MDN Menu

MDN Home

Journalist's Creed

Print

MDN Help

  Exit  

MDN.ORG: Missouri Digital News

MDN Menu

MDN Home

Journalist's Creed

Print

MDN Help

  Exit  

MDN.ORG Mo. Digital News Missouri Digital News MDN.ORG: Mo. Digital News MDN.ORG: Missouri Digital News

Help  Close

Nixon agrees to tobacco deal

Missouri has joined a proposed multi-billion dollar settlement with the tobacco industry. Lee McGuire is in Jefferson City with more.

Attorney General Jay Nixon has agreed to a deal that would be the largest settlement in Missouri history.

Actuality:nixon01.wav
RunTime: 15
OutCue:
Contents: [163K WAV file - Nixon says Missouri will accept the 6.7 billion dollar deal.]

Among those reforms are a ban on tobacco billboard ads, restrictions on endorsements and an end to cigarette-touting cartoon characters.

Nixon says he accepted the deal in part because those restrictions would never have been awarded by any court.

But a big hurdle still stands in the way of the settlement--the tobacco industry says it will only sign on if enough other states also agree to the terms. In Jefferson City, Lee McGuire, KMOX News.

Date: November 19, 1998

By: Lee McGuire

State Capital Bureau

Attorney General Jay Nixon today/Thursday announced he has signed a multi-billion settlement with the tobacco industry. Lee McGuire has more from Jefferson City.

If the settlement goes through, the case of Missouri versus big tobacco will never see a courtroom, but the state could see more than 6 billion dollars over the next 25 years.

Nixon says he decided to settle the case because it was the best opportunity to get big money and guarantee industry reform.

Actuality:nixon02
RunTime: 12
OutCue:
Contents: [133K WAV file - Nixon says healthy, unaddicted children are most important.]

But a big hurdle still stands in the way of a settlement. The tobacco industry is waiting to see how many states sign the agreement before it decides whether to go ahead. In Jefferson City, Lee McGuire, KMOX News.