There are many godfathers in music. The Godfather of Rock? Well, there’s the King, Elvis Presley, but Chuck Berry is probably a more accurate choice…the Godfather of Funk and Soul? James Brown. The godfathers of hip-hop? DJ Kool Herc was the O.G. Run-D.M.C. should be in there, too, along with Afrika Bambaataa, Spoonie Gee, and Fab 5 Freddy. How about the Godfather of Punk? Iggy Pop, no question. But what about the Fathers of Punk? I’m going to say that title belongs to Ramones, period, full stop, end of discussion. Wait: back up. In the early 1800s, an American pioneer named John Chapman travelled from Massachusetts, collecting seeds from Pennsylvania cider presses, and for the rest of his life, he planted thousands of apple trees through what is now Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Chapman was given the nickname “Johnny Appleseed” because wherever he went, apple trees sprouted in his wake. In the mid-1970s, the Ramones—four middle-class kids from Forest Hills in Queens—began to have the same effect with a new style of rock and roll known as “punk.” Whenever they played a town on one of their endless tours, new bands would inevitably start popping up just a few days later. What began as a cartoonish attempt at making goofy bubblegum pop music—think of what The Beach Boys might sound like if they sniffed glue and took a lot of meth—the Ramones stumbled on something profound and eternal. It was all a big, happy, dumb accident. The Ramones had no idea they were about to change the world of music. They were just four regular guys who wanted to rock in the most basic way. They certainly accomplished that—but they also reminded everyone that when it comes to the power and joy of rock, sometimes “less” is “more.” They gave rock ’n’ roll a much-needed kick in the ass, and it took a long time for them to be recognized for what they gave us. They got punk going on both sides of the Atlantic. The guys who would eventually become The Clash worshipped them. The Sex Pistols took cues from them. They’d go on to be an influence on hardcore, metal, thrash, grunge, and every flavour of guitar-based alt-rock. Fans include Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Metallica, Soundgarden, Pixies, Faith No More, Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam, The Strokes, The Offspring, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N’ Roses, Motörhead, Green Day, Blink-182, Rancid, Fall Out Boy, and hundreds—probably thousands—of others. This (2026) is an important year in Ramones history. It’s the 25th anniversary of Joey Ramone’s death, the first member of the band to leave us. It’s the 30th anniversary of the last Ramones show, and it’s the 50th anniversary of the release of their debut album. Let’s cover all of that with this triple tribute to one of the greatest and most important bands in the history of rock. Songs heard on this show (all by the Ramones except the last one):

• • Sheena is a Punk Rocker

• • Judy is a Punk (demo)

• • Beat on the Brat

• • Blitzkrieg Bop

• • Teenage Lobotomy

• • I Wanna Be Sedated

• • Do You Remember Rock’n’Roll Radio?

• • Chinese Rocks

• • Anyway You Want It

• • U2, The Miracle of Joey Ramone

Here’s Eric Wilhite’s playlist. The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on these stations:

• • 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm

• • Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm

• • Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm

• • 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm

• • FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm

• • Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 10am and 10pm

• • 107-3 The Edge/Calgary – Sundays at 10am and 10pm

• • Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm

• • The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 9am and 9pm

• • The Fox/Vancouver – Sundays at 10am and 10pm

• • The Goat Network/Interior BC

• • WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Our lesson on radio frequencies continues. We’ve looked at FM, AM, longwave, and shortwave. What else is there?

Well, there’s DAB, which stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting. It’s a standard used in Europe, Asia, and Australia that, in some countries like Norway, has replaced AM and FM altogether. On the radio spectrum, it gets 175.928 to 239.200 MHz, which puts it slightly above standard FM radio.

We will never see DAB radio in North America. We tried to implement it in the early 2000s, but there was little appetite for the kind of investment it required. Instead, we got HD-Radio, a digital signal which basically hitchhikes on what’s called the “sidebands” of standard AM and FM frequencies. It hasn’t really taken off, but chances are you have HD-Radio in your car.

One more radio story next time.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The number of Canadians who say they’re being targeted by digital fraud in online communities like dating platforms is above the global average, according to a new survey.

TransUnion released the results of a survey conducted near the end of 2025 on Wednesday, which asked nearly 13,000 participants from 18 countries, including about 1,000 Canadians, about their online experiences where they suspected they may have been targeted by digital fraud attempts.

When using online communities (like online dating and forums), the suspected rate of digital fraud attempts among Canadian participants was 11.9 per cent. That was up 63 per cent from a year earlier and higher than the global average of 8.1 per cent.

These types of digital attacks in online communities can be “relationship-driven fraud.”

“We see video gaming becoming more mainstream, things like social media and the online communities around those becoming more popular,” says Andrew Sigfrid, director of fraud analytics at TransUnion Canada.

“This popularity, this growth definitely then creates an incentive for fraudsters to enter these ecosystems to create relationship-driven fraud to not necessarily gain monetization right at that point in time, but to unpack that identity and build that relationship, build that trust to get the information they need to monetize it in the future.”

Unlike digital fraud attempts that may involve data breaches that hack websites and steal information, these community-based digital threats are occurring where threat actors engage directly with consumers to gain their trust.

This can be done through social media platforms, online gaming communities, forums and even dating apps and websites.

“There’s lots of examples that have reached the news over the years of what’s called these romance scams, right? Where fraudulent individuals are portraying themselves as a potential partner, building that trust, building that relationship,” says Sigfrid.

“Sometimes it stops as quickly as, you know, ‘I need to buy a plane ticket, can you wire me a couple thousand dollars?’ … And other times it becomes so deeply involved that it leads to potential proposals or significant relationships that lead to them acquiring access to their life savings.”

Sigfrid says these sorts of online community-based threats are becoming even more complex with the use of generative AI and so-called “deep fakes,” where a threat actor may be using these technologies to make themselves look younger or different online in a way that may be a good match for those individuals and gain their trust.

“It is a complicated situation, especially for those who do not have necessarily the awareness and the education of what to look for and the vigilance of how to remediate it,” he says.

Sigfrid says the reason digital threat actors may be targeting Canadians more than some other countries is complex and based on two main components — our use of digital tools and platforms and our relative wealth, making us targets.

“We’re a very digitally engaged population. So we do a lot of our interactions with trustworthy institutions through online banking, e-commerce, all these different channels that we interact with on a daily basis just creates a lot digital engagement and a lot touch points that fraudsters could potentially intercept,” he says.

“The second thing is that fraudsters are looking for where things are lucrative, right? And so Canada is a relatively wealthy developed nation which provides the fraudsters the opportunity to obtain higher average gains than they might in other countries that they might be targeting.”

Sigfrid adds that the data shows Canadians are reporting higher rates of suspected digital fraud attempts, which doesn’t necessarily mean those users are more vulnerable.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that we are more vulnerable or there’s more exploits in order to actually access those funds in Canada. Certainly it happens, but it’s largely a fact of sort of the targeted approach rather than the vulnerability,” he says.

The survey data also highlights the most common ways threat actors have potentially stolen money from Canadians over the past year. Stolen credit cards or fraudulent charges were the most common method cited at 26 per cent compared to the global average of 19 per cent.

When it comes to staying vigilant with online and digital practices to protect sensitive personal and financial information, Canadians have been showing some improvements in other areas.

The TransUnion survey data showed notable declines in what it considers “traditionally high-volume” sectors, with suspected digital fraud volume compared to a year earlier dropping 73 per cent for online retail, 62 per cent in logistics and 32 per cent in financial services.

Sigfrid says this means Canadians have been showing increased awareness and vigilance in protecting themselves through some of these more traditional channels, including using common practices with passwords and avoiding the use of bad passwords.

But when it comes to these digital threat actors on community-based channels preying on consumers, including Canadians, it ultimately “boils down to awareness.”

“Consumers remaining vigilant and doing basic research to see what’s happening in the market and how you can better protect yourselves,” he says.

“Probably the safest and also widely known one is just don’t give your information out when there’s any sort of suspicion around it, or just not at all, period.”

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Unionized engineers working on Toronto’s subways and across its wider transit system are on the brink of a strike as they struggle to reach a deal with the city’s transit agency.

Workers represented by CUPE Local 2 have already given their union a strike mandate, which could come as early as this weekend.

“What we’ve seen from the TTC so far is escalation, including moving to conciliation before meaningful negotiations even began and requesting a no-board report today, triggering a countdown toward a strike or lockout,” the union wrote in a statement.

“That raises serious questions about whether the focus is on bargaining or applying pressure to reach a deal ahead of the World Cup, at a time when our members are facing a cost-of-living crisis.”

TTC CEO Mandeep Lali, however, said his agency was committed to finding a deal and avoiding either a strike or lockout.

“The TTC values the important and highly skilled work performed by CUPE Local 2 members,” he wrote in a statement.

“I began my career as a transit electrician, and I understand the safety-critical nature of this work. At the same time, the TTC has an obligation to manage public resources responsibly.”

Lali said the union’s current proposal would cost $40 million more over the course of the next contract, funds he suggested the agency can’t afford.

“Taken together, the union’s proposal is not fair, reasonable or affordable for the TTC, and it is not aligned with what other TTC employees or most Torontonians can expect to earn over the next three years,” the CEO wrote.

“Advancing proposals of this scale makes reaching a negotiated settlement more difficult and frustrates progress at the bargaining table.”

The union will be in a strike position on Saturday, when the TTC will also be able to lock them out.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

RCMP say multiple people have been taken to hospital with serious injuries after a charter bus rolled off a highway northwest of Edmonton.

Mounties responded to the crash about 7 a.m. on Highway 672 near Beaverlodge, west of Grand Prairie.

No fatalities have been reported.

Cpl. Mathew Howell says there were 17 people on the bus.

He says several went to hospital while some were being assessed for minor injuries at the scene.

He says it’s not clear why the bus veered off the road and the investigation is ongoing.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Gunshots broke out at the Philippine Senate on Wednesday and people ran for cover after a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court said his arrest was imminent and security forces entered the building.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, however, Senate Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza told reporters following the chaos at the legislature in the capital Manila.

Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a former police chief who was the main enforcer of ex-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs,” had earlier urged people to mobilize to prevent his arrest and handover to the ICC.

The Hague-based court on Monday unsealed an arrest warrant for dela Rosa on charges of crimes against humanity, the same that 81-year-old Duterte is accused of as he awaits trial in the ICC following his transfer last year.

Dela Rosa, 64, has denied involvement in illegal killings.

“I am appealing to you, I hope you can help me. Do not allow another Filipino to be brought to The Hague,” he said in a video on Facebook from his Senate office, where he has taken refuge since Monday when placed under legislative protection.

Senate Secretary Mendoza said law enforcement officers believed to be from the National Bureau of Investigation had attempted to enter the Senate and fired as they retreated.

But NBI Director Melvin Matibag told GMA News that no agents had been deployed.

“I spoke with the (justice) minister and he told me to await instructions. We have no preparations whatsoever,” he said.

More than 10 military personnel in camouflage fatigues arrived, some carrying assault rifles, Reuters journalists saw.

The chief of the military’s public affairs office Xerxes Trinidad told Reuters the Senate had requested help to “assist them in securing the facility.”

Interior Minister Jonvic Remulla said it was unclear who fired shots and security footage would need to be checked. He said dela Rosa was safe and he assured him no arrest would be made.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr called for calm, insisting his government had no involvement in the incident and did not know who was responsible.

Marcos in a video message also said there was no instruction to arrest Senator Dela Rosa, adding: “We will get to the bottom of this.”

The office of the prosecutor at the ICC referred requests for comment to the court. The court’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dela Rosa was Duterte’s top lieutenant overseeing a fierce crackdown during which thousands of alleged drug dealers were slain, with human rights groups accusing police of systematic murders and cover-ups.

Police reject the allegations and say the more than 6,000 killed in anti-drugs operations were all armed and had resisted arrest.

Activists say the real death toll may never be known, with users and small-time peddlers gunned down almost daily in mysterious slumland killings blamed on vigilantes and turf wars.

The Senate was heavily guarded throughout Wednesday, with lines of police deployed to keep the peace as protesters gathered, some calling for the arrest of dela Rosa, better known in the Philippines as “Bato,” or “rock.”

His ally, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, said he had spoken to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who had assured him no government personnel had been involved in Wednesday’s incident.

Dela Rosa, who returned to the Senate on Monday for the first time since disappearing from public view in November, has appealed to Marcos not to hand him over to the ICC.

He has also filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court urging it to block any attempt to transfer him to The Hague. The court in a statement on Wednesday gave all parties to the petition 72 hours to respond.

Dela Rosa insists any transfer to the ICC would be illegal, as the country is no longer a signatory to the Rome Statute.

Duterte unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2018 when its prosecutor announced a preliminary examination into his anti-drugs campaign had started. The ICC says alleged crimes committed while a country was a member are under its jurisdiction.

Duterte is set to become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC, a court he repeatedly dared to pursue him during a succession of public speeches, saying he was ready to “rot in jail” to protect his people from the drugs scourge.

He maintains his innocence, according to his legal team.

© 2026 Reuters

Hamilton is the latest Canadian city to welcome a PWHL team, the women’s hockey league announced on Wednesday.

In addition to the expansion franchise in Hamilton, the PWHL said Las Vegas will also be joining the league for the 2026-27 season.

Hamilton’s team will play out of the TD Coliseum, which can seat up to 19,000 fans.

“This is an exciting moment for Hamiltonians,” the city’s mayor, Andrea Horwath, said in a news release. “Bringing a PWHL team to Hamilton will inspire young women and girls, bring new energy to our downtown, and create incredible experiences for fans and families across our community.”

The team’s name and mascot have not yet been shared, but its colours will be gold, maroon and cream, according to the release. These colours are a nod to some other Hamilton teams, including the CFL’s Tiger-Cats and the long-defunct Hamilton Tigers of the NHL.

“Hamilton and its surrounding communities have long been central to the growth of girls’ and women’s hockey, producing generations of talented players and passionate fans,” Jayna Hefford, the PWHL executive vice-president of hockey operations, said in the release.

“This is a region with deep hockey roots, and the response we saw during our Takeover Tour game at TD Coliseum made it clear that fans in the region are ready to rally around a team of their own.”

The PWHL says more than 15 per cent of its players hail from the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This region of Ontario includes Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, St. Catharines-Niagara and London.

When the league stopped in the city for a recreational game in January, it said tens of thousands of fans attended, and more than 70 per cent said it was their first time watching a PWHL game in person.

As for Las Vegas, the league described the city as a hub for entertainment and said it has welcomed hockey in recent years with its NHL team, the Golden Knights, joining the men’s hockey league in 2017.

Tickets for next season are not yet on sale. The 2025-26 season wraps up with two Canadian teams — the Montreal Victoire and Ottawa Charge — battling it out in the final.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the murder convictions and life sentence of disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh in the shooting deaths of his wife and younger son.

In a unanimous ruling, the justices said the conduct by the court clerk “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility” by suggesting to jurors his testimony could not be trusted. They also said the trial judge went too far in allowing evidence of Murdaugh’s financial crimes into his murder trial.

But Murdaugh won’t be getting out of prison. The 57-year-old pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million from his clients and is currently serving a 40-year federal sentence.

Still, the state Supreme Court ruling is a win for Murdaugh, who admits to being a thief, liar, insurance cheat and bad lawyer, but has adamantly denied killing his wife Maggie and younger son Paul since he found their bodies outside their home in 2021.

The justices ruled Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill, assigned to oversee the evidence and the jury during the trial, influenced jurors to find Murdaugh guilty. She hoped to improve sales of a book she was writing about the case. She has since pleaded guilty to lying about what she said and did to a different judge.

Murdaugh’s lawyers also argued before the high court that the judge at his 2023 trial made rulings that prevented a fair trial, such as allowing in evidence of Murdaugh stealing from clients that had nothing to do with the killings, but biased jurors against him.

They detailed the lack of physical evidence — no DNA or blood was found splattered on Murdaugh or any of his clothes, even though the killings were at close range with powerful weapons that were never found.

Prosecutors argued that the clerk’s comments were fleeting and the evidence against Murdaugh was overwhelming. His lawyer said that didn’t matter because the comments a juror said she made — urging jurors to watch Murdaugh’s body language and listen to his testimony carefully — removed his presumption of innocence before the jury ever deliberated.

Murdaugh’s legal drama continues to captivate. There have been streaming miniseries, best-selling books, and dozens of true crime podcasts about how the multimillionaire Southern lawyer, whose family dominated and controlled the legal system in tiny Hampton County, ended up in a maximum security South Carolina prison.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Transport Canada has announced a recall of 964 Mercedes-Benz vehicles due to a safety malfunction.

The recall states that “on certain vehicles, a software problem could cause the instrument cluster display to go blank while driving.”

As a result, the driver “may not be able to see certain information about the vehicle, including the speedometer, fuel gauge, warning lights and malfunction tell-tales.”

The manufacturer recall number is 5496804.

The affected vehicles and model years are listed below:

• Mercedes-Benz C Class, 2024, 2025, 2026
• Mercedes-Benz CLE Class, 2024, 2025, 2026
• Mercedes-Benz E Class, 2024, 2o25, 2026
• Mercedes-Benz GLC Class, 2024, 2025, 2026

The recall also states that Mercedes-Benz will “notify owners by mail” and advises consumers to “take your vehicle to a dealership to update the infotainment control unit software.”

No injuries have been reported.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

New Brunswick’s government has introduced a bill to make it easier to launch mining projects in the province.

The Liberals say the bill cuts red tape and replaces the Mining Act of 1985.

They say the legislation simplifies the approval process for projects.

And it has stronger community engagement policies, including for First Nations.

New Brunswick’s mining industry was a major economic driver in the late 2010s but has faced years of decline.

Natural Resources Minister John Herron says he wants New Brunswick to be the top jurisdiction in Canada for mining development.

© 2026 The Canadian Press