FRAMINGHAM — The Board of Health will consider placing a townwide ban on cigarette sales inside Framingham pharmacies. Board Chairman Mike Hugo expects to discuss the idea at the board’s meeting later this month. “A pharmacy is supposed to be a place where you sell healthy things,” said Hugo. “And quite frankly we’ve had a problem with pharmacies selling cigarettes to minors.” Hugo expects the discussion to be “a two-meeting process,” and noted that the Board of Health has the power to unilaterally institute such a ban. “We don̵ ... Jump to full article >>

NEW YORK ” Two of the world’s biggest cigarette makers reported Thursday that they emerged from the second quarter in better shape than analysts expected, having raised prices and cut costs to offset falling demand in the U.S. and Europe and to cope with a new tax in the U.S. Philip Morris International Inc., which sells Marlboros and other cigarettes overseas, said its second-quarter profit fell 9 percent as the strong dollar shrunk sales made in other currencies. But its shares rose because the results beat Wall Street expectations and it raised its 2009 profit estimate. Reynolds ... Jump to full article >>

JOHN REID BLACKWELL TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Philip Morris USA has put some of its South Richmond and Chesterfield County properties up for sale as the tobacco company cuts costs and consolidates its operations in a smaller U.S. cigarette market. The Henrico County-based company is seeking to sell more than 570,000 square feet of office, laboratory, warehouse and manufacturing space just off Bells Road, on property adjacent to its cigarette plant off Interstate 95. The property for sale includes 186 acres, about 86 acres of it developable land, according to a marketing brochure from the com ... Jump to full article >>