JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A state senator wants to force Missouri stores to sell warm beer.

Under a bill by Sen. Bill Alter, grocery and convenience stores would risk losing their liquor licenses if they sold beer colder than 60 degrees. The intent is to cut down on drunken driving by making it less tempting to pop open a beer after leaving the store.

“The only reason why beer would need to be cold is so that it can be consumed right away,” said Alter, who has been a police offer for more than 20 years.

He said the idea came from a fifth-grade student in Jefferson County who was participating in a program to teach elementary students about state government.

He sought their suggestions for new laws and chose the cold beer ban from a list of the top three ideas.

Some lawmakers and lobbyists, however, are lukewarm about the idea.

Ron Leone, executive vice president for the Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said the combination of Missouri’s drinking and driving laws and designated driver programs already have curbed the number of people who drink and drive.

“It would be an inconvenience for law-abiding citizens who want to purchase cold beer for picnics, parties and social gatherings,” he said. “People who want to drive drunk will drive drunk anyway.”

GPS leads police to robbery suspect

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – Moments after a bank was robbed, police found a duffel bag full of cash – and the global positioning satellite device that bank workers had tucked inside.

The device used satellite signals to relay the location of the getaway minivan to police shortly after the Wednesday robbery.

The driver, Thomas R. Fricks, 38, was ordered held without bond Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrognio.

“You guys are good!” Fricks said as Spokane Police Officer Tim Moses arrested him shortly after the Washington Trust Bank branch robbery, according to documents filed in federal court.

During the robbery, a masked armed man herded three employees into the bank vault and threatened to kill their families if they didn’t cooperate, the documents say.

A teller who was on the phone with her husband told him the bank was being robbed and to call police.

The masked robber threw a black duffel bag to another bank employee and said he wanted $40,000 “and no bait bills,” according to the court documents.

The employee complied, stuffing in more than $37,920 in cash – and the GPS device.

Police recovered a black duffel bag containing a loaded BB gun and the missing cash from the minivan Fricks was driving, they said.

Suspects plumb outfox themselves

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) – Two people suspected of counterfeiting money spent at least a week relieving themselves in plastic shopping bags because the plumbing stopped working in their apartment when they flushed wads of suspected fake cash down the toilet, authorities said.

Selina Jean Valdez, 28, was arrested Thursday on a warrant for forgery, possession of forgery instruments and criminal mischief. Her suspected partner, Daniel Marquez, 41, is wanted on the same charges.

The two are suspected of running a low-tech counterfeiting operation, using a combination printer-scanner-copier and a personal computer to make fake $50 and $100 bills, detectives said.

Investigators said they think Marquez and Valdez flushed wads of the counterfeit money down the toilet on Dec. 26 when detectives tried to question them.

The duplex where Valdez and Marquez were staying was discovered flooded with sewage Thursday when police executed a search warrant.

Detective Shane Pope said police believe the fake money was widely circulated among the couple’s acquaintances, who spent it at local businesses. Investigators plan to compare the serial numbers on bills seized Thursday to those taken by police after being spent at businesses.

AP-ES-01-07-06 0450EST

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