Throughout the year, our blog will feature AHA volunteer stories of survival and hope. We know there are thousands of stories like these - thats why we want to say “Thanks” to all of you for giving your time and sharing your lives with us. You can’t spell CURE without U! Thank you for all you do to build healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke. YOU’RE THE CURE!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Quad-City Times Article: Smoke-Free Illinois Good For Business

Smoking ban helping some Illinois Q-C businesses

By Dustin Lemmon Tuesday, February 05, 2008

After one month of not being able to smoke in his restaurant, Doug Perkins has given up his smoking habit and witnessed an unexpected increase in customers from Iowa.

Perkins, who owns Moon River Supper Club in Andalusia, Ill., said he thought his business would suffer when the no-smoking law in Illinois went into effect Jan. 1, but he was wrong.

Read more: http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/02/05/news/local/doc47a7f59a7b1c3858467245.txt?sPos=3

Bush budget shortchanges life-saving research

AHA President Daniel Jones, M.D., said in a recent statement that President Bush’s $3.1 trillion budget proposal would cut resources for cardiovascular research and could reverse recent advances in the fight against heart disease and stroke.“We’re making steady progress in combating heart disease and stroke, but that momentum will be lost if research and prevention programs fall victim to heartless budget cuts. We are deeply troubled that funding for heart and stroke research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is below medical research inflation for the sixth year in a row,” Jones said.
Jones added that as the U.S. population ages, the need for cardiovascular research will only become greater.

“Cardiovascular disease deaths are expected to skyrocket as baby boomers age. Shortsighted budget cuts will not only roll back the progress we’ve made to reduce death and disability from cardiovascular diseases, it will escalate a public health crisis that could be avoided with commonsense solutions,” Jones said.http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3053596_________________

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Big Tobacco Makes Strategic Campaign Investments in Illinois Primaries

As health advocates know, you can never count out the tobacco companies when it comes to issues pending in Springfield. That's why this item from today's Capitol Fax Blog by Rich Miller was particularly interesting.... Read more at http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/.

BIG TOBACCO POWERS UP The parent company of American cigarette maker RJ Reynolds has dumped over $61,000 into legislative primaries in the past few weeks. And it appears the company is focusing on helping a few House members who are getting lots of attention from Speaker Michael Madigan's operation.The company, Reynolds American, has spent more in the last two weeks than it spent on the last two elections combined. But where it is spending money is almost as interesting as how much it is spending. The "why" is pretty easy to figure out. The Senate has already approved a cigarette tax hike and House Speaker Michael Madigan has said he's open to the idea of boosting the cigarette tax by as much as a dollar a pack to subsidize a health insurance expansion plan. Such a tax would raise hundreds of millions of dollars, and cigarette companies are naturally worried that the impact of the tax hike coupled with the new statewide public smoking ban would be really bad for business. So, a bit of cash now invested in a few strategically placed House races might be worth the company's while.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Don't Blame Me, I Voted....

"Don't Blame Me, I Voted For The (Other Guy)"

Have you seen that bumper sticker? I always thought it was cute.... I recently saw a new one, the one in the title of this post. I like it even better! Just a reminder that February 5th is Election Day. Please VOTE!