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It looks like the only thing college students will be burning in their dorm rooms is the midnight oil, now that Governor David Paterson has signed a smoking ban for all college dormitories and student group residences in New York.
The new ban, which extends an existing prohibition in State University student dormitories and group residences to those of private colleges and universities, was one of 130 bills that Paterson signed into law on Tuesday, July 8.
Student residences of the City University of New York, like all municipal buildings, were already smoke-free under the New York City Health Code.
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Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced broad changes on Wednesday in how the city will regulate building sites and share information between agencies to improve the inspection process and avoid tragedies like last summer’s fire at the Deutsche Bank tower in Lower Manhattan.
The 33 recommended measures are an outgrowth of a six-month study by the mayor’s staff, which reviewed flaws in the way the city inspects construction locations, demolition sites and places where asbestos abatement is taking place.
Two firefighters died last August after responding to a fire believed to have been started by a discarded cigarette at the former Deutsche Bank tower. . . .
Some of the changes will address conditions that contributed to the fire. Standpipes will be subject to more stringent inspections, for instance, and smoking bans at specified work sites will be strengthened.
Cicero appears poised to become the latest tobacco-free town in Onondaga County.
A public hearing is scheduled for July 28 on a proposal to make parks and playgrounds tobacco free.
Recently, representatives from Tobacco Free Onondaga County gave the town board a presentation entitled "Young Lungs at Play,"
CANDACE Bushnell's friends want her to quit smoking. Unlike her "Sex and the City" character Carrie Bradshaw, Candace is still lighting up - and her friend, Self magazine editor-in-chief Lucy Danziger, isn't happy about it. Danziger was spotted in the Condé Nast elevators "confiscating Candace's unopened pack of Merit cigarettes," according to our spy. Danziger cried, "You have to give this habit up! I quit 12 years ago, and I'll help you and you can write about it."
Calls to 311 to help quit smoking tripled the week cigarette prices hit a sky-high $10 a pack at some city stores, according to data released by the city Health Department yesterday.
"I was smoking two packs a day, so right now I saved $600 over the last month," said Jeana Farelli, an artist from the Lower East Side who quit smoking 27 days ago.
She decided her money and health were more important than her Carlton 100s.
"No smoker wants to be a smoker," said Farelli. "A lot of my friends, people who I thought would never quit, are quitting now."
Analysis showed that help-line operators fielded more than 2,700 smokers' calls in the week starting June 2. Last year, during the same seven-day period, only 850 quitters dialed 311.
No smoker wants to be a smoker. A lot of my friends, people who I thought would never quit, are quitting now.Jeana Farelli, an artist from the Lower East Side who quit smoking when NY taxes rose.
THE LEMAKS discovered an alternative smoking-cessation plan that employs auriculotherapy, a non-invasive form of acupuncture.
Frank Nasso, a Staten Island chiropractor, offers the auriculotherapy method of quitting. The program combines the procedure - which uses a minor electrical impulse to stimulate acupuncture points in the outer ear and eliminate the physical addiction - with a seminar to help people deal with the psychological addiction.
some county officials in Ulster and Dutchess hope to join a growing number of municipalities to snuff out smoking in outdoor areas as well.
The Ulster County Legislature last week set a public hearing for 6 p.m. Aug. 6 on a proposed local law that would ban smoking on all county-owned or county-controlled property.
Members of the Dutchess County Legislature's Public Works Committee, meanwhile, are expected on Monday to discuss a proposal to ban the use of tobacco in county parks.
The health department, which has waged a relentless campaign against smoking since 2002, began a public outreach campaign arguing that smokers could save about $3,000 a year if they quit a pack-a-day habit.
The surge in 311 calls does not mean that the tax increase will inevitably result in less smoking; many smokers who try to quit fail to do so, at least on the first try. But officials said they thought the 311 numbers gave them cause for optimism.
“Most smokers want to quit,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the health commissioner. “And the extra push of a higher price results in many smokers stopping smoking forever."
Calls to New York City's 311 hot line for help to quit smoking surged in the week after cigarette taxes went up in early June, driving the cost of a typical pack up to around $8.50 (and in some cases to more than $10), the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced on Thursday morning.
More than 2,700 New Yorkers called for help quitting smoking in the week that started on June 2, compared with about 850 in the same period in 2007, the city's health department announced. In addition to the 2,700 callers, about 1,600 smokers received free nicotine patches on June 3 at events held across the five boroughs. On that day, the state tax on cigarettes rose by $1.25 a pack — to $2.75 from $1.50.
A Lyndonville man objects to a proposed smoking ban on county owned property.
Nonsmoker Paul Lauricello believes the would-be policy is yet another infringement on a citizen's personal freedoms, he told the Orleans County Legislature on Wednesday. He is calling on county officials to make alternative arrangements for employees and residents who smoke.
The American Lung Association of New York today pointed to data released by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as evidence that the tobacco tax increase is working. In effect since June 3, 2008, the total tobacco tax of $2.75 is the highest in the nation and makes New York State the national public health leader in tobacco taxation. In New York City, an additional $1.50 cigarette tax makes the total tax $4.75 throughout the five boroughs.
More than 2,700 New Yorkers called for help quitting smoking in the week that started Monday, June 2, compared to about 850 in the same period in 2007, the city's health department announced. In addition to the 2,700 callers, about 1,600 smokers got free nicotine patches on June 3 at events held across the five boroughs. On June 3, the state tax on cigarettes rose by $1.25 a pack — to $2.75 from $1.50.
It is now against the law to smoke in any New York State university or college dormitory. Governor Paterson signed legislation Tuesday prohibiting smoking in the housing facilities of all SUNY and private schools in the state.
New York teens are balking at spending $7 for a pack of cigarettes, according to the state Health Department which reported that the teen smoking rate has fallen to 13.8 percent.
The Albany Times Union reported July 2 that New York's teen smoking rate has fallen 58 percent since 1997, and has continued to decline even as smoking rates level off nationally. High cigarette prices, indoor smoking bans and a state-funded antismoking campaign are credited for the success.