More than $1 million is spent each hour to market tobacco products in this country--and 99 percent of all new smokers are youth and young adults who are enticed by this marketing. According to a new Surgeon General’s report, Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults, far too many young people use tobacco.

In the U.S., more than 600,000 middle school students and 3 million high school students smoke cigarettes. In Alabama, surveys indicate that an estimated 18.6 percent of high school students smoke and 10,000 Alabama youth under 18 become new daily smokers each year.

More than 1,200 people die every day in the U.S. due to smoking. For every death, at least two new youths or young adults become regular smokers. About 90 percent of these replacement smokers smoke their first cigarette before age 18.

Smokeless or spit tobacco is also a concern. In Alabama, 19.1 percent of high school males use smokeless or spit tobacco.

LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, Inc. is hosting a blood drive at Southeast Alabama Rural Electric today, February 16th, from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

Please help LifeSouth build its supply of all blood types by donating at this drive.

For more information about LifeSouth Blood Community Blood Centers visit their website or call 334-260-0803. And don't forget that the new donor center in Montgomery is open.  It's located at 4193 Carmichael Road.

Due to innovation and commitment in the area of child nutrition, 83 Alabama public schools have been awarded the prestigious United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) HealthierUS School Challenge Award. Alabama has more districts to win the award and has more Gold Award winners than any other state in the nation.  In Pike county, Pike County Elementary School won a Silver award.

Perry Fulton, director of Child Nutrition for the Alabama Department of Education (ADE) said, “This is the second year we’ve received the award. We have increased the number of schools awarded from 50 to 83 schools. This increase shows significant effort in producing great results from the way foods are prepared, less pre-packaged foods being offered, to what ends up on the plates of our students.”

The goal of the HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) is to improve the health of the Nation’s children by promoting healthier school environments.