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Residents living across a huge area spanning three states have been warned of dangerous air pollution levels on Tuesday. Swathes of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin are all affected by poor air quality, with an area around Minneapolis covered by one of the most severe warnings. Smoke from wildfires, combined with the current weather conditions, have contributed to the pollution. Why It Matters Health officials warn that vulnerable populations — such as children, older adults and individuals with existing respiratory issues — face heightened risks during periods of poor air quality. Even healthy members of the general public may experience health...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office from inside the Capitol Rotunda on Monday due to forecasts of intense cold weather. * * * The swearing-in was last moved indoors in 1985, when President Ronald Reagan began his second term. Monday’s forecast calls for the lowest Inauguration Day temperatures since that day.

With 'near time' identified as a problem, parents urged to boosting outdoor timeNew research shows the rate of myopia among children and teens worldwide has tripled over the past three decades, with a particularly steep increase noted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A paper in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, which reviewed 276 studies published to June 2023 from around the world, concluded that more than one in three of all children and teens are nearsighted, triple what it was in 1990. "Emerging evidence suggests a potential association between the pandemic and accelerated vision deterioration among...

It has been nearly four years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but that is not stopping Bloomberg from legitimately addressing if it is “safe to dine indoors” as winter approaches and “Covid” comes “back.” In an article titled “With Covid Back and Winter Approaching, Is It Safe to Dine Indoors?” Bloomberg addressed a question from a reader, who asked if it was a bad idea to dine indoors with “Covid” and flu season on the horizon. The author, Kristen Brown, admitted that she has “no idea” how many coronavirus cases are around the city of New York right...

President Joe Biden is masking up in indoor areas yet again following first lady Jill Biden testing positive for the coronavirus for the second time, despite being double vaccinated and twice boosted. “President Biden tested negative last night for COVID-19 and tested negative again today,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday following Jill Biden testing positive for the virus on Monday.

Even unvaccinated Californians got the green light to shed masks as the state further loosened its stringent COVID-19 rules this week.CALIFORNIA — Unvaccinated Californians will no longer be required to mask up in indoor public settings, state officials announced Monday. The move marked one of the first attempts to shed sweeping restrictions for unvaccinated residents.California lifted its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 16 but did not include unvaccinated people. The state had some of the strictest pandemic rules in the nation, but Monday's announcement revoked one of the last mask requirements left in the state.Ultimately, officials maintained on Monday that...

Eighty-two percent of Democrats are willing to wear face coverings indoors at all times due to fears of contracting the omicron coronavirus variant, a Tuesday Axios-Ipsos poll revealed. Overall, 62 percent of Americans are willing to wear a mask indoors at all times, while just 38 percent of Republicans are willing to do so.

Walt Disney World will again require all guests regardless of vaccination status to wear face masks indoors and other locations beginning Friday, the resort announced late Wednesday. In addition to outdoors, face coverings will be required on Disney buses, the monorail and Disney Skyliner, Disney said.

Unvaccinated city workers will be required to wear a mask indoors at their workplaces, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday, amid a ramp up of efforts to get municipal employees inoculated. “If you are unvaccinated and you are a city employee, beginning on Monday, you must either wear a mask indoors at your worksite at all times,” de Blasio said Monday at his daily remote press briefing, “or if you prefer not to, you must immediately go get vaccinated.” The policy goes into effect next Monday, Aug. 2, and mandates that city workers that want to go mask-free provide “documented...

L.A. County officials release new Health Officer Order requiring masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. This will go into effect on Saturday night at 11:59 p.m. https://twitter.com/CBSLA/status/1415779973990785025

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) escalated his feud with the federal government's leading infectious diseases expert on Monday, calling Anthony Fauci a "petty tyrant" for suggesting Americans vaccinated against the coronavirus should not eat or drink indoors. "Fauci continues to ignore 100 years of vaccine science," Paul wrote in a tweet Monday morning. "His only real theme is 'do what I say' even when it makes no sense." Americans who have recovered from or been vaccinated against the coronavirus should "go about your life," Paul said. "Eat, drink, work, open the schools. Enough with the petty tyrants!" Fauci, during an appearance...

The people that just accidentally released millions of gallons of toxic materials into a Colorado River have come up with another brilliant plan to combat global warming. […] The Obama Administration has awarded $8 Million in government grants to nine universities to study the impact that climate change has on indoor air quality. The EPA defends the move by claiming that climate change’s effects on indoor air pollutants that lead to asthma, as well as mold and mildew, aren’t well understood. …

I am looking for recipes for a good cookout meat this Saturday. Anyone?

PROVIDENCE — With the nation’s eyes trained on former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s alleged involvement with a prostitute, Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a bill that would close the loophole in this state’s laws that makes prostitution legal if it occurs indoors. The proposed legislation has become something of a perennial bill in recent years, but has never been passed by the General Assembly. This year’s version came before the House Judiciary Committee again last night, where its sponsor, Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence, argued that extending the state’s misdemeanor prostitution statute to cover indoor activity would make it easier...

The California agency famous for putting the squeeze on automotive tailpipe emissions is poised to tackle dirty indoor air. In a hefty report to the Legislature completed this month, the California Air Resources Board asserts that indoor air can be as polluted and dangerous to breathe as outdoor air, costing the state at least $45 billion a year in lost worker productivity, medical expenses and premature deaths. Yet, by and large, the government does little to stem indoor air pollutants, which come from sources as disparate as cigarettes, gas stoves and certain types of air purifiers. "Efforts to reduce indoor...