News & Events
For media inquiries and other press-related questions, please contact the NAAG Press Center at (202) 326-6027.
News from the States
State News Headlines
November 16, 2006
The following headlines are compiled as an internal service for state Attorney General offices only. This list is not exhaustive and is a snapshot of news from around the country compiled through the use of various search engines.
Success at polls heartens anti-smoking advocates
Emboldened by victories at the polls last week, an anti-smoking group said Wednesday that it will push for more state and local smoking bans around the country. Among the victories: Voters approved statewide smoking bans in Arizona, Nevada and Ohio. At the local level, voters in Mankato, Minn., and Appleton, Wis., quashed attempts to weaken or repeal existing bans. "Election Day was huge for our movement," says Aaron Doeppers, director of the Midwest region of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Full Article
Authorities form multinational unit to hunt pedophiles
WASHINGTON — U.S. agents are joining authorities in Canada, Britain and Australia to form a global police unit that will help monitor the Internet for child molesters who seek victims online. Law enforcement representatives from each country met here Wednesday to discuss the program, one of the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at countering the rising number of ways in which pedophiles and pornographers use the Internet to harm children. Under the program, known as the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), agents from each nation will take turns monitoring a London-based website (www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com) that responds to reports from youths and others about suspected predators, says VGT Chairman Jim Gamble, chief executive officer of the United Kingdom's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center. Full Article
State lights fire under smokers to quit
LANSING -- The state of Michigan wants smokers to put down their cigarettes and pick up their phones. Its Quit Line offers advice and free or deeply discounted nicotine patches to those willing to sign up for over-the-phone counseling sessions. The state spends $650,000 annually on the program. Today is the annual Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, to get smokers to give up smoking for a day in hopes that it will lead to a smoke-free life. About a quarter of Michigan adults smoke, one of the highest rates in the nation. Full Article
Law on sex offenders narrowed
SACRAMENTO — A ballot measure restricting where sex offenders may live in California does not apply to thousands of ex-convicts who have served their prison time and are off parole, government lawyers defending the initiative in court said Wednesday. The declaration, made in a legal filing, means a key provision of the measure that passed overwhelmingly in the Nov. 7 election will not affect many of the 75,000 former sex offenders living throughout the state. Full Article
Leslie R. Kershaw
Communications Assistant
Office: (202) 326-6027
Fax: (202) 408-8061
Email: lnelson@naag.org
