SALT LAKE CITY >> The Salt Lake City International Airport is planning to get rid of smoking rooms, joining more than 600 other airports that are already smoke-free.
Airport officials said in a news release last week that they will phase out five smoking rooms starting in July and ending in December. Smokers will have to light up outside, 25 feet from entrances.
The closure of the smoking rooms will free up 1,200 square feet in the concourses for extra seating, stores and charging stations for electronics.
The $1.8 billion airport renovation scheduled for the next few years doesn’t include any smoking rooms, either.
Most of the nation’s busiest airports are smoke-free, including those in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says airport smoking rooms are not effective in eliminating secondhand smoke.
Bear spray vital, park officials say
BILLINGS, Mont. >> A new Yellowstone National Park campaign urging tourists to carry bear spray features celebrities like Bozeman climber Conrad Anker, whose feats include three Everest ascents.
The Billings Gazette reports Aiken is shown on a poster carrying climbing ropes and bear spray. Park superintendent Dan Wenk says that no matter who you are or what you’re doing in Yellowstone, you should carry bear spray and know how to use it.
The posters also caution tourists to make noise and hike in groups.
While bear attacks are rare, Yellowstone spokeswoman Charissa Reid says the park is trying to increase the number of tourists carrying the tool.
In August a lone hiker was killed by a grizzly sow with cubs. He was the ninth bear fatality in the park’s 144 years.
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