STATE
Spencer to market ginseng-infused beer
CHARLESTON - Robert Spencer, a tall former college basketball player, is promoting a new beer geared toward a new generation.
Spencer, who began selling his new "energy beer" earlier this month, isn't fazed. "In a year," he says, "I think we'll be worldwide."
Mobius Infused Lager went to market Nov. 8 and already you can order a bottle in at least 30 locations in this city known for its dining and nightlife.
Working with Thomas Creek Brewery in Greenville, he developed Mobius, which is infused with taurine, ginseng, caffeine and thiamine.
Prosecutor changing prisoner case policy
ANDERSON - A newly elected Upstate prosecutor says she wants to try the inmates that cost the most to keep behind bars first.
Usually, prosecutors try the people who have been in jail the longest. But Chrissy Adams, elected solicitor of the 10th Judicial Circuit, says her plan will save more money.
Adams' system, thought to be the first of its kind in South Carolina, recognizes that some inmates requiring health care and prescription drugs can add thousands in costs to a jail's budget in a matter of weeks.
NATION
Lawmakers to decide Amtrak's next move
WASHINGTON - Though Congress approved a $1.2 billion subsidy for Amtrak, the money-losing passenger railroad still is careering toward a major disruption in service.
To save it, the Transportation Department's inspector general says, Congress must do more. Considering current Amtrak policies, says Inspector General Kenneth Mead, it's up to lawmakers to determine what must go and what may stay to restructure Amtrak and stop the hemorrhaging.
Mead said it's impossible to tell when the railroad will experience a major failure. The railroad simply lacks the money to make the repairs.
Government releases list of recalled toys
WASHINGTON - A reminder from the government: check those holiday shopping lists to make sure no recalled children's toys are on them.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission compiled its annual top 10 list of children's product safety recalls to coincide with the start of the holiday shopping season.
All the products were recalled in the past year, the commission said. The agency received reports of 11 toy-related deaths in 2003 involving children under age 15, down from 13 reported deaths in 2002.
WORLD
Raids intensify Sunni distrust of Allawi
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S.-Iraqi raid on the Abu Hanifa mosque, one of the most revered sites for Sunni Muslims, spawned a weekend of street battles, assassinations and a rash of bombings that changed Baghdad. The capital, for months a city of unrelenting but sporadic violence, has taken on the look of a battlefield.
The chaos has fanned sectarian tension and deepened Sunni distrust of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. It has also heightened the anxiety of the city's 6 million people, already worn down by years of sanctions and tyranny, then war, military occupation, crime and deprivation.
Iraq moves forward with election plan
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi authorities set Jan. 30 as the date for the nation's first election since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship and pledged that voting would take place throughout the country despite rising violence and calls by Sunni clerics for a boycott.
The vote for the 275-member National Assembly is seen as a major step toward building democracy after years of Saddam's tyranny.
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