Today it's more style than grammar

N&O Grammar Errors Forum
RE: Teen dies in Wake Forest accident

This story refers to a 17-year-old several times as a woman. Has the style changed recently? Or do you not use AP at the N&O? The cutoff between girl and boy or woman and man has always been 18, I thought. Perhaps you're working on the current NC legal conversion from juvenile to adult at 16, but this story just jangled my nerves.