- A man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder after setting fire to the official residence of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro has been handed a sentence of 25 to 50 years. This is a state charge, so a presidential pardon is not in the cards, assuming that the President obeys the Constitution of course...
- Donald Trump is vowing to pressure FIFA to move World Cup games scheduled for Boston next year, claiming that the city is unsafe due to a recent "street takeover" by car enthusiasts in which a cop car was set on fire. Of course Trump is ignoring the fact that these "takeovers" have been a fairly widespread phenomenon for several years and don't show any signs of political motivations. Trump is also threatening to pressure the IOC into moving the 2028 Olympics from Los Angeles, ostensibly due to the "safety concerns" from wildfires.
- Chrysler's parent company, Stellantis, has announced that it will be moving production of the Jeep Compass from Brampton, Ontario to Belvidere, Illinois. This is especially galling given that the federal and provincial governments had offered millions of dollars in funding to upgrade the Brampton assembly plant. Doug Ford claims that none of this money has flowed yet, but Brampton mayor Patrick Brown says that the province had already invested huge amounts of money to retool that plant and others to manufacture EVs. Federal Industry Minister Melanie Joly is hinting at legal action, saying that she will consider Stellantis to be "in default" due to provisions in the agreement requiring the company to "maintain its full Canadian footprint". Of course, if the feds really want to send Stellantis a message, they could seize the plant itself, then lease it to a Japanese, South Korean, European, or even Chinese automaker at a favourable rate. That would probably be a bridge too far for the Carney government, though.
- The European Union is considering imposing strict conditions on foreign investors in certain industries, requiring them to hand over technology as well as do a significant amount of manufacture in the EU using European labour if they sell products there. While this would apply to all such investors, it is widely assumed that China is the main target. For his part, French economist Thomas Piketty is calling for Europe to tax the full costs of CO2 emissions from imports.
- A high school principal in Carman, Manitoba is suing a local activist Raelyn Fox, who made social media posts alleging that she, her school, and the Prairie Rose School Division are "grooming" children and promoting child pornography. The basis for these claims seems to be that the school's library has books that Fox disapproves of, notably Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake as well as Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Based on what folks on this Reddit thread are saying, this sort of stuff is entirely on brand for Fox. I'm predicting that she loses in court, but offsets that by asking for money on GiveSendGo.
- A Saskatchewan woman had a bizarre close call when a fish fell from the sky and smashed her windshield near Turtle Lake. The most plausible explanation is that the fish was dropped by an eagle or osprey.
- An Austrian neurosurgeon is facing criminal charges after she allegedly allowed her 12 year old daughter to help with an operation by drilling a hole in the patient's skull. The patient was not harmed, but nonetheless there are reasons why you're not supposed to let your kid help you at work if you're a surgeon (or if you're a pilot for that matter).
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