BAT Unconstitutional Cigarette Law

British American Tobacco Plc (BATS) said Australia’s planned cigarette plain-packaging law is unconstitutional and if enacted, the company will sue in the nation’s top court in a bid to repeal it. The Australian Senate is scheduled to vote on the legislation today after debating it. The government will push back implementation of the law by five months to December 2012 because of delays in parliament’s upper house in passing the bill, Australian Health Minister Nicola Roxon said Nov. 2. Passage would make the country the first to ban logos on cigarette packaging. Cigarettes would have to be sold in plain dark-olive packages, with no company...

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Probable Changes to Smoking Ban in Springfield City

It has been seven months since Springfield voters banned smoking in public, five months since the law kicked in, and city leaders are already being urged to make changes. Opponents of the measure have been writing, calling, and emailing city council members urging them to modify the law. At Tuesday afternoon’s luncheon, council members will begin discussing a handful of possible changes to the smoking ban. They will, for instance, consider exemptions for theatrical productions, veterans organizations, some tobacco shops and cigar bars. Any change or repeal, though, could only happen by a unanimous vote. “It’s the power of one. If one person...

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