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• House shelves workplace smoking ban 

Lansing -- Advocates of a workplace smoking ban in Michigan will have to wait at least a few more months for the issue to return in the Legislature.

House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, said he has decided the House should zero in this spring on balancing the cash-strapped budget and creating jobs in the wounded economy.

"The smoking ban is an important issue, but jobs and the budget are more important right now," Dillon said. "I see us getting back to the smoking issue by summer."

Senate Republicans agree.

"Until we get our unemployment rate down, issues like the smoking ban are not a good use of the Legislature's time," said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.

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