NEW YORK — A federal judge has snuffed out a lawsuit seeking to overturn city and state bans on smoking in bars and restaurants, saying the challenge on constitutional grounds was so weak it was "akin to trying to scale Mount Everest with a ball of string." U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero concluded in a ruling released yesterday that New York state and city legislators were being rational when they used police powers over the health and welfare of the public to enact smoking bans. Marrero rejected all the constitutional challenges brought by an organization calling itself NYC CLASH —...