Free Republic

New law for 'fire-safe' cigarettes takes effect Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. -- There's something different about cigarette brands sold in New York these days, but you would hardly notice it by looking at them. Next to the bar code of a pack of smokes is a tiny mark -- an asterisk, a dash or a diamond -- indicating that the cigarettes will self-extinguish if they're not puffed on regularly. On Monday, New York will become the first state to phase in a law requiring tobacco companies to sell the new "fire-safe" cigarettes. The law is meant to cut down on...

PORTLAND, Maine -- The latest batch of anti-tobacco television advertisements created by Maine students features a guy with yellow teeth and a giant cigarette butt chasing children around. The Department of Human Services had so much success with the original ads three years ago that Maine youths were tapped again for public service announcements that began airing Monday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- According to a report conducted for bar owners in the state, the workplace smoking ban enacted last year led to the loss of 2,000 industry jobs and millions of dollars in wages. Ridgewood Economic Associates of New Jersey conducted the study for New York Nightlife Association based in New York City, and the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association based in Albany. The report stated that since the state's Clean Indoor Act took effect on July 24 banning smoking in all workplaces, $28.5 million in wages and salary payments and $37 million in gross state product were...

    It's not about smoking, it's about constitutional guarantees! 42 tyrants and a ring leader named Bloomberg It is saddening to see the people of one of our nation's 13 original states, whose founding fathers were among those who pledged their "...lives, fortunes and sacred honor..." in order to secure the blessings of liberty and establish protection of individual rights associated with property, allowing 42 tyrants and a ring leader named Bloomberg, to trample upon and disregard these fundamental protections written into our constitutions, state and federal. It is equally saddening to observe two factious groups in New...