Free Republic

At least four people have died after contracting a severe respiratory illness that has spread to more than 40 states, public health officials announced on Wednesday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CBS Connecticut/AP) — The Rhode Island Health Department says a child has died from complications of an unusual respiratory virus that has been affecting children across the U.S. Health officials said Wednesday that the 10-year-old girl died last week of a staph infection associated with the enterovirus 68 infection, which it called “a very rare combination.” “We are all heartbroken to hear about the death of one of Rhode Island’s children,” Dr. Michael Fine, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, said in a statement. “Many of us will have EV-D68. Most of us will have very...

The Obama administration is initiating a program to give refugee status to some young people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in response to the influx of unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. Under the program, immigrants from those countries who are lawfully in the United States will be able to request that child relatives still in those three countries be resettled in the United States as refugees. The program would establish in-country processing to screen the young people to determine if they qualify to join relatives in the U.S.