Teens are smoking tobacco in record numbers—record low. According to a recent report by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, only 5 percent of high school sophomores say they’ve smoked cigarettes in the past month, compared to the 19 percent who regularly claimed to smoke during the 1990s. Smoking rates for eighth graders and high school seniors also plunged to record lows. Secondhand smoke also seems to be going down. About 42 percent of children ages 4 to 11 had cotinine (part of what nicotine breaks down into) in their system in the 2009-10 period for the study. Just a few years earlier, the rate was 53 percent. (Los Angeles Times)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.