Clan-Members » with a stirring performance in the closing

SAN DIEGO -- Smoking has dropped to historic lows nationwide, dramatically decreasing revenue from tobacco taxes. In search of funds, a growing number of states are taxing electronic cigarettes -- a trend that is sparking a fierce public health debate over whether it will deter smokers from switching to a safer alternative.California became the seventh state to tax e-cigarettes with the overwhelming approval of a Nov. 8 ballot measure. Proposition 56 also will add a $2 per pack state tax to cigarettes onto the already existing 87 cents per pack tax.State officials are still calculating the new tax structure. The vaping industry estimates the tax could hike up the price of the battery-operated devices and liquids by more than 60 percent, making it more expensive to vape than smoke, even with the additional per-pack tobacco tax.California just made the most attractive option unattractive for many smokers, and unaffordable, said Gregory Conley of the American Vaping Association, which advocates for electronic cigarettes as an alternative to tobacco. Some may never make an attempt to quit.The taxation of e-cigarettes has split the public health community between those who support e-cigarettes being treated the same as tobacco and those who see them as an important tool in the fight against smoking, the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States.Theres no scientific consensus on the risks or advantages of vaping.Its one of the nastiest debates Ive ever seen in the public health community, and Ive been researching tobacco control policies for 40 years, University of Michigan public health professor Kenneth Warner said. The momentum, if you will, is in the direction against e-cigarettes, for sure, and it is unfortunate in a big way, because we may be missing out on a potential intervention that could reduce the toll of smoking by a lot.E-cigarettes heat a nicotine liquid into a vapor, delivering the chemical that smokers crave without the harmful tar generated from burning tobacco.Britain promotes the devices for smokers. Its leading physicians organization said it found the devices were 95 percent safer than cigarettes, but some U.S. researchers dispute that.E-cigarettes emit chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other harm, and there is concern over the long-term impact that nicotine has on adolescent brain development, according to Californias Public Health Department. Use among young adults ages 18 to 29 has tripled in the state.The evidence is piling up very fast that e-cigarettes are more dangerous than people thought, said Stanton A. Glantz, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco.Stanton said the universitys analysis of more than three dozen studies also found only a fraction of smokers quit after switching to e-cigarettes and that many end up smoking and vaping, which could be worse.Concern over the jump in youth users was a driving force behind taxing e-cigarettes, Stanton said.If we could snap our fingers and have all smokers become e-cigarette users -- and not change anything else -- that would be better, he said. The problem is all the other complicated things going on.Representatives from around 180 countries participating in the World Health Organizations global tobacco control treaty negotiations, including the United States, adopted a declaration earlier this month in which they vowed to prohibit or regulate the sale of e-cigarettes. The declaration comes months after the U.S. announced its first federal regulations of e-cigarettes.The $3 billion vaping industry fears taxes coupled with regulations will shut down many small shops.Scott Drenkard of the nonpartisan Tax Foundation said the products potential to help smokers is losing out to the rush to recover eroding tobacco tax revenues, which make up as much as 2 percent of state budgets. More than two dozen states have considered taxing e-cigarettes since 2015.In California, tobacco tax revenue dropped by 44 percent between 1989 and last year, from $1.6 billion to roughly $830 million. The state has the nations second-lowest smoking rate, behind Utah.State officials estimate Proposition 56 will raise more than $1 billion in the first year for California, with much of the money earmarked for health care for the poor.Public health experts, like Warner, favor a staggered system that applies a heavy tax on tobacco cigarettes, a lighter tax on e-cigarettes and keeping no tax on nicotine replacement therapies that have been determined to be relatively risk-free. That would deter young people from vaping the liquids that come in candy flavors and provide a financial incentive for smokers to switch, they say.North Carolina adds a tax of 5 cents to each milliliter of nicotine liquid compared with 45 cents per pack for traditional cigarettes.With no consensus on the health impact, some say it makes sense for states to follow Californias lead and not tax them differently.Mike Zunino Rays Jersey .Gather a group of friends, or find a league to join online, draft your team, set your lineup and compete in a number of different formats. Jalen Beeks Jersey . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. https://www.cheapraysonline.com/146i-tyler-glasnow-jersey-rays.html . 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Emilio Pagan Rays Jersey .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward James Neal on injured reserve Tuesday.ATLANTA -- The team from right down Interstate 75 is eager to take on the big boys.In some ways, this will feel almost like a home game for Mercer.The Bears are making the 87-mile trip from Macon to Atlanta on Saturday to take on Georgia Tech, their first game against a top-level school since bringing back the private universitys long-dormant football program three years ago as part of the Football Championship Subdivision.Mercer has some 40 players from Atlantas sprawling suburbs.Its very exciting, said offensive lineman Bret Niederreither, a Pennsylvania native and one of the few Mercer players from outside the state. A lot of guys on our team are from Georgia and the Atlanta area, so theyre ready to go.While the schools are less than a two-hour drive apart, this will be their first meeting since 1938.Mercer dropped its program during World War II and didnt return to the gridiron until 2013, eventually joining the Southern Conference.Now, the Bears (0-1) are taking a big step up in competition.Coach Bobby Lamb is hoping for plenty of support at 55,000-seat Bobby Dodd Stadium, the largest venue his fledgling program has played in.Obviously weve had a lot of firsts here at Mercer, Lamb said. This will be our first FBS game, and what better way to start that then in our home state and in Atlanta, where we have over 30,000 alumni.Georgia Tech (1-0) opened its season with a game much farther from home, traveling to Dublin, Ireland to take on Atlantic Coast Conference foe Boston College.The Yellow Jackets rallied for a lackluster 17-14 victory , scoring the winning touchdown in the final minute but doing little to impress coach Paul Johnson. He promised plenty of lineup changes if his team, coming off a dismal 3-9 showing a year ago, doesnt show signs of improvement.Johnson is also urging his team not to take Mercer lightly, even though the Yellow Jackets have a clear edge is speed, size and talent.Two year ago, Georgia Tech barely escaped with a 42-38 victory over Georgia Southern, which was in its transition stage moving up to FBS from the Southern Conference.Mercer, Johnson fretted, could pose a similar challenge if the Yellow Jackets are caught looking ahead.IIm sure theyre fired up and excited to play, he said.dddddddddddd We need to be, too.---Some things to watch for in Saturdays game:LINEUP CHANGES: Johnson mentioned punter, A-back and the offensive line as positions that could have new starters this week. He was especially disenchanted with fifth-year senior Ryan Rodwell, virtually guaranteeing that someone else will be handling the punting duties against Mercer. Also, freshman B-back Dedrick Mills, who scored the winning touchdown against Boston College, was suspended for the game for violating team rules. Marcus Marshall will likely get the start.GOTTA GET RUNNING: Georgia Techs triple-option offense bogged down in Week 1, managing only 119 yards rushing and an average of 2.7 yards per carry, one of the worst showings in Johnsons nine seasons at the helm. The coach will be looking to get more production out of the A-backs, who combined for only 3 yards on the ground.JUST FOR KICKS: Both teams have reliable kickers. Georgia Techs Harrison Butker booted a clutch 40-yarder against Boston College that began the fourth-quarter comeback, and all four of his kickoffs resulted in touchbacks. Mercers Cole Fisher went 3-for-3 last week in a 24-23 loss to Citadel, including a career-best 47-yarder.CLUTCH THOMAS: Mercer will have its hands full trying to defend Georgia Tech quarterback Justin Thomas , who came through with a stirring performance in the closing minutes against Boston College. On the winning drive, he escaped a sure sack on one play, completed a 22-yard pass on fourth-and-19, and then connected on a 26-yarder when facing third-and-10.FLAG ON THE BEARS: Mercer was flagged for 10 penalties totaling 103 yards in its opener, a far cry from the team that was one of the least penalized in the nation a year ago. The Bears wont be able to afford that sort of sloppiness against Georgia Tech.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .---AP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '