News roundup, 1 May 2026

- New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, long a bogeyman for the political right and centre, is now taking some flak from left-identifying folks over plans to build a "climate innovation hub" on vacant city property. The concern seems to be that the area surrounding the site is a traditionally working-class area and that by bringing highly paid professional jobs into the area it will fuel gentrification. I can understand the concern to a degree, but this is New York we're talking about; the gentrification ship sailed long ago.

- Besides oil, among the most important commodities shipped through the Strait of Hormuz are fertilizers; around a third of the world's supply passes through the strait. If this goes on it will mean lower crop yields around the world. This is not expected to cause food shortages in rich countries, which will be able to outbid others, but the global cost could be up to 10 million meals per week.

- A use of force expert testifying at the inquest into the fatal police shooting of teenager Eisha Hudson says that the shooting was not justified. The officer who shot her claimed that the vehicle Hudson was driving was moving towards officers, however video taken by a witness appears to contradict this, with the shots being fired as the vehicle was reversing away from the cops.

- Winnipeg's Red River College Polytechnic is shutting down several programs, some of them permanently, and laying off 26 staff. Several other programs are having their capacity reduced. Both the Manitoba Government Employees' Union, which represents staff at the college, and the provincial government are blaming the caps placed on international student visas by the federal government.

- Winnipeg city council has removed Transcona councillor Russ Wyatt from all city committees following sexual assault allegations against him. 

- Intercity bus service is returning to Manitoba after an eight year absence, as the German company FlixBus (which purchased Greyhound in 2021) has announced a route between Winnipeg and Regina with a stop in Brandon.

- The Toronto suburb of Brampton leads the country in mortgage delinquencies among medium to large cities. The city was considerably below the national average only seven years ago; housing prices there surged in 2022 and some of those mortgages are now renewing at higher rates as a result of the Iran war.

- A man suspected in the murder of a five year old indigenous girl in the Australian city of Alice Springs was beaten unconscious by a mob; after he was taken to hospital a riot occurred outside the facility. Protesters were calling for traditional "payback"; the child's family have, however, appealed for calm.

News roundup, 16 Oct 2025

- 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).

News roundup, 6 Nov 2024

- And it's over. Donald Trump has defeated Kamala Harris and will be going back into the White House. I plan to say more about this later. It's worth noting, though, that while several false bomb threats were called into polling stations in swing states, that almost certainly was not the reason. It may not even be possible to blame the electoral college, as unfair as that institution is - as of this post, Trump is leading in the popular vote as well. No, unfortunately much of the blame for this debacle lies squarely on the American people.

- A team of outreach workers and volunteers is conducting a "street census" of homeless people in Winnipeg, while St. Boniface Street Links is trying to finalize a deal with the City of Winnipeg to lease a city-owned building as a service centre for the homeless community. Contrast the situation one province to the east, where as mentioned previously mayors of several cities in Ontario are calling for the provincial government to use the notwithstanding clause to enable them to clear out encampments, much to the chagrin of activists (and indeed anyone capable of recognizing that such measures are not going to cause homeless people to disappear).

- There's been yet another violent carjacking in Winnipeg; this one occurred in Elmwood and the victim was a delivery driver.

- The Regional Municipality of Waterloo is hoping to move ahead with plans for additional bike lanes, even as the provincial government prepares to make it more difficult. Perhaps they hope to get them under the wire before new provincial legislation comes into effect to make it more difficult, and that Doug Ford won't use a special regulation to force their removal simply because he doesn't have to drive down those streets.

- Three people have been charged after violent protests at places of worship in Brampton, Ontario. One happened at a Hindu temple while another was at a Sikh gurdwara. Of course, Pierre Poilievre can't help but say that it's all Trudeau's fault.

News roundup, 30 Oct 2024

- The federal government reportedly plans to build a high speed rail link between Toronto and Quebec City, with stops in Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Laval. Of course, they have little or no chance of being reelected next year, so they don't have to worry about being made to follow through on the plans; instead they presumably hope to blame the Conservatives when the latter inevitably cancel the project.

- Several Liberal MPs are trying to force a secret ballot vote by the entire party caucus on Justin Trudeau's leadership. Such a vote would be non-binding; whether it would have sufficient force to overcome Trudeau's ego is an open question.

- Donald Trump's campaign is disavowing a joke made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but not the numerous other hateful remarks made by Hinchcliffe and others at the event. The rally is already drawing comparisons with another rally held at the same venue in 1939 by the German American Bund. Some Trump supporters seem to be worried about the optics of the whole thing.

- Japan's ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, has lost its parliamentary majority in a snap election on Monday. The opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the only other party to have ever formed government since 1945, was the main beneficiary.

- Winnipeg police are investigating after numerous Stars of David were drawn on the sidewalk outside the Food Fare location on Portage Avenue. The store owner, who is Palestinian, commented that "If somebody went and drew a Palestinian flag in front of an Israeli or Jewish-owned store or business, I think it would be investigated as a hate crime. So in my eyes, this is definitely [one]".

- The University of Toronto's School of the Environment has announced that they will be refusing donations from fossil fuel companies; this is a positive development, but it's noteworthy that Princeton University, which made a similar move in 2022, reversed this decision earlier this year, saying that prohibiting individual faculty members from accepting such funding could be counterproductive (the U of T's policy does not constrain individual faculty members in the same way). And while Princeton says they will continue to divest from fossil fuel companies, they will no longer track their divestiture publicly.

- The city of Brampton, Ontario is trying to crack down on illegal rentals. Awkwardly, a city councillor is listed as co-owner of a house with a suite that was illegally rented out. When confronted about this, he initially denied ownership, then accused "City Hall insiders" of "leaking" the information.