Cigarettes Tax Increase and Smoke Shops, Cook County Board

Ali Al Meshal realizes he is in a unique position as Cook County Board members weigh a budget that includes a cigarette tax that will boost the price of a pack of smokes up by a dollar. Specifically, his position is manager of Border Tobacco, located on the south side of 183rd Street in Tinley Park — just over the line between Cook and Will County.

Smoke-Free Campus Modified by Students

For over a year now there have been a series of ongoing discussions concerning UR’s smoking policy. Within the past semester, however, junior Sheridan Finnie and seniors Sara Rothenberg and Catie Tarentine, who are leading the initiative, have begun to push for one which would outline a plan for a smoke-free campus save for a number of designated areas in which smoking would be allowed. Under the guidance of Director of the University Health Service Ralph Manchester and Associate Director of Health Promotion Linda Dudman, Finnie, Rothenberg and Tarentine initially aimed to implement a policy that would designate UR as entirely smoke free with no designated smoking areas, but after receiving feedback from students, faculty and staff, decided this new direction would make for a policy that would accommodate a larger majority of the University community.

Smuggled Tobacco Sales Decreased, the North East News

Less illegal tobacco is being sold in the North East, health campaigners have revealed. A survey carried out in 2009 and then again in 2011 showed that more than £36 million has been saved across the region in duty and tax as sales of illegal tobacco have fallen. The same survey showed that sales of the illegal goods had fallen by 39 per cent during the two year period.

South Georgia No-Smoking Policy

Some south Georgia public housing residents will soon have put out their cigarettes at home. The Lee County Housing Authority Board approved a new no-smoking policy for all 98 units in Leesburg and Smithville. Albany Housing Authority leaders told us they'll consider the same policy for their more than one thousand properties in the coming months. The Lee Board says health, safety, and maintenance concerns are behind the new rule.

Staffordshire Hospital Smoke-Free

A smoking ban is being dropped at Staffordshire's biggest hospital because it is being flouted by so many patients and visitors. Four shelters for people to light up will now be provided at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. They include one outside its cancer centre, where people being treated for the disease continue smoking. Another is planned for the maternity unit after heavily pregnant women were spotted with cigarettes by the front door.