A dispute over millions of dollars held by a nonprofit, anti-smoking group has intensified three months after the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that diverting tobacco money to the group was wrong. But Partnership officials noted a lower court's decision allows them to keep the money derived from its pilot program, and the Supreme Court chose not to address that issue in its June ruling. The money was left from an account that was once funded by tobacco companies' annual payments to...

Raising the state cigarette tax would reduce tobacco's toll in the state, especially if combined with more funding for prevention efforts, according to local health officials. Serving Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley Since 1881. Studies have shown that for every 10 percent increase in the price of tobacco products, overall consumption declines by 3 percent to 5 percent, and youth smoking drops by about 6.5 percent, according to figures provided by Tobacco Tax Choices for Wisconsin....

Smoke from cigars, cigarettes, and pipes harms your body in many ways, but it is especially harmful to the lungs of a person with asthma. Inhaling second-hand smoke, also called "passive smoke" or "environmental tobacco smoke," may be even more harmful than actually smoking. When a person with asthma is exposed to second-hand smoke, he or she is more likely to experience the wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath associated with asthma. When a person inhales tobacco smoke, irritating...

The proposal s intent is to raise $35 billion in five years to fund and to expand the State Children s Health Insurance Program,a state and federal program to provide health care coverage for low-income children and pregnant women. The two bills are now headed for a joint Senate and House committee in an effort to pass one bill before the children s health insurance program s funding expires Sept. A tax increase could reduce sales and nix revenue windfalls lawmakers were depending on to...

GEORGE Sponsorships for smokeless tobacco products are a common sight at rodeos around the nation, but organizers of the St. Smokeless Tobacco co. reached an agreement with 45 state attorneys general, including Utah, to adopt marketing and advertising restrictions and contribute to a national educational fund. This year the rodeo is sponsoring a "tough enough to wear pink night" to help raise donations for local breast cancer awareness programs at Dixie Regional Medical Center. Rodeo...