Iowa Gets Check For $53M For Its Annual Tobacco Settlement Payment

(Des Moines, IA)  —  The state of Iowa is getting about 53-million dollars for its annual tobacco settlement payment.  That money is part of the 1998 agreement between the 50 states and big tobacco companies.  State officials say about 12-million dollars will go into the general fund and the rest will go to pay off bondholders.  Iowa sold bonds as a sort of loan against the settlement payments.  Attorney General Tom Miller says Iowa has received a total of one-point-four-billion dollars so far.  National smoking rates have been cut by almost half as the settlement money was put toward stop smoking programs.