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EDITORIAL: The D.C. Council Primary 

One of the most spirited races is Mr. Mara's unexpectedly strong challenge to veteran council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large). There is much to admire in Ms. Schwartz's four decades of service to the city. She has been a fierce advocate for good government who showed courage in speaking out against the wasteful spending of the 1980s and in challenging then-Mayor Marion Barry (D). There is no questioning her love of this city, but, sadly, her service of late has been detrimental to the District. Unrelentingly negative, Ms. Schwartz opposed no-smoking laws, open-meeting reform and, most notably, the mayoral takeover of the schools. . . .

as much as we salute Ms. Schwartz's past contributions to the city, we fear the consequences of her continued presence on the council.

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Chatological Humor: Welcome Back: Palin Reax; Left Behind Poll (UPDATED 9.3.08)  

I've read that your sense of smell is more closely linked to memory than any of your other senses. For example, even today, when I smell of the kind of vinyl used in my dentist's office during 2+ years of regular, painful orthodontic adjustments, it causes my palms to sweat. On the flip side, however, some of the best times of my youth were spent playing baseball. During our games, many parents would sit in the bleachers and smoke (this was the mid-1970's), which would drift onto the field, albeit in diluted form. Perhaps as a result, when I get a furtive whiff of cigarette smoke under the right circumstances (usually outdoors), it takes me back to those days playing in the scorching Arizona sun, with "Yankees" emblazoned on my green shirt and my dad cheering me on, and puts me in my happy place for just a moment. Not that I would ever seek it out to get my "memory fix", but the associations will probably always be there for me. Kinda strange, huh?

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Revealed: lorry cab which took away haul of stolen cigarettes 

THIS is a CCTV image of the red lorry cab thieves used to hijack a trailer of cigarettes from Hapsford Service Station near Chester.

Detectives are now looking for a dark coloured Ford Focus which was made up to look like an emergency vehicle with fluorescent markings along the sides and a light bar across its roof.

The car was spotted at approximately 1pm on Thursday, August 7 negotiating a roundabout at Junction 8 of the M53 before entering the motorway heading towards Birkenhead.

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Police appeal in hunt for M53 lorry hijackers  

DETECTIVES investigating the hijacking of a lorry load of cigarettes in Ellesmere Port on Thursday, August 7 are concentrating their enquiries on identifying vehicles of interest.

A CCTV still shows what is believed to be the offenders using a red tractor unit to haul the consignment of cigarettes. It is not known where this tractor unit went after leaving Hapsford Services. It may be that the offenders made use of a legitimately owned unit to haul the load. . . .

The stolen cigarettes are distinctive as they were destined for the European market. They have health warnings in Spanish and French on the packets and are Benson and Hedges Silver and Gold and Mayfair King-size brands.

A £50,000 reward

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Fire at Ann Arbor apartment building caused by unattended cigarette, officials say 

Ann Arbor fire officials say they've determined the cause of a blaze that damaged an apartment building Tuesday was a cigarette left unattended on a deck.

The fire department said this morning that damages were estimated at $250,000. The blaze displaced four families in the building at 573 Waymarket Drive in Briar Cove Apartments on the city's south side, officials said.

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Bill to target teen smoking 

Retailers caught selling tobacco products to teenagers under the age of 18 could face fines of R50 000 if new smoking legislation is passed.

The current fine for selling tobacco products to under 16s is R10 000, but proposed amendments to existing legislation will see the age and fines increasing.

The Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill has already been passed by the national assembly and will now be discussed by the national council of provinces.

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• ND Anti-Tobacco Initiative Petitions Approved 

The secretary of state`s office has approved an initiated measure for the statewide November election ballot.

The measure would set aside money from a North Dakota lawsuit settlement against tobacco companies to pay for programs that discourage tobacco use.

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Potential NYC Mayoral Candidate Wants Taxes Collected on Native American Retailers 

John Catsimatidis, chief executive officer of the Red Apple Group and Gristedes Foods, is taking aim again at two Native America tribes on Long Island for what he claims is an unfair cigarette taxation issue.

In 2006, Gristede’s brought legal suit against the Unkechaug and Shinnecock tribes, contending the tribes violated civil racketeering statutes by selling untaxed cigarettes. Marlboros cost about $4.20 from the tribes’ retailers vs. twice that at New York City retailers after the latest tax hike, The New Yorker reported. The suit was later dismissed.

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• Investigation: Creek smoke shops skirting state rules 

Four years after the state of Oklahoma entered into a new tobacco compact with the tribes, the state is continuing its efforts to stop the methods used by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to sell low-tax and cheap cigarettes in the Tulsa area.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission has launched an investigation into whether the Osage Nation is using a loophole in a new tobacco rule to supply low-tax cigarettes to Creek-affiliated smoke shops, a Tulsa World investigation shows.

Low-tax cigarettes are meant to be sold along the Oklahoma border by smoke shops in competition with lower tax rates in adjoining states.

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• Pictorial warnings on tobacco products in India from 30th November  

All tobacco products will display approved pictorial warnings and nicotine-tar levels from 30 November 2008, as per a notification issued by the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (dated 27 August 2008), in accordance with the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003. The implementation of pictorial warnings on tobacco products in India was initially planned for February 2007, but got deferred four times thereon.

Grim images of diseased lungs will appear on cigarette, bidi and gutkha packets, as per the notification, covering 40 per cent of the surface area of the tobacco packets, with the message: 'Tobacco kills/Smoking kills'.

The warnings were finally approved by a Group of Ministers (GoM)

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Legislature approves raising smoking age 

ONONDAGA COUNTY -- By a margin of just two votes, the Onondaga County Legislature has approved a local law raising to 19, the legal age to purchase tobacco products. The lawmakers approved the law Tuesday afternoon by a vote of 10 to 8.

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Scoop: Graphic warnings on cigarettes now compulsory 

It is now compulsory for all tobacco products to show graphic health warnings, Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor said today. . . .

“Retailers have had a six month transition period as well as a one year window for manufacturers to make the necessary changes. My expectation is that retailers will fully comply with their obligations to only sell tobacco products with the new warnings,” said Mr O’Connor.

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• Age limit for tobacco goes up - Politiken.dk 

A new law takes effect on Monday making it illegal for young people under the age of 18 to purchase tobacco or to introduce tobacco to Denmark from abroad.

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• Rewards for revealing contraband cigarettes in Zanzibar 

CIGARETTES smuggling into Tanzania, an evil that has for long been part of the bane of meager revenue for the government, has been giving the authorities a big headache, but Zanzibar Revenue Board (ZRB) in partnership with Tanzania Cigarette Company (TCC) think they may have found a way to bring the wrong to an end in the Indian Ocean clove archipelago.

The ZRB Tax Payer Education Manager, Rashid Ali Juma, says his board has put in place an arrangement to award any body or institution which enables the board to impound tax evading cigarette contrabands on the twin Islands of Unguja and Pemba.

Mr Juma was speaking at one of the workshops ZRB it jointly organized with Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) the two institutions have been conducting for some weeks on the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar to enlighten the public on the thorny issue of tax collection.

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S.C. ends funding for anti-smoking  

Anti-smoking advocates fear more teenagers will begin the habit in South Carolina and fewer adults will quit now that prevention programs are getting no state money.

For the past two years, South Carolina has spent $2 million on smoking cessation and prevention. At least a half-dozen states have reduced funding for such programs in the economic downturn, but South Carolina was the only one to eliminate it this year.

South Carolina and Connecticut are the only two states that spend nothing on prevention, according to the national Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Before getting the money in 2006-07, S.C. spent nothing for several years.

Since 1999, the youth smoking rate in South Carolina has dropped by half, from 36 percent to 18 percent. The teen movement Rage Against the Haze has helped teens

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