Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday that challenged a judgment awarded to the widow of a teacher who died of cancer. The Supreme Court did not comment in turning down Reynolds' request to hear the case. The nation's second-largest cigarette maker already paid the $195,000 judgment while the appeal was pending. Lawyers said it was the first time the company paid damages in an individual product liability lawsuit. Floyd J. Kenyon Sr., of Sarasota, Fla., died of cancer in 2002, 60 years after he first started smoking as a teenager. He was diagnosed...

<p>CHICAGO — R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. (RJR) Thursday said the Illinois Supreme Court granted the cigarette maker an unconditional stay in a case involving alleged misleading claims over "light" cigarettes.</p> <p>The state high court's order puts the case on hold until an appeal in a similar case pending against rival Altria Group Inc. (MO)'s Philip Morris (search) tobacco unit is resolved.</p>

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - For this city, the loss of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. uproots one of the last remnants of a once-vibrant tobacco industry. For beleaguered tobacco farmers, it injects more uncertainty into a vocation already at a crossroad. Brown & Williamson, headquartered in Louisville since the 1920s, will leave its old Kentucky home, taking with it 450 jobs after it merges with rival R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., based in Winston-Salem, N.C. The deal announced Monday combines two of the nation's largest tobacco companies. The merged operation will be called Reynolds American Inc. "It's an emotional loss...

Nextel to sponsor NASCAR's top division By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive June 19, 2003 3:18 PM EDT (1918 GMT) NEW YORK -- Say goodbye to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. And say hello to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. The world of stock-car racing changed quickly and dramatically Thursday morning with the announcement that Nextel Communications Inc. of Reston, Va. will back NASCAR's top series for 10 years, starting in 2004. The deal was announced amid smoke and laser lights in the NASDAQ building in Times Square. And it took less than an hour for NASCAR to proclaim that...

NASCAR Heeds Call of a New SponsorNextel Replaces Winston in No. 1 Position By Liz ClarkeWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, June 18, 2003; Page D01 For 33 years, NASCAR and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company have been so closely linked that race fans exhale them in a single breath: NASCAR's Winston Cup series.That long association is coming to an end as Reston-based Nextel Communications Inc. assumes sponsorship of NASCAR's elite division, which since 1971 has been known as the Winston Cup.NASCAR officials yesterday confirmed that company chairman and CEO Bill France Jr. will be in New York Thursday for a "major news...

Monday, June 16 Nextel deal to be announced Thursday ESPN.com news services Winston is on the way out and Nextel will be next. ESPN.com has confirmed various reports that NASCAR has reached an agreement with Nextel for the Virginia-based wireless communication services company to become title sponsor of NASCAR's top racing series. ESPN's Mike Massaro reported two weeks ago on ESPN Radio that Nextel was being considered as a replacement for Winston. Unnamed sources confirmed that the deal was in fact done -- though an additional source said there are still a few details to be ironed out -- and...

Cannabis poses a greater threat to health than tobacco, lung experts have warned. The warning comes on the day that Home Secretary David Blunkett is due to make a Commons statement about the future of government drug policy. Many young people are simply not aware that smoking cannabis may put them at increased risk of respiratory cancers and infections . Dame Helena Shovelton: The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommended that cannabis is downgraded from a class B drug to class C. This would mean that possession would lead to a caution, rather than arrest. The British Lung Foundation is...