WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats have chosen an unlikely source to pay for the bulk of their proposed $35 billion increase in children’s health coverage: people with relatively little money and education.
The program expansion passed by the House and Senate last week would be financed with a 156 percent increase in the federal cigarette tax, taking it to $1 per pack from the current 39 cents. Low-income people smoke more heavily than do wealthier people in the United States, making cigarette taxes a regressive form of revenue.
Democrats, who wrote the legislation and provided most of its votes, generally portray themselves as champions of the poor. They do not dispute that the tax plan would hit poor communities disproportionately, but they say it is worth it to provide health insurance to millions of modest-income children. Full Story

Seattle WA - The man at the back of the Metro bus was older, wore glasses and apparently drew the attention of a group of alleged gang members who reportedly began harassing him.
But when one of them tried to take the man’s glasses, he pulled a knife and fought back, Seattle police said.
“He began swinging at his attackers in self-defense,” spokeswoman Renee Witt said.
When the melee was over, four of the teens had cuts, including some with superficial cuts to their buttocks, and one had a dislocated shoulder. The man was not hurt. Full Story - Vacations Magazine - Marlboro Cigarettes - David’s Cookies

GREENFIELD, N.H. - The first weekend of pumpkin flinging season ended abruptly Sunday in Greenfield when one of the operators of a catapault-like device was knocked out in a freak accident. Chuck Willard of Hancock was hit in the chin by the boom on the Yankee Seige, a remake of a medieval weapon called a trebuchet. It can toss pumpkins 300 yards and it knocked Willard for a loop. Full Story - Games Magazine - Doral Cigarettes - Casual Male XL

EAGLE, Colo. — An Eagle woman accused of chasing a group of Hispanic children with a sword faces a number of charges, including ethnic intimidation, after allegedly calling them “illegal spics,” according to police.
Amanda Jane Darling Harris, 21, allegedly chased the children, aged 9 to 15, with an 18-inch samurai sword because they were playing in a parking lot of the Villa apartments, according to a police report. Full Story - Seventeen Magazine - Winston Cigarettes - International Wine Accessories

Austria - He’s now got a human name — Matthew Hiasl Pan — but he’s having trouble getting his day in court. Animal rights activists campaigning to get Pan, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, legally declared a person vowed to take their challenge to Austria’s Supreme Court after a lower court threw out their latest appeal.
A provincial judge in the city of Wiener Neustadt dismissed the case earlier this week, ruling that the Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories had no legal standing to argue on the chimp’s behalf. Full Story - Zoo Books Magazine - More Cigarettes - Popcorn Factory

BEIJING - China has banned TV and radio ads for push-up bras and figure-enhancing underwear in the communist government’s latest move to purge the nation’s airwaves of what it calls social pollution.
No examples were given, but Chinese television channels have increasingly broadcast late-night infomercials featuring scantily clad women, as well as ads for products that claim to boost sexual performance.
Regulators have already targeted ads using crude or suggestive language, behavior, and images, tightening their grip on television and radio a few weeks ahead of a twice-a-decade Communist Party congress at which some new senior leaders will be appointed. Full Story - Nylon Magazine - Eve Cigarettes - Lane Bryant

WATERFORD, Calif. — A mother says she is furious after a high school principal allegedly made her son and another boy apologize to each other on their hands and knees.
The freshmen at Waterford High School outside Modesto were being disciplined for fighting.
One boy said the principal made them get on their hands and knees, look at each other through a chair and promise to stop their behavior. Full Story - Education Week Magazine - Marlboro Cigarettes - Moto Sport

New Hampshire - A new state law aimed at preventing fatal fires caused by smoking materials kicks in tomorrow.
That’s when retailers and wholesalers have to start selling “fire-safe cigarettes,” which are designed to go out when someone stops puffing.
New Hampshire was the fifth state to adopt a fire-safe cigarette law. And 17 additional states have now passed similar legislation, which is being promoted by the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes. Full Story