Earlier this year, Governor Ventura and state lawmakers agreed to set aside nearly a billion dollars of the state's tobacco settlement for smoking prevention, public health and medical education. Since then, there have been a series of news reports on Minnesota falling behind other states in its efforts to prevent teens from smoking. Eventually the state will have twenty-five million dollars a year in endowment interest to spend on anti-smoking efforts. But for now, all state officials can do is plan for the money.