WHITAKERS, N.C. - When Dwight Watson drove his tractor into a pond near the Washington Monument last spring to publicize the tobacco farmer’s plight, angry commuters snarled in rushhour traffic saw him as little more than a nut case.

In 2006, Alaska desperately needed cash to complete a museum featuring a mummified bison and other natural wonders of the frozen north. So the state dipped into its share of the landmark 1998 tobacco settlement.

East Valley tobacco shop owners fear that a new tax hike on their merchandise may cause sales to go up in smoke. Beginning April 1, the federal excise tax will be raised on tobacco products to support President Barack Obama’s recently signed State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that smoking is permitted inside tobacco shops - even if they serve alcohol.

A Gilbert Learning Center teacher has been placed on paid leave because of his "very concerning and unsettling" behavior that led other teachers to believe students could be injured.

A Gilbert Learning Center teacher has been placed on paid leave because of his "very concerning and unsettling" behavior that led other teachers to believe students could be injured.

An air traffic controller from Tempe remained in custody Wednesday in connection with a raid by federal agents on his home that yielded a pipe bomb, several assault rifles and other firearms.

The message comes too late for Mayra Mendoza.

After a long string of political defeats that culminated in the Democratic Party’s loss of control in Congress in 1994, gun-control activists decided to take a new tack.

The Oral Cancer Foundation predicts 36,000 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer in the U.S. this year alone. Alarming predictions such as this one may diminish with President Obama's Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This recently signed act was enforced to target teenagers by making tobacco use less attractive; thus, reducing tobacco related illnesses and diseases, such as oral cancer.

The Oral Cancer Foundation predicts 36,000 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer in the U.S. this year alone. Alarming predictions such as this one may diminish with President Obama's Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This recently signed act was enforced to target teenagers by making tobacco use less attractive; thus, reducing tobacco related illnesses and diseases, such as oral cancer.

Arizona State University will become a tobacco-free campus beginning next summer, but in protest and to raise awareness of the ban, one student-led group passed out cigarettes to students on the Tempe campus Wednesday.

Though Arizona consistently earns high marks for its smoke-free air, the state’s ratings for coverage of smokers trying to quit slid to an F in the American Lung Association’s 2010 report card.

November 18, 2004

More than 85,000 adult men in Arizona quit tobacco last year, according to the state Department of Health Services. They represent the lowest overall rate of cancer in the country, including prostate cancer.

Boy, do I feel sorry for smokers these days.

Gov. Janet Napolitano called smoking "one of the chief public health problems in Arizona and across the country" but refused to say whether she supports the statewide indoor smoking ban proposal before the Legislature.

Bradley Harrington: Just when you thought it was safe to take a break and spark up a “Bayou Blast” smoke, the federal ban on flavored cigarettes has taken effect. Far from acknowledging the free will of consumers in making such voluntary choices in regard to their smoking habits, the do-gooders at the FDA much prefer to paint such folk as hapless victims who’ve been brainwashed by Big Tobacco.

Nationwide, about one in five individuals smokes. That rate holds true in our state, where nearly 19 percent of Arizonans use tobacco.

The NRA and their willing allies — denial, deception, and deflection — are working overtime in the nation’s newspapers, and our Valley dallies are no exception.

September 3, 2004

When Yen Pratt arrived to open her Mesa nail salon Thursday morning, she saw right away there had been a fire.

The man who helped win a smoking ban in five states and New York City came to Tempe on Thursday to tell activists how to lobby for a statewide ban in Arizona.

A luxurious smoking jacket and supple leather club chair don’t make you a fine cigar smoker. Neither do a snifter full of cognac and a fat bank account. That’s all window dressing.