Free Republic

The New Hampshire Senate narrowly defeated a bill yesterday that would have banned smoking in the state's bars and restaurants.  Lou D'Allesandro, right, the deputy Democratic leader in the New Hampshire Senate, argued in vain Thursday for a smoking ban. The measure, which easily passed the House this week, failed by a vote of 12 to 11. Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, said he would have signed the bill had it passed. Fourteen states and a number of municipalities have banned smoking in all workplaces in recent years, although a coalition in New Jersey is suing to keep that state's...

DENVER -- Opponents of the statewide smoking ban are considering a court challenge in an effort to prevent the law from taking effect July 1. Bar and tavern owners, racetrack proprietors and bingo hall operators believe the law is unconstitutional, according to Chuck Ford, a lobbyist for bars and taverns.Bar owners, casinos and other groups lobbied hard for exemptions from the ban when House Bill 1175 was being debated, claiming it was unfair for lawmakers to exempt casinos, tobacco shops, cigar bars, the smoking lounge at Denver International Airport and private workplaces with no more than three employees. Ford...

City voters reject proposal 987-789Voters in the City of Rhinelander have sent a message that they don't want a smoking ban.Voters were asked to respond to a referendum question asking if smoking should be prohibited in public places, including restaurants in the city. City voters opposed the referendum on a 987-789 vote. “This is a great day for City of Rhinelander voters who saw this as a rights issue, it's an expression of freedom of choice,” said Rob Swearingen of Be Fair.“We are pleased with the results,” said Rachelle Ibarra, president of Be Fair. “Our opponents said that the trend...

AUGUSTA, Maine --Maine state government could lose $8.8 million due to a ruling favoring the country's largest tobacco companies. An independent arbiter has agreed with tobacco companies that terms of the 1998 settlement between states and the tobacco companies caused them to lose market share in the United States. Under the terms of the deal, the tobacco companies can make their case that the $6.5 billion they owe states on April 17 should be reduced by about $1.2 billion. The March 28 finding by the arbiter puts at risk about $8.8 million in Maine. But before the tobacco companies...

BEFORE ANYONE trots out the disinformation to support a smoking ban in Philadelphia, let me tell you that New York City's sales-tax revenue for bars and restaurants did not rise "8.7 percent" as claimed (and repeated ad nauseam) by agencies Mayor Bloomberg dispatched on the first anniversary of the city's ban.Not only were the figures distorted by including places like McDonald's and Starbucks, but smoking was banned in 95 percent of restaurants since the 1995 smoking ban.What pre- to post-ban restaurant tax-revenue comparison was there to make? In all cases (notably bars), sales tax revenue was artificially low immediately following...

APPLETON — The group that brought the issue of secondhand smoke hazards to Appleton is being fined for distributing improperly identified campaign material. Outagamie County Dist. Atty. Carrie Schneider said today that officials of the Community Action for Tobacco Free Living Coalition have indicated they will likely pay a fine in connection with a forfeiture complaint charged on Tuesday. The complaint, alleging the coalition violated state election laws by failing to note on some campaign material who authorized and paid for the material, is not a misdemeanor or felony and does not carry a jail sentence. “It would be like...

WASHINGTONA legal battle may be looming between states, including North Carolina, and tobacco companies over money owed from a landmark 1998 settlement agreement. What's at stake could be more than $1 billion.An economic consulting firm determined late Monday that the agreement between the cigarette companies and the states was a "significant factor" in contributing to a loss of market share for the companies that signed on to the settlement.The report stated that the agreement, which imposed numerous marketing limits on the companies and required billions of dollars in payments to states, led to the erosion of their market share...

AUGUSTA, Maine --The Maine Senate changed its mind Monday about smoking in private clubs and overturned its vote from last week in support of snuffing out smokes in Elks, American Legion and other clubs that have employees.The Senate's 21-13 vote Monday against the club smoking ban came just a few days after its unexpected vote to put the ban in place. The measure now goes back to the House.Monday's vote also followed a debate in which senators defending the ban said it's consistent with state policy to protect the health of people in the workplace, while treating businesses and clubs...

ACKSON, Miss. - Gov. Haley Barbour on Monday vetoed a bill that would continue to allow the Mississippi Legislature to give $20 million a year to a private, nonprofit anti-tobacco organization.In his veto message, Barbour said "the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi has been cloaked in politics and cronyism."The Partnership has received $20 million a year by court order since 2000. The money comes from a massive lawsuit Mississippi settled with tobacco companies in 1997.Barbour, a Republican, sued in 2005 seeking to halt payments to the Partnership, which is led by former Attorney General Mike Moore, a Democrat.Moore filed...

For the past eight years, major cigarette makers and 46 state governments have enjoyed a beautiful partnership: The cigarette companies paid billions into state coffers in return for the states abandoning legal claims against the industry.On Monday comes a decision that could fray the relationship.That's when an arbiter is to issue a decision that could allow cigarette companies to reduce a multibillion-dollar payment due this spring by $1.2 billion -- and potentially similar amounts in future years. A decision in favor of the industry would be a significant blow to the states, which have come to rely on the annual...

The need for jobs and the condition of downtown buildings top the list of issues facing Sedalia, said mayoral candidates Thursday at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters.Candidates David Schick and Larry Stevenson said Sedalia needs small businesses."That way if they come in, and things don't work, we don't have the catastrophe like when the Union Pacific shops came in here," Mr. Stevenson said. "... When they shut down, they crippled Sedalia."Mr. Stevenson, 63, said he would promote the enhanced enterprise zone to attract more business to the community.Kevin Walker says better jobs will help single parents...

Dozens of cities and towns have already banned smoking in such clubs, which include veterans' posts and ethnic heritage clubs. The high court's decision keeps these bans in place.

UGUSTA, Maine — Senators gave their approval Wednesday to two bills dealing with smoking in private clubs, one making it easier for clubs to allow smoking and the other barring it outright in clubs that have paid employees. After a brief debate, senators gave initial approval to a measure that would correct what´s seen as a flaw in the year-old state law that regulates smoking in private clubs such as Elks and American Legions. The current rules say that in order to allow smoking, a majority of a club´s members must vote yes. Critics contend that´s unfair because even...

It looks like a bar. The customers look like they're in a bar. But technically speaking, it's not. The sign hanging out front of this newcomer to Chicago reads "Smokers Welcome" and it's no joke: smokers are free to light up and puff away, despite being in a city which, like many others nowadays, has strict anti-smoking laws covering most public places. Inside this storefront, not far from downtown, there is a wet bar and a coffee bar, but for some – that may not be the main event. CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers says the establishment's operator has...

BEAUMONT - Every evening Pat Roy's bar fills up with workers in their boots and overalls who come to enjoy a few drinks and cigarettes. But if a proposed ban on lighting up in public spaces is approved by the Beaumont City Council, Roy predicts a 50 percent drop in business. "(The ban) would be devastating," said Roy, the owner of Patrick's Pub. For many of her customers, smoking and drinking go hand in hand, Roy said. If they cannot smoke in Beaumont, they will start frequenting bars in Nederland or Port Neches, she said. Roy and about a...

While I have been arguing for some time that making fallacious scientific claims ("health" claims) is wrong, there has been, so far, no response from anti-smoking groups or advocates, other than ad hominem attacks on me, a defense of the organizations in question, and a questioning of why it is such a big deal anyway. In this post, I will address the issue of why this is a big deal. I have already discussed why I think this is a big deal in terms of its implications for the effectiveness of the tobacco control movement. I believe it will...

New York City's attempt to sue Internet cigarette sellers for lost tax revenue under a racketeering theory has been dismissed by a federal judge for the second time.Southern District Judge Deborah Batts dismissed the amended complaint filed in City of New York v. Nexicon, 03 CV 383, finding that the city had once again failed to meet the standard for pleading a racketeering enterprise. The case is one of five that the corporation counsel has brought against Internet cigarette sellers it claimed have been avoiding taxes and failing to file tax reports on the number of sales they make to...

Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Robart is a nonsmoker who says he runs eight miles every day. A year ago, he banned smoking on the job for city employees. Since then, municipal buildings including the Natatorium have gone completely smoke free.Yet Robart is one of two big-city mayors in Summit County who virtually ensured the defeat of the countywide smoking ban by refusing to go along with it.Welcome to the complicated politics of the ill-fated Summit County Clean Indoor Air law.The smoking ban was originally sponsored by Summit County Executive James B. McCarthy and council members Pete Crossland, D-4; Paul Gallagher,...

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) _ The state Department of Taxation and Finance has advised a Buffalo cigarette wholesaler it can ignore a new law requiring tax collection on tobacco products sold to Seneca Nation and other Indian businesses. That eased tensions on Indian reservations in western New York where nervous suppliers cut off shipments to smoke shops earlier in the week. Indians accuse the state of ignoring their sovereignty. In 1997, the last time the state tried to collect the tobacco taxes, confrontations between Senecas and state police closed a section of the Thruway. By noon Friday, supplier Milhem Attea &...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- A month before most indoor smoking is to be banned in New Jersey, a coalition of restaurants, bars and bowling alleys on Wednesday asked a federal judge to block the prohibition from taking effect. The opponents of the ban, scheduled to begin April 15, already have filed a lawsuit against the state, alleging it will unfairly harm their businesses. The federal court filing Wednesday seeks to halt the ban until that lawsuit can be heard.U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler in Trenton did not immediately set a hearing date on Wednesday's request by the New Jersey Hospitality...