News roundup, 5 Nov 2025

- Zohran Mamdani has won the New York City mayoral election, despite Trump's threats to cut funding to the city (evidently New Yorkers are less easily cowed than Argentinians). He will be the city's first south Asian and Muslim mayor as well as its youngest in over a century. The turnout was the highest in decades as well. He's got a big job ahead of him, in any case. This may also set up a confrontation between Trump and state governor Kathy Hochul, who has so far managed to deal more effectively with the orange monster than most blue state governors.

- California voters have voted "yes" in a referendum on gerrymandering House seats in order to fight similar gerrymandering by Republicans in other states. The referendum was necessary because the state has an independent electoral commission; the commission will resume its redistricting duties in 2030.

- The Carney government has presented its budget. It appears to be a pretty small-c conservative budget, with cuts to the size of the public service expected in the next few years and more spending shifted towards defense, as well as significant cuts to immigration. Most ominously, there are hints of doing away with the emissions cap for oil and gas (though it is being spun as something that "would create the circumstances whereby the oil and gas emissions cap would no longer be required"). And stupidly, it also includes the elimination of a tax on underused housing and luxury taxes on private aircraft and yachts. Evidently some moderate conservatives like it; a longtime Conservative MP, Chris d'Entremont, who represents the Nova Scotia riding of Acadie—Annapolis, has resigned from his party's caucus and is considering crossing the floor to join the Liberals.

- A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter, operated by UPS, crashed into an industrial area moments after takeoff from Louisville, Kentucky. At least 7 deaths have been reported so far; this number is expected to rise, however, as the aircraft was carrying enough fuel to get it to Honolulu.

- The Ford government is taking away Toronto's power to require green roofs on new construction. The move was made by order in council; they seem to be justifying it in terms of the costs of building new housing.

- Some pro-Israel organizations are calling for the head of Toronto mayor Olivia Chow after she dared to use the G-word to describe what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians. The B’nai Brith’s director of research and advocacy says Chow has "chosen to instigate those who engage against the Jewish community". 

- A Toronto woman whose "pitbull-like dog" attacked a child in a playground, causing life-altering injuries, may be facing prison time following her conviction for criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Prosecutors are calling for a three year sentence due to the egregiousness of the situation; the dog had been previously deemed dangerous after it attacked another dog and its owner in the elevator of her building, but nonetheless she let it off leash in a playground where dogs of any sort, much less dangerous ones, are prohibited. Oh, and the dog's name was Capo, which leads one to believe that its viciousness was not a bug but a feature. The fact that she has 15 previous criminal convictions doesn't help her case either.

- Former US vice-president Dick Cheney has died at the age of 84.

News roundup, 5 Dec 2024

- The number of homicides in rural and small-town Manitoba has surged in the last year. A total of 55 have been reported so far this year in jurisdictions policed by the RCMP; by comparison there were only 30 confirmed homicides and 3 suspicious deaths in the entirety of last year.

- A location has been tentatively selected for Manitoba's first supervised consumption site (not counting bars of course). The location is on Disraeli near Henry Street; concerns are being raised by some about the proximity of Argyle Alternative High School, but the government has assured the Winnipeg School Division that they will not proceed unless the site is secure.

- Former Conservative party leadership candidate (and current Brampton mayor) Patrick Brown has been summoned to testify before a parliamentary committee regarding allegations of Indian interference in Canadian politics. This includes the accusation that volunteers on Brown's leadership campaign, including MP Michelle Rempel Garner, were pressured to withdraw their support; according to someone connected to the campaign, Rempel Garner was approached by representatives of the Indian consulate who warned that it "was not in her best interest" to continue working with Brown. Rempel Garner denies this, however.

- French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government has been defeated, as expected, in a non-confidence vote, though they are expected to remain in a caretaker position until a new government is appointed. President Emmanuel Macron is expected to address the nation today, but finding an actual solution to the problem may be difficult as France's parliament is split into three similar-sized blocs, none of which is keen to work with the others.

- Amnesty International has joined the ranks of those who condemn Israel's actions in Gaza as genocidal, while acknowledging that the attacks on Israel that were the immediate trigger for the attacks were also atrocities.

- The CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a division of the largest health insurer in the US, was shot dead outside the hotel where he was about to speak at a conference of investors in the company. The suspect currently remains at large.

- A nun is among those arrested in Italy in a crackdown on the country's most powerful mafia network. Prosecutors allege that she served as a conduit between the gang and its incarcerated associates while serving as a volunteer at prisons. Two former politicians from parties associated with the country's rightwing government were also caught in the net.