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Ministerial mandate letter fight about accountable government, CBC lawyer tells court

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

OTTAWA — The CBC’s fight to see mandate letters for Ontario cabinet ministers goes to “the very core” of what freedom-of-information regimes are designed to foster, a lawyer for the public broadcaster told the country’s top court Tuesday.These elements are an informed public, accountable government and, ultimately, the democratic process, Justin Safayeni argued in the Supreme Court of Canada.The court heard oral arguments concerning Ontario’s attempt to block the release of 23 letters Premier Doug Ford wrote to cabinet ministers shortly after his Progressive Conservative government took office five years ago. The Ontario government contends the disclosure of mandate letters would reveal the substance of deliberations of the premier and his cabinet, breaching a key tenet of Westminster-style government. A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court reserved judgment in the case until a later date after hearing from the parties and several interveners.The dis...

‘Done and dusted’: Liberal’s controversial online streaming bill back before Senate

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

OTTAWA — The Liberal government’s controversial online-streaming bill was back in the upper chamber on Tuesday, with one senator who had earlier opposed it saying she expected it to pass.After more than a year of debate and revisions, Alberta Sen. Paula Simons said she would really like to see Bill C-11 “done and dusted” this week, and not because she wants to ram it through. “For all the cynicism about the Senate, I think the Senate showed its merits with this bill,” Simons said in a recent interview. “And I think we did a really good job of debating and discussing it.”Last month, the House of Commons adopted most of the Senate’s amendments, which included measures to highlight the promotion of Indigenous languages and Black content creators and a change that sought to “reaffirm” the independence and freedom of expression of creators. Senators also tweaked the bill to ensure that funds collected from tech giants would go t...

Diehard Leafs fan from Scotland preparing for late-night playoff games

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

It’s that time of year Maple Leafs fans love and dread. Playoff hockey starts Tuesday night with game one of the seven match-up ceremonies against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Scotiabank Arena.Leafs fans know all too well about the nervousness, stress, high blood pressure and even some nausea watching playoff hockey. But what about adding in a 3 a.m. start time?Well, that’s what Victoria Stewart has to go through, a die-hard Maple Leafs fan who lives in Dundee, Scotland.Stewart said she stays up until five in the morning for every game since she first fell in love with the team.She stumbled upon the Leafs while taking in a local hockey game years ago and falling in love with the sport. So, there’s professional hockey over here and I just happened to go along with a friend one night and got really hooked up.”“I downloaded the NHL app… and it came up with a list of teams and there was just something about the Toronto Maple Leafs that stuck out. I ...

Lawsuit: Man’s jail death caused by inadequate medical care

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The family of a man who died in a jail in Atlanta’s suburbs said his death could have been prevented if he had received proper medical attention for an ulcer that caused internal bleeding.Deion Strayhon’s family filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against NaphCare Inc., a private company contracted to provide medical care at the Gwinnett County Jail, as well as several doctors and nurses who treated Strayhon. The lawsuit filed Friday says Strayhon, 26, repeatedly complained of stomach pain, vomiting, constipation and being unable to eat from March 23, 2021, until he was found dead in his cell on April 16, 2021. None of the doctors or nurses who treated him tried to find the cause of his pain, the lawsuit alleges.An autopsy showed that Strayhon died from bleeding caused by a large ulcer in his small intestine that “eroded into a blood vessel, causing bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract,” the lawsuit says.NaphCare did not immediately respond Tuesd...

Oklahoma sheriff says recording of killing talk was illegal

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

An Oklahoma sheriff’s office says a newspaper’s audio recording in which the sheriff and others are reportedly heard discussing killing two journalists and hanging Black people was illegal and predicted felony charges will be filed.A post on the sheriff’s office Facebook page — the agency’s first public comment since the comments by Sheriff Kevin Clardy and others were reported by the McCurtain Gazette-News — does not address the recorded discussion, but calls the situation “complex” and one “we regret having to address.”The threatening comments by the officials that were recorded have sparked outrage and protests. Oklahoma’s GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt and state Rep. Eddy Dempsey, a Republican who represents the area, have called for Clardy and others to resign. NAACP leaders in Oklahoma also called for the FBI and the Department of Justice to investigate.The sheriff’s statement calls the past 72 hours “amongst the most difficult and disruptive in recent memo...

Air Force unit in document leaks case loses intel mission

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force is investigating how a lone airman could access and distribute possibly hundreds of highly classified documents, and in the meantime has taken away the intelligence mission from the unit where the leaks took place, Air Force leaders said Tuesday.Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Congress he has directed the Air Force inspector general to go look at the Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira served and look at “anything associated with this leak that could have gone wrong.” Teixeira, 21, was charged Friday in the U.S. District Court in Boston with unauthorized removal and retention of classified and national defense information. He is expected back in court for a hearing Wednesday. The leaks have raised questions as to how a single airman could have removed so many documents without being detected, why there were not safety checks in place and how the documents could ...

Chicago woman charged after altercation, crash at gas station in Forest Park

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

FOREST PARK, IL — A 31-year-old woman has been charged after a verbal altercation at a gas station led to two crashes in Forest Park.Police said the incident happened at the Thornton's Gas Station, located at 601 Harlem Avenue, around 3:10 p.m. Sunday. An investigation revealed the woman, identified as Kendra Nance of Chicago, was the passenger in a vehicle her boyfriend was driving. The couple pulled into the gas station due to car troubles and soon after engaged in a verbal dispute with other customers.According to police, customers threw an object at the vehicle the couple was in. Nance's boyfriend then exited the vehicle, and she entered the driver’s seat as the verbal dispute continued between the two groups.Police said Nance's boyfriend attempted to stop her and opened the car door, before she purposely crashed the vehicle into the car belonging to the other group — dragging her boyfriend through the parking lot while doing so.  She then fled at a high-rate of s...

Cook County correctional officer charged; accused of beating inmate 'more than 30 times'

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

CHICAGO — A Cook County correctional officer has been charged after he allegedly beat an inmate "more than 30 times" last year.Richard Smith, 44, is charged with official misconduct and aggravated battery following an incident at Cook County Jail on Sept. 20, 2022.Smith allegedly struck a 24-year-old inmate inside the jail's residential treatment unit "more than 30 times." Smith, who has been employed by the Cook County Sheriff's Office since 2010, was removed from working with individuals in custody following the incident as the investigation unfolded, authorities said.The condition of the 24-year-old was not given, but a press release states he was "treated for his injuries."Sheriff Tom Dart's office said cameras were the reason Smith was caught. A supervisor reviewing camera footage noticed the incident and reported it, authorities said.Smith was issued a $50,000 bond Tuesday. Police: Man helping get goose out of road struck, killed in suburbs The Cook County Sheriff's Office s...

2nd 14-year-old charged in shooting death of international GSU graduate student

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

CHICAGO — A second 14-year-old boy is charged in the death of a Governors State University graduate student who police said was shot and killed during a robbery near a Walmart on the city's South Side in January.The male juvenile was arrested Monday in the 1200 block of W. 83rd St. in connection with the shooting death of international student Devsish Nanpedu. SEE ALSO: Boy, 14, charged in shooting death of Governors State University graduate studentAccording to police, on Jan. 22, 23-year-old Nanpedu and another man were approached by two juveniles who demanded their personal belongings in the 8400 block of S. Holland in Princeton Park, near Walmart.Nanpedu and the man complied but were shot, police added. Both victims were taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, where Nanpedu later died from his injuries.A spokesperson for the university called the incident "a tragic loss of life for his family and the GSU community."Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesThe 14-year-ol...

DOJ seeking longest sentence yet for Jan. 6 defendant

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:06 GMT

(The Hill) – The Department of Justice (DOJ) will seek a 24-year prison sentence for a Jan. 6 rioter convicted of assaulting police officers, which if imposed would be the longest term of any case related to the 2021 attack at the Capitol. In a sentencing memo submitted on Monday, federal prosecutors argued that Peter Schwartz already had a lengthy criminal record before the events on Jan. 6, when he and others assaulted groups of officers. Schwartz, a Uniontown, Pennsylvania native, was convicted last December of several charges for his role in the Capitol insurrection, including four counts of felony assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers using a dangerous weapon. The DOJ said that Schwartz — who traveled to Washington, D.C. with his then-wife Shelley Stallings — “stole chemical munitions, including pepper spray, that had been left behind by the fleeing officers and used that pepper spray as a weapon to attack those same officers as they desperately tried...