Nun, Youths Spread the Word

--Every day in Chicago after the final school bell rings, Sister Ann Heintz’s kids go to work--investigating gangs, the cocaine trade and once, even, a pornography ring. The kids are amateur reporters. Their boss is a nun. And their monthly newspaper, New Expression, is a citywide tabloid for and about teen-agers that boasts a readership of 120,000. But “this is a real-world newspaper,” Sister Heintz said. “It’s not a high school newspaper.” Indeed, staff members have tackled tough topics: gangs, drinking, easy access to guns, the plight of teen-age mothers and fathers, the myths about contraceptives and the truth about cocaine use among high school students. Other subjects are just as important to their readers: the extravagance of proms, summer jobs. The staff, 90% of whom are minority members, is drawn from more than two dozen Chicago-area public and parochial high schools and five colleges. The cutoff age for participation is 20. In some instances, Sister Heintz said, staff members scoop professional reporters because they’re close to the subjects that concern youth. “We’ve simply got inroads all over the city with kids who know what’s going on, often ahead of public officials and education officials,” she said.

--Former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine A. Ferraro and her husband, John A. Zaccaro, downed champagne and spicy Sichuan food in Peking to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. “And now, on to the next 25 years,” said Ferraro. She and her husband are on a tour of the Far East with their children, Donna, John Jr. and Laura, ages 19 to 23. The former New York congresswoman, 49, said she is taking a poll to evaluate running against Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N. Y.) in 1986 but will go ahead only if her family agrees it can endure another campaign.

--Former President Jimmy Carter, winding up a four-day visit to Greece as a guest of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou’s Socialist government, took a cruise through the Greek islands. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, sailed to Tinos to visit a Greek Orthodox monastery famed for its icon of the Virgin Mary, and later to the islands of Mikonos and Khios. Carter’s next stop is Turkey for talks with government officials and to visit Patriarch Dimitrios, head of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

--Entertainer Dolly Parton wants to buy a 400-acre theme park near her Smoky Mountain hometown of Sevierville, Tenn., to be renamed “Dollywood.” Parton is interested in buying Silver Dollar City, an amusement park in the resort town of Pigeon Forge, Tenn., City Manager Earlene Teaster said. Silver Dollar City attracts about 750,000 visitors annually. The singer-actress plans to appear before the Pigeon Forge City Council Monday night to explain her plans for “Dollywood,” Teaster said.