Balance Sheet
ASSETS
Kidnap Care
The Illinois Supreme Court fixes a glitch state lawmakers created in their frenzied show of opposition to underage drinking. State law required people to commit felony kidnapping—by forcibly stopping any drinker under 21 from leaving a residence—or be charged with a misdemeanor.
Pub Crawl
Britain finally changes its laws forcing pubs to close at 11 p.m., a rule that encouraged binge drinking and drunk driving. Now if only something can be done about spotted dick and bangers and mash.
How Now
Scientists in New Zealand are at work on "green cows," whose digestive tracts will produce less methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas, so in theory the green cows wouldn't contribute to any global warming now afoot.
Allergic Action
After years of legal wrangling, Claritin makes its over-the-counter debut to the delight of allergy sufferers in America. The price of the drug is expected to fall by 75 percent.
Digi-Roh
Roh Moo-hyun's winning campaign for president of South Korea shows wired politics can work. Roh, a political unknown, raised tons of campaign cash from 180,000 donors and sent text messages to some 800,000 cell phones to bring out the voters.
Foreign Assets
A report by the Center for Labor Market Studies finds that 80 percent of new male workers who entered the American workforce in the 1990s were immigrants. Without them the labor force would have been caught short and the massive economic expansion stalled.
LIABILITIES
Kidnap Care
The Illinois Supreme Court fixes a glitch state lawmakers created in their frenzied show of opposition to underage drinking. State law required people to commit felony kidnapping—by forcibly stopping any drinker under 21 from leaving a residence—or be charged with a misdemeanor.
Pub Crawl
Britain finally changes its laws forcing pubs to close at 11 p.m., a rule that encouraged binge drinking and drunk driving. Now if only something can be done about spotted dick and bangers and mash.
How Now
Scientists in New Zealand are at work on "green cows," whose digestive tracts will produce less methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas, so in theory the green cows wouldn't contribute to any global warming now afoot.
Allergic Action
After years of legal wrangling, Claritin makes its over-the-counter debut to the delight of allergy sufferers in America. The price of the drug is expected to fall by 75 percent.
Digi-Roh
Roh Moo-hyun's winning campaign for president of South Korea shows wired politics can work. Roh, a political unknown, raised tons of campaign cash from 180,000 donors and sent text messages to some 800,000 cell phones to bring out the voters.
Foreign Assets
A report by the Center for Labor Market Studies finds that 80 percent of new male workers who entered the American workforce in the 1990s were immigrants. Without them the labor force would have been caught short and the massive economic expansion stalled.