Prohibiting smoking in a North Carolina restaurant used to be one of the hardest decisions an owner could make. But that’s no longer the case after the state took the choice out of business owners’ hands when legislators decided last spring to stop allowing smoking in restaurants and bars. The ban will go into effect Saturday. Owners of restaurants that have already banned smoking say that owners of places that had still been letting ... Jump to full article >>

North Carolina tobacco growers have agreed to continue funding tobacco-agricultural research for another six years. More than 92 percent of tobacco growers in the state who voted favored the North Carolina Tobacco Research Check-off Referendum, which calls for growers to allocate 10 cents per 100 pounds of flue-cured and burley tobacco to tobacco research and education. The referendum is voted on every six years and must be approved by two-third ... Jump to full article >>

A study on secondhand smoke conducted at 10 North Carolina universities found that 83 percent of students had been exposed at least once a week. The study, released today by researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, is the first to provide evidence of the high rates of secondhand smoke exposure among U.S. college students, the school said. “We were really shocked to see that 83 percent of students reported at least som ... Jump to full article >>