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Despite a $12 million ad blizzard by a giant tobacco company, voters in San Francisco resoundingly supported a new ban on the selling of flavored tobacco products, including vaping liquids packaged as candies and juice boxes, and menthol cigarettes. The measure, known as Proposition E, is said to be the most restrictive in the country, and health groups predicted it could serve as a model for other communities. (Hoffman, 6/6)

The San Francisco city supervisors approved the ordinance last year, but opponents got enough signatures to place the question on the ballot. The vote Tuesday puts to rest what has become a long and expensive battle, with tobacco company R.J. Reynolds contributing nearly $12 million against the measure. On the other side, supporters of the measure were funded almost entirely by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who contributed at least $1.8 million. Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, called the vote "a truly historic victory for kids and health over the tobacco industry." (Hellmann and Wilson, 6/6)

Tobacco and public health interests spent millions of dollars ahead of the closely watched referendum, which came as the FDA explores new limits on flavored tobacco and grapples with the challenge of regulating products like e-cigarettes that some argue are a safer alternative and can wean smokers off traditional smoking products. (Colliver, 6/6)

The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company spent nearly $13 million on a campaign to stop the ban. The company sells the nation’s best-selling menthol cigarette. All that money was appalling to Patrick Reynolds, his grandfather founded the company, but he's now an anti-tobacco advocate because he lost his father to emphysema. (McClurg, 6/6)