Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
The Cougar Lanes bowling alley at 3510 S. 144th St. closed Saturday, and a person associated with the business said the city's smoking ban was a factor.
"Bowling is a sport where you have a beer and a cigarette," said Doris Martin, a former partner in the bowling alley.
In 2007, Martin and two employees were cleared of violating Omaha's partial smoking ban by allowing smoking in the alley's adjacent bar, the Cougar's Den.
Martin and her employees' victory was the first case in which people accused of violating the ban fought the charges in court.
But by the time the case was settled, many leagues had switched to other nearby lanes with keno licenses that allowed them to smoke while bowling, Martin said.
Jump to full article »
The City of Ralston intends to fight a lawsuit that would snuff out the exemptions to its smoking ban.
Attorney Christopher Jerram, on behalf of Ralston resident Mary Foster, said the lawsuit was brought against the city seeking "fairness, public health and economic opportunity on a level playing field."
The City Council went into a closed session to discuss the lawsuit Tuesday night. An informal vote was taken during the session.
City Attorney Mark Klinker said after the closed session that he and the city's elected officials do not think Foster has standing to bring the suit because the city's law does not harm her economically or inconvenience her in any unique way.
The lawsuit was filed July 8 in Douglas County District Court. A motion for a temporary injunction is scheduled to be heard Aug. 8.
In November, Ralston adopted an ordinance that banned smoking in workplaces but gave a reprieve to keno outlets, bars with limited food service, tobacco-only retail outlets and private clubs, such as the Ralston American Legion Post 373.
Omaha city officials are tweaking parts of the city's budget in light of a recent Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that expanded the city's ban on smoking in public.
In May, the state Supreme Court ruled that Omaha's exemption of keno bars and a horse racing track from its public smoking ban was unconstitutional. Last month, the smoking ban took effect in those businesses, as well.
Omaha finance director Carol Ebdon says her office looked at what happened to the city of Lincoln following its all-inclusive smoking ban. She determined that Omaha, too, will lose money because of lower keno revenue.
A new, nationwide report says Nebraska could save more than $102 million a year on health care if more money were invested in disease prevention programs.
The report from nonprofit Trust for America's Health says by investing $10 per resident each year on top of what it already spends, the state would see the net savings within 5 years.
The reports says the investment of about $17.5 million investment should go to community-based programs to prevent smoking and increase physical activity and nutrition.
A judge on Tuesday repeatedly questioned whether there's more smoke than fire to a pool hall owner's challenge of Omaha's ban on smoking in workplaces.
Douglas County District Judge Mark Ashford pointed out that a statewide smoking ban will take effect in June 2009 and questioned whether that would essentially make Big John's Billiards' challenge to Omaha's smoking ban moot.
The judge also stressed that he has no ability to overrule the Nebraska Supreme Court, which overturned the City of Omaha's exceptions allowing smoking in places that have keno. . . .
However, Theodore Boecker, an attorney for Big John's, said the Supreme Court's elimination of Omaha's exemptions for keno halls has harmed his client by creating an uneven playing field.
Investigators say the fire that destroyed a Lincoln apartment complex Saturday morning started on a third floor balcony after someone put out a cigarette in a flammable plastic container.
The three-alarm fire started shortly after 6 a.m. destroying all 24 units at the Thomasbrook Apartments
Smokers and bar owners have a few days to get used to Omaha's near-total smoking ban before prosecutors begin going after violators, but efforts are under way to enforce this week's district court order.
A judge signed an order on Monday to abolish exemptions to the ban that the City Council passed. The ban, which took effect in October 2006, allowed keno bars and Horseman's Park to phase out smoking.
Any grace period Omaha businesses had before police started enforcing citywide smoking restrictions is over.
North Shore Tavern owner Dave Nelson said he was burned Wednesday by the smoking ban that went into effect Tuesday. Three of his customers and a bartender were cited Wednesday for violating the ban.
Police had said Tuesday that restaurants, bars and workplaces would have time to adjust to the ban.
But Nelson said he didn't know how to interpret the so-called grace period.
Just as tougher restrictions on indoor smoking go into effect, a group is asking a judge to let them intervene in the case, to have the ban declared unconstitutional.
The group is made up of Big Red Keno, Horsemen's Park, the Beer and Loathing Bar in Dundee, and Linda Brennan, a housekeeper who works in homes where people smoke.
With a judge's order Tuesday, Omaha's tougher restrictions on indoor smoking in public places went immediately into effect.
But never fear, smokers: Police won't be aiming any squirt guns at your cigarettes just yet.
Nor will officers cite renegade smokers until it's clear that all restaurants, bars and workplaces have figured out, or should have figured out, that the ban is in effect.
That grace period won't last long, however, an Omaha police spokeswoman said.
Once news spreads, Lt. Darci Tierney said, police will enforce the law at the previously excluded businesses -- mostly bars and restaurants that offered keno
A judge's order has abolished exemptions to Omaha's public smoking ban.
The ban that took effect in fall 2006 let people smoke in keno bars and at Horseman's Park, for example.
But in May the Nebraska Supreme Court said the exemptions were unconstitutional.
The high court agreed with Marylebone Tavern co-owner Michelle Hug that the exemptions weren't fair to her bar, where people could no longer smoke.
Grand Island's new smoking ban goes into effect this weekend.
The ban impacts all indoor areas of all public places -- places where the public is invited in to do business or work. The Grand Island City Council approved the ban in March to take effect a full year ahead of a similar statewide ban.
"The ordinance goes into effect June 1," City Attorney Dale Shotkoski said.
June 1 begins at midnight Sunday. To many folks, midnight Sunday may still feel like part of Saturday night.
"Midnight to 1 (a.m.), if bars are open, it will be in effect," said Capt. Robert Falldorf of the Grand Island Police Department.
The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that the exceptions to Omaha's smoking ban for keno parlors and some bars are unconstitutional.
The court agreed with Marylebone Tavern co-owner Michelle Hug that the exceptions to the ban created an unfair benefit for the exempt businesses.
Most businesses have already complied with the Omaha ban, but the City Council allowed a five-year grace period for bars that don't serve food, for keno parlors and for Horsemen's Park, a horse track.
The Supreme Court's ruling will likely end the exceptions to the city ban even before a new statewide smoking ban takes effect in June 2009. The only workplace exemptions to the statewide ban are for retail tobacco shops and places where smoking research is done.
The Supreme Court ruled that Omaha failed to offer evidence to support the exceptions to its smoking ban
The Omaha bar owner who challenged the exceptions to the city's smoking ban is pleased with the Nebraska Supreme Court's ruling Friday.
Lawyer K.C. Engdahl said his client, Marylebone Tavern co-owner Michelle Hug, will be pleased with the ruling because it will force all Omaha businesses to comply with the same rules.
The ruling threw out the exceptions for keno parlors and some bars as unconstitutional. Engdahl says that's exactly what Hug had asked for.
The Supreme Court ruled that affidavits from two of Omaha's seven City Council members shouldn't have been considered in the case because they were taken three months after the ban was passed. Those affidavits were the only evidence supporting the exceptions.
The North Platte City Council Tuesday passed an ordinance against smoking within 25-feet of any city facility or inside any city park. Those who do and get caught could get fined up to $1,000.
By unanimously passing the ordinance on the first reading, smoking is prohibited in all city facilities, within the fenced areas of any city-owned park, within 50-feet of any electric carnival style ride located within the boundaries of any city-owned park, within the perimeter fencing of public swimming pools, ball fields or in the bleachers and grandstands.