Big Easy bound: The U.S. State Department is bringing about 40 ambassadors and their spouses—including diplomats from Korea, Kosovo, Serbia, Peru, Chile and the new German ambassador—to New Orleans as part of a program called Experience America. The three-day trip begins Wednesday, when Mayor Mitch Landrieu will host a welcome dinner cooked by chefs from four New Orleans restaurants and featuring local music. They’ll visit the Port of New Orleans, breakfast with officials of the New Orleans World Trade Center, and see the Make It Right Foundation houses in the 9th Ward and the Musicians Village. The aim is to show them a bit of America’s culture and possibly plant the seed for future business. This is the eighth Experience America trip and the fourth of this administration. Other destinations included California, Texas, Florida, New York City, Chicago and Atlanta.
Taking another bite: Apple says it sold more than 4 million units of the new iPhone model in three days—meaning it’s selling more than twice as fast as the previous model did when it launched last year. Apple and its phone company partners started selling the iPhone 4S on Friday in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain. The smartphones will be available in 22 more countries by the end of the month. When Apple launched the iPhone 4 last year, it sold 1.7 million in the first three days. There are two more launch countries than last year, and there are also more phone companies that sell the phone. In the U.S., Sprint Nextel is the new carrier, joining AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
Staggering: The toll of excessive drinking works out to about $2 per drink, in terms of medical expenses and other costs to society, according to a new study. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study calculated societal costs from binge and heavy drinking beyond what consumers pay at the bar or liquor store. It’s the first such federal estimate in more than a dozen years. The study looked at costs that included—among other things—lost work productivity, property damage from car crashes, expenditures for liver cirrhosis and other alcohol-associated medical problems, as well as money spent on locking up drunk drivers and criminals abusing alcohol. The CDC estimates excessive drinking cost society nearly $224 billion in 2006, the most recent year for which all necessary statistics were available. That worked out to about $1.90 per drink—80 cents of which was spent by federal, state or local governments. The remainder of the cost was paid by drinkers, their families, private health insurers, employers, crime victims and others.
