Caught Off Guard: Arlette Schweitzer of Aberdeen,...

Caught Off Guard: Arlette Schweitzer of Aberdeen, S.D., said she prepared for seven years to give birth to her own grandchildren, and it became such a part of her life that she never expected the world to consider her either an oddity or a miracle worker. Schweitzer, 42, is the first American woman to serve as a surrogate for her daughter, Christa Uchytil, who was born without a uterus. Eggs were taken from Uchytil’s ovaries, fertilized in a lab dish with her husband’s sperm and implanted in her mother’s uterus. “We just never, never dreamed this would get this much interest around the world,” Schweitzer said. She expects to give birth to twins this fall.

Prosecution and Praise: In his courtroom debut, prosecutor John F. Kennedy Jr. won praise from the crime victim, who found him well-prepared and handsome. Kennedy, 30, a Manhattan assistant district attorney, began his first trial last week in a New York court. The case involved an apartment burglary in which a man allegedly swiped a schoolteacher’s cash and jewelry and then fell asleep on the victim’s bed. Teacher Sonia Schwartz said she would give Kennedy an A-plus for his performance, and she wouldn’t mind having dinner with him either--if he wins the case--which resumes Tuesday.

All-America Test: (1) How many Miss Americas have been blond? How many brunette? (2) What Miss America starred opposite Elvis Presley in “Girl Happy” and married a TV actor who later became the pageant’s emcee? (3) What year did Bert Parks debut as the pageant’s master of ceremonies? Such Miss America trivia is in a quiz from the new book “Miss America: In Pursuit of the Crown” by Ann-Marie Bivans. Answers: (1) Brunettes have won 37 crowns, blondes 22. (2) Mary Ann Mobley. (3) 1955.

School Take-Over: If teen-agers ran the schools, their top priorities would be better buildings, more relevant subjects, livelier classes and condoms. That’s what 72,000 13-to-18-year-olds told USA Weekend Magazine in a recent survey. If their school faced budget cuts, 87% of teens would not hack computer courses or teacher jobs. The first cuts: school security, athletics, art and music.