Sheraton Hotels &Resorts and Four Points by Sheraton Hotel brands will ban smoking at more than 300 hotels and resorts throughout the U.S., Caribbean and Canada.
The new policy follows one implemented at Westin Hotels &Resorts, which became smoke-free in 2006. Westin and Sheraton are both owned by Starwood Hotels &Resorts.
Some 8,000 rooms at the hotels will be cleaned, including treatments for air conditioning, walls, rugs, upholstery and hard surfaces.
Smoking will also be banned in public areas in the hotels, but there will be a designated outdoor area at each property for guests who smoke.
There are already 70 Sheraton and Four Points by Sheraton hotels in the U.S., Canada &Caribbean that are smoke-free.
Both hotel brands expect to be completely smoke-free in the U.S. and Canada by Dec. 31.
Chicago’s Oceanarium to close for renovations
The popular Oceanarium marine mammal exhibit at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium will be closed for several months starting in September to allow construction crews to update and renovate existing exhibits and create new ones.
Shedd spokesman Roger Germann said there are some animals living in the 170,000-square-foot facility that will be moved to other institutions while the Oceanarium is undergoing renovations.
The $43 million Oceanarium, with its dolphin and whale shows, turned around the aquarium’s fortunes when it opened in 1991, making it one the city’s most-visited cultural attractions.
The aquarium regularly attracts more than 2 million people a year, up from fewer than a million visitors before the Oceanarium’s debut.
New coral reef exhibit opens in Florida Keys
A new 2,400-gallon coral reef aquarium exhibit opened Feb. 2 to mark the one-year anniversary of the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, an environmental center in the Florida Keys.
Developed by Mote Marine Laboratory, the reef tank contains fish and invertebrates indigenous to the Keys. It was designed to educate people about preserving the coral reef environment.
The aquarium is part of the Living Reef Exhibit, which also features tanks of hard and soft corals and information about Mote’s coral nursery, where more than 22 species of corals are being grown to replenish reefs.
Since 2003, the program has rescued more than 7,000 coral colonies, which are relocated to restore depleted areas, and used in education and research.
Smithsonian history museum delays reopening
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., is delaying its reopening from this summer to fall.
Museum Director Brent Glass said the museum has received inquiries from visitors making travel plans, and wanted to provide them with a more realistic time frame for the reopening. An exact date has not been set.
The museum closed in the fall of 2006 for a $85 million renovation afer a 2002 report that sharply criticized the museum for its layout and presentation.
Associated Press
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