I’ve never had a good answer from cell phone companies as to why they won’t instantly turn a stolen phone into a paperweight. Each phone has an electronic serial number and the companies can use that ID to render the phone useless. Wiping a sim card clean, yanking the phone number, are all nice ideas but making the phone useless would be even better and help deter crime. Apparently, they do it in Europe and one US Senator is pushing for it here. He says it’ll help cut down on cell phone thefts. The Trib has the story.