South has nation's fattest counties
By Tom Baxter
Southern Political Report
November 20, 2009 — Five counties in Alabama and Mississippi are the most obese in the country, according to a survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Greene and Dallas counties in Alabama and Holmes, Humphreys and Jefferson counties in Mississippi all had obesity rates of 44 or 43 percent, compared to a national average of 26 percent. All are rural, low-income and mostly African-American. The report found high rates of obesity and diabetes in more than 80 percent of the counties in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, and more than 75 percent of the counties in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina.This was the CDC's first county-by-county survey of obesity and diabetes. -- Florida is smoking less, and the state revenue department is enjoying it more. Since the advent of the new dollar-a-pack tobacco tax, cigarette sales are down 27 percent, but tax collections remain high and are holding steady, officials said. -- Meanwhile, in the heart of tobacco country, the University of Kentucky has banned all tobacco products from its campus, including outside area. The Univesity of Louisville is instituting a similar policy. -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has amended his ethics disclosures to include more flights he took on planes owned by friends and political donors. The new details won't be made public until next week. |
