Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON STATE : Workplace Ban on Smoking Upheld

A Superior Court judge in Olympia, Wash., upheld the state’s ban on smoking in private office buildings, ruling that officials had enough scientific evidence that secondhand smoke poses a risk to workers. Mark Brown, director of the state Department of Labor and Industries, called the ruling a big win for workers. Tobacco industry officials said they would appeal. The regulation, enacted in 1994, bans smoking in all private office buildings, except in designated smoking rooms. Other rules ban smoking in public areas such as stores and in state office buildings.