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Misinformation can distort national debates on important issues, chief justice warns

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s chief justice is warning that the global rise in misinformation threatens national institutions and processes that underpin democracy.The Supreme Court’s Richard Wagner said in a speech today that people around the world have increasingly polarized ideas about what can be considered true.Wagner told a conference organized by the Canadian Bar Association that exposure to misinformation can increase political cynicism, change voting patterns and distort national debates on important issues.He noted that in Canada, researchers say misinformation may threaten the health and safety of the public, as well as the legitimacy of democratic processes.Wagner said a strong democracy relies on Canadians having access to diverse and reliable sources of information so they can form opinions and participate in public debates in a productive way.He pointed out, however, that fewer journalists are covering the courts across Canada as media resources dwindle.This report b...

Jill Biden is taking Indian Prime Minister Modi on side trip before Thursday’s White House visit

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden is taking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a side trip to Virginia on Wednesday, a day before his formal state visit and fancy dinner at the White House.India’s leader was arriving from New York, where earlier Wednesday he performed backbends and corpse poses during a yoga session with a multinational crowd on the lawn of the United Nations. President Joe Biden, who invited Modi for the state visit, has spent the past two days in California raising money for his reelection campaign and was due back in Washington later Wednesday.Despite deep differences with India over its record on human rights and its approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Biden nevertheless extended to Modi the administration’s third invitation for a state visit. With all the pomp and attention being paid to Modi, Biden hopes to firm up his relationship with the leader of a country the U.S. believes will be a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come. In a warmup ...

NASCAR provides an update on Chicago course construction

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

CHICAGO — As the event in early July gets closer, many are starting to see the course for the NASCAR in downtown Chicago take shape.So how is the progress going a week-and-a-half out from the inaugural Chicago Street Race on July 1 & 2?NASCAR officials provided an update on that Wednesday afternoon as the built continues around the 2.2-mile course that will be on a number of major roads in the Loop. Already a number of closures are in place for the event with more to come next week as the city prepares for its first downtown stock car race. NASCAR Chicago Street Race president Julie Giese, NASCAR civil engineering director Jeremy Casperson, and Four Leaf Productions CEO Shelley Phillips provided an update on the progress during a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.You can see that on WGN News Now coming up around Noon in the video above.

US approves chicken made from cultivated cells, the nation's first 'lab-grown' meat

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

For the first time, U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer “lab-grown” meat to the nation's restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves.The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn't come from slaughtered animals — what's now being referred to as “cell-cultivated" or “cultured” meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates.The move launches a new era of meat production aimed at eliminating harm to animals and drastically reducing the environmental impacts of grazing, growing feed for animals and animal waste.“Instead of all of that land and all of that water that's used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way," said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates Good Meat.The companies re...

The Titan submersible: What could have gone wrong?

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

A growing number of aircraft and ships from the U.S. and Canada searched Tuesday for a submersible vessel carrying five people that disappeared on its way to the wreckage of the Titanic.The U.S. Coast Guard is leading the search for the small craft, named Titan, in a remote area of the North Atlantic Ocean. OceanGate Expeditions, an undersea exploration company, has been chronicling the Titanic's decay and the underwater ecosystem around it via yearly voyages since 2021.What we know so far about the submersible, what may have gone wrong, and what's being done to find it:What's the latest on the search?A Canadian aircraft has detected underwater noises during the hunt for the submersible. The U.S. Coast Guard said via Twitter early Wednesday that as a result of the noises detected by the Canadian P-3 patrol aircraft, search efforts have been relocated and the data is being used to help guide the ongoing effort. When and where did the Titan go missing?Th...

How a rule violation helped the White Sox to a win

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

CHICAGO — At this point in the season, the White Sox will take a win, even if it took a rule violation by their opponent at home plate to get it.Tied at six in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Rangers Tuesday at Guaranteed Rate Field, Elvis Andrus appeared to have been thrown out at home by right field Travis Jankowski. Replay confirmed that the White Sox shortstop was tagged out by Texas' Jonah Heim before he got to the plate, but a technicality overturned it. It was ruled that the catcher was in the line of Andrus' slide, which is a violation, allowing the White Sox runner to get the base and score the run.Heim's violation was the difference in a 7-6 win by the home team as they win their first game of the series and improve to 32-43 on the season.Naturally, it was celebrated by the White Sox fans at Guaranteed Rate Field, but it was loathed by the Rangers, especially manager Bruce Bochy, who was ejected after arguing the call. After the conclusion of the game, he was s...

Victim of Colorado moose attack says animal was just 'doing her job as a mom'

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A man in Colorado's Coal Creek community is recovering after being attacked by a cow moose near his home on Monday morning.Rob Standerwick has lived in his home on Hummingbird Lane for 24 years. He walks the trail along Coal Creek three times a day with his dogs and has never had an encounter quite like this. Moose dies after jumping from 2nd-story deck Standerwick was once again walking his two dogs, Phantom and Magic, when he surprised the cow moose on Monday."I heard a couple of branches break and looked up and saw this cow, female moose, and she was already at full speed running right at me," Standerwick said. "I didn’t have a chance to even turn to run or get behind a bigger tree. By the time I recognized she was coming, I was on the ground."Next thing Standerwick knew, the cow was on top of him. Thinking quickly, he decided to pull out a firearm from his pocket and fire two shots into the ground. The shots scared off the moose, and he was able ...

LULAC denounces Texas 'Death Star' bill, calls it 'potential death sentence' for workers

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) raised the alarm Tuesday over Texas HB 2127, a new law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, saying that it is "tantamount to a potential death sentence for Latino and Texas workers."The law takes regulatory power away from municipalities, preventing towns and cities from creating or enforcing ordinances and rules relating to specific sections of state law. One such now-unenforceable rule is a City of Austin ordinance that mandates water breaks for construction workers every four hours.In the civil rights group's Tuesday press release, LULAC National President Domingo Garcia called Abbott and supporters of the new bill "heartless politicians who turned Texas into a plantation/patron 1900s system once again.""They will be stained with the same degree of criminal intent if workers die of heat strokes," Garcia said, "To deny water breaks to a construction worker toiling in the 100-degree-plus heat is shameful and criminal. Whi...

Lethbridge College wants to hear from southern Albertans

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

By Heather CameronSunny South NewsLocal Journalism Initiative ReporterLethbridge College is seeking input from others through a ‘Road to Ready’ Survey.“We’re making sure that we ask anyone who wants to provide an opinion about what they think of the college and where we should be and where we should be going and what’s our mission and vision gets to,” Dr. Samantha Lenci, Provost and Vice President Academic of Lethbridge College, said. “It’s really to deepen our understanding, our mission, our vision, our values, and to help us understand what our institutional priorities are.”The survey, Lenci says, was last done six years ago. This current survey, Lenci says, is being done because the current president of the college, Dr. Brad Donaldson, has an open style and thought that there have been a lot of changes in higher education within the province of Alberta after COVID, enough changes that he thought it was a good time to look at what the college does and why they do it.“The whole com...

Coaldale Pickleball Club hosts junior tournament

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:45:21 GMT

Southern Alberta NewspapersOrganizers of the Junior Pickleball Tournament in Coaldale have deemed the event a smashing success.The tournament took place on June 9 and featured competitors ages 10 to 18 years old. Originally, the event was scheduled to take place at the outdoor pickelball courts at Eastview Park in Coaldale, but due to inclement weather, had to be moved indoors. Accommodating the last minute request, the Coaldale Mennoite Church was able to offer up their gymnasium for the tournament to go ahead. The event saw over forty junior pickleball players in attendance, including international students attending Kate Andrews High School hailing from Chile, Spain, and France.Local competitors from Coaldale, Lethbridge, Warner, Wrentham, and Aetna showed up embodying the spirit of friendly competition and organizers of the event praised the, “great sportsmanship”  exhibited by all  participants throughout the day. The round robin tournament format ensured each team was able top...