Californians Take on Big Soda After Failed New York Ban

Voters in San Francisco, the first U.S. city to ban single-use plastic shopping bags, and Berkeley, the first to ban Styrofoam, will decide next month whether to put a tax on sodas and other sugary drinks to reduce ailments including obesity and diabetes.

The vote is the latest effort by health advocates to curb soda intake, two years after a ban on oversized sodas in New York was tied up in courts by the beverage industry and later overturned.