TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

National and international news to make you more worldly.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 11, 2008

Casino Smoking Ban Will Drift Away After A Week

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Atlantic City casinos will go smoke-free for seven days before allowing gamblers to light up again.
City council president William Marsh said the unusual arrangement is needed because the city can't legally stop a previously approved smoking ban from taking effect Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the council gave preliminary approval to delaying the smoking ban for one year because of the economic crisis and fear of massive casino losses and layoffs.

But it still needs a final vote on Oct. 22, and the ban is set to take effect a week before that.

Four casinos owned by Harrah's Entertainment say they will go smoke-free on the gambling floor anyway Wednesday, and stay that way, offering patrons ventilated smoking lounges.

Absentee Military Ballots Face Bureaucratic Hurdles
American soldiers can hump 60-pound packs through the broiling desert, kill for their country and die for it, but they can't always vote for their commander in chief.

And the Pentagon has found that bringing military voting into the 21st century is not so simple. The number of absentee military ballots applied for that ultimately get counted is consistently low. In the previous federal election, only about 30 percent of overseas military ballots were tallied, according to data from the federal Election Assistance Commission, which monitors election problems, and the Pew Center on the States.

"Why are we imposing on military personnel a system that is more onerous than the ones civilians use?" asked Bob Carey, a senior fellow at the National Defense Committee, a private advocacy group. Carey, a 23-year Navy reservist who participated in Desert Storm.

Carey is working with The Pew Center on the States to craft a nationwide military voting law that would eliminate conflicting local regulations about such issues as whether ballots can be faxed or sent as an attachment via e-mail.

Obama Campaign Plans 30-Minute TV Broadcasts
Sen. Barack Obama's campaign said it had purchased a half-hour of airtime on CBS and NBC for prime-time political infomercials to air Oct. 29, and it is reportedly looking to make similar buys on other networks.

The network buys - which could cost the campaign around $2 million each - underscore Obama's massive fundraising advantage over Sen. John McCain.

Coming six days before the election, Obama's ads could put pressure on McCain to respond with a similar national message. But McCain's resources are limited; he agreed to accept federal matching funds that limit his campaign to $84 million in September and October, though the Republican National Committee is helping out.

A wire report

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT