Green City Virginia Beach

Join me in congratulating our coalition members Laura Wood Habr at Croc's 19th Street Bistro and Matt Falvey at Hot Tuna in their success in having Virginia Beach designated the first Green City in Virginia Beach. Check out the restaurants and support our smoke free, green establishments. For more details go to:

http://www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?FeatureID=486

Join Together

Secondhand smoke exposure plummets, CDC finds. To read more go to:

http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2008/secondhand-smoke-exposure.html?print=t

Massachusetts Raises Cigarette Tax to Help Fund Health Care Law

Gov. Deval Patrick (D-Mass.) signed a bill that raises the state's cigarette tax by $1, a move that is expected to bring in $174 million in revenues "to help cover the cost of the state's landmark health care law," reports the Associated Press.
http://www.rwjf.org/coverage/digest.jsp?id=8156&c=EMC-ND132

Iowa Smoking Ban Takes Effect

The Iowa Department of Health began enforcing a new law that prohibits smoking in restaurants, bars, workplaces and other public areas statewide, the Britt News-Tribune reports.

http://www.rwjf.org/publichealth/digest.jsp?id=8115&c=EMC-ND141

Regional Meetings for Virginian's for a Healthy Future

Virginians for a Healthy Future Coalition will be hosting a series of regional meetings throughout the Commonwealth in June. Below please find a list of the dates and locations of the meetings.

We encourage anyone interested in making Virginia's public places smoke free to come to the meeting in your area. Please join us to learn more about our campaign plans but also to help us to

Virginia Beach
Thursday, June 19th
10:00 am
Sentara Princess Anne – Community Room Suite 210
1925 Glenn Mitchell Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23456

At the meetings we will discuss:
Our grassroots and legislative strategies to advocate for smoke free legislation
How we can mobilize Virginians to contact their legislators
What tactics you think will work in your community

If you plan to attend the meeting – please RSVP to Nicole Pugar, Coalition Organizer at (804) 225-5828 or nicole@vfhf.org by Monday, June 16. Please visit our website at http://www.healthyvanow.org/ for more information about the Smoke Free Virginia Now campaign.

Ban on Restaurant smoking update

Study: Restaurant tobacco bans influence teen smoking
By STEVE LeBLANCAssociated Press Writer
A Massachusetts study suggests that restaurant smoking bans may play a big role in persuading teens not to become smokers. Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, the researchers reported...
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Iowa & Kansas City, Missouri, Deliver Big Wins for Smoke-Free Air

Great news in the Midwest – a new smoke-free state AND smoke-free city!! Congrats to everyone who made these wins a reality!
The Iowa Legislature and Kansas City, Missouri, voters on Tuesday delivered victories for health and the public’s right to breathe clean air by enacting measures to make most workplaces, including restaurants and bars, smoke-free. Governor Chet Culver has indicated he will sign the Iowa legislation into law, making Iowa the 24th state to pass a strong smoke-free law that includes restaurants and bars. The law will take effect July 1.