WASHINGTON -- Most vendors that sell cigarettes over the Internet fail to comply with a federal law that should help states collect valuable tobacco excise taxes, says Reuters, citing a recently released U.S. government survey.

The General Accounting Office said in its report that 78% of the cigarette websites that it probed openly stated that they did not report their sales to the buyers’ state tax authorities as the law requires. Moreover, none of the 147 sites under examination indicated that they actually complied with their reporting obligation under the law. The sites cited by the watchdog did not appear to be affiliated with the major tobacco companies.

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- Amoco gasoline station operator John Griveas is one of nine South Florida Amoco station owners who received certified letters in February from a regional vice president of Amoco, now BP, advising him that his station lease expires on September 7. They are now suing BP, says a report in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Sun-Sentinel.

"Please make arrangements to conclude your business affairs and quit and deliver possession of the service station premises," the letter said. The operators said BP won't renew their leases and is evicting them without compensation for the successful businesses they have built. They filed a lawsuit in July in Broward County Circuit Court against BP. The case has been moved to U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale.