Louisiana State Police are assisting in the investigation of a state office whose top official resigned suddenly on Friday, officials said Saturday. Murphy J. Painter, veteran commissioner of the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, quit Friday without any official explanation. State Revenue Secretary Cynthia Bridges made the announcement in a one-sentence news release. [caption id="attachment_6891" align="alignleft" width="300" capt ... Jump to full article >>

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Is the Obama Administration serious about enforcing our gun laws? It is now beyond doubt that the Administration is determined to say as little as possible about the plague of gun violence that inflicts death and injury on 300 Americans every day. When forced to comment on proposals to strengthen our anemic federal gun laws, the President and his representatives typically fall back on the gun lobby’s canard, “We don’t need new g ... Jump to full article >>

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Commercial broadcasters are set to benefit from paid-for product placement in television programmes under rules proposed by Ofcom, the communications industries regulator. Product placement will be allowed in films, TV series, entertainment shows and sports programmes, but not in children’s and news programmes, UK-produced current affairs, consumer affairs and religious programmes. There will be a ban on the product placement of tobacco, a ... Jump to full article >>

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Alcohol and tobacco duties will not rise and the proposed cider duty increase is to be scrapped, cheering drinkers, smokers and publicans. However, the increase in VAT will hit the cost of drinking and smoking significantly, with the Campaign for Real Ale estimating many pubs will be forced to close when the increase comes into force next year. Duty on the average priced pint of lager, at £2.95, will remain at 49p according to the British Beer ... Jump to full article >>

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As I sit down to write this article, I’m about to pour myself a drink. After all, it’s 7pm, I’ve had a long day and a chilled glass of white wine would perk me up. Had I not become suddenly and acutely aware of the irony of knocking back a unit or two while writing about middle-class alcoholism, I’d probably have opened the bottle. I resisted, but there is no doubt that I, a middle-class, middle-aged, professional, working ... Jump to full article >>

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The Department of Finance (DoF) said that it expects up to P51.41 billion in revenue to be generated from the proposed reform for the excise tax on tobacco and alcohol products. In a document from the DoF, the finance department believes it necessary to push for the passage of the reformed excise tax on alcohol and tobacco products to correct the weaknesses of the Republic act 9334. Estimates released by the DoF showed that adopting a unitary and ... Jump to full article >>

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