Smoking

Pregnant women who smoke run into the risk of their children have reading problems later in life, a Yale School of Medicine study has found. The reserachers looked at the reading tests of 5,000 students and found that many whose mothers smoked while pregnant struggled on reading comprehension and other tests. The findings are published in The Journal of Pediatrics. Lead author Dr. Jeffrey Gruen, a Yale professor of pediatrics, and his colleagues compared performance on seven specific tasks - reading speed, single-word identification, spelling, accuracy, real and non-word reading, and reading comprehension.

I respect the motives of those who wish to raise Maryland's cigarette tax ("Activists want dollar boost in cigarette taxes," Nov. 15). However, such an increase would make it increasingly worthwhile for Maryland smokers to travel to neighboring, lower-tax state for their purchases. The priority should be a on fairer, more effective way to reduce cigarette smoking - by raising the legal tobacco age to 21. That would interpose three more years of maturity, and three more years' receipt of society's widespread anti-tobacco messages, before young people could legally buy cigarettes.

OK The Walking Dead , I see you, doing your thing. This Sunday night's episode was by no means earth shattering, but in keeping with the style of season three, there was plenty to satisfy us fans and keep us coming back next week: humans were killed (albeit inconsequential humans), questions were answered (Where is Carol? Who was on the phone?) and the plot was advanced. We were left with Michonne strolling up to the prison fence, injured and covered with a camouflage of zombie entrails, and carrying a supermarket basket full of powdered baby formula.

No injuries were reported Wednesday morning in a pair of incidents related to the Salvation Army Thrift Store on East Joppa Road near Towson - one regarding a fire, and another involving an accident in which a fire engine was involved in an accident while responding to the scene. According to Capt. Bruce Schultz, with Investigative Services in the Office of the Fire Marshal, Baltimore County fire crews responded to a report at the Salvation Army store in the 1700 block of E. Joppa Road at about 8:45 a.m. Crews found heavy smoke in the store and a fire in the rear of the store.

James R. Adams, a giant on Madison Avenue during the years immediately after World War II, once said that advertising is the "principal reason why the business man has come to inherit the Earth. " Surely, the three weeks prior to an election give further reason why modern "Mad Men" still have a lot to say about how people behave at the polls, let alone the marketplace. Those ads for Question 7 that have flooded Maryland's airwaves in recent weeks aren't detached, dry recitations of why expanded gambling is good or bad for Maryland.

The Northeast Baltimore fire that left five people dead Thursday morning underscores the danger of fires in homes without working smoke detectors in a city full of aging, closely built rowhouses, many of which are vacant, fire officials and local academics said. A recent study of 600 homes in East Baltimore showed about 60 percent lacked working smoke detectors on every level. Additionally, one in three households misreported coverage - most often by reporting they had working detectors when they did not, said the study's author, Wendy Shields, an assistant researcher at the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Injury Research and Policy.

Two Anne Arundel County men who were found smoking marijuana at a Pasadena gas station parking lot Tuesday evening face several drug-related charges. Justin Andrew Hartman, 22, of the 300 block Alameda Parkway in Arnold, the driver, was charged with drug and paraphernalia possession and intent to distribute. Scott Matthew Stein, 27, of the 200 block Fox Tree Drive in Glen Burnie, also faces possession and intent to distribute charges as well as failure to obey a lawful order and resisting arrest.

Damp from sweat, soot smeared beneath his eye, Anne Arundel County Council Chairman Derek Fink tried to regain his composure as smoke poured from a burning building at the county's fire training center. "I knew it was going to be tough, but this is 10 times harder than I thought," Fink said. Moments earlier, Fink and Councilman Peter I. Smith were each outfitted with 55 pounds of fire gear, crawling on their hands and knees beneath black smoke, searching for a dummy hidden among the flames.

Kudos to Monica Barlow for her courage and willingness to get involved in fighting lung cancer ("Camden Yards event looks to brush back lung cancer," Sept. 16). Nice to see a good cause get more recognition. Ironically, smoking is still allowed in designated areas at Oriole Park and Ravens Stadium. Shame on the Orioles and the Maryland Stadium Authority for this. The state of Maryland has been opposed to tobacco use for a long time and takes hard stances in the fight against smoking.

Another cigarette tax proposal is coming our way - and I'm all for it. As a father, a clergyman and a member of the community, I wholeheartedly support the new Healthy Maryland Initiative proposal to discourage tobacco use through cigarette tax increases. It's good economic and health policy, and on a personal level, I believe such taxes have helped save two of my children's lives. I'm grateful. The measure is straightforward: one more dollar on each pack of cigarettes sold in Maryland, with revenues going to smoking cessation and health care.