City aldermen voted to expand to 500 feet (152 metres) the ban on sales near schools of menthol cigarettes and other flavoured tobacco products to keep them away from students, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The measure to increase the flavour-free zone from 100 feet was approved with only two dissenting votes. However a plan by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products, subjecting them to municipal curbs on smoking and retail display, has drawn strong opposition from aldermen, the newspaper said. Emanuel’s e-cigarette proposal has been shelved for the moment, according to the report.