[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] With San Francisco banning menthol cigarettes last year, and the Food and Drug Administration considering a nationwide ban, it seemed like the time was ripe for New York to follow suit. Wright, a former 12-term assemblyman from Harlem, to fight the ban proposed by the City Council. In closed-door meetings with Council members in May, they argued that a ban would disproportionately affect black New Yorkers. They invoked Eric Garner, who was killed on Staten Island by police officers enforcing cigarette regulations, and suggested such encounters could increase if menthol cigarettes were to go underground.

Source: New York Times July 14, 2019 21:11 UTC