Free Republic

While many tavern owners across Colorado are waiting for the courts or the Legislature to clarify the statewide smoking ban, dozens of others are less patient. They're allowing customers to smoke, hoping they will fit into a loophole in the law. Under the smoking ban that went into effect July 1, casinos, some airport lounges and cigar bars are exempt. But many taverns that sold a lot of cigarettes before the law took effect say they qualify as cigar bars because the Colorado Indoor Air Act covers "tobacco products," rather than specifying cigars. The law says taverns that got 5...

Three county commissioners say they might vote against a Lenawee County Health regulation to ban smoking in the workplace. ADRIAN — A Lenawee County health regulation to ban smoking in the workplace may not be a done deal. An agreement on smoking ban details was hammered out earlier this month between a committee from the Lenawee County Commission and health department representatives. Three of the county commission’s nine members said Thursday night, however, they might vote against the new proposal because of continuing disagreement on some issues. “I’m feeling a little bit railroaded here,” said Rob Hall, R-Hudson, who...

Honolulu – I drafted and introduced Bill H.B. No. 792 in the Hawaii State House of Representatives to exempt bars, nightclubs, and restaurants from the complete ban on smoking, provided that exterior signage adequately warns the public that smoking is allowed within. I'm very concerned with the calls my office is receiving about the loss of revenue that small business owners are experiencing across the state since the statewide smoking ban went into affect in November. Many long time business establishments have closed in other states due to the passage of smoking ban legislation and hundreds of others are...

Living too near a busy road could stunt a child's lung development, US research involving 3,677 children suggests. Children who lived within 500 metres of a major road, such as a motorway, were shown to have lung impairment in tests. Many children live and go to schools near to busy roads and could be at risk, the University of Southern California authors warn in The Lancet. Experts already know toxic traffic fumes can trigger lung conditions such as asthma. Stunted development But the latest work suggests pollution can stop the lung from growing to its full potential - even in...

AUGUSTA - The top two leaders of the Maine Legislature told reporters on Wednesday that Gov. John Baldacci's proposal to raise the cigarette tax by $1 a pack has failed to win enough support to pass. The comments by House Speaker Glenn Cummings and Senate President Beth Edmonds were an early jolt for the governor, who unveiled his budget blueprint for fiscal 2008 and 2009 less than three weeks ago. A spokesman for Baldacci said the governor would not be making a public response.Committee deliberations on the two-year spending package containing the proposed increase have not yet begun. Edmonds...

BEULAH, Wyo. — Cigarette sales were sizzling here Monday as South Dakota smokers crossed the state line to escape higher tobacco taxes at home. Kristie Gibbens of Deadwood buys three cartons of cigarettes Monday at the Stateline Station store in Beulah, Wyo. She and other South Dakota smokers are making the trip across the border to avoid a $1 a pack increase in the South Dakota tobacco tax. (Kevin Woster/Journal staff) Two weeks after the state’s new $1-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes took effect, vehicles with South Dakota license plates — Lawrence County mostly, but also Pennington and Butte —...

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., plans to try to block Senate passage of any bill that allows for Food and Drug Administration regulation of cigarettes."I would use every legislative tool at my disposal," Burr said last week, during a wide-ranging interview in his Senate office.Burr acknowledged that he is unlikely to have the support of at least 40 other senators, which would allow the use of the filibuster - a procedural tool that has the effect of bringing the Senate to a standstill. But he said that there are other steps he could and would use to make sure that...

Looks like members of Congress will just have to huddle out of doors, with their cold, shivery fingers gripping their cigarettes, just like the rest of us. Or at least the Republican ones will.Although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday banned smoking in the once notoriously nicotine-friendly Speaker’s Lobby, Democrats can still retire to the comforts of the Democratic National Club for a smoke. The venue, located just blocks from the Capitol, offers a bar, dining room, and private dining and meeting spaces. And the private club still permits smoking in certain areas, even though there’s a distinctly...

Governor John Baldacci today unveiled a six-point-four billion-dollar two-year budget package that would substantially boost funding for K-through-12 education while drastically reducing local layers of school system administration.The plan would also raise the state tax on a pack of cigarettes by one dollar, producing 66 million dollars a year and bringing the tax to three dollars - the nation's highest among the states.The governor's General Fund proposal for the biennium beginning July First would create a Department of Commerce combining the existing departments of Economic and Community Development and of Professional and Financial Regulation. Aides said the proposal would eliminate...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Former NASCAR champion Benny Parsons remained in intensive care Friday at Carolinas Medical Center after entering the hospital nearly two weeks ago because of complications stemming from lung cancer. The 1973 Winston Cup champion was diagnosed with cancer in his left lung in July and declared in October that he had beaten it. But he was unable to attend a ceremony in November in New York to accept the Myers Brothers Award for contributions to the sport. ``Parsons' family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from fans and the NASCAR community and they encourage everyone...

ELLSWORTH , Maine - For the third time since August, a group of suspected illegal immigrants was detained in the city, this time after a routine traffic stop. Three men were arrested and taken Sunday to Bangor, where they were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Seven other men will be questioned to determine whether they have committed an administrative immigration violation, according to an ICE spokeswoman in Boston. "We’ll make a determination about their status, but I can’t speculate as to whether they will be charged," Paula Grenier said Monday by telephone. The three other men...

AUGUSTA - A special task force suggests raising several state taxes to help pay for and expand the state’s DirigoChoice health insurance program. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Dirigo Health, which met for the last time Tuesday, also voted to recommend that Maine join Massachusetts, Vermont and several other states in requiring all residents to have health care coverage. In addition, the task force said that virtually all large and small Maine employers should be required to offer coverage to their workers or contribute to a public health care fund. The commission will submit its recommendations in a final...

FRANKLIN — Smokers will light up the city building parking lot Saturday to protest the new statewide smoking ban. Andy Kopp, who is organizing the rally, hopes it will be a step toward having the ban declared unconstitutional. "I don't think they'll be able to enforce it," he said. "It's like Prohibition." So the longtime cigar smoker is inviting others to join him today in the parking lot of the city building. "I plan on smoking a cigar," he said. "I guess I'm allowed to." That's the thing about the ban, Kopp said, the rules are too hazy. Lawsuits filed...

Regardless of what Ohio voters said in November, Jim Bauer, owner of the Riverside Bar & Lounge in Marietta is just saying “Yes,” to his customers. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. Bauer, who has owned the downtown tavern and lounge over two years, is among a small group of bar and restaurant owners around Ohio who have decided to leave the ashtrays out. Some have chosen to defy voters, come what may. “We voted away our choices,” Bauer said in defense of a sign outside his business that welcomes smokers. “It’s not the law, yet.” As of now,...

AUGUSTA - Mainers on Medicaid who smoke would be offered incentives to stop smoking and could face sanctions for not quitting under a measure being introduced by Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake. "There is a connection between the health of individuals and the fact that they are still smoking," Martin said. "One of the questions that came out of discussions I had with physicians is why we are as a state, and the federal government, paying the health care cost of people that are smoking two and three packs a day." The Medicaid program serves about 262,000 Mainers at...

CHICAGO, Dec 13 - Philip Morris USA said on Wednesday it was raising prices on all its cigarette brands by 10 cents per pack as of Dec. 18, a move that had been expected by analysts.The price increase was accomplished by lowering promotional discounts the company offers on its Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament and Basic brands, while raising list prices on other brands, a spokesman for the unit of Altria Group Inc. <MO.N> said.Since changes in promotional discounts are typically passed on to consumers, the move could raise the average price a smoker pays for a pack of top-selling Marlboro...

LAS VEGAS — A judge yesterday granted a 15-day restraining order to block a new ban on smoking at some bars and around the slot machines at supermarkets, gas stations and convenience stores. Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon said yesterday that there was a reasonable likelihood that a group of business owners could persuade him that the voter-approved ban, to take effect today, was unconstitutional. "This is not an issue of my telling the voters their vote is wrong. It's an issue of the constitutionality of the law they voted on," Herndon said. A hearing on the...

LAS VEGAS - A group of southern Nevada business owners sought an eleventh-hour injunction Tuesday against a state smoking ban that voters approved in November, arguing the law was unconstitutional and would harm their businesses. The group, which includes owners of such chains as Village Pub and Terrible's Hotel and Casino, asked for a temporary restraining order to keep Attorney General George Chanos and county prosecutors from enforcing the restrictions, which are scheduled to go into effect Friday. "The interest of the general public is best served if defendants are enjoined from enforcing a criminal statute whose constitutionality is...

Carbondale council rejects ban on public smoking11/22/06 CARBONDALE, Ill. Bucking a statewide trend, the city of Carbondale has rejected a proposal to ban smoking in public spaces and workplaces.The City Council voted three-to-three last night to defeat the ban. One council member abstained. Mayor Brad Cole voted against the ban. He said he doesn't think the city should restrict the use of a legal substance by citizens of a legal age on private property.He said the issue is better suited for the state General Assembly or the U-S Congress. Supporters of the ban pointed to the health dangers posed by...

County smoking ban exempts barsYou can still light up a cigarette with that beer, as long as you’re in the right place at the right time. Wednesday, the Allen County Commissioners passed an amended smoking ordinance that outlaws smoking in most public places except in bowling alleys Sunday through Thursday from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., and in establishments that only have patrons who are 21 or older. That stipulation means restaurants that created enclosed smoking areas will have to decide whether to go entirely nonsmoking, or allow smokers and restrict their clientele to those over 21. “People who are...