Free Republic

On Thursday, Barack Obama signed an executive order that allows for the apprehension, detention, or conditional release of individuals with certain severe acute respiratory diseases, not including influenza. The executive order modifies one signed in 2003 by George Bush that allowed for the detention and quarantine of those with SARS. "Severe acute respiratory syndromes, which are diseases that are associated with fever and signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, are capable of being transmitted from person to person, and that either are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic, or, upon infection, are highly likely...

A federal grand jury has been convened in Manhattan to consider possible criminal charges arising out of civil litigation over exposure to silica and asbestos, according to lawyers involved in the civil cases. The grand jury has subpoenaed documents from at least one of the companies that screened people who later claimed they had suffered injuries as a result of exposure to silica, a material that can cause respiratory disease and that is used in making glass, paints, ceramics and other materials. The federal investigation comes amid questions about some silica-related claims that emerged in federal court proceedings in Corpus...