Houston city parks smoking ban begins today

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston city parks are smoke-free places from now on.

That's because a smoking ban goes into effect today. Houston joins 36 other cities in Texas with the same sort of ordinances. Also, a smoking ban already in place at libraries will be expanded to include all outdoor library property.

The expanded library ban will be implemented at downtown locations, the central library and Julia Ideson building on Thursday.