Want to stop gonorrhea? Raise the beer tax. We didn't make that up, ladies and gentlemen; it comes through the courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has just brought out a new study linking drops in gonorrhea to various and sundry tax moves and thinks cheap beer is a leader in spreading gonorrhea. The CDC says hiking the beer tax by $.20 could cut gonorrhea up to 9 percent. "Alcohol has been linked to risky sexual behavior among youth," said CDC health economist Harrell Chesson. "It influences a person's judgment, and they are more likely to have sex without a condom, with multiple partners or with high-risk partners." The CDC says whenever the beer tax went up, gonorrhea in younger drinkers went down. The Beer Institute (we're not making that up, either) is not amused. For one thing, it said, younger drinkers are doing it more responsibly - drinking, that is - thanks to both social pressure in general and efforts from the brewing industry itself. "Excise taxes have little or nothing to do with alcohol abuse in society," said Beer Institute spokeswoman Lori Levy. "I think that our members understand the importance of educating young people about how to make responsible choices once they're old enough, and they put a lot of money and effort into those programs." Chesson, though, isn't letting go too easily - citing California's $.16-a-gallon beer tax hike nine years ago, he says California's gonorrhea rates for people aged 15 to 19 fell about 30 percent in the next year. The CDC also says that in the periods studies, 36 beer tax hikes around the states sent gonorrhea rates in the same age group falling on 24 occasions, with rates for ages 20 to 24 dropping on 26 occasions during the study.
NEW YORK - Here's one way to embarrass the vice squad, if you're a lady of the evening, but please don't try this at home: An accused Manhattan prostitute made her short getaway in a police van filled with a bulletproof vest and hollowpoint bullets, leaving two New York vice officers more than a little stunned. The prostitute, Tacoma Hopps, was arrested an hour later, when Secaucus, N.J. police - just over the bridge from New York City - caught her barefoot with the bag of bullets along busy Route 3. The bag also included the handcuffs out of which she'd slipped. The whole thing began in the wee small hours of the morning April 24, when Hopps was arrested near a corner of 10th Avenue and West 49th Street, after she allegedly offered sex for cash to one of the vice officers. So how did Hopps manage to hop off with the officers' van? Easy: They left her handcuffed inside the van while parking to pick up another accused prostitute who was busted nearby. New York police regulations instruct at least one officer to remain with the vehicle in such circumstances - especially with a suspect in the van whose record includes over 100 prostitution arrests. Hopps was spotted in Secaucus after abandoning the police van, and was reportedly trying to return to New York on foot. There is no word yet on whether the two vice officers in the case face disciplinary charges. And Hopps faces more than the prostitution charge in Manhattan; her Secaucus hike brought her charges of unlawful possession of hollowpoint bullets and receiving stolen property, on top of additional New York charges like auto theft. By the way, she's also charged with "possessing handcuffs for a purpose not manifestly consistent with law enforcement," according to a New York police spokesperson.
--- Compiled by Humphrey Pennyworth
