News Archives

What's InThe News

ARCHIVES - 2000

Click on News Header to go directly to their articles

To view full story CLICK onimage

What Law? Diners Keep on Puffing - March 15, 2000
By Rick Marin

        Say you're having dinner somewhere hot on a hot date,
        and things are moving to the next level, when a cancerous
        cloud wafts across your table. Four people at the next booth
        seem to have lighted up a pack of Marlboros simultaneously.
        A waiter hurries over -- and hands them an ashtray.
        Your date begins to cough.

Company Challenges Law Banning Net
Tobacco Sales - Oct. 19, 2000
By CARL S. KAPLAN

         In the latest of a flurry of lawsuits seeking to
         use the federal Constitution to trump state
         efforts to regulate controversial online services
         and products, a major tobacco company has
         challenged a recently-enacted New York law
         that effectively bans the sale of cigarettes to
         New York consumers via the Internet,
         mail-order or telephone.

Negotiations Are Stalled in New York
Smoking Suit, Lawyers Say - Nov. 10, 2000
By GREG WINTER

         Negotiations between smokers' lawyers
         and two major tobacco companies to
         resolve a federal case in New York have
         stalled and may fall apart, lawyers representing
         both sides said yesterday.

NEW YORK: CIGARETTE SALES TO MINORS - Nov. 13, 2000

Vendors in New York City are less likely to sell tobacco to minors than are stores
nationwide, the Department of Consumer Affairs reported yesterday.

Ruling Favors Tobacco Companies - Nov. 17, 2000
By CARL S. KAPLAN

         In a ruling that is certain to gladden the
         hearts of cigarette manufacturers, online
         tobacco retailers and price-conscious
         smokers, a federal judge has ruled that a New
         York law effectively banning the direct sale of
         cigarettes to New Yorkers via the Internet is
         likely to be unconstitutional.

Maryland Village Endorses a Ban on
Outdoor Smoking - Nov. 25, 2000

         CHEVY CHASE, Md., Nov. 22 — Smoking outdoors will soon be
          outlawed in a small corner of Maryland, except on private
          property, if the local Village Council gets its way.

Japanese Airline Revokes Smoking Ban - December 1, 2000

TOKYO — A struggling Japanese airline revoked its ban on in-flight
smoking Friday in a bid to attract customers and revive profits.

Tobacco Industry Denies Hiding Risk - Dec. 5, 2000

        NEW YORK (AP) -- Tobacco industry lawyers on Tuesday denied
        allegations that cigarette manufacturers waged a decades-long campaign
        of deception about the heightened risk their products posed to asbestos
        workers.

'Insider' Testifies in Tobacco Case - Dec. 11, 2000

         NEW YORK (AP) -- Whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand testified Monday
         that one of the nation's largest cigarette makers systematically altered and
         destroyed internal memos that -- if left unaltered and made public --
         would have confirmed the risks of smoking.

Nation's Toughest Smoking Ban Is Adopted - Dec. 13, 2000
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

         FRIENDSHIP HEIGHTS, Md., Dec. 12 — County
         legislators approved a smoking ban today for this affluent
         suburban village near Washington, a measure that antismoking
         advocates described as the most extensive in the nation.

Cigarette Maker Sues on Settlement - Dec. 18, 2000

         RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A small Virginia company that claims to have
         developed a safer cigarette is challenging the constitutionality of the
         national tobacco settlement.

          Star Scientific Inc. filed the federal civil action against Virginia Attorney
          General Mark Earley in Richmond on Friday, seeking relief from the
          $206 billion agreement over health care costs signed in 1998 by leading
          cigarette makers and the attorneys general from 46 states.

Pataki Says U.S. Is Delaying a Health
Insurance Expansion - Dec. 29, 2000
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

         ALBANY, Dec. 28 — Gov. George E. Pataki voiced an unusually
         harsh criticism of the Clinton administration today, saying it has
         delayed approving an important waiver that would allow New York to
         begin providing coverage to low-income residents without medical
         insurance.

         It would be partly financed with revenue from a new 55- cent
         cigarette tax, as well as a share of the $450 million a year that the state is
         to receive from the settlement of the national lawsuit against tobacco
         companies.

EX: WHISTLE-BLOWER JUST BLOWING
SMOKE - Feb. 16, 2000
By JEANE MacINTOSH

        It's garnered seven Oscar nominations, but Disney's
        fact-based drama "The Insider" might yet be derailed
        by a major credibility problem.

GET SET FOR NICOTINE AT-TAX - Feb. 29, 2000
By ANGELA C. ALLEN

         It'll cost Empire State smokers 55
         cents more for a pack of cigarettes
         starting tomorrow, but thanks to a
         cut in the sales tax, they'll have
         more pennies to pay for their
         high-priced habit.

$5-A-PACK CIGARETTES! - March 5, 2000
By CHRISTOPHER FRANCESCANI

         New York is already famous for the $2,000-a-month
         studio apartment, the $150 nosebleed Knicks-game
         seat, and the $9 movie ticket.

And now, the five-dollar pack of cigarettes.

CIG-SMUGGLING SUSPECTS SMOKED OUT - March 10, 2000
By MAGGIE HABERMAN

         Four Brooklyn men were busted --
         a day after New York state's
         mammoth cigarette-tax hike kicked
         in -- for trying to hawk bootleg
         smokes, officials said yesterday.

TAXES TURN NYERS INTO BUTT-LEGGERS - March 12, 2000
By VINCENT MORRIS

        FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Go to almost any outlet,
        convenience store or discounter that sells cigarettes
        here and you'll likely see a familiar sight in the parking
        lot -- New York license plates.

GUNS AT THEIR HEADS - March 22, 2000

        The Clinton White House is feeling pretty full of itself
        these days, and with good reason. Last week, the
        administration demonstrated yet again that the coercive
        powers of government can be used to implement a
        policy that lacks sufficient political support.

THE TRIAL LAWYERS’ PAYDAY - April 2, 2000

        By orchestrating so many personal and
        state-sponsored lawsuits, the trial lawyers forced the
        tobacco industry into multiple billion-dollar settlement
        agreements. The subsequent millions in contingency
        fees produced the resources to wage the current
        political warfare.

SWEET SURRENDER: SACCHARIN OFF
CANCER LIST - May 16, 2000
By CATHY BURKE

        How sweet it is! Saccharin, shunned for nearly 20
        years because of its suspected link to cancer, is back in
        good standing.

HOLY SMOKE! TOBACCO MIGHT HELP
STOP AIDS - May 23, 2000
By CATHY BURKE

Tobacco, blamed for millions of deaths every year,
may also provide a lifesaving HIV vaccine.

PATAKI EXTINGUISHES BILL TO BAN
SMOLDERING SMOKES - May 26, 2000
By KENNETH LOVETT

       ALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday
       snuffed out a bill that would have
       required all cigarettes sold in the
       state to be self-extinguishing by 2002.

POL BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO SAFE-CIG
BILL - May 27, 2000
By FRANKIE EDOZIEN

       A day after Gov. Pataki vetoed a bill that would have
       required all cigarettes sold in the state to be
       self-extinguishing, a Queens councilman tried to revive
       a similar city bill that was shelved two years ago.

HILL MAKES GRAB AT BILL'S ‘TV GUIDE' - June 9, 2000
By ROBERT HARDT JR. and GREGG BIRNBAUM

Lazio said last month he has "never taken tobacco
money," but that's not the whole story.

ALBANY'S LATEST SMOKESCREEN - June 19, 2000

        The ban-the-butts crowd smiled broadly in Albany
        last week as the Legislature adopted a bill outlawing
        the sale of all cigarettes in New York save for those
        that "self-extinguish" - whatever that means. Gov.
        Pataki has promised to sign the measure, which will
        take effect in 2003.

OFF THE RECORD:
READING THE SMOKE
SIGNALS - June 23, 2000

         Leaders of the Seneca tribe are irked over a new law
        designed to limit their ability to peddle tax-free
        smokes over the Internet - and they're threatening to
        shut down key state highways (as in roads, not the
        information ones).

A BIG WIN FOR BIG TOBACCO - June 28, 2000
By C.J. SULLIVAN

         BIG Tobacco scored big in Brooklyn yesterday -
         winning a case that could set a precedent for future
         anti-tobacco suits in the city.

THE LITIGIOUS ELIOT SPITZER - June 28, 2000

        State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the putative
        people's lawyer, is becoming the governmental
        equivalent of DIAL-A-TORT.

REPUBLICAN RICK VOTING LIKE A DEM - June 28, 2000
By VINCENT MORRIS

       Among the issues on which he sided with Democrats
       was in voting to let the Justice Department proceed
       with its lawsuit against tobacco companies. He also
       went against his party's line on several gun-control
       votes.

... AS LAWYERS
FEATHER THEIR NESTS - July 5, 2000

Speaking of the trial lawyers, here's some more bad news.

        It comes in the form of a bill now sitting on Gov.
        Pataki's desk, entitled: "An Act to repeal section
        474-a of the Judiciary Law, relating to contingent
        fees for attorneys in claims or actions for medical,
        dental or podiatric malpractice."

        On numerous state, local and national issues -
        tobacco, auto insurance and health care - trial
        lawyers have either stood in the way of meaningful
        reform or initiated absurd lawsuits from which they
        profit far more than their individual clients.

SPITZER'S DISHWASHER POLITICS - July 14, 2000
By STEVEN J. MILLOY

        Without the law, economics or consumers' best
         interests on his side, Spitzer sticks with his strong suit
         - "politically correct" attacks on business. His resume
         includes suits against Microsoft, financial-services
         firms, electric utilities, tobacco companies and gun
         manufacturers.

TOP CITY RESTAURANTS IGNORE
NO-PUFFING LAW - July 16, 2000
By CHRISTOPHER FRANCESCANI

        Nearly five years after passage of
        the city's Smoke-Free Air Act,
        trendy, upscale eateries across town continue to ignore
        its ban on smoking in restaurants with 35 or more seats.

CIG-MAKERS PAYING PRICE FOR
SMOKERS' FREE CHOICE - July 16, 2000
By STEVE DUNLEAVY

        How can an industry, which the last time I looked was
        legal, be held accountable for their customers freedom
        to want to smoke?

RESPONSIBILITY GOES
UP IN SMOKE - July 18, 2000
By STEFAN C. FRIEDMAN

DOES a smoker share any blame for his or her
failing health?

       The tobacco companies are no longer allowed to
       advertise their product anywhere in view of the
       general populace, and have now come clean about
       their previous shady dealings. Instead, we're
       inundated with information on how poisonous the
       habit is. But smokers still choose to light up.

MILKING THE TOBACCO
COW - July 18, 2000

        It took a Florida jury that heard two years of highly
        technical testimony a scant five hours last week to
        assess $145.8 billion in damages against the nation's
        tobacco companies.

BRINGING LEGAL VULTURES
DOWN TO EARTH - July 30, 2000
By ROBERT SAMUELSON

       HERE'S a modest proposal: Let's put a cap on
       lawyers' pay. If you're an attorney, you can make $1
       million a year from lawyering or, perhaps, $2 million.
       Above that, the tax rate is 100 percent. The ceiling
       would be high enough to attract bright and
       hard-working people into the law. But the cap would
       curb predatory lawyering, which uses the law to
       amass personal fortunes of hundreds of millions of
       dollars.

GREEDY DEMS REFUSE TO CURB LAWSUIT
MADNESS - July 30, 2000
By ROD DREHER

        The American Trial Lawyers Association, now holding
        its convention in Chicago, will presumably be more
        subdued when they greet Bill Clinton today. But in their
        hearts, they'll be whooping it up just as ecstatically.

A PROHIBITIONIST
SMOKESCREEN - August 6, 2000

Smoking, in case you didn't know, can be bad for you.
So, too, can second-hand smoke.

But when the anti-smoking crowd tries to send that
message, it just can't seem to stick to the facts.

THE NEW PURITANS - August 25, 2000
By SIDNEY ZION

         HOW did Tom Brokaw's "greatest generation"
         manage to produce a generation of vipers? These
         fabulous baby boomers, ranging in style from Hillary
         Rodham Clinton to Rudy Giuliani, won't quit until
         they force us all to march lockstep in a universal
         Disney mall with heads clear of booze, lungs free of
         smoke and minds without lust.

STUDY CLEARS THE AIR
ABOUT BREAST CANCER - Oct. 18, 2000
Post Wire Services

       A new study of women who have never smoked found no
       association between exposure to secondhand smoke and
       death from breast cancer, according to the American
       Cancer Society and other researchers.

CITY IS TOPS IN SMOKING
OUT KIDS' CIG VENDORS - Nov. 13, 2000
By DAN MANGAN

         The city's top consumer-protection watchdog boasted
         yesterday that New York City beats the state and nation in
         stopping tobacco sales to kids.

Tuesday, January 04, 2000
Put Out Cigarette Fires Now
By KEVIN JAMES

        New York State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno is
        fiddling with fire-safe cigarette legislation while New
        Yorkers burn to death. His inaction on the measure for the
        past three years helped to deliver two more grisly fire victims on
        Christmas Day in Brooklyn.

Thursday, January 20, 2000
        Council OKs Crackdown
      On Sellers of Cigs to Kids
        By FRANK LOMBARDI
           Daily News Staff Writer

        The City Council yesterday voted to revoke tobacco-sales
        licenses of merchants if they are caught twice selling
        cigarettes to minors.

Tuesday, February 15, 2000
         Blowing Away the Myth
       About Passive Smoke
         By Sidney Zion

         Suddenly, there is an opportunity for
         science, reason and truth to prevail in
         New York against the forces that will
         never be satisfied until government becomes the
         last ash tray against smoking in public and
         private places.

Saturday, February 19, 2000
        Your Life of Crime in NYC
        A guilt trip through the city's
        least known offenses
        By EAMON LYNCH
           Daily News Staff Writer

New York's crime rate may have dropped but lawbreakers
are hiding in plain sight all over the city.

        The safe solution is to know the laws you might be breaking.
        Here's a look at some of what's technically banned in New York
        City.

Taxi Smoking

        Follow a cab from JFK and eventually a plume of smoke will rise
        from the side window as addicts indulge after a long flight. But
        smoking — whether by the driver or the passenger — is banned,
        according to the Taxi & Limousine Commission. Responsibility for
        ticketing is left to the NYPD. "It's not something that the TLC
        enforces," said a spokesman.

Wednesday, February 23, 2000
         Controller Sez Surplus
       No Cause to Celebrate
         By ROBERT GEARTY
            Daily News Staff Writer

         Nassau County, mired in a deep financial crisis that has
         affected its credit rating on Wall Street, closed 1999 in the
         black, but Nassau County Controller Fred Parola said
         yesterday there's no reason to celebrate.

         It included an extra $25 million in tobacco settlement money that
         the county wasn't expecting to receive until 2000. That money
         created most of the surplus.

Wednesday, February 23, 2000
         Cig Ads and Kids
       Are Eyed by Town
         By DEBBIE TUMA
            Special to The News

         In an effort to discourage young children from smoking, the
         Town of Huntington has proposed legislation to ban the
         advertising of tobacco products within 1,000 feet of a
         school, park or day care center.

Tuesday, February 29, 2000
         55-Cent Cigarette Tax
       Hike Begins Tomorrow
         By JOE MAHONEY
            Daily News Albany Bureau

         New York smokers are bracing for a pinch in the wallet
         tomorrow when the state excise tax on cigarettes jumps 55
         cents a pack to become the highest in the nation.

Wednesday, March 01, 2000
Gov to Snuff Net Cig Sales

         ALBANY
         The sale of cigarettes over the Internet to New Yorkers
         would effectively be banned by new legislation proposed
         yesterday by Gov. Pataki.

Saturday, March 11, 2000
         I-95 New Tobacco Road
         Smugglers net big bucks
         driving cigs up to N.Y.
         By PATRICE O'SHAUGHNESSY
            Daily News Staff Writer

         With cigarettes now costing up to $50 a carton in the city,
         smugglers are earning as much as $60,000 for a single
         round-trip run between New York and Virginia.

Friday, March 17, 2000
        Exec Gives
      A Taxing Warning
        Ailing budget may spur hike
        By ROBERT GEARTY
           Daily News Staff Writer

       Nassau County Executive Tom Gulotta mentioned the
       dreaded "T" word — "tax" — yesterday as Gov. Pataki
       appointed an independent auditor to examine the county's
       troubled finances.

       For instance, Gulotta wants legislative approval to raid a fund
       containing tobacco settlement money that's been set aside for the
       Nassau County Medical Center.

Thursday, March 23, 2000
        Around and About
        By JOEL SIEGEL
           Daily News Senior Political Correspondent

For Brooklyn Rep. Edolphus Towns, the path to reelection will
no longer include Tobacco Road.

Friday, March 31, 2000
        N.Y. Hospitals
      Sue Cig Makers
        By ROBERT GEARTY
           and OWEN MORITZ
           Daily News Staff Writers

       Some 147 New York State hospitals filed a whopping $3.4
       billion lawsuit against major tobacco companies yesterday
       to recover funds spent on sick smokers.

Thursday, April 06, 2000
         Mayor, 1st Lady Split
       On Flag, Teacher Pay
         By ROBERT GEARTY and JOEL SIEGEL
            Daily News Staff Writers

         "We want the best teachers to teach the kids who are the hardest
         to teach," she said after attending a "Kick Butts Day" anti-smoking
         assembly at the Salk School of Science on E. 19th St., where she
         endorsed extending a ban on smoking in public to bars.

Friday, April 07, 2000
         Pols Eye Herbal
       Cig Youth Ban
         By ROBERT GEARTY
            Daily News Staff Writer

        Resolutions to ban the sale of herbal cigarettes to youths
        under 18 have been introduced in the Nassau and Suffolk
        County legislatures.

Tuesday, April 11, 2000
Smoke Gets in Pols' Eyes

          Bartenders and waiters are in no danger
          from customers who blow smoke in their
          faces. So says the U.S. Energy
          Department.

Thursday, April 13, 2000
         Rudy Fans' Box: Elect Him,
       Get Green as Mayor
         By Sidney Zion

         The easiest way to turn a smile into a frown
         in this town is to remind a Giuliani
         supporter that if Rudy goes to the Senate,
         Mark Green goes to Gracie Mansion.

         Green comes out of Ralph Nader; he's a reformer in his bones. He
          is the perfect public advocate, and I wish he had subpoena power.
          If he weren't the pointman against smoking, I'd love to see what he
          would do as mayor for a year.

Friday, April 14, 2000
        Burning Issue for State Pols
        By JOE MAHONEY
           Daily News Staff Writer

       ALBANY
       As pressure increased on Gov. Pataki to make New York
       the first state in the nation to require fire-safe cigarettes, a
       top tobacco lobbyist predicted yesterday that any state ban
       on quick-burning smokes would be extinguished by the courts as
       unconstitutional.

Sunday, April 23, 2000
         Some Cig Smokers
       Learn a New Roll
         THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

        GLENS FALLS, N.Y.
        Motivated by price increases, more smokers are adopting a
        practice common in the 1800s — making their own
        cigarettes.

Thursday, April 27, 2000
         Dousing Herb Cigs
         Gov't will force end to misleading ads
         By TIMOTHY J. BURGER
            Daily News Staff Writer

        WASHINGTON
        In a crackdown on the makers of increasingly popular herbal
        cigarettes, the federal government will require them to halt
        what it considers deceptive advertising and to print health
        warnings on the packages.

Friday, April 28, 2000
Clamp Down on Herbal Cigs
By DONALD DISTASIO

        Kids should not smoke cigarettes. Everyone agrees. Even the
        tobacco companies pay lip service to this rather obvious
        assertion.
        So why is it legal for kids to smoke herbal cigarettes?

Tuesday, May 02, 2000
        Heat's on Gov For Fire-Safe Cigs
           By JOE MAHONEY
           Daily News Staff Writer

        ALBANY
        Anti-tobacco forces — out to make New York the first state
        in the nation to regulate cigarettes in any way — got a boost
        yesterday from a Big Tobacco defector as they turned up
        pressure on Gov. Pataki to mandate that all cigarettes sold in the
        state be fire-safe.

Friday, May 26, 2000
        Anti-Cig Pols: We'll Beat Veto
        By JOE MAHONEY
           Daily News Albany Bureau

        ALBANY
        Enraged legislators vowed yesterday to enact a fire-safe
        cigarette law this year, despite Gov. Pataki's midnight veto
        of the bipartisan legislation.

Tuesday, May 30, 2000
        Self-Snuffing Cigarettes Still
       Red-Hot Issue With Firefighter
         By BOB LIFF
            Daily News Staff Writer

         When Gov. Pataki vetoed a bill last week that would have
          mandated that cigarettes sold in New York be fire-safe,
          Brooklyn Fire Marshal Kevin James did not mince words.

Wednesday, June 07, 2000
Gov's Blowing Smoke
About Fire-Safe Cigs

          The bill requiring fire-safe cigarettes was
          sitting on the governor's desk as Bozena
          Biesiekierski whiled away a rainy May
          afternoon smoking in the bedroom of her
          Brooklyn apartment.

Wednesday, June 07, 2000
         Pass the Fries —
       But Please Hold the Guilt
         By Lenore Skenazy

         PSST! Over here! Under the desk getting
         my fix. Let me just wipe this powder off
         my nose. ...

Ah, nothing like a jelly doughnut.

        Now truth be told, I don't really have to hide when I eat junk food
        — yet. But the day may be coming when snackers are shunned
        like smokers.

Friday, June 09, 2000
         TA Really Doing Fine
         Summons crackdown
         adding millions to till
         By PETE DONOHUE
            Daily News Staff Writer

         Police and transit officials have said that cracking down on
         relatively minor infractions, such as smoking and fare evasion, is
         done to make other passengers feel safe and more comfortable.

Thursday, June 15, 2000
          New York to Be 1st State
        With a Self-Snuff Cig Law
          By JOE MAHONEY
              Daily News Albany Bureau

          ALBANY
          New York will become the first state to require that cigarettes
          meet fire-safety standards under a measure that Gov. Pataki
          — who last month vetoed similar legislation — said
          yesterday he will sign.

Monday, June 19, 2000
          'Fire-Safe' Cigarette Law
        Feather in Pol's Cap
          By JOE MAHONEY
              Daily News Staff Writer

          ALBANY
          After an 18-year struggle, Assemblyman Pete Grannis scored
          what is perhaps his crowning achievement last week when
          Gov. Pataki announced he would sign legislation making
          New York the first state to require "fire-safe" cigarettes.

Wednesday, June 28, 2000
         Jury Backs Cig Firms
       In Brooklyn Cancer Suit
         By BILL EGBERT
            Daily News Staff Writer

         Tobacco companies won a bit of breathing room yesterday
         when a Brooklyn jury sided with R.J. Reynolds in a
         smoker's lawsuit, the industry's first major victory after a
         string of courtroom defeats.

Monday, July 10, 2000
        New Law to Help Rein In
      Cig Bootleggers
        By TAMER EL-GHOBASHY
           Special to The News

        Bronx tobacco retailers, who rank among the top offenders
        for selling unstamped and fraudulently stamped cigarettes,
        and others around the city could soon see their tobacco
        licenses permanently yanked.

Friday, July 14, 2000
        Smoking Gun vs. Web
        Kids as young as 7 buy
        cigs online, by mail
        By OWEN MORITZ
           Daily News Staff Writer

        Children as young as 7 were able to buy smokes from Internet
        retailers and mail-order tobacco firms — getting around tough city
        laws that prohibit tobacco sales to minors, the Department of
        Consumer Affairs charged yesterday.

Sunday, July 16, 2000
        Cig Buyers Cough Up
       Extra Cost of Smokes
        By JOE MAHONEY
           Daily News Albany Bureau

       ALBANY
       Cigarette sales have plummeted across New York since the
       state made its per-pack tax the highest in the nation, state
       records show.

Sunday, July 23, 2000
        Haven For Tribe
      And For Smugglers
        Cross-border site of Mohawk Reservation
        brings traffic in cigs, booze and aliens
        By BILL HUTCHINSON
           Daily News Staff Writer

        ST. REGIS MOHAWK INDIAN RESERVATION, N.Y.
        Three years after federal agents broke up a
        major cigarette and liquor bootlegging ring and
        19 months after they smashed an operation
        running illegal immigrants, smuggling still thrives
        on this reservation straddling the
        U.S.-Canadian border.

Friday, July 28, 2000
Cig Exec's Talk Makes Hil Fume

        Aides said Clinton had no idea when she went to speak to the
        Hispanic Chambers of Commerce New York Federation
        breakfast yesterday that Philip Morris Senior Vice President
        Carolyn Levy would be one of the warmup acts.

Monday, July 31, 2000
Father-&-Son
Pols Face Challenges

"Last time, I ran my son's campaign," Edolphus Towns said. "This
time, I'm concentrating on my own."

         The congressman said he has agreed to staff pleas that he stop
         accepting money from tobacco interests, which led to his being
         dubbed the Marlboro Man of city politics.

Thursday, August 03, 2000
        Quitting Cigs Late Still
       Cuts Risk of Cancer
        THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

        LONDON
        Giving up smoking even late in life eliminates most of the lung
        cancer risk, and the risk is decreased more than 90% for
        those who quit before they turn 35, new research indicates.

Saturday, August 05, 2000
         Tobacco Firms Helped
       Sugarcoat Kid Cigs
            THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

         LONDON
         Internal tobacco industry documents recently made public
         confirm that tobacco companies cooperated with the
         makers of candy cigarettes in designing snacks that
         promoted smoking to children — and that the ploy worked,
         according to new research.

Tuesday, August 15, 2000
         Up in Smoke
         New study shows that, on campuses,
         manufacturers are winning tobacco war
         By SUSAN FERRARO
            Daily News Staff Writer

        One in three college students — 32.9% — uses tobacco, and
         equal numbers of women and men smoke cigarettes, says Dr.
         Nancy Rigotti, co-author of the study published in the Journal of
         the American Medical Association's special tobacco issue.

Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Cola Caffeine Test
Leaves a Bad Taste

         A study suggesting that caffeine is added to colas not for
         flavor but to hook consumers prompted a giant response
         yesterday from the soft-drink industry, which called the
         results flawed and irresponsible.

         The study's authors, from Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, said
         that about 70% of soft drinks sold nationwide contain caffeine and
         likened the marketing of caffeinated colas to the tobacco industry's
         early claims that the addictive stimulant nicotine was added to
         cigarettes for flavor.

Friday, August 18, 2000
         Fire-Safe Cigarette Law Inked
         By JOE MAHONEY
            Daily News Albany Bureau

         ALBANY
         Gov. Pataki yesterday signed legislation making New York
         the first state in the nation to require that cigarettes meet fire
         safety standards.

The new law also stubs out the sale of cigarettes on the Internet in
the state.

Wednesday, August 23, 2000
Rudy Unveils Lung
Cancer Screen Project

Have you kicked the habit or are just thinking about it?

Either way, you can help.

The city is looking for 10,000 current or former heavy smokers
over age of 60 to test an innovative lung cancer screening tool.

Friday, August 25, 2000
         Cigs Seen Drawing
       Fewer Teens
         By JOE WILLIAMS
            Daily News Staff Writer

         After an upsurge in teen smoking for most of the last decade,
         fewer high school students across the nation appear to be
         lighting up, government officials said yesterday.

Sunday, August 27, 2000
         New Yorkers Say It's Worth Risk
         By BILL EGBERT
            Daily News Staff Writer

         "I think it's the way it was with smoking for a while," said the
         reluctant cell-phone addict. "We may know it's a bad idea, but we
         choose to ignore that fact for a long time."

Monday, August 28, 2000
        Big Tobacco Owes a Debt
      To City Firefighters
        By KEVIN JAMES

        This month, Gov. Pataki signed the nation's first fire-safe
        cigarette act. While this promises to prevent
        cigarette-ignited fires after 2003, the question of restitution
        for the damage suffered by the victims of such fires goes
        unanswered.

Saturday, September 02, 2000
         State Puffs Up Fines
       For Cig Sales to Kids
         By JOE MAHONEY
            Daily News Staff Writer

         ALBANY
         Gov. Pataki signed legislation yesterday stiffening the
         penalties for those who sell cigarettes to minors.

Tuesday, September 05, 2000
         B'klyn's Political Clout
       On Line at Polls
         By BOB LIFF
            Daily News Staff Writer

         Towns faces his second challenge from Barry Ford, a
         Harvard-educated lawyer whose campaign sends out daily "fun
         fact" releases detailing Towns' receipt of campaign funds from
         tobacco companies and his poor attendance record.

Friday, October 06, 2000
Campaigns Not Moving Smokers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

         ATLANTA
         American adults are still puffing away in steady numbers,
         according to a new government report.

Friday, October 06, 2000
Pataki Extinguishes Sales
Of 2 Types of Cigs to Children

        ALBANY
        Gov. Pataki enacted two measures yesterday that make it
        illegal to sell herbal cigarettes and the unfiltered, hand-rolled
        smokes called bidis to minors.

Sunday, October 08, 2000
New Weapon
Vs. Cig Bootleggers

         ALBANY
         State tax officials think they have reached the core of the
         problem of cigarette bootlegging: They've come up with a
         new apple-shaped tax stamp unlike any of the designs
         tattooed on cigarette packs by the 49 other states.

Tuesday, October 17, 2000
Net Sales Ban
Sparks Tobacco Lawsuit

        The maker of Kool and Lucky Strike cigarettes has sued
        New York State over a new law banning Internet sales of
        cigarettes.

Sunday, October 22, 2000
For State Senate

        Republican Majority Leader Joe Bruno has turned the once-stuffy
        state Senate into an open legislative body that responds to the
        needs of all New Yorkers. In this, he has had help from his
        downstate colleagues. Therefore, the Daily News endorses the
        following Republicans for reelection.

Queens — 11th Senate District

        Sen. Frank Padavan has been a powerful voice for the people of
        Queens during his 28 years in Albany. He helped protect New
        Yorkers by supporting tougher criminal penalties and a ban on
         assault weapons. He helped secure approval of laws that require
         tobacco companies to sell fire-safe cigarettes, eliminate the tenure
         that gave bad principals jobs for life and allow seizure of drug
         dealers' ill-gotten gains for use in drug treatment. Padavan also
         proposed the important "guilty, but mentally ill" option that would
         prevent criminals from escaping justice through an insanity plea.

Wednesday, October 25, 2000
Cops Think Bandits
Travel Tobacco Road

         A ring of tobacco bandits are suspected in two early Saturday
         morning capers at stores in Woodside and Maspeth, where
         they made off with large quantities of cigarettes, police said.

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2000
Caught in a Web Site

        When it comes to hawking cigarettes any way it can, Big Tobacco
        just won't quit. Now it is trying to overturn a law meant to keep
        cigarettes out of the mouths of children.

Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2000
         Big Tobacco Fight
       Coming to Brooklyn
         By MIKE CLAFFEY
            Daily News Staff Writer

         A new round of salvos will be fired against corporate Big
         Tobacco beginning next week, and Brooklyn will be the
         battleground.

Tuesday, December 05, 2000
         Suit Pits Big Tobacco
       Vs. Asbestos Workers
         By MIKE CLAFFEY
            Daily News Staff Writer

Opening shots were fired yesterday in a high-stakes battle
between big tobacco and a trust for asbestos workers.

Tuesday, December 12, 2000
         Cig 'Insider' Testifying
         Firm hid risk to asbestos workers, he says
         By MIKE CLAFFEY
            Daily News Staff Writer

         The former cigarette company insider, who is now one of the
         tobacco industry's worst enemies, took the stand yesterday
         in a multibillion-dollar Big Tobacco court battle in Brooklyn.

Thursday, December 14, 2000
          Lucky Strike's Offering Cup
        Of Kindness to Smokers Only
          By NANCY DILLON
             Daily News Staff Writer

          Blustery winds whipped through Manhattan as Lucky Strike
          guerrilla marketing teams set out wearing enormous three
          and a half-gallon coffee tanks on their backs.

          The mission: sniff out adult smokers
          taking cigarette breaks in the cold and
          offer to warm them up with a free cup
          of joe.

Friday, December 29, 2000
Cig Smuggle Suspect Smoked Out

        A Manhattan woman cooked her own goose when cops
        found nearly 1,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes in her
        apartment after she reported that a burglar had invaded her
        home, state tax officials said yesterday.

Staten Island Advance - Feb. 24, 2000
        Islanders Smolder Over Smoking Restrictions
        Bar and restaurant owners speak against tighter
         rules at City Council hearing
        by Robert Gavin
            Advance Staff Writer

Don't take our smokers!

       That was the message from Staten Island bar and restaurant owners
       as the city's anti-smoking laws -- which rumors say may be expanded
       to prohibit smoking in any bar or eatery -- were debated at a City
       Council hearing yesterday.

The Modesto Bee - March 1, 2000
New York jacks cigarette tax up to
nation-high $1.11 per pack

ALBANY, N.Y. - New York state's cigarette tax jumped by
55 cents a pack Wednesday to a national high of $1.11.

New York Newsday - April 6, 2000
Hillary: I'd Vote for Smoke-Free Bars
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that she supports the concept of
smoke-free bars.

USA Today - May 9, 2000
Teen smoking

         Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
         Eight states - Washington, New York,
         California, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Colorado,
         North Carolina and North Dakota - are in
         settlement talks with the tobacco industry.
         Meanwhile, the ranks of teen smokers have
         skyrocketed.

New York Newsday - May 28, 2000
Smoking Out Pataki's Veto
Paul Vitello

        At the risk of oversimplifying the complex and nuanced world of
        politics: How can the governor sleep at night? Last week, he vetoed
        a bill that would probably save countless people, including many
        brave firefighters, from horrible death.

New York Newsday - June 1, 2000
        Adults Influence Teenagers to Smoke
        By Mike Males. Mike Males is author of "Smoked: Why Joe Camel Is Still
          Smiling." He managed the American Cancer Society's 1990 petition drive to
           raise Montana's tobacco tax.

        HUNTINGTON TOWN'S well-meant proposal to ban tobacco ads from
        children's gaze shouldn't obscure the crucial fact that adult smokers are the ones
        who advertise tobacco to kids.

New York Newsday - June 4, 2000
        Asides
        Phineas Fiske; Robert Wiemer; James Lynn. These are personal views of
           members of the editorial board.

But attempting to legislate health and safety by mandating the production of
cigarettes that burn out if not constantly puffed is devious.

Poughkeepsie Journal - July 8, 2000
County’s smoking ban tossed
By Darren O’Sullivan

WHITE PLAINS — Ruling that the Dutchess County Board of Health overstepped its authority,
a federal judge Friday shot down the county’s public smoking regulations.

The Village Voice - Week of Aug. 9, 2000
You’re Going Too Far, Baby
by Ginger Adams Otis

        Activists Cry Foul as Cigarette
        Makers Woo Women in the
        Developing World

New York Newsday - Oct. 17, 2000
Cigarette Maker Fights Online Ban
The Associated Press

The nation's third-largest cigarette-maker has sued New York State over a new
law banning the sale of cigarettes over the Internet.

        New York Newsday - Nov. 9, 2000
        Possession Bill Struck Down
        (No link provided. Entire brief below)

[Suffolk County] Lawmakers failed to override the county executive's veto of their
bill that would have banned possession of cigarettes by minors.

New York Newsday - Nov. 13, 2000
        City: Harder for Kids to Buy Cigs
         by Bobby Cuza
            Staff Writer

         Just 17 percent of the businesses visited by undercover city inspectors this year
         sold cigarettes to minors-down from 36 percent last year, and well below state
         and national averages, officials announced yesterday.

New York Newsday - Nov. 16, 2000
        Gulotta's New Plan
        Proposal seeks 3% tax hike for next 3 years
        by Monte R. Young
          Staff Writer

        Gulotta is also banking on state lawmakers agreeing to allow the county to
        implement a 5-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes, as well as a tax on business that
        sell or serve alcohol.

New York Newsday - Nov. 27, 2000
Big Tobacco Burning Again
Jury selection begins in latest class action

        A lawsuit filed with little fanfare three years ago in Brooklyn has emerged as the
        latest flashpoint in the high-stakes legal battle between the tobacco industry and
        opponents who claim it conspired to conceal the dangers of smoking.

LA Times - Dec. 1, 2000
N.Y. Court Rejects Smokers' Class-Action Status

        A New York appeals court unanimously rejected the class-action certification of a group
        of smokers seeking damages from major cigarette makers for illnesses allegedly caused by
        smoking, Philip Morris Cos. said.

Home | New York News | Top