LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Sharlene Rabang and her calico cat fled the wildfire that destroyed her town on Maui and arrived at a family home on another Hawaii island after a 24-hour odyssey that included sleeping in a car. Dazed, coughing and weak, the frail but feisty 78-year-old headed straight for the bedroom. Her daughter […]

VANCOUVER — On Christmas Day, Trey Helten and colleagues at Vancouver’s Overdose Prevention Society were still at work, dealing with the latest victim of what Helten says is a seasonal spike in the drug toxicity crisis. Helten shared a photo and a story on social media on Monday describing how he and colleagues administered Naloxone […]

Rite Aid has been banned from using facial recognition technology for five years over allegations that its surveillance system was used incorrectly to identify potential shoplifters, especially Black, Latino, Asian or female shoppers. The settlement with the Federal Trade Commission addresses charges that the struggling drugstore chain didn’t do enough to prevent harm to its customers and […]

LONDON (AP) — Three of the world’s biggest porn websites face new requirements in the European Union that include verifying the ages of users, the 27-nation bloc said Wednesday, expanding the reach of its digital law designed to keep people safe on the internet. Pornhub, XVideos and Stripchat have now been classed as “very large […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Hackers accessed Xfinity customers’ personal information by exploiting a vulnerability in software used by the company, the Comcast-owned telecommunications business announced this week. In a Monday notice to customers, Xfinity said there was unauthorized access to internal systems as a result of this vulnerability — which was previously announced by software provider Citrix […]

REGINA — The Saskatchewan government received 18 official complaints in the summer before it implemented a rule preventing most children from changing their names or pronouns at school without parental consent. The emails, recently obtained by The Canadian Press through an access-to-information request, were received in June and July and offer a first look into […]

TORONTO — It’s getting harder for companies to hide their dirty secrets. Regulators around the world are increasingly forcing them to disclose their carbon emissions, along with other key climate change considerations such as how much financial risk they face. Momentum is building as the rising dangers from wildfires, droughts and floods become harder to […]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s largest city is blanketed with 10,000 cameras, license plate readers along some of the busiest roadways and special listening devices that hone in on the sound of gunfire — all part of a technological net of sorts that Albuquerque authorities say has been an integral part of addressing high […]

OTTAWA — Canada’s spy service warns that dramatic shifts caused by climate change and the ensuing fractious upheaval around the world could leave Canada vulnerable, imperilling its food and water supplies, energy security and Arctic sovereignty. Global warming will threaten security as countries and other actors seek to either bolster their economic positions or exploit […]

Another beluga whale has died at Marineland, bringing the number of whales that have died at the Niagara Falls, Ont., tourist attraction to 15 over the past four years. The province’s Animal Welfare Services has been investigating Marineland since it took over animal cruelty enforcement in 2020. “The ministry is aware of the death of […]

FIPA had the opportunity and privilege to attend and present at Government Information Days. The annual event is coordinated by an organizing committee of government info librarians who develop the programs and share hosting.

Black people in Toronto are disproportionately stopped and searched by police despite the Ontario government’s efforts to regulate so-called “street checks,” the Ontario Human Rights Commission reported Thursday as it concluded a multi-year inquiry into anti-Black racism and discrimination within the Toronto force. While official street checks appear to have been effectively eliminated, with only […]