Ohio Supreme Court says local officials can't ban all public smoking.(Chicago Tribune)

CHICAGO _ Dealing a setback to the efforts of Ohio's anti-smoking activists, that state's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that local health boards have no authority to ban smoking in all public places.

The 6-1 decision from the Ohio court comes as city officials in Chicago, New York and other communities around the nation move to ban smoking in restaurants and many public buildings. The legal impact of the decision probably will be confined to Ohio, attorneys said, because the arguments in the case that began in Toledo last year focused not on the debate over health protection and smokers' rights, but on the limitations of local government power.

The fight began in May 2001, when the …