The Friday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

Highlights from the news file for Friday, March 3

———

OPIOID CRISIS ON PM’S MIND: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received a first hand look at the opioid crisis in British Columbia Friday.  He accompanied Vancouver police on a patrol through the city’s Downtown Eastside today and discussed the problem with first responders and health-care workers. Trudeau says opioids are devastating communities and families across Canada. He says his government has expanded access to the opioid antidote naloxone and is trying to make it easier for communities to open safe consumption sites.

———

OPIOIDS POSE PROBLEMS FOR OFFICIALS IN SOUTHWEST ONTARIO:  Public health officials in Windsor, Ont., are trying determine the extent of an opioid problem.  The rate of opioid-linked deaths in the Windsor area was more than double the provincial rate in 2015, according to a recently released report from the local health unit. Dr. Wajid Ahmed, associate medical officer of health with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit says the local opioid problem is a concern.

Event Centre funding

City may hire lobbyist for event centre money

12h ago

International honours

Raiders' Kubiesa to represent Czechia at IIHF U18 Men's World Championship

15h ago

Learn the signs

How often should you change your brakes?

19h ago

———

TRUDEAU GOVERNMENT ISN’T CONFIRMING MEDIA REPORT ON KEYSTONE:  The Prime Minister’s Office isn’t confirming a media report that the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project is exempt from President Donald Trump’s directive that all U.S. infrastructure projects be built with American steel. The U.S. news outlet Politico is reporting that Keystone XL would qualify for an exemption because it does not meet the definition of a new pipeline project. The PMO says if the report is true, the exemption would be a welcome recognition that the Canada and U.S. steel industries are deeply integrated and support jobs on both sides of the border.

———

SENTENCING HEARING HELD FOR ALBERTA WOMAN WHO KILLED DAUGHTER: The father of a nine-year-old girl who was drugged and killed by her mother says he will never forgive Laura Coward. Duane Lucius told a sentencing hearing in Calgary that he can’t understand how she could do such a thing to her own child. Coward, 50, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last month in the death of Amber Lucius. The charge carries an automatic life sentence and Friday’s hearing is to determine parole eligibility.  The court was told that Coward had given Amber a toxic but non-lethal dose of a prescription sleeping medication. When she woke up, she thought Amber had died and panicked, so she set the truck on fire with Amber unconscious inside.

———

PROTESTS PLANNED OVER NS SEX ASSAULT RULING: Some people are demanding a Nova Scotia judge be removed from the bench over the acquittal of a Halifax taxi driver who was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in his cab.  Judge Gregory Lenehan ruled this week that the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman did not consent to sexual activity. Two demonstrations are being planned next week in Halifax to press for a review of the ruling.  An online petition has also been started that calls for a formal inquiry into the decision.

———

NEW BRUNSWICK UNIVERSITY TRYING TO BLOCK MALICIOUS EMAILS: The University of Moncton says it’s doing everything it can to block malicious emails targeting a female student being sent to students and staff.  A ninth email made it through to thousands of addresses on its system late Thursday, but was quickly deleted from the university’s server. The series of mass emails, some of which contained naked photos of a female student and a threat toward the university, started arriving last Saturday. University President Raymond Theberge told a Friday news conference that the messages are difficult to block because the perpetrator uses several identities.

———

PUBLIC SAFETY MINISTER TO GET FIRST HAND LOOK INTO ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS: Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale is expected to spend his Saturday at the Manitoba border town where dozens of people have been crossing illegally from the U.S. in recent weeks. Ralph Goodale wants to observe what’s happening on the ground in Emerson. Goodale is expected to meet and thank local officials who played a major role assisting the 90 people who have arrived in the small community since the start of the year, as well has hundreds before that.

———

CRTC DENIES BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR SUPER BOWL RATINGS DIP: Canada’s broadcast regulator denies its controversial decision to end a ban on U.S. Super Bowl ads had anything to do with a drop in ratings for the Canadian broadcasts of this year’s big game. Bell Media says an average of 4.47 million viewers tuned in to watch last month as the New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime — 39 per cent fewer viewers than in 2016.  In the days following the game, Bell — owner of CTV, CTV Two and TSN — blamed the decline on the 2015 decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. But the CRTC says any link between a drop in ratings and the advertising decision “tenuous.”

———

SPEED MADE DINOSAURS STAND ON TWO FEET:  Paleontologists at the University of Alberta have a new theory explaining why some dinosaurs stood on two feet instead of four —— a need for speed. Earlier creatures called proto-dinosaurs originally walked on all fours, but at one point evolved to stand upright. That trait was passed on to their much larger dinosaur descendants. A paper published this month in The Journal of Theoretical Biology says getting on two legs enabled them to run faster and further.

———

PENCE DEFENDS SESSIONS AND HIS RUSSIAN COMMENTS: Vice-President Mike Pence says he did not know of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ meetings with the Russian ambassador but dismissed the criticism of the top law enforcement official. Speaking to reporters in Wisconsin, Pence said he and President Donald Trump have full confidence in Sessions. Pence called him a “man of intergrity.” Pence says Sessions’ answer to the Senate Judiciary Committee while under oath was “clearly unintentional.” Pence says Sessions could have answered the question more clearly. He says Sessions “corrected the record appropriately, and we’re just very confident in his ability to lead this agency and respect his decision to recuse himself.”

———

The Canadian Press