Star Tribune
Smoking deaths increase in Minnesota despite tobacco usage decline
Declines in tobacco usage haven’t reduced deaths in Minnesota over the past decade, because middle- and older-age adults continue to smoke even if young adults don’t.
Tobacco-related deaths increased from 6,311 in 2014 to 6,530 in 2021, according to a report released Wednesday by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. The mortality trend was flat when excluding 269 deaths caused by a combination of smoking and COVID-19 in 2021, but even without them the latest total was greater than the 5,135 deaths in 2007.
“We’re going backward a little bit now that there is another disease [COVID] that puts smokers at higher risk of mortality,” said Janelle Waldock, a Blue Cross executive who has led the insurance company’s effort to reduce smoking and its consequences.
Minnesota has seen historic declines in youth tobacco usage, although somewhat because young adults have replaced cigarettes with e-cigarettes. The 18 to 24 age group had the state’s second-highest smoking rate at 25% in 2011, but in 2022 it had the lowest rate among adults at 8%, according to federal survey data.
That progress has little impact on today’s death toll, which is influenced by adults whose persistent smoking is complicated by the onset of diabetes, heart disease and other conditions. Smoking rates have remained steady at 15% to 17% among Minnesotans 35 to 64 over the past decade.
“It puts people in a really difficult situation, because it’s so hard to quit,” Waldock said. She encouraged smokers to seek free support from the state-funded Quit Partner program.
Smoking costs every Minnesotan $824 in annual health care costs to treat related illnesses, according to Blue Cross’ study, which repeated economic analyses from 2007 and 2014 for comparison. Those costs were largely reflected in rising insurance premiums.
The Eagan-based insurer calculated a total economic cost of $9.4 billion from smoking-related activities in 2021 when including the loss of productivity from workers who died prematurely as a result of tobacco usage.
Researchers from Ohio State University conducted the analysis, which was released ahead of Minnesota’s 2024 legislative session to bolster Blue Cross’ calls for a state ban on menthol cigarettes.
While studies conflict on whether menthol cigarettes cause more deaths, their smoother taste has been attributed to increased smoking habits in demographic groups with higher rates of chronic disease.
Smoking rates rebounded to 44% among American Indian adults in Minnesota in 2022 and to 18.7% among African American adults. Smoking also is found among one third of Minnesota adults with annual household incomes of $15,000 or less.
Waldock said it is unclear whether young adults will continue to refrain from smoking when they become older adults. Some research suggests that e-cigarette users eventually convert to traditional tobacco products.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name.
The former president, once a reality TV star known for his showmanship, wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage. Trump has used the remark as a cudgel against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
”How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. ”This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Trump and other Republicans were facing pushback of their own for comments by a comedian at a weekend Trump rally who disparaged Puerto Rico as a ”floating island of garbage.” Trump then seized on a comment Biden made on a late Wednesday call that “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president tried to clarify the comment afterward, saying he had intended to say Trump’s demonization of Latinos was unconscionable. But it was too late.
On Thursday, after arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for an evening rally, Trump climbed into the garbage truck, carrying on a brief discussion with reporters while looking out the window — similar to what he did earlier this month during a photo opportunity he staged at a Pennsylvania McDonalds.
He again tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke had set off the firestorm, but Trump did not denounce it. He also said he did not need to apologize to Puerto Ricans.
”I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. ”I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
