The news that’s been too overlooked to post:
Contra Costa Times: Lawmakers call smoke a pollutant – In California today, state lawmakers have classfied second-hand smoke as a toxic air pollutant that’s a danger to human health that could lead to even stricter regulation on smoking pracitces despite California’s stringent current rules. Amongst the information brought before the panel by the Air Resources Board is informatino on the 31,000 episodes of asthma it causes in Californian children each year.

From Reuters.com:

The designation by California’s Air Resources Board starts a process that could lead to further smoking bans in a state that has often led the nation in health and ecological regulation. “I think there is no question that this puts California way ahead,” said John Froines, chairman of the Air Resources Board Scientific Review Panel.

“To actually have the major air pollution agency in the state of California to list ETS (environmental tobacco smoke) as a toxic air contaminant is going to have immense impact, we think, in terms of public education around other states,” he said. “It will clearly lead to regulatory changes within the state.”

Seattle Times: Punt, pass and plié: Ballet has its Seahawks fans, too – The Seattle Times looks at the worlds of Ballet and NFL Football ahead of Seattles groundbreaking Superbowl game. The Seahawks have never been in the superbowl before so this is a 30 year first for them. At the same time Seattle has an amazing ballet company, the PNB. The two cultures don’t seem to mix, but in a funny way, they sometimes do.

“I wish my art form created the emotional fervor that this thing does,” said [Ballet instructor] Wells, a Tacoma native. “We struggle with our ticket sales for the ballet, and my understanding is that they can’t sell Seahawks T-shirts fast enough.”

The Guardian: ‘I can win this time’ – Having just come out to the party and public through in interview with a UK tabloid paper, Liberal Democrat Party MP Simon Hughes is looking for support from his party to become leader. He gave an interview to the Guardian a couple of days ago saying that he wasn’t gay. Now he’s singing a new show-tune and the paper reviews his position.

The Guardian: Apple Print Ad Top of Tree – An advertisement for the supermarket chain Tesco has won the top prize from the Awards for National Newspaper Advertising. With the simple image of an apple and accompanying text the ad declared:

“What’s the difference between ours and our competitors?”

“Not much really. They’re the same quality as Waitrose. And the same price as Asda.”

The Guardian: ‘Sea power could provide 20% of UK electricity’ – A new report from the Carbon Trust, out prior to a report on the UK’s position with regard to Nuclear energy, says that 20% of the UK’s energy could be produced through the adoption of wave and sea power souces. With investment and greater production of equipment the costs of wave power could be brought down to current levels of carbon-emitting power sources. It’s a challenge the government could meet, but may not like to due to the likelihood of failure.

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