Free Republic

Students at a Washington state school had been told they had to wear masks at all times — even while chewing their food during lunch. The bizarre COVID-19 protocols at the Geiger Montessori School in Tacoma, just outside Seattle, said students had to wear masks in the cafeteria and could lower them “only to take a bite or drink.” Principal Neil O’Brien spoke of the measures at a Parent Teacher Student Association meeting as recently as Sept. 14, according to the meeting’s minutes. “We all wear masks, even in cafeteria. Geiger practices spreading children out during meals, lowering only to...

There was a time that chewing tobacco was as much a part of baseball as Louisville Slugger, Rawlings and Gatorade. Not anymore. This summer, Chicago will become the fourth American city to ban smokeless chewing tobacco at sports venues -- including Major League Baseball ballparks Wrigley Field and U.S. Cellular Field. That means not only can't fans use the substance, but players and managers can't, either. And it's a law that has some members of the Chicago Cubs less than thrilled. <> Chicago follows Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston in implementing the ban at sporting venues. The entire state...

A chemistry student in the Ukraine was found dead with his jaw blown off by what is believed to be exploding chewing gum, according to reports. The 25-year-old's disfigured remains were discovered at his parent's home in the northern Ukrainian city of Konotop, reports in the Eastern European country said. The young man, who studied at Kiev Polytechnic Institute, was working at a computer late on Saturday when the alleged explosion happened.

Singapore relaxes chewing gum ban Chewing gum will no longer be a criminal offence in Singapore - but it will only be sold on prescription. Chief negotiator Tommy Koh said that the 10-year ban is being relaxed as part of the free trade deal with the US. Sugarless gum prescribed by doctors and dentists as having therapeutic and medicinal benefits will be sold in pharmacies. Singapore outlawed the import, manufacture and sale of chewing gum in 1992, arguing that discarded lumps of gum were hard to clean from its tidy streets and that it stuck in train doors. Some locals...