Free Republic

An air filtration system, new to the UK could help to avoid a smoking ban in pubs, restaurants and other public places in the UK, claims Dianne White MD of Essa air cleaners, which claim to be so effective that the need for smoking and no-smoking areas in pubs and restaurants could be eradicated, solving a number of issues highlighted in the current smoking in public places debate.Already a number of leisure industry heavyweights have installed these air filtration units in their outlets nationwide. A spokesman for Thwaites Inns, the trading arm of Daniel Thwaites Brewery running 70 managed houses...

<p>Riverside County will no longer hire prospective sheriff’s deputies who smoke, saying insurance costs have grown too steep to risk hiring smokers.</p> <p>Though it’s unclear when the ban will go into effect, the decision could eventually include all of the county’s future hires, experts say.</p>

It's been in place for five years now, but many Yuba-Sutter bar owners and patrons said they have yet to become accustomed to California's ban on smoking in bars. At establishments such as Stassi's Fourth Ward Tavern in Marysville this weekend, business owners were still fuming over the ban, which took effect in January 1998. The ban - a first for the nation - was intended to protect bartenders from health risks posed by second-hand smoke. Yet Roy Newlove, the owner of Stassi's for roughly 10 years, said it does nothing more than slow business and cause headaches for his...