The Child Protection eNewsletter 7 teenagers were wounded - three critically - after they were sprayed with gunfire Tuesday afternoon by two masked men at a bus stop near Cody 9th Grade Academy on the city's west side. Detroit Free Press article here 
Police later recovered a green minivan about a mile away that they believed the gunmen used to flee.
Five of the seven victims were taking classes at Cody. Two boys, ages 14 and 16, and a girl, 17, were in critical condition at Sinai-Grace Hospital. Four other victims were taken to Henry Ford Hospital. A 17-year-old boy was in serious condition, a 17-year-old girl was in temporary serious condition, and a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were in stable condition, Detroit police said. Tuesday's shooting was the second in two weeks at a Detroit Public Schools high school building offering free summer classes to make-up for failed courses. Free summer classes have drawn thousands of high school students, placing teens from different schools and neighborhoods in the same buildings. On June 18, a 16-year-old girl was shot in the chest after summer school dismissal at Denby High when two groups of teens clashed about a block from the east side school. The shooting occurred about 15 minutes after summer school's 2 p.m. dismissal when a group was at the bus stop on the Southfield Freeway service drive at Warren near a gas station. A green minivan pulled up and two masked shooters opened fire, according to Detroit Police Department spokesman Rod Liggons. Mother of missing Washington girl begs those with information to come forward... The mother of a 10-year-old Washington state girl who vanished over the weekend pleaded for those who might have seen anything out of the ordinary to come forward. Fox News Story here 
Meanwhile, the search for Lindsey Baum, last seen walking from a friend's house six blocks away from her home in McCleary Friday night, expanded on Tuesday. Her mother, Melissa Baum, said on FOX News that "if anyone has seen or heard anything - any little thing that they saw and thought, hmm, that's kind of odd," they should call police immediately. Baum said she's worried her daughter was kidnapped. "I think somebody took her," Melissa Baum said of her daughter, who was ready to enter the sixth grade in the fall. "I'm trying to constantly push away the bad thoughts." ABC News story here Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott said search efforts have escalated in the days since Lindsey's been missing from volunteers on foot - still the most common tactic used - to scent dogs, horses, all-terrain vehicles and helicopters. "We're not ready to give up hope," Scott told ABCNews.com. Baum said she last saw her daughter when Lindsey, along with her 12-year-old brother, Josh, headed out to Lindsey's friend's house in hopes she could get permission to spend the night at the Baum's house. Baum said her children began squabbling over the use of Josh's bike on the way there and were stopped by a family friend who sent Josh home to end the argument. Lindsey continued on to her friend's house. When Lindsey's friend found out she couldn't stay the night, Lindsey headed for home around 9:30 p.m. Scott said that there were a few businesses located just off the street Lindsey would have used to get home, and while the little girl did not appear in any of the videos, police have received clues about who was in the area at the time she disappeared. Scott said witnesses were able to put Lindsey within a couple of blocks of her house just after 9:30 p.m. The last person reported to have seen her, he said, was a neighbor on her way to work. In other news... 
A 6-year-old Massachusetts girl fled an apartment wearing leg shackles after her friend's father lured her with a promise to show her some pet gerbils, then bound her with tape and chains, injected her with an unknown substance and tried to rape her, authorities said. MSNBC News story here Justin Shine, 26, was charged with kidnapping, attempted rape, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon - a hypodermic needle - and resisting arrest. Assistant District Attorney Sharon Donatelle said the girl told police that Shine - who lived in the same apartment building - saw her outside and yelled out his window, inviting her to see some gerbils. The girl knew Shine as the father of a little boy she often played with in the apartment complex. Once inside, Shine showed the girl the family's gerbils, but then bound her hands with tape, put tape over her mouth, wrapped her arms with a "fishnet-type material," and shackled her ankles with a chain, Donatelle said. The girl told police that Shine injected her in the hip with a syringe and that she felt "somewhat sleepy" afterward. Donatelle said the syringe is being tested to find out what was in it.
It has long been assumed that the cavalier behavior of teenagers - driving too fast, engaging in unprotected sex, dabbling in illicit drugs - is due in part to their characteristic disregard for mortality. Teens, as any beleaguered parent of one can attest, usually operate under the presumption that they know it all and will live forever. TIME magazine article here Or, do they? A new study published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics would suggest precisely the opposite. For some teens, at least, their reckless, sometimes life-endangering choices are fueled not by feelings of being bulletproof, but by the belief that they're doomed to die young anyway. In a long-term analysis of 20,594 American teens in grades 7 through 12, researchers interviewed the youngsters on three different occasions: first in 1995, again in 1996, then a final follow-up from 2000 to 2001. At the first interview, 1.4% of participants thought there was "almost no chance" that they'd reach their mid-30s; 2.4% thought it was possible, but hugely unlikely; and 10.9% believed they had only about a 50-50 shot of celebrating their 35th birthday. Researchers discovered that those who believed they were likely to die young were more likely to make potentially life-threatening choices - such as getting into violent fights or having unprotected sex with multiple partners - than teens who weren't expecting an early death.
Nearly half of HIV-positive U.S. adolescents and young adults are unaware of their infection, and less than a quarter of sexually active high school students are tested for the virus, U.S. health officials said. MSNBC News story here Only 22 percent of sexually active high school students are tested for human immunodeficiency virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an analysis using data from a 2007 survey of students in grades 9-12. "At the end of 2006, an estimated 48 percent of adolescents and young adults infected with HIV were unaware of their infection, representing missed opportunities for diagnosis, treatment, and reduction in the number of new HIV transmissions," the CDC said. The CDC report is available online at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5824a3.htm?s_cid=mm5824a3_e.
A Duke University official has been charged in federal court with offering his 5-year-old adopted son up for sex. Frank Lombard, associate director of the Center for Health Policy, was arrested Wednesday in Raleigh, the FBI said. ABC News story here A Washington, D.C., police detective who was investigating the case set up undercover chats with someone matching Lombard's description during which the detective says he was invited to fly to Raleigh to have sex with the person's 5- year-old adopted child. In his affidavit, Detective Timothy Palchak wrote that he engaged in a chat with someone using the screen name "FL" who provided nude pictures of himself. The pictures matched Lombard's North Carolina driver's license photo, according to the affidavit. Authorities executed a search warrant at Lombard's home, according to court documents. MSNBC News story The papers show investigators seized two webcams, five computers and a sex toy, among other items. Some conservative Christian groups claim the case illustrates why they think homosexual adoption is a bad idea. christiannewswire.com story here
A new study suggests children and adolescents who are physically abused have a greater chance of developing cancer later in life than those who are not abused. CBS News story here The study by researchers at the University of Toronto found childhood physical abuse is associated with a 49 per cent higher chance of developing cancer in adulthood. Principal researcher Esme Fuller-Thomson says there are many possible but unproven reasons physical abuse might increase the risk of cancer. One theory suggests that ongoing stress raises levels of the "fight or flight" hormone cortisol, which may suppress the immune system's ability to detect and destroy cancer cells. The study found the link between childhood abuse and cancer remained high even after adjusting for adult health behaviors such as smoking and alcohol consumption.
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