tobacco

As California’s top law enforcement official, Attorney General Rob Bonta has plenty of leeway for his to-do list. This week, he’s using his powers widely on some hot-button issues.

A bill to phase out all tobacco sales in California has been shelved, and anti-tobacco groups won’t say why they didn’t offer support. The bill was amended to focus on enforcing an existing ban on flavored tobacco.

The question of why the California ban on flavored tobacco products would grant hookah smokers an exception while banning menthol cigarettes, the choice of 85% of African American smokers, has sparked a debate about which tobacco products — if any — merit protection.

California’s third-largest city banished flavored tobacco products from store shelves this summer, joining scores of other cities and counties in the state in a public health push to reduce nicotine addiction among youths and young adults. This fall, voters will decide on a proposed statewide ban.

Many tobacco smokers in Oregon will now have to pay higher taxes for cigarettes and e-cigarettes, put into effect January 1.

Even the people who resist making New Year's resolutions may be inclined to think in terms of "turning a page" into a new year, and changing some…

We do not schedule guests for Wednesday at 8:30, because that's the time for VENTSday, your chance to vent (politely, please) on a pair of topics in the…