The Latest: Shark study group says attacks terrifying, rare
Wednesday’s attack off Cape Cod was the first such attack on a human there since 2012. Witnesses to a Massachusetts shark attack on a man say the man was swimming far off the beach. ——6:15 p.m.A man swimming off Cape Cod has been attacked by a shark and is being airlifted to a hospital. Truro was the site of the last shark attack on Cape Cod, in July 2012, when a Colorado man suffered a bite. ——5:50 p.m.A man swimming off Cape Cod has been attacked by a shark and is being airlifted to a hospital.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 22:54 UTC
The Latest: Report-CEO rethinking 'core parts' of Twitter
NEW YORK — The Latest on Twitter’s suspension of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (all times local):6 p.m. In an interview with The Washington Post, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says he is rethinking “core parts” of the social media platform. On Tuesday, Twitter restricted right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for a week, giving him a time-out that is well short of a ban. ——11:30 a.m.Twitter is joining other prominent tech companies in muzzling Alex Jones, the right-wing conspiracy theorist who’s used the tech services to spread false information. Late Tuesday, Twitter said it suspended Jones’ personal account for seven days because he violated the company’s rules against inciting violence.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 22:07 UTC
Officials unveil plan to replace Rikers with smaller jails
Mayor Bill de Blasio and other city officials said they envision more humane settings that would feature community space, ground-floor retail outlets and offices for inmate support services. A proposal for a Bronx facility even calls for rezoning a portion of the site to allow for development of affordable housing. “We’re taking a big step forward in the process of closing Rikers Island and creating a modern community-based jail system that is smaller, safer and fairer,” De Blasio said in a statement announcing details of the plan. The remake of the city jail system still faces an extensive public review process and uncertainty about its ultimate cost. They said the lower inmate populations have made dismantling the complex and replacing it with the smaller facilities, each with 1,500 beds, more viable.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 22:07 UTC
Senate study faults government care of migrant children
“Major deficiencies persist that leave the children at significant risk for trafficking and abuse and undermine our immigration system,” said the report by the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s investigations subcommittee. Once they’re with sponsors, HHS has trouble tracking them. In figures originally released in April, when officials tried calling 7,635 children late last year who’d been placed sponsors, they were uncertain where about 1 in 5 were. When HHS by law turns over children to DHS when they reach 18, it often doesn’t provide required recommendations for appropriate care. HHS has stopped providing legal services to children newly placed with sponsors because it believes it has only “shaky” authority to do so.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 21:05 UTC
Saskatchewan rural community group opposes proposed strychnine ban
REGINA — An organization that represents rural communities in Saskatchewan is urging the federal government not to ban the use of the deadly pesticide strychnine on farms. The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities says strychnine is the best way to kill gophers, which can seriously damage crops and pasture. Ray Orb, the association’s president, says it opposes the ban and wants the public consultation time extended. “We believe it is the safest product than can be used for Richardson’s ground squirrels,” Orb said Wednesday. Some farmers in Alberta also use strychnine to kill gophers to protect crops and livestock.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 21:00 UTC
Advocacy group says Toronto overdose deaths highlight need for prevention sites
TORONTO — A string of overdose deaths in a pocket of Canada’s most populous city highlights the urgent need for new overdose prevention sites, an advocacy group said Wednesday, calling on Ontario to reverse a decision to pause the opening of such facilities. The Toronto Overdose Prevention Society said a public safety alert from police about seven deaths believed linked to opioid use over 12 days shows that overdose prevention services should be expanding. “This safety warning underlines why (overdose prevention sites) are so necessary, and why ‘pausing’ them in the middle of a public health crisis is so wrongheaded,” it said. Toronto Mayor John Tory said overdose prevention sites are one of the ways “all three governments” are working on addressing the opioid epidemic. Overdose prevention sites are approved by the province and are temporary facilities set up to address an immediate need in a community, while safe injection sites are more permanent locations approved by the federal government after a more extensive application process.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 20:36 UTC
Church helped former priest accused of abuse get Disney job
The ex-priest, Edward Ganster, left the priesthood in 1990, moved to the Orlando area and went on to work at Disney World before he died in 2014. The report said Ganster worked at the theme park for 18 years. The monsignor told her Ganster would be given counselling and Ganster was promptly reassigned, the report said. Ganster wrote the Diocese to say he would apply for a job at Disney World and wanted to use the Diocese as a reference, the report said. Years later, in 2015, the mother of another victim contacted the Allentown Diocese to report that Ganster abused her then 12-year-old son in 1977, the report said.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 20:03 UTC
Cooperstown stirs emotions for dad of young baseball player
1 attraction, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which is truly a great shrine for the game. My son plays for a 12 years old-and-under travel baseball team, Michigan Blue Jays Treat, that wrapped up its season at Cooperstown Dreams Park. Cooperstown Dream Park host 13 weeklong tournaments each summer and draws the country’s best travel baseball teams from as far away as Hawaii. The tears flowed, though, on another day when walking to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Main Street, which looks like a Norman Rockwell painting. ——If You Go …COOPERSTOWN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: https://cooperstownchamber.org/——Associated Press writer Larry Lage is a sports writer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 18:45 UTC
Sassy parrot curses London firefighters trying to rescue her from neighbour's roof
Jessie’s owner called an animal rescue organization, but it too was unable to entice the blue-and-yellow macaw down. Fearing the bird might be injured, the London Fire Brigade was summoned to the home in Edmonton, a borough in the northern part of the London metro area. He told Jessie he loved her – and tried to coax her down with a bowl of feed. Soon afterward, the parrot flew to another roof, then to a tree. There, she offered a more PG-rated “thank you” to the London Fire Brigade, according to a video her owner sent to firefighters.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 18:45 UTC
Artist behind Macdonald statue says it was never intended as a monument
VANCOUVER — The man who created a controversial statue of John A. Macdonald says he’s pleased it’s sparking a conversation about the country’s horrific treatment of Indigenous peoples, but there should have been public consultation on its removal. Artist John William Dann of Vancouver says he was commissioned by the John A. Macdonald Historical Society to create the sculpture in 1981 and it was unveiled at the front entrance of Victoria’s city hall on Canada Day in 1982. Dann says he designed it not as a monument on a pedestal, but as a portrait intended to be accessible to the public that also represents a broader theme of humanity. He says removing it without public consultation has consequences and avoids an important discussion about the country’s difficult history. Victoria council voted last week to remove the sculpture of Macdonald because of his role in designing the residential school system, following consultation with the local Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 18:33 UTC
Renewed calls for overdose prevention sites following string of deaths
TORONTO — An advocacy group says a recent string of overdose deaths in a pocket of Canada’s most populous city highlights the need for new overdose prevention sites. The Toronto Overdose Prevention Society is calling on the province to reverse a decision to pause the opening of such sites, a move detailed by the health minister earlier this week. Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott has said that the government would make a decision on the fate of the overdose prevention sites, as well as more permanent facilities aimed at fighting the opioid crisis, by the end of September. Overdose prevention sites are approved by the province and are temporary facilities set up to address an immediate need in a community, while safe injection sites are more permanent locations approved by the federal government after a more extensive application process. Meantime, Toronto Mayor John Tory pointed to such sites as one of the ways “all three governments” are working on addressing the opioid epidemic.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 18:33 UTC
'All-time favourite mistake': Winnipeg filmmaker flies 2,300 km in wrong direction after boarding wrong flight
As he walked up the tarmac and onto a plane at Yellowknife Airport, Winnipeg filmmaker Christopher Paetkau had an eerie feeling that something was wrong. As he passed a First Air flight attendant, he asked, “Is this flight going to Inuvik?”“Yes, eventually,” the attendant said. So the plane headed for a destination 2,300 kilometres in the wrong direction and Paetkau unwittingly embarked on a tour of the Canadian Arctic. She took Paetkau to talk to the attendant who confirmed his flight and she was shocked. “So initially I was the joke, but then I became in on the joke.”He also became good friends with the flight crew, particularly with the flight attendant who had misunderstood his question.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 18:19 UTC
Scheer pressured to kick Maxime Bernier out of Conservative caucus over ‘divisive’ multiculturalism tweets
“His refusal to denounce these divisive comments sends a dangerous message. “While a statue of our country’s founder is being removed in one city, a park was recently named after Pakistan’s founder in another, in the presence of M-103 Liberal MP sponsor,” he wrote — a reference to controversial Liberal MP Iqra Khalid. Arif Virani, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of heritage, also called for Bernier’s ouster Wednesday — and called out Scheer for failing to condemn his caucus member’s behaviour. “I urge you to remove Mr. Bernier from your caucus immediately, otherwise Canadians will be forced to conclude that you accept his backward views,” Virani wrote. Diversity is what makes Canada strong: Trudeau https://t.co/dZmCffRBFY — Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) August 13, 2018It’s far from the first time that someone has called for Bernier to be removed from caucus.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 18:17 UTC
Republicans blast Pearl Jam poster of burning White House
— Republicans on Wednesday condemned a poster by Pearl Jam that shows the White House in flames and a bald eagle pecking at a skeleton they say is meant to depict President Donald Trump. The National Republican Senate Committee compared it to the now-infamous photo of comedian Kathy Griffin holding a fake decapitated Trump head. The message from Ament accompanying the poster included the description: “D.C. Pearl Jam was travelling Wednesday and not immediately available for comment, according to Whitney Williams, a publicist for the Missoula concert. Ament told The Associated Press in April that the band wanted to use the Montana concert to support local advocacy groups, encourage voter participation and boost Tester’s campaign.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 18:14 UTC
How a cultural obsession for dead girls gave rise to the difficult woman
Preaker, however, is reluctant; still reeling from a traumatic childhood in which her younger sister died under mysterious circumstances. The pilot episode of Twin Peaks aired three decades ago, but it didn’t kick-start a cultural obsession for dead girls. The author seemingly strives to replace the trope of the dead girl with the difficult woman who fights back. Each of these stories tells the tale of a woman abused, who eventually seeks revenge for the dark turn her life has taken. Much like Flynn seems to have propelled the evolution of the difficult woman in literature, Noxon has, too, in television.
Source:National Post
August 15, 2018 17:48 UTC