Lebanon, Va. - LATE on Christmas night 2013, April Hileman was summoned for a drug test. She had broken the curfew imposed on her by a drug court and relapsed with the opioid pills she'd been hooked on for six years. Earlier that day, Ms. Hileman had driven to a neighbor's house here in far southwestern Virginia to buy a handful of Suboxone pills, or "Box," as the drug is sometimes called. After she tested positive, Judge Michael Moore of Russell County ordered her to jail, and her 3-year-old daughter spent the rest of the holidays with relatives. [continues 1888 words]
After Family Hardship, Pain and a Lot of Hard, Focused Work, Kirstyn Knox Reaches Her Goal --Harvard All she wanted to do was watch TV and chill. It was Friday afternoon, and Kirstyn Knox had just arrived home from Patrick Henry High School dog-tired and with a backpack full of homework. Normally, Friday was the only weekday when she cast her books aside in favor of "Dawson's Creek" or instant-messaging her friends. Fifteen at the time, she was ranked at the top of her freshman class. [continues 3018 words]