Tobacco-tax proponents concede defeat
A California ballot measure that would have added a $1 tax to the price of each pack of cigarettes sold in the state was narrowly defeated, its opponents conceded on 22 June. The measure would have funded a $500 million research enterprise as well as smoking cessation and prevention efforts. Though the vote on the measure took place on 5 June, state officials took weeks to count a large number of mail-in and provisional ballots on Proposition 29, which ended up losing by less than 1 percentage point. Read more