| Brewers seek tax freeze as beer sales fall
Beer sales in UK pubs have slumped to the lowest level since the 'Great Depression' of the 1930s, industry figures showed today, as brewers and pubs launched a campaign to freeze the tax on beer. Pubs are now pulling 7.95 million fewer litres a day since the brewing peak almost thirty years ago, figures from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) showed. Since 1979, the total beer market – including beer sold in supermarkets and shops as well as pubs – has fallen by 1.42 billion litres a year, or 3.97 million litres a day, as British drinkers developed a taste for wine and spirits. Pub beer sales have fallen by almost half, or more than 2.84 billion litres, the figures revealed. The body, which is calling for a freeze in duty on beer in the face of falling profits, said pub sales were now at the same level of volume as the 'Great Depression', which lasted a decade from 1929.
Protest targets S.J. Port Corp.
About two dozen South Camden residents picketed the Broadway terminal of the South Jersey Port Corp. Tuesday to protest the proposed relocation of a methadone clinic from downtown into their neighborhood. Carrying signs saying, "This Plan is a Nightmare" and "Norcross Go Home," pickets hoped to persuade the port's board to reject the plan proposed by Cooper University Hospital. Cooper wants to relocate the Parkside Recovery Clinic from the 400 block of Broadway because it wants the land for health care-related institutions. Parkside is operated by NHS, a private nonprofit based in Lafayette Hill, Pa. The clinic, which treats some 650 outpatient heroin addicts six days a week, has been a community nuisance and an open-air drug market for years, opponents say. George E. Norcross, South Jersey's powerful Democratic political boss, is also chairman of the Cooper's board of directors.
Teen Charged With Sex Abuse
A Rochester teen is charged with sexually abusing two kids at a Riga daycare. Monroe County sheriff's deputies charged 19 year old Sean Humby with sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. Humby is accused with inappropriately touching a ten year old boy at the Love and Laughter Daycare two years ago. Since the arrest, a second victim came forward. Humby is charged with sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child. Those charges stem from alleged sexual contact Humby had with a seven year old boy 14 times between the summer of 2006 and this past August. Humby will be back in court later this month. He remains in the Monroe County jail on $50,000 bail. Meanwhile, one neighbor says she wasn't happy when the daycare was set up three years ago across the street from her home.
Personal Health | News and Notes
Breast-feeding is linked to higher IQ, but with a catch Breast-feeding has been linked to slightly higher IQ in children. But new research suggests the connection is not that simple: the IQ edge occurs only in breast-fed babies who have a particular version of a gene that produces an enzyme that helps convert dietary fatty acids into fatty acids that accumulate in the brain during the first months after birth. Got that? This discovery, made by a team of U.S. and British scientists, involved studies of more than 3,000 children in Britain and New Zealand. Kids without the brain-boosting version of the crucial gene, called FADS2, showed no IQ advantage or disadvantage from breast-feeding. The study appeared online Nov. 5 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - Marie McCulloughToo little sleep for children can add up to too much weight As if you needed a reason to put your kids to bed, the latest research suggests they'll get fat if they don't get enough sleep.
Brain-Circuitry Impairment May Underlie Difficulty In Modifying Drug-Taking Behavior
New measurements of brain activity in individuals addicted to cocaine confirm that addicted individuals have compromised sensitivity to monetary rewards.
"This altered sensitivity to reward may help explain why some drug-addicted individuals are unable to modify their drug-taking behavior, even in the face of well-understood negative consequences and/or positive incentives for behavioral change," said Rita Goldstein, who runs the neuropsychoimaging lab at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory where the work was done. Muhammad A. Parvaz, a Stony Brook University graduate student working with Goldstein, presented the findings at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego on November 7, 2007.
The researchers studied 18 current cocaine users and 18 age-matched control subjects.
Alcohol's long role in accused killer Devoe's life
Standing before a parole board at the Gowanda Correctional Facility in 1999, Paul Devoe struggled for words to explain his addiction to alcohol and five previous driving while intoxicated convictions.
"What's wrong with your life, Mr. Devoe, where you would devote that much time and energy into drinking?" a parole commissioner asked.
"Sir, I guess I never really took a look at my life for quite some time," Devoe replied. "And I never programmed, I should say, as I should have, and I really can't answer you. It's the biggest mistake of my life."
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