Jump to full article: AP, 2003-11-13
Intro: Nebraska is being criticized for barely funding a program to discourage people from smoking, not long after the federal government held Nebraska's program out as a model for other states.
A report released Wednesday said Nebraska and several other states have reduced funding for such programs, which were to be paid by money they received to settle a lawsuit against the tobacco industry.
"Nebraska is not living up to the promise from the . . . legal settlement with the tobacco industry," said Mary Peterson of the Nebraska chapter of the American Lung Association. . .
The Nebraska Legislature passed a law in 2000 allocating $7 million a year in settlement funds for tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Funding for the program this year amounts to just $404,000.
Sen. Jim Jensen of Omaha, chairman of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, said the cuts were regrettable but necessary
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