Smoking

Baltimore officials are aggressively going after smoking products they think are causing particular harm in the city. Their efforts - to regulate cigarettes that pose an enhanced risk of fire and reduce consumption of little cigars that have become popular among young African-Americans - are a justified and welcome response to a couple of related public health issues. A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that cigarettes sold in Maryland are considerably more likely to cause fires than those sold in states such as New York and California that have stricter safety standards.

Seeking to head off legislation that would ban smoking in bars and restaurants statewide, a Baltimore County senator has revived a proposal to give tax breaks to businesses that voluntarily go smoke-free. Sen. Katherine A. Klausmeier, a Democrat, said she wants to offer a "carrot instead of a stick," in an effort to blunt pressure for a mandatory smoking ban. "This bill is a compromise to allow restaurants and bars to voluntarily go smoke-free, but to allow them to make a business decision on whether or not to do so," Klausmeier said.

As the General Assembly enters the final three weeks of its annual session, lawmakers still must decide whether to expand government health care for Maryland's poorest residents, to raise taxes, to OK an impact fee to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, to regulate ground rents, and to ban smoking in restaurants and bars. But this year's last-minute frenzy is coming without much of the usual high-stakes politicking or fierce debate. Lawmakers from both parties say that's fine with them. This year has shaped up as a breather between a four-year period of skirmishes between the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and the Republican governor, and next year's battles over taxes, budget cuts and slot machines.

AAMC to add 600 parking spaces Anne Arundel Medical Center will add more than 200 spaces at the Sajak Garage early next month and a new 400-space garage at the Wayson Pavilion in March. Also, the Sajak surface parking lot -- primarily employee parking -- is closing this month for construction on a parking garage with more than 930 parking spaces. The new garage will accompany the hospital's new Ambulatory Services Pavilion, a building housing physician offices, a Health Sciences Institute and other health services.

My robe gonna fit me well, Tried it on at the gates of Hell, Keep your hand on the plow, Hold on! - Negro spiritual You could hear the slight weariness, the semi-artificial cheer, the hurry-slowly tempo in Tony Snow's voice. The president's always pressed-for-time-and-running-late spokesperson was conducting still another pre-State of the Union conference call Tuesday afternoon at about 3:30 Washington compressed time. He was talking to a passel of us editorial writers in the hinterlands, well aware that even out here his boss' poll numbers were sinking almost as low as Harry Truman's during the lowest, most discouraging point in the seemingly endless Korean War. You had to be a hardhearted zealot or a Democratic operative, but we repeat ourselves, not to feel a twinge of sympathy for the always personable Mr. Snow.

Schools chief in Arundel gets a bonus of $6,000 The Anne Arundel County school board unanimously approved yesterday a $6,000 bonus for Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell, boosting his salary to $237,750. Maxwell, a veteran of the Prince George's and Montgomery school systems who took over Anne Arundel schools last year, was praised by board members for a staff restructuring at Annapolis High School and for his work promoting specialized "signature" programs and magnet schools. The performance bonus follows a 3 percent cost-of-living salary increase that became effective July 1. Maxwell is the fifth-highest paid superintendent in Maryland.

THIS WEEK'S ISSUE: -- Seeking to build momentum for a statewide smoking ban in bars and restaurants, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold has proposed prohibiting smoking at county establishments as a way of promoting public health and boosting the local economy. An initial violation would carry a fine of $500 for the establishment; a second offense would result in a $1,000 fine. Smokers could also be penalized. Such a ban would apply throughout Anne Arundel County, including in Annapolis, but the regulations would not apply to private clubs.

Baltimore's proposed smoking ban, which all but died late last year, will be back on the City Council agenda Monday, temporarily reviving the issue in the city as lawmakers in Annapolis consider a statewide ban. Council Vice President Robert W. Curran, the lead sponsor of the city legislation, has vowed to put the smoking ban up for a second-reader vote - a largely procedural effort that, if successful, will place the ban on the calendar for a final vote...

Smoking ban seen likely to pass A statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants is likely to win approval from the General Assembly this year, state legislative leaders say. pg 1a Dixon cleared in ethics probe Baltimore's Board of Ethics has cleared City Council President Sheila Dixon of wrongdoing, nearly a year after allegations arose. pg 1a BUSINESS +DOW+72.82 12,514.98 +NASDAQ+8.97 1,423.82 +S&P+25.52 2,484.85 +SUN INDEX+2.36 368.38 WORLD Election delayed in Bangladesh After weeks of mounting political violence, Bangladesh's president declared a nationwide state of emergency and indefinitely postponed elections that had been scheduled to take place in less than two weeks.

Brian Fox follows the debate over Baltimore's proposed smoking ban - he can recite where every city politician stands on the issue - but that doesn't mean he's looking to City Hall for answers. Tired of waiting for action, Fox, who owns the Sly Fox Pub, recently made the Fort Avenue bar smoke-free. It was a gutsy move in South Baltimore, which many revere for its old-school and often smoky neighborhood corner bars, but the decision appears to be paying off. "I've always been for the smoking ban," said Fox, who opened his pub about two years ago. "This is very much a common-sense issue to me. There are more people who avoid places because they're too smoky."

Our reigning smart-aleck directors, the Coen brothers, try to erase the thick line between wiseguys and wise men in "A Serious Man," a movie filled with adults stumbling in their search for truth and adolescents who can't see beyond the smoking joints in front of them. But all the Coens come up with is a movie about bad things happening to limited people. It's set in suburban Minneapolis in the late 1960s or early 1970s, when the ticky-tacky houses of the baby boom are beginning to show some wear and tear.

The war on cigarettes is heating up. Last week a new federal ban went into effect making flavored cigarettes and cloves illegal. The new regulation halted the sale of vanilla, chocolate and other sweet-flavored cigarettes that anti-smoking advocates claim lure young people into smoking. This ban is the first major crackdown since Congress passed a law in June giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco. There is talk of banning Menthol cigarettes next. Meanwhile, a report to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg from the city's health commissioner called for a smoking ban at city parks and beaches to help protect citizens from the harms of secondhand smoke.

The Baltimore City Council is set to hold hearings today on three pieces of legislation that would further restrict smoking in the city, causing some in the council to predict some heated debates in the coming months. Council members will hear the pros and cons of a proposed bill to ban the sale of single cigars, one that prohibits flavored cigar and cigarette wrappers and legislation to ban smoking near hospitals. "Generally, anything we do is focused on reducing cardiovascular disease," said Interim Health Commissioner Olivia Farrow, whose department supports all three measures.

WASHINGTON - -In a historic shift in public health policy almost half a century after the U.S. surgeon general first warned of the lethal dangers of smoking, Congress is poised to give the federal government sweeping new authority to regulate the manufacturing of cigarettes and other tobacco products. The legislation, long resisted by the tobacco industry, could allow consumers to see for the first time what chemicals and other additives tobacco companies put in their products. It would empower the Food and Drug Administration to put new limits on harmful ingredients and prohibit tobacco companies from marketing "light" cigarettes.

They've become a rarity in Maryland bars, but on Tuesday afternoon they filled the Crossroads Inn in Keymar: smokers, lighting up and puffing away without shame or trepidation. What's more, seated or standing alongside were nonsmokers, enjoying themselves without fanning away the fumes or complaining about the hazards of secondhand smoke. "It doesn't bother me," said Robert Howard. The Taneytown resident surveyed the place to distinguish smokers and nonsmokers before spotting regular patron James Brown of Keysville at the other end of the bar. "Hey Jim, do you smoke?"

Scott Peterson, spokesman for health-and-fitness queen Sheila Dixon, smokes. Not exactly a scandal. But news to the mayor of Baltimore when, by chance last week, she spotted a cigarette dangling from her mouthpiece. Peterson had kept his half-pack-a-day habit secret for the two months he'd been on the job. A woman who doesn't let red meat or junk food pass her lips would surely frown on the Camel Lights between his. So he sneaked puffs behind trees in an alcove outside City Hall. Gum, mints and little sample bottles of cologne hid the smell, as did his natural aversion to "close talking."

It took a moment to make the connection, but Jake Sawyers says the recession has been good for him, or at least for his health. "I smoke when I drink, and I drink when I go out and I've been doing less of that," said the 36-year-old Canton resident who was buying a pack of cigarettes at a neighborhood convenience store. "I am also exercising more. Maybe I have more energy because I'm not drinking and smoking as much." Sawyers isn't alone. Data show that many people are taming their vices rather than drowning their sorrows these days - behavior that national researchers say is consistent with past recessions.

If Maryland is going to tax cigarette smokers and say it's for their health, isn't the state obligated to spend some minimum amount to help them quit or prevent others from starting the habit in the first place? That was the argument heard in the State House a decade ago when the tax on cigarettes was raised to $1 a pack and lawmakers set a relatively modest mandate for anti-smoking programs. Now, Gov. Martin O'Malley is looking to cut the state's $21 million minimum for tobacco prevention and cessation programs to a mere $7 million a year.

Teens near liquor stores have more drinking issues The closer teens live to where alcohol is sold, the greater the seeming risk of binge drinking and driving under the influence. Researchers from the Pardee Rand Graduate School in Santa Monica, Calif., researched the relationship between proximity to alcohol retailers in zones around homes in California and drinking in children ages 12 to 17. They found an association among homes within walking distance (about half a mile) of places selling alcohol and evidence of binge drinking and driving after drinking.

Gregory F. Schaffer, president of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, has tried to corral smokers at outdoor shelters on the institution's sprawling campus. But smokers have chosen instead to light up on sidewalks and streets outside the hospital. Now, Mr. Schaffer is taking a different approach. He is supporting a proposed law that would ban smoking outside Baltimore hospitals. Secondhand smoke can be lethal, and for a medical center that has treated nearly 700 outpatients at its Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in a recent 12-month period, a ban coincides with Bayview's mission.