PUFFING ALONG: The Board of Supervisors today...

PUFFING ALONG: The Board of Supervisors today will approve another $1 million-plus in state cigarette tax money for local tobacco prevention programs the next two years. But that’s only half what was allocated the last two-year period. . . . Marilyn Cowan, the county’s tobacco control coordinator, can point to some impressive results: her office helped more than 800 work sites set up anti-smoking rules. But it’s no easy job, says Cowan: “It’s difficult to impact an ingrained habit.”

THANKS FOR MEMORY: Inc. magazine this month put out its list of the 500 fastest growing private companies, and six from Orange County made the list. Top among them: Tectrik Fitness Equipment of Irvine, at No. 22, and Viking Components of Laguna Hills, at No. 126. . . . How prestigious is it to make the list? Viking, a memory upgrade computer company, bought 1,000 copies of the magazine to send to clients, each with a sticker saying “Thanks” from No. 126.

IN THE LOOP? President Clinton admitted surprise at a children’s Town Hall meeting last year that many Native American tribes are not officially recognized. He learned a lot more about it this past weekend. . . . David Belardes, tribal chief of the Juaneno band of Mission Indians from South Orange County, was part of a group lobbying at the White House for tribal recognition. “We just want to be part of the loop,” Belardes says. “We want our sovereignty honored.”

LEARNING TO RIDE: Chapman University junior Richard Hagmann, who has two good legs, found out in his first wheelchair ride last year that getting around the campus wasn’t that easy. “This school isn’t as accessible as it needs to be for wheelchairs,” he says. . . . Students and faculty will be back at it Wednesday, riding wheelchairs or walking on crutches, to draw attention to “Differently Abled Awareness Week.” Says Hagmann: “We want people to see and feel what it would be like to be differently abled for one day.”