skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Lexington Knocking Tobacco Out of the Park

play audio
Play

Tuesday, April 3, 2018   

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Kentucky city is knocking tobacco out of the park, quite literally. All ballparks in Lexington including the home of the Lexington Legends minor league baseball team are becoming completely tobacco-free.

Team CEO Andy Shea says Major League Baseball has made great strides in severing the link between America's Greatest Pastime and tobacco, and he's proud to be one of the first minor league facilities to step up to the plate.

"The more we can help to get it out of sight and then out of mind with younger kids and that it doesn't have to be - it shouldn't be - a rite of passage for baseball anymore," he explains. "Slowly but surely, I think, baseball is getting there."

Tobacco is banned at half of Major League Baseball parks, and the league prohibits new players from using tobacco. Nearly 15 years ago, Lexington was the first Kentucky city to enact a smoke-free ordinance, which Mayor Jim Gray says has improved public health.

The ban announced today includes cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and electronic cigarettes.

According to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, more than 10 percent of high school students in Kentucky used smokeless tobacco in 2017, which is nearly twice as high as the national rate. As a former smokeless tobacco user, Shea is hopeful banning the product at ballparks will have a positive impact on kids.

"I think everyone pretty much knows that smoking cigarettes is not good for you," he states. "But I don't think that some people realize how bad smokeless tobacco is. So really, tobacco is tobacco, and it's not healthy for you no matter how you're taking it, no matter how often you take it, or do it or whatever the case may be."

Health experts say snuff and chewing tobacco can cause gum disease and tooth loss as well as various cancers. The products also raise the heart rate and blood pressure, which can increase the risk for heart attacks and brain damage from a stroke.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
Many factors affect a customer's bill amount, including energy usage, weather, and the number of days in a billing period, according to Arizona Public Service. (Jason Yoder/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …


More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social media platform X temporarily shutdown searches of "Taylor Swift" following the release of explicit deepfake images in early 2024. (Mdv Edwards/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021