Smoking Gun? That's Two Bills to Sen. Barb Goodwin

All in day's work for MN senator representing Fridley: She introduced legislation Thursday to put a stop to on-stage smoking and felon gun-rights.

Felons wouldn't be able to get their gun rights back and actors wouldn't be able to smoke on stage if two bills state Sen. Barb Goodwin introduced Thursday become law. The bill prohibiting felons from petitioning for restored firearms rights is the first legislation regarding guns in the new session of the Minnesota Legislature that started Jan. 8, 2013. Both the smoking and gun bills are issues Goodwin has pushed in previously at the Minnesota Senate:        

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KSTP: Fridley Woman Fired from St. Louis Park Medical Center for Smelling Like Smoke

Stephanie Cannon lost her receptionist job at the Frauenshuh Cancer Center of Park Nicollet Health Services, according to KSTP-TV.

A pack-a-day smoker from Fridley said she was fired from a medical center in St. Louis Park for smelling like cigarette smoke, according to KSTP-TV. It wasn't that Stephanie Cannon smoked at work—the complaint, she said, was that there was a smell of cigarettes she unwittingly brought into work at the Frauenshuh Cancer Center of Park Nicollet Health Services. "I would actually put my clothes in a separate bag, Febreze the whole thing," she told KSTP-TV reporter Mark Saxenmeyer. She started work as a receptionist in June. Last week, Cannon said, her employer told her, "'We have to let you go.'" Read the longer KSTP-TV story at KSTP.com. Rights or No Rights? "She as a receptionist really had nothing to do with hand's-on health care. It's …

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How State Officials See Smoking Affecting Fridley Cancer Rates

Habit elevated lung cancer rates, especially among women, Minnesota Department of Health says.

Officials Link Fridley's Elevated Cancer Rates to Smoking Statistics

Survey shows people in Anoka County smoke at higher rates than those in other counties.

On Monday the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) released new and revised Fridley cancer figures that showed overall cancer rates lower than the previous estimate of 10 percent—but even in the new figures, lung cancer rates for Fridley remained elevated well above the state average. Lung and bronchus cancer rates for the the first decade of the 2000s were 30 percent higher than expected in Fridley, and 49 percent higher for women. In the 1990s, the rates were more than 10 percent. Health department officials now attribute these statistical spikes to Anoka County’s high smoking rates. “Anoka County is the third highest in the state for lung and bronchus cancer,” said MDH epidemiologist John Soler. “We know what the main cause of lung …

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Fridley Resident's Allergies Prompt MN Bill to Ban Onstage Smoking

Goodwin: Actors would only use artificial cigarettes in theater productions.

Updated below. The strong reaction of a resident in Fridley to cigarette smoke has led to a bill in the Minnesota Senate that would ban smoking in theatrical productions. Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50), who represents western and southern Fridley, introduced legislation Thursday to add "theaters" to the list of public places where smoking is unlawful in Minnesota. The current state smoking ban gave an exclusion to theaters, Goodwin said, to allow for performances in which actors light up cigars or cigarettes. Strong Reaction "But we have a resident in Fridley who is very allergic to smoke," Goodwin said: Cigarettes bother her when she helps with theater productions behind the scenes or when she in in the audience. "When she sits in the front …

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