette, a police source told RIA news agency Sunday.
The blaze at Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery started in an engineering building next to the main gallery Saturday and damaged technical equipment but not any of the museum’s valuable art works.
A police source told RIA that a 49-year-old workman had caused the fire, but a spokeswoman for the Moscow museum said it was too early to say what started the blaze.
“According to preliminary reports, the man fell asleep with a lit cigarette when he was drunk,” RIA quoted the source as saying.
“He is now in a hospital intensive care unit and it is not yet possible to take a testimony on the accident.”
The gallery houses some of the best-known Russian art, from 9th century Orthodox icons to 19th century impressionism and portraits of famous Russian writers.
One of its most famous paintings, by the 19th century painter Ilya Repin, depicts a tortured Ivan the Terrible after he killed his son in a violent rage.

For a couple wedding bells sounded like Taco Bell and they decided to get married at Taco Bell.

Customers inside the fast-food restaurant continued to order tacos and burritos as the couple sat Friday in an orange booth at Taco Bell and exchanged vows.
“It’s appropriate,” groom Paul Brooks said. “It’s an offbeat relationship.”
Employees displayed hot sauce packets labeled with the words “Will you marry me?” They decorated the restaurant with streamers and balloons.
The bride wore a $15 hot pink dress and the entire wedding cost about $200. Several dozen guests looked on as the couple’s friend, Ryan Green of Normal, administered the vows while wearing a T-shirt. He was ordained online.
“This is the way to go — there’s no stress,” said the groom’s mother, Kathy Brooks.
Caragh Brooks, 21, of Australia, met Paul Brooks, 30, on an Internet dating Web site. They already had the same last name.
The couple wrote back and forth and talked on the phone for nine months before Caragh Brooks moved to the United States.
“We have the same brain, just in two bodies,” Paul Brooks said. “We think alike in virtually every manner. We have the same interests, viewpoints.”
He proposed on New Year’s Eve and, because they like to spend time at the local Taco Bell, they decided to wed there.
“I would never have expected in my life in working here there would be a wedding,” restaurant manager Carl Hamlow said.

On a day of high drama, the fallen Indian IT leader, Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, found himself drawn away from the comfort of 5-star luxury and high echelons of power to the claustrophobic confines of the Chanchalguda jail.

The Founder-Chairman of Satyam Computer Services, who admitted that the company was in a Rs 7,136-crore financial mess, was on Saturday remanded to judicial custody till January 23 by Mr D. Ramakrishna, the sixth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.

The court has also directed the jail officials to monitor the health condition of Mr Raju as he was suffering from blood pressure fluctuations and high cholesterol and hepatitis C infection.

At the jail, Mr Raju would not get any preferential treatment. He would have access to one newspaper and there would be no TV in the barracks. His diet would consist of a total of 650 gms of rice (lunch and dinner), tea twice a day etc.

The two Rajus (Mr Ramalinga Raju and his brother Mr Rama Raju, former MD and CEO) were among the 27 persons remanded to judicial custody to the Chanchalguda jail.

Meanwhile, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Satyam, Mr Vadlamani Srinivas, whose whereabouts were not known till yesterday, has also been arrested by the police. Interestingly, Mr Srinivas, was the most significant name not exonerated by Mr Raju in his statement of facts.

Hectic activity

The action began late last night, when Mr Raju along with his brother drove to the Director General of Police (DGP) office, and was closeted with CID officials till the wee hours, culminating in their arrest.

Throughout today, police, opposition parties, media and investigating teams probing the Satyam affairs were busy, to ferret out important threads of the unfolding events, even as Mr Raju remained elusive.

Expectations of his appearing before the Magistrate which were doing the rounds from early in the morning, turned real only around 5 p.m. when Mr Raju and his brother, were brought under heavy security by the police to the residence of Mr Ramakrishna in Marredpally, as the courts are on vacation.

Mr S. Bharat Kumar, legal counsel for Mr Raju, has said that he would move the court for bail on Monday.

CM talks to PM

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has spoken to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and detailed him about the happenings related to Satyam Computer.

Earlier, the Chief Minister had discussed the case with Mr S S P Yadav, DGP, Mr K. Aravinda Rao, Additional DG (Intelligence), and the CID officials probing the case, at his Camp Office today.

It seems PETA activists are going crazy over nutty things, in this case of real absurdity PETA asks a school to change its name.

The activist animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has asked school officials to change the name of Spearfish High School to “Sea Kitten High School.” The new name would “reflect the gentle nature of its current marine namesake,” the organization said in a letter to Steve Morford, Spearfish High School principal.
PETA said the letter is part of a new Sea Kitten campaign aimed at children.
If children were taught to refer to fish as “sea kittens,” reflecting that fish, like cats and dogs, are “individuals” that “do have friendships,” fewer fish might be killed for food or sport, said Pulin Modi, a PETA spokesman.
“We want people to realize that more fish are killed each year than all animals combined,” he said. “They don’t have the sympathy of more popular animals like cats and dogs.”
Morford said he did not want to share his feelings about PETA. “Obviously, it’s nothing we’re taking seriously,” he said.

Nigerians have started using dried fruits by painting them or using old tyre as helmets to avoid getting arrested after a compulsory helmet law came into effect.

The regulations have caused chaos around Africa’s most populous nation, with motorcyclists complaining helmets are too expensive and some passengers refusing to wear them fearing they will catch skin disease or be put under a black magic spell.

The law, which came into force on January 1, pits two factions equally feared by the common motorist against one another: erratic motorcycle taxis known as “Okadas,” whose owners are notorious for road-rage, and the bribe-hungry traffic police.

Some bikers have used calabashes — dried shells of pumpkin-sized fruit usually used as a bowl — or pots and pans tied to their heads with string to try to dodge the rules.
Construction workers have set up a lucrative trade renting out their safety helmets for around 500 naira ($3.60) a day.
“They use pots, plates, calabashes, rubber and plastic as makeshift helmets,” said Yusuf Garba, commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission in the northern town of Kano.
“We will not tolerate this. We gave them enough time to purchase helmets. Six months ago the price of helmets was below 800 naira so complaints about non-availability and high prices are no excuse,” he told Reuters.
Helmet prices have since risen sharply as sellers cash in on demand.

He said 28 arrests had been made in Kano. Newspapers have reported more arrests in other cities. Those detained are fined and their bikes impounded until they buy helmets.
There are tens of thousands of Okadas buzzing around Lagos, a chaotic city of 14 million people, many of them given to unemployed and illiterate youths as part of poverty reduction programs or on hire-purchase schemes run by businessmen.
Most have never been taught traffic rules.
Newspapers quoted passengers as saying they feared the helmets could be laced with magic spells so as to knock the wearer unconscious and make them easier to rob, while others feared they would pick up an infection.
One columnist said transportation can already carry a health risk, and recounted how he had picked up a bedbug while sitting on a bus.
“The story is that people who have scabies, craw-craw, ringworm, dandruff and all other such diseases would easily infect others with them through the helmets,” Steve Nwosu wrote in the Daily Sun.
“They ironically forget that the same diseases are also deposited on, and generously transferred from, car seats and their headrests.”

The number of obese American adults outweighs the number of those who are merely overweight, according to the latest statistics from the federal government.
Numbers posted by the National Center for Health Statistics show that more than 34 percent of Americans are obese, compared to 32.7 percent who are overweight. It said just under 6 percent are “extremely” obese.
“More than one-third of adults, or over 72 million people, were obese in 2005-2006, the NCHS said in its report.
The numbers are based on a survey of 4,356 adults over the age of 20 who take part in a regular government survey of health, said the NCHS, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The figures come from the 2005-2006 survey and are the most current available.
“During the physical examination, conducted in mobile examination centers, height and weight were measured as part of a more comprehensive set of body measurements,” the NCHS report said.
“Although the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled since 1980, the prevalence of overweight has remained stable over the same time period,” it said.
Obesity and overweight are calculated using a formula called body mass index. BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Someone with a BMI of 25 to 29 is classified as overweight, 30 to 40 counts as obese and people with BMIs of 40 or more are morbidly obese.
A person 5 feet 5 inches tall becomes overweight at 150 pounds (68 kg) and obese at 180 pounds (82 kg). The U.S. National Institutes of Health has an online BMI calculator at http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/.
In the 1988-1994 surveys, 33 percent of Americans were overweight, 22.9 percent were obese and 2.9 percent were morbidly obese. The numbers have edged up steadily since.
Being overweight or obese raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, arthritis and other conditions.
In May, the CDC reported that 32 percent of U.S. children fit the definition of being overweight, 16 percent were obese and 11 percent were extremely obese.
Childhood and adult obesity has emerged as a growing problem not only in the United States but also in many countries around the world.

A man may have tipped his intentions when he stood in line at an Ohio bank wearing a ski mask before staging a holdup. Police in Stow near Akron say 24-year-old Feliks Goldshtein of Highland Heights was arrested minutes later on Thursday following a brief car chase.
Police say the teller asked the man to take off the mask before being served. At that point the man displayed what turned out to be a toy gun and told the teller to give him all the money. He made off with an undisclosed amount.
Police Captain Rick Myers says it’s unusual for a masked robber to wait in line at a bank.
Goldshtein was held at the Summit County Jail Friday on charges of aggravated robbery and failure to comply with a police order. Municipal Court records don’t identify an attorney for Goldshtein.

A lobster which could be 140 years old will released this week back to ocean after serving as a mascot for a New York Restaurant.
The 20-pound (9-kg) lobster was caught off the coast of Canada about two weeks ago and bought for $100 by City Crab and Seafood to become its mascot, said manager Keith Valenti.
“We bought a big lobster, started taking pictures with kids and it worked out real well,” said Valenti, adding it was a “no brainer” to return the old crustacean to the ocean.
He said a lobster’s age can be worked out from how much it weighs, with each pound counting for 7 to 10 years. Valenti said it was not uncommon for lobsters to live for more than 100 years but it was rare for them to be caught because they were generally too big for the baskets.
The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it found out that the old lobster was in the restaurant’s tank when a diner called them.
“We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace,” said PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by John O’Callaghan)

Satyam Chiefs lawyer says Ramalinga Raju is in Town and hes open for any investigation or interrogation.

Now the focus has fallen on Price Water Coopers (PWC) which is the auditing firm for Satyam. ICAI India’s auditors body has announced that it will take all the necessary steps to give life ban to the auditors involved in this scandal.

Ramaling Raju is facing 7 years of prison if proved guilty.

The talk in Auburn Hills is the closure of Chrysler, after posting 53% drop in sales for last month, the chances of Chrysler living past March 2009 is very bleak. Many analysts also predicted that the Detroit 3 will become Detroit 2 very soon.

For the health of the industry the new Govt might pull the plugs off Chrysler after the first checkpoint in March. Both GM and Chrysler are required to report to Treasury with the improvement plans and achieved changes.

Satyam Chief Ramanlinga Raju has fled India to unknown destination to evade arrests. Now the SEBiand other agencies are looking for the former boss of Satyam.

Satyam’s website says Ramalinga Raju is a Harvard alumni, but the truth is different it seems. Again Ramalinga Raju never went to Harvard maybe he obtained these certificates from Osmania , as many from Andhrapradesh might know.

According to CDC report (link) Mississippi overtook Texas and New Mexico as the State with highest Teen child birth rates, once again raising the need for education among teens.

Mississippi’s rate was more than 60 percent higher than the national average in 2006, according to new state statistics released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The teen birth rate for that year in Texas and New Mexico was more than 50 percent higher.

The three states have large proportions of black and Hispanic teenagers — groups that traditionally have higher birth rates, experts noted.

The lowest teen birth rates continue to be in New England, where three states have rates at roughly half the national average, which is 42 births per 1,000 teen women.

It’s not clear why Mississippi, with 68 births per 1,000, surged into first place. The state’s one-year increase of nearly 1,000 teen births could be a statistical blip, said Ron Cossman, a Mississippi State University researcher who focuses on children’s health statistics.

The New Mexico rate was 64 per 1,000; Texas was 63. New Hampshire, with a rate of 19 per 1,000, was the nation’s lowest.

More than a year ago, a preliminary report on the 2006 data revealed that the U.S. teen birth rate had risen for the first time in about 15 years. But the new numbers provide the first state-by-state breakdown.

The new report is based on a review of all the birth certificates in 2006. Significant increases in teen birth rates were noted in 26 states.

“It’s pretty much across the board” nationally, said Brady Hamilton, a CDC statistician who worked on the report.

About 435,000 of the nation’s 4.3 million births in 2006 were to mothers ages 15 through 19. That was about 21,000 more teen births than in 2005.

Numerically, the largest increases were in the states with the largest populations. California, Texas and Florida together generated almost 30 percent of the nation’s extra teen births in 2006.

Some experts have blamed the national increase on increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education that does not teach teens how to use condoms and other contraception. They said that would explain why teen birth rate increases have been detected across much of the country and not just in a few spots.

There is debate about that, however. Some conservative organizations have argued that contraceptive-focused sex education is still common, and that the new teen birth numbers reflect it is failing.

Other factors include the escalating cost of some types of birth control and their unavailability in some communities, said Stephanie Birch, who directs maternal and child health programs for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

Glowing media portrayals of celebrity pregnancies don’t help, either, she said. “They make it out to be very glamorous,” said Birch, who cited a calculation by Alaska officials that teen births were up 6 percent in that state in 2006.

A variety of factors influence teen birth rates, including culture, poverty and racial demographics. For those and other reasons, kids in mostly white New England likely would delay child birth, said David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based organization which supports abortion rights and gathers research on sexual and reproductive health.

“It’s more costly for youth in the Northeast to have a teen birth than for youth in the South, in terms of opportunities they’ll miss,” he said.