Hydro-Quebec may not see full restoration until Tuesday : In The News for April 10

Regis Tellier, the utility’s vice-president of operations and maintenance, told reporters Sunday morning that power has been restored to over 90 per cent of the more than one million customers who lost electricity — including 180,000 who saw the lights come back on Saturday.

Tellier said most of Quebec’s remaining outages affect only a handful of customers, noting hydro workers are reconnecting fewer customers even though they’re working at the same pace.

Officials are also warning people not to use fuel-burning appliances inside after a number of reports of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Montreal public health said Sunday that 180 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning have been reported at emergency rooms in the city since Wednesday, including more than 50 reported since Saturday.

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Also this …

Officials at a mosque north of Toronto are set to provide more information today on an alleged hate-motivated incident that took place last week.

York Regional Police say they’re investigating the incident at the Islamic Society of Markham, which they say took place just after dawn prayers on Thursday during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

They allege a 28-year-old man came to the mosque in Markham, Ont., shouted Islamophobic slurs and drove his vehicle directly at a worshiper.

The mosque itself alleged the man went into the building, ripped up a Qur’an and delivered an Islamophobic rant, though police said Sunday those details had not been reported to them.

The suspect is now charged with one count each of assault with a weapon, uttering threats and dangerous driving.

A news conference is set to take place at the mosque at noon to provide more details on the incident.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

The investigation started roughly 29 months ago with two missing children. It soon grew to encompass five states, four suspected murders and claims of unusual, doomsday-focused religious beliefs involving “dark spirits” and “zombies.”

On Monday morning, an Idaho jury will begin the difficult task of deciding the veracity of those claims and others in the triple murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell.

Prosecutors charged Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell, with multiple counts of conspiracy, murder and grand theft in connection with the deaths of Vallow Daybell’s two youngest children: 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and big sister Tylee Ryan, who was last seen a few days before her 17th birthday in 2019.

Prosecutors also have charged the couple in connection with the October 2019 death of Chad Daybell’s late wife, Tammy Daybell.

The investigation garnered worldwide attention and was closely followed in the rural eastern Idaho community where the bodies of the children were found buried in Chad Daybell’s yard. As a result, Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce moved the trial more than 320 kilometres east to the city of Boise.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty, but only Vallow Daybell’s trial begins Monday. The cases have been separated, and Chad Daybell’s trial is still months away. Vallow Daybell faces up to life in prison if convicted.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

China’s military sent several dozen warplanes and warships toward Taiwan in a large-scale exercise that simulated sealing off the island in response to its president’s trip to the U.S.

The Chinese military earlier had announced three-day “combat readiness patrols” which it called Joint Sword, as a warning to Taiwan, a self-ruled island which China claims as its own. Beijing says contact between foreign officials and the island’s democratic government encourages Taiwanese who want formal independence, a step China’s ruling Communist Party says would lead to war.

The sides split in 1949 after a civil war, and the ruling party says the island is obliged to rejoin the mainland, by force if necessary. Military analysts suggest that in the event of a war, China may block sea and air traffic around Taiwan, preventing the United States, Japan or other nations from intervening or sending supplies to help the island defend itself.

China’s latest military actions follow President Tsai Ing-wen’s delicate diplomatic mission to shore up Taiwan’s dwindling alliances in Central America and boost its U.S. support, a trip capped with a sensitive meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California. A U.S. congressional delegation also met with Tsai over the weekend in Taiwan after she returned.

China responded to the McCarthy meeting by imposing a travel ban and financial sanctions against those associated with Tsai’s U.S. trip and with increased military activity through the weekend.

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On this day in 1997 …

Manitoba began bracing for what turned out to be the highest Red River flood levels since 1852. The province formally requested the army’s help in sandbagging efforts. What was dubbed the “Flood of the Century” turned southern Manitoba into a lake and forced 28,000 people from their homes as entire towns were cut off behind ring dikes.

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In entertainment …

Actor Diana-Maria Riva is all too familiar with one of her shows being cancelled. For a performer, it’s a painful, unfortunate part of show business. But this was different.

In December, Riva was floored when she found out that “Gordita Chronicles,” her recently canceled family comedy, would be removed from HBO Max’s vast streaming library _ one of dozens of shows that HBO last year effectively wiped from existence for U.S. viewers.

Among others: “Westworld,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” “Minx,” “Mrs. Fletcher” and numerous animated and reality series.

For Riva, the developments were crushing. Over 10 episodes, the critically lauded series followed a plus-sized 12-year-old named Cucu as she and her Dominican family adapt to life in 1980s Miami.

“It was as if somebody had broken up with you and then came back to remind you a couple of weeks later that we’ve broken up,” says Riva, who played Cucu’s mother. “It was already heartbreaking. But then it’s an added punch to just say, `Now we’re going to wipe the evidence of you ever having been here.”’

As streamers face mounting pressure to save money, several have followed HBO’s lead. Erasing original shows from their libraries can help streamers get tax write-downs and, to a smaller extent, save on residual payments. But it brings criticism that they are sidelining already marginalized voices and shortchanging creatives out of already slimmer residual paychecks. These issues have increased tension between executives and writers amid union contract negotiations that started late last month and could lead to a significant work stoppage this spring.

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Did you see this?

After 44 years as the face of Canada’s premier science TV show, you might expect David Suzuki to feel a little sadness and a little nostalgia as he steps down as host of “The Nature of Things.” Not so.

“Happy as hell,” he laughs over Zoom from his Vancouver office.

“I’m an old guy. It’s the next stage of my life. What the hell _ it’s reality.”

Friday night marks Suzuki’s last appearance as the host of the show that was founded in 1960 and which he, after taking over as host in 1979, turned into a byword for science outreach. Over nearly four and a half decades, he’s led Canadians on a journey through topics as outre as bug sex and animal music, and as serious as the Underground Railroad and the fight to preserve old-growth forests.

But Suzuki, 87, says the most important thing he’s learned over the years has nothing to do with the subjects of his show’s hundreds of episodes.

“Hanging in is the most important thing,” he says.

“Television is a medium where the latest thing is all wow-wow. Every fall you get the launch of all the new shows and, by the end of the season, 90 per cent of them are gone. And there’s old ‘Nature Of Things’ still chugging along and still pulling in an audience.

“The most important thing is to keep getting our message out.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2023.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Hydro-Quebec may not see full restoration until Tuesday : In The News for April 10

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