Poll: Smoking Rates In D.C. Area Below Average

According to a poll released today by Gallup, only 19 percent of Maryland, DC, and Virginia residents smoke as compared to the national average of 21 percent.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data, which analyzed smoking rates by state between January and June 2011, showed Utah to have the least percentage of its residents as smokers, 11 percent, while Kentucky had the highest, 29 percent.

Smoking was higher in the South and mid-west than the rest of the country.  A little more than one in four residents of Ohio, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana smoke, as compared to the North-East where no state has smokers comprise 20 percent of its inhabitants.

Hawaii and California were the closest states to Utah in smoking rates, with 16 percent and 15 percent respectively.

UPDATE: Occupy Wall Street Begins Day Of Action

(Update 4:47) — About one thousand students demonstrating at Union Square  will be marching to Foley Square around 5:15pm to meet up with a union event. Other protesters from events around the city are also expected to meet there.

There are already about 500-600 protesters and labor union members at Foley.

At 6:30pm, the protesters are expected to march to Zuccotti park and then to the Brooklyn Bridge to occupy the pedestrian walkway. Last time such a large group went to the bridge, there were over 700 arrests.

MANHATTAN — Occupy Wall Street Demonstrators kicked off a day of action Thursday morning, just days after they were told by New York officials that they could not remain encamped in a park in the financial district.

Demonstrators are currently rallying in front of the New York Stock Exchange in an attempt to block traders from entering the building.

Earlier this month, Occupy Oakland demonstrators carried out a similar day of action, including the declaration of a general strike and shutting down the Port of Oakland.

Live updates provided by Occupy Wall Street can be found here.

Ron Paul Calls For Return To Gold Standard

By Mike Hothi

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has a solution to Chinese currency manipulation — return to the gold standard.

“The ideal world would be for all governments to endorse the [gold standard] and provide it internationally,” said Paul, who is running for GOP presidential nomination.

Paul said the gold standard would solve complaints by U.S. officials that China’s weak currency gives it an unfair trade advantage. “You wouldn’t have competing devaluations in currency that lead to trade wars.”

Speaking at the Cato Institute, Paul also claimed that China is not the only country guilty of currency manipulation.

“What about us?” Paul asked. “Don’t you think we manipulate our currency?”

Paul finished first in a new South Carolina straw poll out today, taking home 38 percent of the vote. He also won a San Diego straw poll on Monday, finishing at 30 percent.

Casey Calls For Hearing In Wake Of Penn State

Citing the Penn State scandal, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is pushing for a hearing to discuss strengthening laws that require Americans to report incidents of child abuse.

“The tragic events reported from Penn State have been a shock to the nation’s conscience,” Casey said in a statement. “It is clear we need to examine the federal laws that are designed to protect children from this type of heinous abuse.”

The Pennsylvania Democrat sent a formal request to Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the Chair and Ranking Member of a Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families.

Meanwhile, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) said today that she will soon file legislation that would end federal funding to public institutions that fail to report incidents of sexual abuse.

“The failure of top university officials to act on reports of Mr. Sandusky’s alleged sexual misconduct, even after it was reported to them in graphic detail by an eyewitness, possibly allowed a predator to walk free for years - continuing to target new victims,” Jackson Lee said in reference to former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. “Equally disturbing is the lack of action and apparent lack of concern among those same officials, and others who received information about this case, who either avoided asking difficult questions or chose to look the other way. My legislation will hopefully put an end to situations like this.”

This report was updated at 10:54 a.m.

Romney's Opposition To Auto Bailout Scrutinized In Ohio

A pair of state Democratic lawmakers in Ohio will call on voters Wednesday to withhold their support for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Ohio Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro (D-Hubbard) and State Representative Matt Szollosi (D-Toledo) will say that Romney, along with Ohio’s Republican Governor, John Kasich, “turned their backs on Ohio’s auto workers by failing to support critical investments that led to the creation and saving of thousands of Ohio auto jobs.”

Cafaro and Szollosi say that Kasich has been unfairly “taking credit for the recovery of Ohio’s auto industry.” Kasich will appear tomorrow at a Jeep plant in Toledo that is set to add 1,100 new jobs.