Here is an area where local governments can aid parents: by helping their children not smoke.

According to an Associated Press story, smoking bans in restaurants DO curb smoking among teenagers.

Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, the researchers reported in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The findings back up the idea that smoking bans discourage tobacco use in teens by sending the message that smoking is frowned upon in the community, as well as simply by reducing their exposure to smokers in public places, said Dr. Michael Siegel, of Boston University School of Public Health, and the study's lead author.

Of course, parents wield enormous influence over their children by kicking the habit themselves.

The study found that having a smoker as a parent or a close friend was a factor in predicting whether children experiment with cigarettes. But strong bans had a bigger influence on whether smoking grew into a habit, reducing their chances of becoming smokers by 40 percent.

Massachusetts is among 23 states to ban smoking in most public places, including restaurants and bars, according to AP.

When it came to the opposite sex, my Cuban father was super strict, not allowing us to even receive phone calls from boys. I was disappointed to discover that the floor of my college dorm room was coed, giving my father more reason to blast my decision to live on campus rather than at home.

I am just glad coed rooms, something popping up in college campuses today, were not available when I was a student in the '90s. From the Associated Press:

At least two dozen schools, including Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, Oberlin College, Clark University and the California Institute of Technology, allow some or all students to share a room with anyone they choose, including someone of the opposite sex. This spring, as students sign up for next year's room, more schools are following suit, including Stanford University.

As shocking as it sounds to some parents, some students and schools say it's not about sex.

Instead, they say the demand is mostly from heterosexual students who want to live with close friends who happen to be of the opposite sex. Some gay students who feel more comfortable rooming with someone of the opposite sex are also taking advantage of the option.

While schools tend to discourage romantically involved couples from rooming together, it is allowed in some college campuses.

Throughout this election season and the back-and-forth barbs on gaffes, I have told my husband I would never want to be a politician today. I can't imagine having my every move taped and aired on YouTube. You can't win!

Apparently, this kind of scrutiny isn't limited to high-profile legislators. A bitter actress and divorcee, recently aired the details of her husband's sex life, their divorce and family on YouTube. Here is the clip and an Associated Press story on it.

The wife, former actress and playwright Tricia Walsh-Smith, looked demonic as she described her millionaire husband's plans to evict her from their posh Manhattan apartment -- they had a prenuptial agreement -- her husband's penchant for viagra and porn and his money-grubbing daughters. She posts their names and pictures on YouTube and even rings up her husband's secretary to leave him a message about the viagra, porn and condoms.

Absolutely cringeworthy. But even I could not stop watching this train wreck. I felt claustrophobic about our shrinking privacy with all this digerati and how easy it is for any embittered person to post video of a boss or ex-lover. But I am also wondering if this is simply the modern-day strolling-by-the-car-accident-scene? What do you think of Walsh-Smith's actions? Would you ever stoop so low for revenge?

When I read the lead of this story, my initial reaction was to shudder at the thought of sending my kids to a Chicago public school. A record number of students have been killed -- largely by gunfire -- in Chicago that the city is taking aggressive steps like installing security cameras in the schools, according to the Associated Press.

Since September, 20 Chicago Public Schools students have been killed, 18 by gunfire. Last school year, 24 of the more than 30 students killed were shot to death, compared with between 10 and 15 fatal shootings in the years before...

The number of violent deaths involving students in the nation's third-largest school district has increased so dramatically in the last two years that police are increasing school patrols and soon will be the first department in the country with live access to thousands of security cameras mounted outside — and inside — schools.

While the students say they feel safe at the school with its beefed up security, I could not help but think they were protected by a false sense of security. As the article later pointed out, none of the murders actually happened at the school. It sounds like the killings are more emblematic of the spike in violent crime in the city rather than lax patrolling of the schools.

Daley recently announced a new resource for police — access to the 4,500 security cameras mounted inside and outside about 200 elementary and high schools.

The real-time video from the cameras once was available only to school officials, but now police and the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications will be able to see it as well. Daley said indoor cameras will be used only in emergencies.

Daley also has rolled back the curfew times for minors by half an hour, to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.

Many observers insist the issue isn't a school problem but a symptom of overall violence in the city. In fact, students in some of the city's most violent neighborhoods say school — with metal detectors, private security guards and uniformed police officers — is the one place they feel safe.

In this house, it's politics all the time. Here is a recap of the weekend and events leading up to tomorrow's contests in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C., according to the Associated Press.

People has the skinny on the Grammy nominees and winners. I did not catch the show yesterday. Eli has been sick with a fever and cold so she has been on me most of the weekend.

Last, but far from least, there have been wildfires in the south that have destroyed at least 10 homes and sent 1,000 residents fleeing, according to CNN.

What's up with you, MotherTalkers? I, too, am nursing a cold. Gah!

I am down with democracy and all that, but damn it is scary when guys like this vote.

Ed Hamilton, of Kerr County, Texas, is challenging fellow Republican Mindy Williams in the primary for county treasurer. His platform? He wants to eliminate the position, according to the Associated Press.

Hamilton said if elected, he would hand the duties to someone else and petition state officials for a referendum on a constitutional amendment that would allow any county to eliminate the treasurer position if it chooses.

Williams, who was appointed last spring to the $46,000-a-year post, said the job shouldn't be eliminated. It provides accountability on the county's spending, a check and balance that is "essential to county government."

Hamilton says "check and balance" is "a euphemism for duplication of effort."

Please tell me this made news because Hamilton is an oddball -- even in Texas. One of the scariest things to come out of the Bush administration is how “check and balance” is a four-letter f-word whether it’s in regards to war or our justice system. Ugh.  

In related news, two non-profit journalism organizations conducted a study that found that the Bush administration released at least 900 false statements regarding the national security threat in Iraq, according to AP. Hopefully, this will encourage traditional media outlets to once again act as “a check and balance” to our government's powers.