A fire earlier today has shuttered the Tick Tock Diner in Midtown—and authorities believe it was caused by a discarded cigarette. The fire started in the facade of Tick Tock Diner, which is housed at 303 W. 34th Street in the New Yorker Hotel building, around 10:15 a.m. There was a packed house in the popular diner for Sunday brunch, and patrons didn't seem to mind a little smoke: "We seat 300 people and it was a Sunday morning, so people were waiting on line," waiter Steve Tsiolis told DNAInfo. "People kept eating. They didn't want to leave their food." more ›

Members of the family who were trapped in a Brooklyn row house fire on Thanksgiving are in critical condition in NYC hospitals. According to the Post, 8-month-old Josiah Alexis, his mother Justine Alexis, uncle Jonathan Alexis and his aunt's husband George DeJesus are all at New York Presbyterian Cornell Weill Medical Center with ventilators; the baby's aunt, Jasmine Alexis (twin sister to Justine, wife of DeJesus) is at Jacobi Medical Center. This news comes as fire official described how the fire, started by someone smoking in bed, spread across the President Street home in Park Slope. more ›

A pregnant woman was killed early this morning in a fire in her Brooklyn apartment which police believe was caused by her lit cigarette. Choy "CC" Barrington, 21, was found dead in her third floor apartment on Washington Ave. in Prospect Heights at 3:30 a.m. She was three months pregnant. more ›

Embattled smokers reacted bitterly to the news of increased restrictions on their activity yesterday. In the wake of Mayor Bloomberg's announcement that, pending City Council approval, the city would ban smoking in parks, beaches, pedestrian plazas and boardwalks, smokers took to the streets to defiantly light up. Here are some of the most indignant reactions: more ›

Throwing a wrench in Governor Paterson's plan to collect cigarette taxes on cigarettes from Indian Tribes starting today, a Buffalo judge ruled yesterday that the Seneca and Cayuga tribes would not have to pay cigarette sales taxes for at least two weeks. But that doesn't mean all tribes are safe. Paterson spokeswoman Jessica Bassett told the Times Union that "it will be against the law for licensed stamping agents to sell unstamped cigarettes to any nation or tribe other than the Seneca and Cayuga." more ›

Yesterday we were revolted by the sight of 1,000 cigarette butts that were dug up in the sand on Coney Island over the weekend, so today we're particularly primed for this bit of news: Mayor Bloomberg is moving forward with a ban on cigarettes on city beaches and in public parks. When the idea was first floated in September by Health Department commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley, Bloomberg seemed caught off guard, saying, "Our Police Department has enough to do. They can't be going around giving tickets [for smoking]." A few weeks later, he did promise to "get that done," but that was the last we heard on it... until now. The mayor told reporters yesterday: more ›

A Board of Health directive could soon require any retailers selling cigarettes to display graphic warning signs (like the sample here) about the dangers of smoking, plus information on where to seek help quitting. But that would violate their First Amendment rights by focring them to "undertake graphic advocacy on behalf of the city," according to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court today by cigarette manufacturers' R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris and Lorillard, along with two Queens convenience stores and two retail groups. more ›

Obama had his first physical since taking office and the docs say he’s "fit for duty." But because health care will actually never pass if Obama dies, we the public get to know his vitals: “At 6-feet,1-inch (1.85 meters), weighs 180 pounds (82 kilograms) in shoes and exercise clothing. His pulse rate is 56, which is very good, as is his blood pressure — 105 over 62…vision was 20/20 in both eyes for both distance and near vision,” said the report. According to WCBSTV Bam’s cholesterol has gone up, so if he’s still sneaking smokes, he should cut that out. It’s been revealed that Obama uses a "nicotine replacement therapy” (maybe nicotine gum). more ›

The city is forcing stores that sell cigarettes to display graphic anti-smoking posters—despite complaints by shopkeepers and customers. So the owner of Montague Street Bagels in Brooklyn Heights is fighting back against the ads, which depict a damaged brain and blackened lungs, by hanging his own handwritten disclaimer reading: "We are very sorry, but by the order of [New York City Department of Health], we are required to post this sign, or face a $2,000 fine!" more ›

Though early reports indicated the windows of a Clinton Hill nightclub might have been shattered in a shooting, the real cause of the crime was strict enforcement of the city's smoking ban, the Local reports. According to an employee at Waverly Avenue's Loft 45, a "kid was smoking in the bathroom and the bouncer threw him out." Once outside, the smoker and his friends broke five of the venue's windows. The incident comes at a time when many New Yorkers apparently thought it was safe to start smoking in clubs again. more ›

Gov. David Paterson unveiled a $134 billion proposed budget today that would impose new taxes on sugary drinks and cigarettes and cut school aid and health care spending by $1.1 billion and $1 billion, respectively. "The mistakes of the past — squandering surpluses, papering over deficits, relying on irresponsible fiscal gimmicks to finance unsustainable spending increases — have led us to a financial breaking point," Paterson said. "There are no more easy answers." more ›

Six years after New York City enacted a smoking ban inside bars, restaurants and clubs, patrons of upscale nightclubs continue to light up, according to a Times investigation. Cigarettes are commonplace at venues like Goldbar, Avenue, and Griffin, the paper reports. "Everyone looks the other way," said Guest of a Guest writer Billy Gray, 25. "It's more of an illicit thrill now," he said. "Like when you were a teenager and snuck a beer in your parents' basement." more ›

When the smoke clears from Albany's latest inept attempt to get a grip on the budget crisis, one casualty will likely be the state's anti-smoking campaign. Governor Paterson, a committed proponent of the anti-smoking program, has nevertheless proposed a $10 million cut in order to help address a $3.2 billion deficit. The cutback would reduce funding for programs that provide free nicotine patches and help Medicaid patients quit smoking, among other things. Naturally, the cigarette industry and its allies are passing around the cigars. more ›

Some city landlords have begun prohibiting tenants from smoking inside their apartments, because of the dangers of second-hand smoke. A study recently found that secondhand smoke causes at least 35,000 deaths from heart disease and 3,000 deaths from lung cancer in nonsmokers nationwide each year—and New Yorkers are even more at risk because their dense urban environment. As one tobacco expert put it: "Smoke doesn’t know to stop at a doorway. It fills the full capacity of every indoor location in which the cigarette is smoked." So at least one major real estate company is now stepping in to stop the smoke before it starts. more ›

On their way to outlawing smoking in public parks, beaches, and in your dreams, officials at the Health Department are moving forward with a plan to require graphic cigarette warning signs anywhere you buy smokes in NYC. The new signs will include information on how to quit, and, like the one seen here, will show the ugly side-effects of smoking. Some 12,000 retailers in all five boroughs are expected to display the signs by December, but the city will give them a two month grace period before issuing fines. more ›

cigarette tax rose by $1.25 per pack (from $1.50 to $2.75). The Health Department says the price hike resulted in more than 2,700 calls to 311 for help to quit over the course of one week—three times the number of calls during the same period in the prior year. 300,000 fewer adult New Yorkers smoke than in 2002, which is partially due to price hikes, indoor smoking bans, and the growing realization that tracheotomies aren't so cool. more ›

An 87-year-old man who was bicycling in Bethpage, Long Island died after his clothes apparently caught fire. Newsday reports that a FedEx driver saw Joseph Rusin "in flames and rolling on the ground on the front lawn of a home." The driver took "a fire extinguisher from his truck to put out the flames," while another witness called 911. Rusin was pronounced dead at Nassau County Medical Center. The fire is not considered suspicious; Nassau County fire officials believe Rusin, who was riding home from a supermarket with groceries, was smoking a cigarette, which ignited his nylon jacket. more ›

In an effort to add to the state's coffers, Governor Paterson signed a law into bill that will "enforce the collection of excise taxes on cigarettes sold at Indian-owned stores." The bill requires manufacturers to have the state tax stamp on its tobacco products before selling them to retailers. The excise tax is $2.75, and it's expected that the bill will bring $400 million more in revenue. While, Indian tribes feel the move will hurt them, as smokers won't head to their stores to buy cigarettes any more, Governor Paterson pointed out the law has always stood, it just hasn't been "adequately applied for far too long" and gave" non-Indians easy access to tax-free cigarettes both on the reservations and over the internet." Mayor Bloomberg, who has sued over the untaxed cigarettes, is happy: "The bottom line is everybody should be paying taxes on cigarettes." more ›

After his mother died from cancer, Dr. Robert Jackler of Stanford University worked through his grief by searching out print tobacco ads from the '20s through the '50s. Appearing in publications like Life and the Saturday Evening Post, the ads featured such cigarette-smoking luminaries as Rock Hudson, John Wayne, Joe DiMaggio, Ronald Reagan, and Santa Claus. And of course there were plenty of models hired to pose as doctors and dentists for ads with slogans like, "38,381 Dentists Say, ‘Smoke Viceroys.' They can never stain your teeth." Because if it was only, say, 38,300 dentists, nobody would have bought it. more ›

On Monday Mayor Bloomberg announced a lawsuit against the Poospatuck Indian reservation on Long Island, in an attempt to stop the untaxed sale of 11.3 million cartons of cigarettes on the reservation per year. Today the Times has a great, long article about how the smokes travel from the wholesaler through the reservation and to the streets of New York, where "$5 Men" like "Paco" stand on corners and whisper, "Newports. Loosies. Shorts. Longs." Reporters at the reservation describe a booming business, where cigarette sales are made on a bustling main street and even out of residential trailers. One reporter saw a sign for Justin’s Smokes "on a tree outside a residential trailer. An occupant of the trailer ordered the reporter off the property, telling her it was not a cigarette shop. 'That’s just a sign on a tree,' the woman yelled." more ›

The Seneca Nation is pressuring Governor Paterson to veto a bill that would tax cigarette sales to non-Indians; officials estimate the tax could generate $400 million in revenue, and Mayor Bloomberg recently said that tax revenue could save us from MTA fare hikes. The tribes argue that treaties dating to the 19th century make them exempt from state sales taxes; greedy white man legislators insist that sales to non-Indians are taxable. The debate is happening against the backdrop of a looming $6.4 billion deficit, and the Sun reports that Paterson could sign the bill as early as next week. But Seneca lawyer Robert Odawi Porter warns that would hurt the tribe's employment of 5,000 people and other economic benefits for western New York: "The state still comes out ahead. It just doesn't go into the Albany trough." more ›