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• Action to ban smoking fizzles 

It won't be a smoke-free summer in Michigan.

Lawmakers broke for summer recess Friday without final action on bills that would ban smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.

Election-year politics and dissent among House Democrats stalled action on the ban, which proponents say would protect workers from secondhand smoke. The Senate has approved a total statewide smoking ban, while the House approved a ban that exempts Detroit's casinos, horse racetracks and cigar bars.

Neither chamber was willing to take final action Friday, as lawmakers wrapped up much of the 2008-09 budget.

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