Free Talk Live

Two Boston city councilors are proposing to ban smoking in public parks and beaches, carrying the decadeslong campaign to reduce tobacco use to some of the last remaining public spaces where lighting up is still allowed.

In many states, Gary Richards would not have been able to light up a cigarette before biting into his meat-lover's pizza, as he did at Satisfaction Restaurant & Bar this week. But in North Carolina, the nation’s leading tobacco producer, limits on indoor smoking have lagged behind those in much of the country.

Iraqi government wants to ban smoking in public places.
"The purpose behind approving the draft law to fight smoking is to protect the people from the social, health, environmental and economic risks of smoking," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh in a statement.
Let freedom ring!
Maybe they should ban occupying foreign troops with guns first?

The Geneseo Village Board has passed a law that makes it illegal to smoke in public parks or in the village parking lot.

The law was approved just last week at a village board meeting. Smokers will not be allowed to light up at all four of the village parks, that includes Highland Park, which village officials say is almost always busy with people and sports.

Smoking will also be banned in the Downtown Municipal Parking lot, even if you're smoking in your car.

The fines won't be cheap, they go all the way up to $250.

Delray Beach Florida has become the latest in the battle against personal choice and has banned hiring employees who use tobacco products, all supposedly to save money on health insurance.

The Alameda City Council has approved a new ordinance that aims to protect people from secondhand smoke by effectively banning smoking in all outdoor public places.

Smokers could run afoul of the new law -- most of which will go into effect Jan. 1 -- if they light up at a bus stop, ATM or even on a balcony of a multiunit rental complex.

The Hennepin County Board could consider the tobacco-free proposal next month. If passed, it would keep people from smoking on county property, even in their own cars.

Millions of dollars originally intended for smoking cessation programs in Massachusetts have been diverted to offset budget deficits, leaving the state struggling to fund quit-smoking hotlines, treatment programs and anti-tobacco advertising, the New England Center for Investigative Reporting has found.

Electronic cigarettes are opening a new front in the tobacco wars as state and local lawmakers try to restrict the product, which may allow users to circumvent smoking bans.