From: Native Times
Written by MELISSA HELLMAN, Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A sign advertising “discount smokes” outside of The Nation Station convenience store on a reservation in northeast Kansas draws Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation members and visitors looking for cheap cigarettes. Inside is a wall lined with Native American-manufactured cigarettes such as Seneca, the store’s best-selling brand at $3.77 per pack.
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But come July 1, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska must share their accounting with the state under tribal-state compacts that passed unanimously in the Kansas Legislature and were signed by Gov. Sam Brownback on Wednesday. The compacts will prevent the state from losing $60 million in annual tobacco payments, much of which funds children’s programs such as early childhood development and reading comprehension.
