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• Fallin's executive order douses OU's designated smoking areas 

Gov. Mary Fallin signed an executive order placing a ban on tobacco use on all state-owned and state-leased property, she announced during Monday's State of the State address. The ban supersedes OU's policy that was approved last month. (Marcin Rutowski/The Daily)

Fallin's order bans use of all tobacco products on “all properties owned, leased or contracted” by the State of Oklahoma, according to the executive order. OU will submit a tobacco policy to the OU Board of Regents that is in line with Fallin's decision, OU spokeswoman Catherine Bishop said in an email.

This means the university will be unable to provide the designated smoking areas that were approved in January by the regents because Fallin's order will not allow tobacco use anywhere on state-owned or state-leased property. The designated smoking areas were going to be placed at Lloyd Noble Center and part of the Dale Hall parking lot, according to the university's new tobacco ban policy.

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Batavia Downs opens bigger ‘smoking room,’ eyes even greater gaming expansion 

The rebirth of the Batavia Downs hit another milestone when an expanded smoking room opened Friday at the historic race track on Park Road.

Contractors turned a bar near the clubhouse into an expanded indoor smoking room, a $100,000 project that allowed the Downs to increase the number of gaming machines by 32, the facility’s biggest expansion since it opened with 586 video gaming machines on May 18, 2005.

Batavia Downs was up to 608 machines until Friday, when the gaming floor opened with 640. The gaming machines in the smoking room tend to triple the revenue of those outside the smoking room. The 32 additional machines are projected to produce about $5 million in profits this year, said Michael Kane, president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., owner of Batavia Downs.

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Smoke-Free environment - OHSIM - The University of Sydney 

Thank you to all staff, students and affiliates who provided feedback on the University's proposal to move towards a smoke-free campus. There was very strong support for the University to restrict smoking on campus in order to promote a healthy, smoke-free environment.

The Smoke-Free Environment policy was approved by Senate on 5 December 2011 and is effective from Monday, 30 January 2012. The new policy bans smoking on all University campuses, except for within designated smoking areas.

The University of Sydney Union, as a sign of good will and in support of the policy, ceased their sale of cigarettes on campus in October last year.

Where are the designated smoking areas?

Below are campus maps which depict the designated smoking areas. Click on the campus map which applies to you:

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Restaurant Enacts Winter Smoking Ban  

Smokers have been snuffed out at a Woodbridge restaurant, at least for winter.

The Electric Palm restaurant sits on the Occoquan River at the Prince William Marina, and this past Sunday began a no-smoking policy effective for the entire winter season.

Smoking has always been allowed in the restaurant’s downstairs Tiki Bar, which sits away from the dining area and is open and well ventilated during the spring and summer months, making it the ideal place to for patrons to smoke.

When winter came, the restaurant owners closed off the bar to the elements to keep in heat, but they continued to allow smoking at the bar. This led to a bevy of complaints from smokers and non-smokers alike, with the former claiming that they were restricted in their ability to smoke on the premises, and the latter worried about their dining atmosphere and health.

Roxanne Blum, an owning partner at the Electric Palm, worked to find a compromise. First

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Ottawa health board recommends smoke-free city property  

The Ottawa Board of Health has recommended that smoking be banned on all city property in an effort to make the capital a healthier city.

The board said in a news release the ban would include parks, beaches, and restaurant patios in an effort to reduce second-hand smoke and smoking rates.

"Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable death and disease," said Dr. Isra Levy, Ottawa's Medical Officer of Health. "In Ottawa, almost 1,000 smokers and non-smokers die each year due to tobacco-related illness."

"I really wanted to protect people's health while they're out trying to enjoy themselves, specifically for our young people," said Ottawa councillor Stephen Blais, who put forward the motion. "I think focusing on bar and restaurant patios and focusing on recreational places such as parks and beaches should really be the hardest part of the focus."

Blais said the motion will make Ottawa a non-smoking leader again.

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VIDEO: Update: Controversial Smoking Shelter Under Review 

The smoke of controversy still hasn't cleared from an outdoor shelter built with taxpayer money where smokers in a Douglas County housing community must go to light up. A few residents don't like the location and took their concerns to the Housing Authority Board. Fact Finders first reported the dispute and has this update.

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VIDEO: Non-Smoker Raises Issues with Smoking Shelter 

People in an Omaha apartment complex are getting all fired up. They say a new smoking station violates their rights.

They first took their fight to the county board, but Friday the women went straight to the source of the problem.

It's an issue that smokers and non-smokers want extinguished. It's a difficult walk Michaelle Daverkow makes 10 times a day.

"If I have to keep walking out to this while I'm trying to get myself healed, I'm going to need a chair to be able to get there." . . .

"Smoking cigarettes is my only vice. I don't take the pain pills because they don't work and because they don't allow me to be an affective parent.

The Douglas County Housing Authority say it's trying to keep Woodgate smoke free. That is why it banned smoking indoors.

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Ottawa South pub pushes for smoke-free patios 

Toni Najem has more reason than most to support the creation of more smoke-free outdoor patios.

Najem, president of Firkin group of Pubs in the Ottawa area said he almost lost his life in 1999 due to second-hand smoking.

His pub in Ottawa South is one of the few ones in the city that have made their patios smoke free.

"Second-hand smoking affected my healthy and I almost died from it. I became heavily asthmatic because of second hand smoking," said Najem.

While on his death bed at the general hospital, Najem was warned by doctors never to enter any smoking place.

"I have to always be in a smoke free environment," he said.

Although he grew up in a family where everybody smoked, Najem has never smoked.

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Planners re-kindle hopes for pub smoking shelter scheme  

A Hayfield licensee has been urged to work with High Peak's planning officers on an alternative solution after he failed in his bid to get retrospective permission for an outdoor wooden decking area and a smoking shelter.

Councillors agreed with officers recommendations that the materials used at The Packhorse in Hayfield were out of character with the village’s conservation area. The County Highways department had also raised objections as it might interfere with drivers’ visibility.

Councillors said that they did not want to stifle local businesses and gave the applicant 12 weeks to find a suitable alternative before any enforcement action was taken.

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Smoking makes a comeback: Cosy outdoor cigar rooms being built at London's top hotels - but this time aimed at the ladies 

these days, far from being a venue for male solace and discourse, they are being designed specifically to appeal to women.

The tradition of the after-dinner cigar has been on the wane since smoking was banned indoors in public places in 2007.

But now London hotels and clubs are finding ways to get around the law by building luxurious smoking areas outdoors.

But Heaven help anyone who might light a cigarette in one, for fags remain forbidden.

The Lanesborough, the Langham and now the May Fair are all jumping on the bandwagon after guests indicated they would like somewhere to go for a quiet smoke. . . .

The new cigar rooms - also called a 'cosas', or cosy outdoor smoking areas - use a variety of materials to ensure they are within the law by being at least 50 per cent open.

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A persisting secondhand smoke hazard in urban public places: results from fine particulate (PM2.5) air sampling  

Aim

To assess the need for additional smokefree settings, by measuring secondhand smoke (SHS) in a range of public places in an urban setting. . . .

Conclusions

The results suggest that compliance in pubs/bars and restaurants has remained extremely high in this city in the nearly six years since implementation of the upgraded smokefree legislation. The results also highlight additional potential health gain from extending smokefree policies to reduce SHS exposure in the "outdoor" smoking areas of hospitality venues and to reduce SHS drift from these areas to indoor areas.

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Smoking outdoors at pubs and bars: is it a problem? An air quality study  

Conclusions

Air quality in semi-enclosed outdoor smoking areas was variable, and in some pubs was very poor. Where free communication exists between outdoor smoking areas and indoor areas, SHS drift can often greatly reduce indoor air quality throughout the pub or bar. Regulations to restrict the degree of communication and proximity of smoking areas to indoor areas may be justified to maintain indoor air quality and to protect health, particularly that of workers.

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Health bosses propose to create 'smoking courtyards' at East Lancashire hospitals 

NEW internal smoking areas could be created at East Lancashire’s hospitals to stop people smoking at entrance doors.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has launched a six-month study to decide how to solve the problem at Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals after complaints from patients, visitors and staff.

The trust said its workers had suffered verbal abuse when asking smokers to move away from entrance areas and sometimes felt intimidated by groups of smokers.

But health chiefs decided to stop short of enforcing a total ban due to the number of patients and visitors who do smoke and their level of addiction.

Nationally around 24 per cent of the population smoke, but in East Lancashire this figure is as high as 30 per cent in Burnley and 27 per cent in Blackburn with Darwen.

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LETTER: Smoking areas needed 

I recently had the opportunity to stay with my parents in a seniors home in Edmonton.

I smoke, so I would join the smokers out-side.

I was appalled that these senior citizens do not have a shelter to smoke in. I am talking about seniors in wheelchairs and walkers.

They pay enough money to be afforded a shelter. Most of these seniors are unable to quit smoking at this time in their lives. It is one of the few enjoyments they have left.

I can understand that they are not allowed to have a cigarette in their suite; it would be far too difficult to evacuate all those seniors should there be a fire.

As it got colder and windier, there were fewer people smoking and I heard rumours that they were smoking in their rooms. . . .

They have paid their dues to society and it should be mandatory to have a smoking shelter in seniors homes to ensure they are smoking outside.

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'Smoking Station' At Apartment Complex Frustrates Resident  

A new law that bans smoking inside all Douglas County Housing Authority apartments has some residents fuming.

The law took effect Jan. 1, but the change has made one woman so frustrated, she burst into tears at Tuesday's Douglas County Board meeting as she pleaded for help.

Shelagh Smith and her daughter both have asthma. She said with the new designated smoking spot at their complex, she can't even open her window without breathing cigarette smoke.

A smoking station was designated about 25 feet from Smith's front door. It's the only place for residents in her complex to light up.

Smith said she foresees a summer of closed windows and doors, which is her only option for keeping the smoke out. Even smokers said they feel bad.

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