In a 5-4 decision handed down yesterday, the US Supreme Court ended the death penalty for people under 18. NYRA members are encouraged to read the full decision of this case, Roper vs. Simmons. While good for ending the sick hypocrisy involved in applying the heftiest adult penalty on minors with few adult rights, this…
NBC’s highly popular and Emmy winning weekly political drama, The West Wing covered in depth the issue of lowering the voting age in tonight’s episode. A class of middle school students were touring the White House and get engaged in a discussion with a high level advisor to the President about lowering the voting age….
In a remarkably short period of time, NYRA Vermont has established itself as being among NYRA’s most professional and well organized chapters. The chapter held its first meeting on January 9th at the Fletcher Free Library. This well attended meeting resulted in the passage of bylaws and the election of officers. Ken Boring was elected…
NYRA Berkeley made history when it helped launch a campaign to lower the voting age in California. The chapter’s efforts coincided with a bill proposed by State Senator John Vasconcellos to lower the state’s voting age to 16. While the bill was eventually abandoned, many of its key supporters are still members of the California…
On December 31st, former NYRA media director Brad White appeared on Fox News to discuss the drinking age. The appearance, which came out of nowhere and was arranged at the last minute, was wildly successful. The show, “Your World with Cavuto” is very popular, and Fox is the most watched cable news network. Brad’s appearance…
NYRA member Patrick Ward founded a chapter in Santa Fe. The chapter paid its charter and has been approved. NYRA members in New Mexico should send an email to patrick@youthsantafe.org if they wish to become involved. The NYRA-Santa Fe website can be seen at: http://www.youthsantafe.org. Chapters are being started also in Vermont, Houston, and Chicago. Members in…
NYRA has begun work on a comprehensive resource site for the youth rights movement. Using the same wiki technology that powers Wikipedia.org, NYRA has created the Youth Rights Network, and needs your help in making it an important, useful stop in the youth rights galaxy. The page is entirely community edited, meaning that everyone, yes…
On November 22nd PBS filmed an hour long program about underage drinking and the drinking age. The latter portion of the program is a panel discussion featuring among others, NYRA President Alex Koroknay-Palicz. Alex presented our case well, arguing that the drinking age is an issue of liberty more so than an issue of health…
With no comprehensive, widely recognized bill of rights for students, NYRA has decided to draft a true student centered one. Existing bill of rights are crafted by high school and university administrators themselves and list off as many responsibilities (i.e. rules & regulations) as real rights students enjoy. With the rise of restrictive policies such…
NYRA member Garrett Levenbrook of New Jersey recently took the initiative to organize a NYRA chapter in his high school. NYRA-SSDS of Essex and Union has paid its charter and been approved. The chapter already has 17 members and a web page. They have elected officers, and will surely accomplish a lot this year. The…
