MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A jury convicted five Minnesota residents and acquitted two others on Friday for their roles in a scheme to steal more than $40 million from a program that was supposed to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic. The case received widespread attention after someone tried to bribe a juror with a bag […]

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple has jumped into the race to bring generative artificial intelligence to the masses, spotlighting a slew of features Monday designed to soup up the iPhone, iPad and Mac. And in a move befitting a company known for its marketing prowess, the AI technology coming as part of free software updates […]

The Supreme Court of Canada has partly upheld an appeal from the media about a trial held in Quebec behind closed doors involving a police informant, but the high court insists no “secret trial” ever took place. The trial judge and Quebec Court of Appeal acted correctly in keeping information secret that could identify the […]

After a series of setbacks and delays, including two fires at the Lafarge cement plant in Richmond, the CRD board approved a biosolids management plan on May 14. The plan comes just in time as biosolids pile up in significant quantities at the Hartland Landfill and in the Cassidy gravel quarry south of Nanaimo. The […]

Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Alex Ruff’s “need to know” private members bill has cleared another hurdle in the House of Commons. On June 5, Ruff’s bill – C-377, An Act to Amend the Parliament of Canada Act (need to know), passed second reading. This bill will formalize the process for parliamentarians to request a secret security […]

The BC Wildfire Service has opened a Fire Origin and Cause Investigation into the May 10th Crescent Spur wildfire, says the Ministry of Forests. CN Rail is under scrutiny for alleged noncompliance with the fire prevention measures required by the Wildfire Act, according to the Province’s Natural Resource Compliance and Enforcement Database. Crescent Spur resident […]

At what age should kids be on social media? Should they be on it at all? If they aren’t, will they be social pariahs? Should parents monitor their conversations? Do parental controls work?  Navigating social media as a parent — not to mention a child — is not easy. Using social media platforms is still […]

A lawyer working with Concerned Citizens of Baynes Sound (CCOBS) — a group of Union Bay residents who came together to oppose a shipbreaking operation run by a company called Deep Water Recovery — says the government could easily shut down the ship dismantling activities if they wanted to. The site at 5084 Island Hwy. […]

U.S. antitrust enforcers have decided to investigate the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom, according to people familiar with the pending actions.  The Department of Justice will launch an investigation of chipmaker Nvidia, while the Federal Trade Commission will scrutinize close business partners Microsoft and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, according to […]

Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and a former girlfriend testified Wednesday in his gun trial about finding his crack pipes and other drug paraphernalia, and jurors saw photos of the president’s son bare-chested in a bubble bath and heard about his visit to a strip club. As the first lady sat in the front row, the courtroom […]

More than 70,000 children are seeking support through the Ontario Autism Program, but fewer than 15,000 of them are getting funding for core therapies, the province’s Financial Accountability Office said in a report Wednesday. The Progressive Conservative government has more than doubled the budget for the Ontario Autism Program, now at $720 million, but that […]

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state man who made 20 false reports of bombs and shootings around the U.S. and in Canada, prompting real emergency responses, has been sentenced to three years in prison, U.S. authorities said.  Ashton Connor Garcia, 21, of Bremerton, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday, according […]