Last year's most popular dog is still top, and the happiest nation is still the most contented. March is still madness and shutdowns still loom.

In the U.S., flavored cigarettes have been banned since 2009, with one glaring exception: menthols. That exception was supposed to go away in 2023, but the Biden administration quietly delayed the ban on menthols. Why? Well, an estimated 85 percent of Black smokers smoke menthols — and some (potentially suspect) polls have indicated that a ban on menthols would chill Biden's support among Black people. Of course, it's more complicated than that. The story of menthol cigarettes is tied up in policing, advertising, influencer-culture, and the weaponization of race and gender studies. Oh, and a real-life Black superhero named Mandrake the Magician.

A year ago, New Zealand enacted what are perhaps the world's toughest anti-smoking laws. The new conservative government plans a repeal — and an end the Maori Health Authority. Protests have ensued.

A recent report finds that banning menthol and flavored cigarettes would eliminate disparities in lung cancer death rates between Black Americans and other racial groups within the next five years.

Advocates of House Bill 191 argue higher tobacco taxes will reduce the number of smokers and save on health care costs, but other anti-smoking advocates say we need to do more to combat the physical, economical, and racist effects.

Cigarette use has been declining for decades, while marijuana use has been on the rise, according to a new Gallup survey in the U.S.

A public comment period has been extended until Aug. 2 for anyone including public health experts, parents, smokers, and former smokers to tell the U.S. Food and Drug Administration what they think about a proposed rule to prohibit menthol cigarettes.

The Food and Drug Administration has announced plans to ban menthol cigarettes, which the tobacco industry has aggressively marketed toward African Americans since 1964.

The agency says the proposal has the potential to significantly decrease disease and death from tobacco by "reducing youth experimentation and addiction."

The Federal Trade Commission says sales in 2020 were up slightly, and analysts say the increase was due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the gain looks unlikely to represent a long-term trend.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris International is pivoting away from cigarettes. Part of its reinvention plan is to stop selling cigarettes in the United Kingdom in the next 10 years.

Menthol has been the last allowable flavor in cigarettes, and the FDA says marginalized communities are far more likely to use these products.