The weather is improving and spring training is here. It must be March. Still, there’s one bit of business left to complete that’s usually finished by February -– handing out the Oscars. Winter Olympics, how you mess with the awards season schedule.

This year’s Oscars are proof that the movies aren’t just for young stars. It’s a night when many industry veterans -– James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow and Jeff Bridges, to name a few -– are widely expected to come away the big winners. Still, there were some notable performances this year from the under-30 set, including first-time nominees Gabourey Sidibe, 26, in "Precious"; Anna Kendrick, 24, in "Up in the Air” ;and Carey Mulligan, 24, in "An Education." The show's presenters tend to skew young as well, as this Seattle Times column notes. Zac Efron, Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus -– perhaps an attempt to draw teenage viewers?

I wrote this week about St. Louis vying to be among the test cities for a new Google ultra-high-speed internet experiment. If pandering is part of the criteria, though, the Gateway city doesn’t stand a chance. Turns out Topeka, which is also competing for the service, has temporarily changed its name to “Google, Kansas,” for the month of March. This writer in Slate isn’t impressed by the groveling. PC World asks the question: What happens to the winning communities when the experiment ends, Google leaves and residents are used to uber-fast web connection speed?

Switching gears, a network of hospitals in Virginia announced that it is no longer asking young visitors, among those in the high-risk category to get H1N1, to stay away. The restriction on those under 18 began last year as the flu outbreak spread. A Wall Street Journal writer calls this the flu season that fizzled and wonders why more people haven’t been infected. But medical experts still warn that another flu wave could still be on the way. 

Let’s transition yet again, this time to world politics. The Christian Science Monitor has a timely piece on young people in Iraq who are voting in the parliamentary elections. The article describes this generation of first-time voters as frustrated with the lack of jobs, security and, for some who live in war-torn cities like Fallujah, a lack of basic amenities like running water and heat. Some are concerned that young voter turnout will be low because of pessimism about the ability of politicians to improve day-to-day life. 

From voting to rallying, thousands of people across California took the streets this week to protest massive budget cuts to the state’s public education system. Students, faculty, staff and others held events -– which reports say were mostly peaceful -- at colleges, universities and elementary schools.

Finally, even casual hockey fans watched last weekend’s USA-Canada gold medal game at the Vancouver Olympics. An article in Yahoo! Sports asks the question: Could the dazzling display of hockey throughout the games -– including that classic final -– win over more young American hockey fans? USA Hockey officials think so. The same author who opens up the possibility of increased youth interest in the sport writes that the NHL will let them down because it can’t possibly offer the same excitement or level of play.