Ramsey has acknowledged that a tobacco tax could pass this session, though he has suggested it might be smaller than the 40-cent increase Bredesen is calling for. He also wants to wait a month before considering the tax so the state will have a better projection on its financial situation for next year. Phil Bredesen's cigarette tax hike proposal, an Associated Press review of campaign finance records has found. Ron Ramsey, who was elected Senate speaker in January, was among the top...

Published Saturday, March 31, 2007 12:27:13 PM Central Time HURLEY -- Hurley School Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco students, along with hundreds of other Wisconsin youth, joined thousands of young people nationwide for the twelfth annual Kick Butts Day March 28 sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Published Saturday, March 31, 2007 12:27:13 PM Central Time HURLEY -- Hurley School Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco students, along with hundreds of other Wisconsin youth,...

With no market for the traditional crop, Cox is now growing burley tobacco instead. The Maryland tobacco buyout seven years ago nearly wiped out the state's tobacco production. The air is cold, and the floor of the cinder-block-walled room is covered with flakes of tobacco leaves that crunch when he walks about. It is a monotonous chore, stripping tobacco, stalk by stalk -- 210,000 of them this season, the Southern Maryland farmer estimated. With the market for Maryland tobacco all but...

Tobacco, a Connecticut company that has more than 60 percent of the smokeless tobacco market and has the best-known brand, Skoal. Tobacco, said the current system is a subsidy for low-price products that is far different from the taxes on cigarettes which are based on each pack rather than cost. For now, the only winner in the fight are fans of political intrigue, with a lawmaker holding up debate on a bill and lobbyists and public relations firms being hired to fight for legislative...

They said the smoking ban would lead to a drop in cigarette consumption in Ireland, but recent figures show the exact opposite is happening. Contained in the baggage were cigarettes the passengers were attempting to smuggle into Ireland to the value of almost 500,000. Earlier in the month customs officers at Rosslare Port made their biggest seizure of the year when over 300,000 worth of cigarettes were found concealed beneath a false floor of a refrigerated truck. The fight against...