Subject: Health Care Issues

• The Forbes 35 (Drunkest)

  November 30, 2006

• Drug Money

  May 11, 2006

• Toke This

  March 27, 2006

• Say 'Screw It' to Smoke Breaks with Snus

  December 11, 2007

• Wanna Smoke in Dallas? Don’t Plan on Leaving the House.

  November 3, 2008

• Council Committee Moves Toward Smoking Smackdown. Could Be Worse.

  November 11, 2008

• "Don't Push That Smoke Down My Lungs!" Or: "Communistic!" Either Way.

  Courtney Clenney Having a hard time figuring where this person stands on the smoking issue ... Yesterday, of course, was the second meeting of the City Smoking Ordinance Special Ad-Hoc Committee -- and it was supposed to be the final one before the briefing on December 3, when the entire council is scheduled to vote on the ordinance. After last week’s straw polling on each issue -- such as banning smoking in bars, billiard halls, tobacco shops and so forth; there's a complete list here -- it

  November 18, 2008

• Before Council Votes to Ban Smoking, a Lot of Smoke is Blown at City Hall

  After nearly three hours of discussion, the city council wrapped up yesterday's briefing on the proposed strengthened smoking ordinance seemingly prepared to vote on the item at next week's agenda meeting. Council members appear poised to approve a ban on smoking in bars, pool halls and within 15 feet of public buildings at the December 10 meeting, with council members Jerry Allen and Steve Salazar emerging as potential advocates of expanding the ban to include smoking while driving with a child

  December 4, 2008

• Smoke! Smoke! Smoke That Cigarette! Because, Come April, Well ...

  Sam Merten Chief Ozumba Lnuk-X addresses the council today in opposition to the smoking ordinance. Hey, Adam Woods -- his real moniker -- totally stole our name! After more than three hours of tedious discussion and debate, the council voted today 10-5 to prohibit smoking in bars, pool halls and within 15 feet of public buildings effective April 10, with council members Sheffie Kadane, Steve Salazar, Mitchell Rasansky, Tennell Atkins and Vonciel Hill voting in opposition. But before the vote w

  December 10, 2008

• Why the New Smoking Ordinance Should Have Been Delayed, and Sorting Through the 10 Amendments

  There's a line where government stops and the rights of the people begin, and when Mayor Tom Leppert and nine of his council colleagues voted to strengthen Dallas' smoking ordinance, that line wasn't blurred, they drove right past it as if it didn't even exist. But no matter where you stand on the issue, one thing should have been clear in yesterday's council debate: The council opposition posed an excellent argument to at least delay the vote so the council could hash out some of the finer p

  December 11, 2008

• Joe Bob Briggs

  December 1, 1994

• Smoking Bans: "An Affront to Freedom ... An Assault on Small Business"

  Friend of Unfair Park "Peterk" forwards along this item from this morning's National Review Online, which excerpts a Friday story from the Financial Times concerning the "law of unintended consequences" created by smoking bans -- like, ya know, the one the Dallas City Council passed two weeks before Christmas. Writes Matthew Engel in the FT, sure, politicians who pass anti-smoking ordinances may indeed be "well-meaning," but their care comes at a cost:

  January 5, 2009

• Couldn't Medicare less

  August 24, 1995

• Rich man's Robin Hood

  November 30, 1995

• In the State Legislature, Denton State Rep. Introduced A No-Smoking Bill

  Don't know if you're aware of this, as it hasn't made the local news yet, but on Wednesday, State Rep. Myra Crownover, a Republican from Denton, filed House Bill 5 -- yet another attempt to create a statewide smoking ban similar to the ordinance passed by the Dallas City Council one month ago. The bill calls for "the elimination of smoking in all workplaces and public places; providing penalties." Crownover co-authored a similar bill in 2007, but it didn't get too far.As we mentioned on Monday,

  January 9, 2009

• Yes, But Can We Smoke?

  City Hall would like to tell you all about the city's new smoking ordinance -- so, if nothing else, you can't say you wasn't warned before enforcement officers hand you that $200 ticket upon lighting up. Hence, this press release that just landed in our in-box:DALLAS - The City of Dallas will host public forums on February 17 and March 12 to discuss revisions to the City's smoking ordinance, designed to create healthy, smoke-free public places and workplaces in Dallas. Both public forums will be

  February 12, 2009

• Hash Over

  November 19, 1998

• Hash Over

  December 10, 1998

• Slicing the pie

  February 4, 1999

• Hash Over

  February 25, 1999

• Where There's Smoke

  April 25, 2002

• Discordant Meows

  May 16, 2002

• Growth Industries

  September 12, 2002

• Puff Puff Poof

  January 30, 2003

• Blowing Smoke|Red-Faced Profession|From the Inside Too

  December 4, 2008

• Is Expanding the Dallas Smoking Ordinance a Commie Plot?

  November 27, 2008

• Kelly and Kim Deal Faced Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle Together in The Breeders and With Addiction at Home

  May 1, 2008

• Don't Go Bust

  A turncoat narc offers tips on how to move your weed

  February 1, 2007

• Tax Dollars at Work

  Hey, armed robbers need bullets, too!

  May 26, 2005

• Wheeler Dealers

  Feds allege scam artists bilked Medicare for millions

  February 19, 2004

• Heir Unapparent

  The descendants of a former housemaid lay claim to one of Texas' grandest ranch fortunes

  February 19, 2004

• Vice Grip

  In Dallas restaurants, 2003 was all about smoke. The future may be all about hooch.

  January 1, 2004

• No Smoking Gun

  The new smoking ban will work--if no one lights up

  February 27, 2003

• Hoosegow HMO

  A contained experiment in Medicaid

  June 6, 2002

• The Hole in the Doughnut

  Carrollton missed the boom, but still hopes to attract restaurant business

  August 23, 2001

• Joint Effort

  "Aging hippies" team with the desperately ill and one lawmaker to fight for medical marijuana in Texas. Is that just a smoke screen?

  March 22, 2001

• Cloudy Issue

  Bill proposes to ban smoking in Texas restaurants

  March 1, 2001

• Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

  And your hair, your clothes, and your skin as the Big Smoke blows through Dallas

  February 15, 2001

• Smoke gets in his eyes

  A Dallas deputy sheriff is transferred because of his allergies

  March 23, 2000

• A pox on 1995!

  Next year will be better

  January 11, 1996

• Food For Thought 4.20.09

  "Enjoy our smoke free dining." (On marquee outside Cape Buffalo. The sports bar/pool hall is located on Addison Road, but on that narrow spit that belongs to Dallas. So management not only puts a positive spin on the smoking ban, but educates those who wish to light up about the establishment's address.)

  April 20, 2009

• Craig Watkins Is Ready for His Close-Up

  I winced when asked to screen an advance copy of Dallas DNA, Investigation Discovery's new six-part series that adds to the growing legend that is Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins. It took Henry Wade decades in office to achieve legendary notoriety, but with the global media fawning over a DA who actually seems to be seeking justice rather than demanding it, and Watkins's personal penchant for pub, he's become more myth than man in less than 30 months.The subject of stories by 60 Mi

  April 27, 2009

• Food For Thought 5.11.09

  "I'm pleased with the results. We thought this was what the people wanted." (Rowlett mayor John Harper on the approval by voters on Saturday of a ban on smoking in that city's restaurants--all enclosed public spaces, really--first passed by the city council in February. A petition drive force the special election vote. As quoted by the Dallas Morning News.)

  May 11, 2009

• Food For Thought 5.14.09

  "I don't think we have a right to tell somebody what to do with their personal property." (State Senator Bob Deuell, a doctor, explaining his vote against a statewide smoking ban. The bill was endorsed by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee by a vote of 5-3. Deuell is a Republican from Greenville. As quoted by the Dallas Morning News.)

  May 14, 2009

• How a Local Rally For Obama's Health Care Proposal Turned Into a Rally Against It

  Kimberly ThorpeQ Coleman, a Dallas Tea Party member and one of those who outnumbered the MoveOn.org'ers at Senator Cornyn's office today Local MoveOn.org members had penciled in on today's schedule a protest in front of Senator John Cornyn's Spring Valley Road office, during which they had hoped to pressure the senator to support President Barack Obama's public health care legislation. But when Paula Anderson, a MoveOn.org member and spokeswoman, showed up at 11:30 a.m., she found another c

  July 23, 2009

• Last Night, Pete Sessions Turned Health Care Debate Into an Easy-to-Swallow Pill

  Kimberly Thorpe​The debate surrounding the proposed health care bill can seem distant. The bill is some 1,000 pages. Those who claim to have read it become experts either for or against the legislation. But last night, a cherry-faced, white-haired politician successfully tied this unwieldy document to a singular concept his constituents can really get behind: freedom."Freedom will be lost if we have a government that tells us how to do everything," said Republican Congressman Pete Sessions las

  August 6, 2009

• Outside a Quiet Two-Party Town Hall, Health Care Demonstrators Take To the Streets

  Patrick MichelsDemonstrators on both sides of the debate shared space outside this morning's town hall meeting with Rep. Pete Sessions and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson.​Update: Check out our slide show for more photos from the meeting and the protest.Walking up to the health care reform protest outside Cityplace Conference Center this morning, a man in his 60s, in a plain white T-shirt and a bucket hat, had to stop and ask directions on the street corner."If you're for health care reform, you're

  August 17, 2009

• Carter Albrecht's Family Files Lawsuit Against Pfizer

  The stop-smoking drug Albrecht was using at the time of his death.​In fact, they filed the suit against the drug company that produces the stop-smoking drug Chantix yesterday, it turns out. Robert's got all the details over on Unfair Park, including a quick discussion with Carter's father, Ken, on why he waited two years to file the lawsuit.Just a warning before heading over to the discussion: The comments over there ain't exactly friendly in regards to the fallen area musician.

  September 1, 2009

• Pot for Pain? Not in Dallas County, No Sir.

  ​Will the feds' new stance on medicinal marijuana have any impact on local users, even though, sadly, Texas isn't among the states that permit the practice? Craig Watkins's office says no way, no how. Local Libertarians, not surprisingly, are crossing their fingers. (As opposed to ...) "The federal policy shift won't impact the way we evaluate or prosecute cases here," says Kevin Brooks, felony trial bureau chief in the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. "I've never seen a circumstance

  October 22, 2009

• White House Invites Head of Dallas CityDesign Studio to Talk Clean Energy, Public Health

  Brandon ThibodeauxBrent Brown​Ran into bcWORKSHOP and Re:Vision Dallas's Brent Brown Friday night at the opening of Main Street Garden, and during a lengthy chat that spilled over into a downtown dinner with our families, not once did he mention a pending trip to Washington, D.C. But the Dallas Institute this morning sent word that a lecture scheduled for Thursday night -- titled "Beauty in Modern Architecture" -- has been canceled, since Brown, who's now running the Dallas CityDesign Studio i

  November 16, 2009