On a hot afternoon last week, several chairs were set up inside and outside of the open garage door next to a coffee can filled with cigarette butts. Paul Halverson, director of the state Health Division, said that it may be time to levy some penalties on those businesses that refuse to follow the smoking ban. I think were still talking about a very small percentage of business owners who will not follow the law, he said, but its important to say the law is on the books. Mike Beebe, who...

No worries about intellectual stimulation, either: Boulder has enough artists, techies and activists to keep you on your toes indefinitely. Baker's home on five wooded acres in Susquehanna Township, a northern suburb where the median home price is less than $112,000, is only minutes from the golf course, theaters, restaurants and medical care. Each day an eclectic mix of cigar aficionados gather in the shop to fire up a favorite smoke and burn through the subject du jour. If you want to...

At the state level, an April unemployment level of only 4 percent means with nearly full adult employment, more teen job openings should be available, she said. Cleland said the age of the pickers was less of a concern than the cleanliness and responsibility of the person, so she said she hires young teens with good work habits. Teenagers who want to work either for extra money or for work experience may have difficulties this summer. What we do is have people pick berries and buy them...

Chris Hayes (left), pictured at the start-up of the once-off free farm waste plastic collection scheme, which commenced in West Cork this week at Lisavaird. Having operated successfully in other counties last year, is now available to Cork farmers during the month of June at eighteen advertised collection points. The annual review reflects the level of importance and the wide ranging nature of the sector, adding that the Food, Drink and Tobacco (FDT) sector continues to play a vital role...

Had it been pristine wilderness then, it would possibly be so still, for neither the technology nor the social organization of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries had the capacity to maintain, of its own resources, outpost colonies thousands of miles from home. Had it been pristine wilderness then, it would possibly be so still, for neither the technology nor the social organization of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries had the capacity to maintain, of its own resources, outpost...