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Eagle City Council will revisit smoking ban in all public areas 

Passage of the ordinance would make Eagle the first community in Idaho to prohibit smoking in all public areas. Idaho law currently bans smoking in restaurants but exempts businesses with fewer than five employees and bars.

The City Council tabled a previous ordinance in April over concerns that fines on individuals of up to $300 and up to six months in jail were excessive. The redrafted ordinance still prohibits smoking in any public building, including restaurants, bars and workplaces, but reduces the individual fines to a written warning for a first offense and $25 and $50 fines for a second and third offense, respectively.

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• Eagle first Idaho town to ban all public smoking 

The Eagle City Council approved a ban on smoking in public places. The new ordinance includes restaurants, bars and workplaces.

This new ordinance makes Eagle the first city in Idaho to ban smoking, and goes beyond state law which does not ban smoking in bars.

During Tuesday night's meeting many opinions were shared, but in the end it was passed.

The vote for the ban was three to two in favor... Eagle mayor Phil Bandy cast the deciding vote.

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Smoking ban eased  

A plan to roll back part of a voter-approved smoking ban and exempt tobacco trade conventions from the prohibition became law on Tuesday without Gov. Jim Gibbons' signature.

When Gibbons sent AB309 to the secretary of state's office, making it part of Nevada law even though he didn't sign the measure, it completed his review of about 530 bills sent to him by lawmakers. While most were signed, he vetoed 48 of the bills and was overridden 25 times by lawmakers.

The tobacco trade show exemption had been amended into AB309, which deals with the crime of stalking, and was approved a week ago on the final day of the 2009 legislative session.

The original bill, SB372, would have softened the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, passed by voters in 2006, by fine-tuning just where smoking should be prohibited. Lobbyists wanted to allow smoking in bars that serve food as long as minors are restricted from entry, but that bill died in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

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• SEIU pushes for oil, tobacco, liquor taxes  

The state’s biggest labor union is launching a $1-million TV advertising campaign promoting new taxes on the oil, tobacco and liquor industries in hopes of dissuading lawmakers from adopting the deep social services cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Republican lawmakers and Schwarzenegger have vowed not to raise taxes to bridge the state’s projected $24-billion deficit, but officials with the Service Employees International Union hope the 30-second TV ad being aired around the state will drum up support for higher levies on certain industries.

The governor wants to eliminate the state’s welfare-to-work program, health insurance for the working poor and student grants, among other programs.

“The governor’s proposed cuts-only budget will destroy the California we know,” said Eliseo Medina, SEIU executive vice president.

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Cops: Hempstead mom used tot to conceal prisoner contraband 

A Hempstead mother was arrested Tuesday after she brought her toddler son to the Nassau jail, carrying in his mouth a balloon apparently filled with tobacco and match heads, police said.

Keeya Williams-Bass, 32, was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree promoting prisoner contraband, Nassau police said.

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LB City Council agenda tinged with `green'  

Newly elected 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia says he is sticking to his campaign promise to protect the environment.

After taking office in May, his first two items on the agenda for Tuesday's City Council meeting, starting at 6 p.m., deal with environmentally friendly issues.

A new ordinance proposed by Garcia and supported by 2nd District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal proposes to amend the city's municipal code to prohibit smoking at farmers markets and bus stops, or at least 20feet away from them.

"We need to be responsible when it comes to public health," Garcia said. "It's the right thing to do." . . . If the law passes, Garcia said enforcement would have to be an "educational process," such as working with the Long Beach Transit to make passengers more aware.

"As more time goes on, more people will be aware of it," he said. "It's not going to stop everyone from breaking the law, but it certainly will help."

Peter Diaz, a Long Beach transit bus driver for 10 months, agrees with the idea.

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Long Beach City Council bans smoking at bus stops, farmers markets 

Just months after reversing a longtime ban on smoking in cigar lounges and hookah bars, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to expand smoking restrictions in outdoor areas, adding bus stops and farmers markets to the growing list of areas where puffing is prohibited.

The rule, set to take affect later this year, could allow for fines of $100 to $500 for anyone caught smoking within 20 feet of bus stops and the city's popular farmer markets. . . .

Garcia believes the bus stop ban will help protect from secondhand smoke those most likely to use public transportation, including schoolkids, the elderly, disabled, low-income residents and area workers.

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Cigar shop owner to run for alderman  

Joe Cohen, owner of a downtown cigar and British goods shop, will run for a seat on Frederick 's Board of Aldermen.

The newly minted American citizen uttered his oath of allegiance only a month ago during Frederick 's Pangaea festival, but said he is ready to address the issues of a city he has called home for almost 10 years.

"I have always been interested in politics even before I came to this country," said Cohen, a native of Manchester, England.

Cohen, 69, is running as a Republican.

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Senate ends tobacco amendments  

The U.S. Senate has just voted to cut off any more amendments to legislation that would give the federal Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products.

The 67-30 vote to invoke cloture now clears the way for a final Senate vote on the landmark bill. That vote is likely Thursday.

"This moment has been coming for 20 years," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said in remarks on the Senate floor. "FDA regulation of tobacco products is long overdue."

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Senate set to pass landmark tobacco bill  

The Senate easily overcame a last legislative hurdle Wednesday to a bill that for the first time would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products.

The bill advanced toward almost certain passage in a 67-30 vote that ended the possibility of a filibuster. A final vote could come as early as Wednesday night.

The action brings anti-smoking groups and their allies in Congress a step closer to a goal that has eluded them for at least a decade: granting the FDA authority to impose new rules on the production, sale and marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

"Every day that we delay having the FDA take on this responsibility and begin controlling the marketing and sale of these products, we run the risk of more and more children starting the habit," said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a lead sponsor of the bill.

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Plan to block tobacco regulation fails  

In a key test vote yesterday, the U.S. Senate rejected an effort to block the regulation of tobacco by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

By a 60-36 vote, senators turned back a plan to give regulation to a new agency in an amendment sponsored by North Carolina Sens. Richard Burr, a Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Democrat.

Their amendment was presented as an alternative to legislation by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that would grant the FDA the power over the manufacture, marketing and sales of tobacco products.

Kennedy's landmark bill appears to have at least the 60 votes needed for passage, which could come as early as today. The House has passed a similar bill.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., oppose Kennedy's bill and voted for Burr's alternative.

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• Statement of Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act on the vote to Invoke Cloture 

This long-overdue grant of authority to FDA to regulate tobacco products means that the agency can finally take the actions needed to protect our people from the most deadly of all consumer products.

Passage of this legislation is much more than a victory for those who have championed this cause for so long. It is a life-saving act for the millions of Americans, especially the young, who will be spared a lifetime of addiction and premature death. . . .

The FDA conducted the longest rulemaking proceeding in its history, studying which regulations would most effectively reduce the number of children who smoke. Seven hundred thousand public comments were received in the course of that rulemaking. At the conclusion of its proceeding, the Agency promulgated rules on the manner in which cigarettes are advertised and sold. Due to litigation, most of those regulations were never implemented. If we are serious about curbing youth smoking as much as possible, as soon as possible; it makes no sense to require FDA to reinvent the wheel by conducting a new multi-year rulemaking process on the same issues. This legislation will give the youth access and advertising restrictions already developed by FDA the force of law, as if they had been issued under the new statute. Once they are in place, FDA will have the authority to modify these rules as changing circumstances warrant.

The legislation also provides for stronger warnings on all cigarette and smokeless tobacco packages, and in all print advertisements. These warnings will be larger and more explicit in their description of the medical problems which can result from tobacco use. Each cigarette pack will carry a graphic depiction of the consequences of smoking. The FDA is given the authority to change the warning labels periodically, to keep their impact strong.

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Tobacco Regulation Bill Nears Passage in Senate 

The Senate is on track to pass landmark legislation authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products, after voting to limit debate on the measure.

By 67-30, comfortably more than the 60 votes necessary, the Senate agreed Wednesday to end debate on the bill.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd , D-Conn., managing the bill in the absence of ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass., said final passage would come “sometime Thursday.”

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• Final Senate Passage in Sight for Tobacco Control Bill  

The Senate on Wednesday cleared the last hurdle toward passage of a long-debated bill to give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco.

A final vote is expected Thursday, according to Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.). The House passed a similar bill in April. President Barack Obama has expressed support for the measure and is expected to sign it once the two chambers work out their differences.

The 67-30 procedural vote shows considerable bipartisan support for the legislation, which has been in the works for more than a decade.

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UPDATE 1-Tobacco bill moves toward final US Senate vote 

* Senate vote likely on Thursday to approve bill

* House has already passed its version of tobacco bill

* Final legislation may go to White House soon

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