Mass. Senate OKs bill to raise age for legal tobacco sales

Mass. Senate OKs bill to raise age for legal tobacco sales

BOSTON

The Massachusetts Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to raise the minimum age for purchasing cigarettes and other tobacco products across the state, which could make it the second to raise its threshold to 21 years old.

The higher age already is in effect in Boston and more than 100 other cities and towns, covering about half the state’s population.

The bill, which moves to the House after being approved on a 32-2 vote, also sets new regulations for electronic cigarettes including a ban on vaping in places where smoking is otherwise prohibited. It also would ban the sale of tobacco in pharmacies and other health care facilities.

Biden presses Iraq

BAGHDAD

Vice President Joe Biden pressed Iraq on Thursday not to let its crippling political crisis upend hard-fought gains against the Islamic State group as he returned to the country that’s come to symbolize America’s relentless struggles in the Middle East.

Biden slipped into Baghdad on an unannounced trip, his first to Iraq in nearly five years. Officials said the stop was planned before Iraq’s political system descended into turmoil, hindering U.S.-led efforts to defeat extremists who control parts of both Iraq and Syria. Sitting down with Iraq’s beleaguered leaders, he praised them for working “very, very hard” to construct a new Cabinet and touted progress wresting back territory from IS.

Fla. high court strikes down limit on lawyer fees

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

The Florida Supreme Court struck down a law limiting lawyer fees in workers’ compensation cases on Thursday, saying the $1.53 hourly rate a lawyer was paid to help an injured worker was “absurdly low.”

The decision is a victory for injured workers who have struggled to get lawyers to help them because the fee system created by then-Gov. Jeb Bush in 2003 makes their cases not worth representing. The case involved a man who successfully sued a Miami door manufacturer over an on-the-job injury. His lawyer was paid $164.54 for more than 100 hours of work.

Death at Apple HQ in Calif. was suicide

CUPERTINO, Calif.

Authorities say a young Apple employee took his own life at the company’s headquarters this week.

The 25-year-old Santa Clara, Calif., man was found dead Wednesday morning inside a conference room at Apple’s world headquarters in California.

An autopsy later confirmed he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Sgt. Andrea Urena of the Santa Clara County sheriff’s department said Thursday. She said a handgun was used.

Graffiti at Arches

SALT LAKE CITY

Rangers at Utah’s Arches National Park were investigating large graffiti Thursday that was carved so deeply into a famous red rock arch that it might be impossible to erase, officials said.

The carvings discovered earlier this month measure about 4 feet across and 3 feet high, park Superintendent Kate Cannon said.

The vandalism is part of a “tidal wave of graffiti” at Arches and other national parks in recent years, she said.

Two years ago, at least eight national parks in the West began the delicate task of cleaning up graffiti-like paintings left on famous, picturesque landscapes. The damage was discovered after images were shared on social media.

Associated Press