Tobacco Products

Smokeless tobacco use among U.S. kids and teens has leveled off

2013-05-14 14:00:00

After years of decline, the rate of smokeless tobacco use among young people has leveled off, new research shows. In 2011, 5.2% of middle school and high school students in the U.S. reported using snuff, chewing tobacco or dipping tobacco at least...

$2 per pack tobacco tax on fast track in California Legislature

2013-05-08 11:19:00

This post has been updated. See below for details. A proposal to raise the tobacco tax by $2 per pack of cigarettes cleared its first two policy committees Wednesday, with Republicans unified in their opposition. Sen. Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles)...

Smoking and the right to dumb choices

2013-04-24 00:00:00

As thoroughly awful as everyone knows cigarettes to be — still the No. 1 cause of premature death in this country — public officials walk a blurry line when they try to reduce smoking's terrible toll. As long as they lack the will to ban...

Picking on smokers to help preschoolers

2013-04-11 14:23:00

The conventional wisdom among lawmakers is that if you're going to propose a new program, you should also propose a way to pay for it. That's more fiscally responsible than simply dipping deeper into the Treasury and worrying about the consequences later....

Initiative would increase student aid with a dollar-a-pack tobacco tax

2013-03-09 05:00:00

California college students who smoke may be conflicted if asked to sign the petition for one proposed initiative. The measure, which has been cleared by the state for signature gathering,� would increase funding for student financial aid but do so by...

Debi Austin, featured in anti-smoking 'Voicebox' ad, dies

2013-02-27 07:34:00

U.S. tobacco control efforts lagging, American Lung Assn. says

2013-01-16 13:06:00

Every year since 2002, the American Lung Assn. has issued a report on the state of tobacco control in the U.S. and its member states. The report looks at what the federal government, states and cities are doing to prevent tobacco use, help people quit and...

Liability, guns and the law

2013-02-05 00:00:00

Last summer, David Garcia was sentenced to life in prison for the 2003 murder of rookie Burbank Police Officer Matthew Pavelka. Pavelka and another officer, Gregory Campbell, had approached two men sitting in a car without a license plate in an area...

NAACP catches heat for opposing New York large-soda ban

2013-01-25 14:20:00

There's new fireworks exploding around the plan by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg� — a.k.a. “Nanny Bloomberg” — to ban the sale of sugar-sweetened soft drinks larger than 16 ounces from a broad array of eateries in the...

Smokeless tobacco sales up sharply in California, officials warn

2012-12-13 12:03:06

California lawmakers head to Hawaii, Australia for post-election events

2012-11-14 07:04:24

Elon Musk of SpaceX: The goal is Mars

2012-08-01 00:00:00

As shipments go, it was routine — about half a ton of supplies — except it was delivered by the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. SpaceX partnered with NASA in this new model, the brainchild of Elon Musk, who's behind...

Students smoking outside Santa Monica High School. A tobacco tax could raise money for college aid.

2013-03-08 18:35:00

A series of increases in the cigarette tax since 1999 has paid dividends in lower smoking rates, particularly for teens. But tobacco companies are increasingly marketing flavored cigars that are popular among minors, and taxes on those products are now disproportionately low compared to cigarettes.

2012-01-06 12:06:14

Shown are two of the nine graphic warning labels that cigarette makers would be required to use by the fall of 2012. A judge temporarily blocked that requirement Monday.

2011-11-07 12:41:50