Free Republic

When the ball drops in Times Square tonight, smokers in bars around the state will have to snuff their cigarettes. Already, many bars have built or are in the process of building covered annexes outside their main facility where their clientele can smoke legally. The exception to this trend are private clubs such as American Legion posts and Elks Clubs, which are exempt from the ban, although with the stipulation that a smoking policy is in place that employees have deemed acceptable. Assistant (Maine)Attorney General Paul Gauvreau, however, said the exemption given to private clubs creates the possibility that employees...

Former attorney general to serve time in Texarkana Associated Press AUSTIN (AP) - Former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales, who was sentenced to prison last month after pleading guilty to mail and tax fraud, has been transferred to a federal prison in Texarkana to serve four years. Morales had been held in the Caldwell County Jail in Lockhart since his sentencing Oct. 31. Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel Law confirmed Monday that Morales was transferred Friday, the Austin American-Statesman reported in its online edition. Carla Wilson, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, said Morales was moved to...

A judge cut a flight attendant's award in a secondhand smoke lawsuit from $5.5 million to $500,000, saying the jury's award was not justified. TWA attendant Lynn French had argued that her sinus disease was caused by exposure to secondhand smoke in airliners. French, 56, of Calabasas, Calif., worked for 14 years before smoking was banned on domestic flights in 1990. She won her case against four major tobacco companies and was awarded $5.5 million in June. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Fredricka Smith reduced French's award Friday. "The court recognized that the evidence did not justify the award ... The ruling...