RELATED: Ford says new Ontario Science Centre could open by 2029, design contract awarded
The Ford government plans to add a new police station to its redevelopment of Ontario Place, adding marine officers, horses and traffic cops to the site.
The province began soliciting bids to build a new Ontario Provincial Police detachment on Ontario Place’s east island, near its proposal for a new concert venue, science centre and private spa and waterpark.
“This new OPP detachment will be well-positioned to patrol our highways, maintain a strong on-site policing presence and ensure the safety of families and all those visiting Ontario Place,” Solicitor General Michael Kerzner said in a statement on Friday.
The government indicated the new detachment would help to patrol the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, which are in the process of being transferred from the city to the province.
The OPP patrols all highways, even if they run through cities with their own police forces. Local roads are under the control of the Toronto police.
Friday’s announcement is the beginning of the process — seeking a company to design and build the new department.
It is proposed to include a helicopter pad, a marine unit and mounted officers, which would be the first horses assigned to any OPP unit.
The government is currently forging ahead with its plans to redevelop Ontario Place, preparing to hand control of much of the west island to a European spa company, Therme.
It has also unveiled designs for a science centre and parking structure.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, and Manitoba Métis Federation President David Chartrand speak together at the Louis Riel Commemoration Event in Winnipeg on Sunday Nov. 16, 2025 at the Saint Boniface Cathedral.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski
The president of the Manitoba Métis Federation is accusing the Assembly of First Nations of misleading people about legislation that would codify the federation’s right to self-government.
MMF President David Chartrand is reacting to AFN criticism of Bill C-21, the first treaty of its kind between the federal government and Métis, which came up for debate in the House of Commons this week.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says the legislation threatens to create a hierarchy of rights, with First Nations at the bottom.
She is calling for the bill to be withdrawn and says First Nations were not properly consulted.
Chartrand says that if “anybody would do a little bit of homework,” they would see the legislation does not infringe upon anyone else’s rights and is instead about their internal self-government matters.
He says that despite the criticism, he remains focused on working with the federal government to pass the bill.
A sign toppled by the wind gusts that reached up to 90 kilometres per hour smashed into the roof of this car in Calgary early Friday morning.
Global News
Roofs blown off buildings, trees uprooted, highways closed, motorists stranded in their vehicles by heavy snow — those are just a few of the problems caused by a nasty spring storm that has slammed into Alberta.
In the Fort McMurray area, RCMP shut down several roads because of extremely poor driving conditions that resulted in some motorists being stranded for hours in their vehicles.
Several highways, including stretches of Highway 63 near Fort McMurray, have been shut down because of heavy snow and high winds and RCMP in eastern Alberta are warning motorists to avoid unnecessary travel.
Source: 511Alberta
In Edmonton, drivers were faced with dangerous driving conditions, including snow, ice and strong winds, as they made their way into work Friday morning, sending vehicles into the ditch or crashing into each other.
A flipped-over semi in Edmonton, where motorists endured a treacherous Friday morning commute.
Global News
In Calgary, wind gusts of nearly 90 kilometres per hour toppled trees, tore the roofs off buildings and flipped over semi-trucks.
The high winds also forced the cancellation of the “Parade of Wonders” — the kick-off celebration for the annual Calgary comic expo.
A pile of crumpled siding and other metal pieces from one of the Plus 15 walkways in Calgary toppled by the wind overnight.
Global News
Much of eastern Alberta was under a variety of weather warnings from Environment Canada, including a blowing snow advisory stretching from Athabasca to the southeast corner of the province.
The national weather service warned that heavy snow in some areas, combined with gusty winds, could result in near-zero visibility and hazardous driving conditions.
In Edmonton, a blowing snow advisory was issued with close to 10 centimetres of snow in the forecast by Saturday morning and a forecast high of just -2 C to start the weekend.
In Calgary, up to four centimetres of snow was in the forecast, with the mercury only expected to hit -3 C on Saturday.
The normal daytime high for both cities at this time of year is 14 C.
“It’s not looking like the best weekend,” Global Calgary weather specialist Sarah Offin said. “The challenge is this system is really just staying put. It’s a slow-moving system and because of that, we’re going to see these effects of this storm lingering. There’s also, of course, an arctic wind that is involved with this system. So a cold weekend in store.”
In the areas hit hardest by the storm, south of Fort McMurray, Environment Canada has warned that up to 50 centimetres could fall, prompting warnings that non-essential travel should be avoided.
While the storm will make a mess of the weekend, the forecast is for a return to more seasonable temperatures for next week.
The storm is forecast to be short-lived, with temperatures in both Calgary and Edmonton expected to rebound into the mid-teens by the middle of next week.
Global News
The forecast high for both Calgary and Edmonton on Monday is around 5 C and will increase to the mid-teens by Thursday.
Left - missing University of South Florida student Nahida S. Bristy. Right - missing University of South Florida student Zamil Limon. Both are 27 and from Bangladesh.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Zamil Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Frankland bridge Friday morning, but Nahida Bristy is still missing.
He said Limon’s roommate, Hisham Saleh Abugharbeih, was taken into custody on preliminary charges that include domestic violence, battery, false imprisonment, tampering with evidence, failure to report a death and unlawfully moving a body.
“We are still actively searching for Nahida,” Chronister said, appealing to the public to share any useful information.
Chronister and University of South Florida Chief of Police Chris Daniel said officers responding to a report of domestic violence at a home about 1.6 kilometres from campus were able to safely remove the suspect’s family, but then the suspect barricaded himself inside a home and refused to come out.
A SWAT team responded, and then the suspect came out peacefully. The suspect was communicating initially with authorities, but then stopped talking, Chronister said.
Limon, who was studying geography, environmental science and policy, was last seen at his home in a student apartment complex. Bristy, who was studying chemical engineering, was last seen an hour later at a campus science building.
A family friend contacted authorities last Friday after being unable to contact either one, USF police said.
A conservatorship, known in some states as a guardianship, is an involuntary status usually reserved for older or very ill people who are suffering from dementia or are otherwise incapacitated and unable to make decisions for themselves.
The judge said she did not see “sufficient urgency” in Cher’s request for private fiduciary Jason Rubin to be Allman’s conservator. Cher had asked the court to allow Rubin to oversee her son’s finances, including receiving distributions from Allman’s trust fund, managing a conservatorship account for his money and paying expenses on Allman’s behalf.
Allman, 49, appeared at the hearing via video call from a psychiatric hospital, where he is currently “in custody in the State of New Hampshire in a locked psychiatric hospital, in an attempt to restore him to competency to face criminal charges across two New Hampshire counties for: felony burglary, criminal mischief, simple assault, criminal trespass, and breach of bail,” according to court documents.
The judge said that because Allman is in the hospital and has pending charges against him, she does not believe he will be able to access the money he receives from his trust, set up by his late father, Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band, according to People.
Earlier this week, court documents revealed that Allman is still receiving US$120,000 a month via a trust that his father set up before his death.
The monthly payment is then “immediately squandered without regard for his liabilities or well-being,” the filing says.
“A lot of people don’t show up to court and get a default judgment and don’t need a conservatorship,” the judge said on Friday. “I am going to deny the temporary conservatorship without prejudice.”
Before his court appearance on Friday, Allman’s lawyer told Rolling Stone that he planned to oppose his mother’s bid for a conservatorship over his finances.
“Elijah is disappointed, but not surprised, by this latest attempt to gain control over his finances,” his lawyer Avi Levy said. “We have spoken with Elijah several times this week, and he remains in good spirits despite the circumstances. Elijah does oppose the latest petition.”
This is the second time Cher has filed for a conservatorship over her son.
In December 2023, Cher filed over claims that his life was “at risk” due to “severe mental health and substance abuse issues.”
The documents for the proposed conservatorship said Allman was entitled to regular distributions from a trust established by his late father. However, Cher was “concerned” that her son would spend the money on drugs, “leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself, and putting Elijah’s life at risk.”
By September 2024, Cher had withdrawn her original bid as the two had “reached a private agreement” after a nine-month legal battle.
Death penalty protesters demonstrate outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 29, 2023.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration plans to add firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation as alternative methods of executing people convicted of the gravest federal crimes, it announced on Friday, noting difficulties in obtaining drugs for lethal injections.
The recommendation came in a Justice Department report fulfilling Trump’s promise to resume capital punishment at the federal level in his second term. In his first term, which ended in 2021, he resumed it after a 20-year gap, executing 13 federal prisoners with lethal injections in his final few months in office.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who released the report, has authorized seeking death sentences against nine people after Trump rescinded a moratorium on federal executions by his predecessor, Joe Biden, the department said.
“Among the actions taken are readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump Administration, expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad, and streamlining internal processes to expedite death penalty cases,” it said in a statement.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims,” Blanche said.
Reviving old methods, adding a new one
In the report, Blanche instructed the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons to modify its execution protocol “to include additional, constitutional manners of execution that are currently provided for by the law of certain states,” pointing to the older methods of firing squads and electrocution, and the new gas asphyxiation method pioneered by Alabama in 2024.
“This modification will help ensure the Department is prepared to carry out lawful executions even if a specific drug is unavailable,” the report said.
Biden, a Democrat, commuted the sentences of 37 of the people awaiting executions on federal death row, leaving only three men, Robert Bowers who was found guilty of killing 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in a mass shooting in Pittsburg in 2018; Dylann Roof, who fatally shot nine people attending a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, 2016 and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who along with his brother, orchestrated the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured more than 260 others.
Legal challenges to execution methods are daunting
It can take many years for condemned prisoners to exhaust all legal avenues for challenging their death sentences, and none of the three men have yet received execution dates.
Typically, when a U.S. state or the federal government adopts a new execution protocol, death row prisoners can mount legal challenges arguing that the new protocol violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishments.”
Such challenges have always failed at the U.S. Supreme Court, which has never previously found an adopted execution method to be unconstitutional.
Lethal injection remains the most common method in the U.S., but has a higher rate of being botched than most other methods, including the single-drug protocol adopted by the federal government in 2019 using pentobarbital, a powerful barbiturate. A few executions have been aborted as prison officials struggle to find a vein on a strapped-down prisoner. Opponents of the method say autopsies of executed people’s lungs show they experienced drowning before dying from the pentobarbital, which they argue amounts to a torturous death.
This has led to several U.S. states reviving older methods in recent years. Five states have firing squads, with Idaho set to adopt it as its primary method in July, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit research group in Washington.
Last year, South Carolina carried out the first execution by firing squad in the U.S. in 15 years after Brad Sigmon, convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents, chose the method, saying he feared the state’s alternatives of the electric chair or lethal injection would risk a slower and more torturous death.
In 2024, Alabama became the first state to execute someone by forcing nitrogen into their airways through a face mask, suffocating them, a method that has since been adopted by Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
Pharmaceutical companies refuse to sell their drugs that can be used in executions to prison systems, partly to comply with a European Union ban, forcing U.S. prisons to seek out smaller, less-regulated compounding pharmacies willing to brew copies of those drugs.
State and federal death penalty laws operate differently. Currently there are 27 U.S. states where the death penalty is implemented under state charges such as murder. Blanche’s recommendation would apply to those charged with federal crimes such as racketeering or terrorism.
Federal executions though applied in all 50 states are much more rare than state ones, whose prisons often hold thousands of death row inmates at once, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The last person to be executed on federal death row was Dustin John Higgs via lethal injection in January 2021, for his role in the murder of three women in 1996.
RELATED: RCMP charges 2 suspects in connection with Carry the Kettle quadruple murder investigation
A 16-year-old boy who plead guilty to four counts of manslaughter in a quadruple homicide last year on Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation has been given a three-year sentence.
The boy, whose identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was given his sentence Friday at Regina provincial court after pleading guilty to the charges in February; he was originally charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
Two men and two women were killed in February 2025 on Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation, which is east of Regina.
The victims were identified as 34-year-old Tracey Hotomani, 51-year-old Terry Jack, 44-year-old Sheldon Quewezance and 47-year-old Shauna Fay.
In addition to the boy, three others were arrested.
The boy sentenced Friday will serve two years in custody and one year under supervision in the community, Crown and defence attorneys agreed in a joint submission.
Court heard that three years is the maximum penalty, and none of his time served counts towards his sentence.
Michele Singer Reiner, Rob Reiner, Jake Reiner, Romy Reiner and Nick Reiner
41st Annual Chaplin Award Gala - Held at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center on April 28, 2014.
Two months after his brother Nick Reinerpleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders in the deaths of his parents, Jake, 34, shared details on Substack of the “living nightmare” he’s experienced since learning what happened to them.
Jake shared that on the afternoon of Dec. 14, he was at a celebration of life for one of his best friends — who died in October — when he received the news of his parents’ deaths.
“It was at that moment I received a call from my sister Romy telling me our father was dead. Minutes later, she called back telling me our mother was also dead,” Jake wrote.
“The 45-minute Lyft ride from downtown to the west side was unendurable. My world, as I knew it, had collapsed. I was in a trance.”
His 78-year-old father and 70-year-old mother were found dead with stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood section of Los Angeles on Dec. 14, 2025, authorities said.
Jake said the only thing he could focus on was getting to his childhood home to “figure out what the hell just happened.”
“Nothing can prepare you for what it feels like to lose both parents instantly at the same time. It’s too devastating to comprehend. I still wake up every morning having to convince myself that, no, it’s not a dream. This truly is my living nightmare,” he added.
In his post, shared on Friday, Jake wrote, “We lost more than half of our family that night in the most violent way imaginable.”
“Sure, any loss of a parent is devastating, but nothing compares to losing both of them at the same time and, on top of that, having your brother be at the center of it,” he added.
Jake said he understands that people have questions about what happened to his parents.
“Some of those answers will come in time. But some parts of this belong only to our family, and keeping them private is the only way to protect what little remains of something that was taken from us,” he wrote.
He said that he was “”robbed of so many things that day.”
“My parents won’t be at my wedding, they won’t get to hold their future grandchild, and they wont get to see me have the successful career I’m still seeking,” he wrote.
“It simultaneously breaks my heart and enrages me.”
He said that he keeps thinking about how frightened his parents must have been.
“They were the last people in the world to deserve what happened to them. They deserved to be loved, they deserved to be respected, and above all they deserved to be appreciated for how much they gave to all three of us and to the world,” he added.
Jake said he was telling his story and that his sister Romy “will tell hers in her own way and in her time.”
“What the hell do you say to someone who is living through this reality? The truth is, there is nothing to say. I just ask for love and compassion – the same principles my parents lived by,” his post concluded.
Jake’s post comes a week before his brother Nick’s preliminary hearing on April 29, where prosecutors will present evidence and a judge will decide if it’s enough for him to go to trial.
During Nick’s court appearance in February, he only spoke to answer a question from the judge in the affirmative.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman spoke to reporters outside the courthouse following Nick’s hearing.
“This case is a death penalty-eligible case. Along those lines we take the process in which we determine whether or not the death penalty should be sought extremely seriously and it goes through a very rigorous process,” Hochman said.
“We have invited defence counsel to present to us — both in writing and orally — in a meeting, any arguments that they would like to make in consideration for our going forward or not going forward with the death penalty,” Hochman added.
Nick was set to enter a plea in January at a hearing in Los Angeles, before his defence attorney, Alan Jackson, announced that he was withdrawing from the case, and Reiner will now be represented by public defender Kimberly Greene.
“This morning I had to withdraw as Nick Reiner’s counsel. Circumstances beyond our control but more importantly circumstances beyond Nick’s control have dictated that sadly it’s made it impossible for us to continue our representation,” Jackson told reporters outside the courthouse in January.
“Be very, very clear about this — my team and I remain deeply, deeply committed to Nick Reiner and to his best interests,” Jackson said. “In fact we know, we’re not just convinced, we know that the legal process will reveal the true facts of the circumstances surrounding this case.”
“What we’ve learned — and you can take this to the bank — is that pursuant to the law in this state, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder. Print that,” Jackson added.
Following the news, Nick’s family told the New York Times in a statement that they “have the utmost trust in the legal process and will not comment further on matters related to the legal proceedings.”
Royal Canadian Mounted Police are renewing their appeal for information in the 2011 homicide of a 25-year-old man, marking 15 years since his death.
On April 24, 2011, Jason Nunn was seen leaving the Element Restaurant and Lounge in Thompson, Man., around 2:30 a.m. after a night out with friends.
His body was found hours later, at approximately 6:15 a.m., in a parking lot behind the Juniper Centre on Nelson Road, according to police.
Nunn’s sister, Maven Hall, said her brother had been training to become a mine refinery worker at the time of his death.
She recalled his love of music, especially playing the guitar, and his outgoing personality.
“My brother’s life was taken when he was just 25 years old,” Hall said. “Now, 15 years later, I see how young he truly was.”
“Jay was an incredible brother, friend, son and uncle. We miss him deeply. We continue to hope that whoever is responsible for his death will come forward,” the release further read.
Investigators believe someone has information that could help solve the case and give Nunn’s family closure.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Manitoba RCMP Major Crime Services or Crime Stoppers.
RELATED: Most flood preparations complete in First Nation as it braces for rising water
Water levels are rising and starting to overflow in Manitoba’s Interlake region, where communities have been bracing for this year’s spring flood.
Both rivers in the Interlake region, the Fisher and Icelandic rivers, are subject to flood warnings from the province as levels continue to rise in the waterways. Some parts have started to overflow, according to the province’s spring flood bulletin from Thursday.
“Despite the repeated flooding and the damage our community has endured over the years, we have approached things differently this year. I’m proud to say through our collective efforts, we have significantly reduced the potential for damage to our community,” said Peguis First Nation Chief Stan Bird in a flood update posted to Facebook on Thursday.
Bird called for lasting flood protection for the community, and said this year’s flood seems to have peaked, or crested.
“As of (Thursday) evening, I have been informed that the river may have crested and could begin to recede over the next couple of days. The key word is ‘may.’ Out of an abundance of caution, we must remain diligent,” he added.
The rural municipality of Fisher River has closed several roads and advised its residents to avoid unnecessary travel. Officials were also said to be speaking with the province and other nearby governments to determine the next steps after declaring a state of emergency Tuesday.
“Residents living near the river are advised to move valuables to higher ground and producers should prepare for livestock relocation,” the RM said in Thursday’s flooding update.
Nearby, the Fisher River Cree Nation is halting and rescheduling all non-emergent medical appointments for its medical van, according to an update posted on Thursday.
“Provincial staff continue to support preparations for potential flooding in multiple communities through the Interlake and Parkland regions, including Peguis First Nation and Fisher River Cree Nation,” Manitoba’s flood bulletin said.
It added that levels in those rivers are expected to begin lowering after this weekend.
Ad Choices
