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These are the top stories:
Five are dead after a shooting at a newspaper office in Annapolis
A gunman killed at least five people and injured two others after he opened fire in a newsroom in Annapolis, Md., prompting law enforcement agencies across the country to provide protection at the headquarters of media organizations.
A lone suspect, Jarrod Ramos, a 38-year-old Maryland resident, was taken into custody at the scene and was being questioned Thursday night. The authorities said they were investigating whether the suspect had sent a threat over social media to the Capital Gazette, which produces a number of local newspapers along Maryland’s shore.
Police say the shooting was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette. For a country that has grown numb to mass shootings, this was a rare attack on a news organization, one of the oldest in America, which dates its roots to the 1700s. Even as the authorities continued to pore over the newsroom for clues, the Capital Gazette announced Thursday that it would be publishing an edition on Friday.
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B.C. welfare payments are unaccounted for in Sahota hotel records
The provincial government has been sending tens of thousands of dollars each month in welfare payments to decrepit hotels owned and run by a Vancouver family that has repeatedly been reprimanded by the city for leaving the derelict buildings in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
The money is supposed to go directly to the hotel owners to pay the rent of the desperately poor residents who live there. But documents obtained by The Globe and Mail show that properties owned by the Sahota family have been flagged for poor record-keeping that have made it difficult to determine whether payments are actually being used to house the intended recipients.
Housing activists have repeatedly flagged concerns about the lack of provincial oversight. One cited discrepancies between the tenants’ lists at the Balmoral and Regent hotels and provincial records of people who should be living at those addresses in an e-mail to the city. Shane Simpson, B.C.’s Minister for Social Development and Poverty Reduction, acknowledged in an interview the province has work to do.
Ontario is pressing cannabis suppliers to cut prices
Ontario is putting pressure on some growers to reduce their prices as the province strives to ensure marijuana will be cheap enough to compete with the illicit market. Officials for the Ontario Cannabis Store are pushing for some marijuana strains to be available at a retail price of about $7.50 per gram and the OCS is in the process of haggling with growers in a bid to keep retail prices low without sacrificing its own margins. According to Statistics Canada, a gram of illicit marijuana sold for an average of $7.29 in February.
It is unclear whether the OCS, which has been touring production facilities and meeting with companies for weeks, will be able to persuade growers to lower their wholesale prices to a point where both parties are content with their cut of the pie. Some sources believe that the threat of a supply shortage could hurt the OCS’s bargaining power. Pricing is one of the remaining unknowns in Ontario after the Senate voted last week to approve Bill C-45 – and it could be crucial to the profit margins of young businesses looking to capitalize on a shift in public policy that has spawned a rapidly expanding sector (for subscribers).
Cement giant Lafarge is under investigation in France over allegations of terrorist financing
The world’s largest cement maker, LafargeHolcim, is under formal investigation after allegations of terrorist financing, violating international sanctions and committing crimes against humanity. The case centres around allegations that Lafarge paid the Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Syria more than US$15-million between 2011 and 2014 for supplies and assurances they wouldn’t attack the company’s new plant near Raqqa.
Eight former Lafarge executives, including two former CEOs, are under investigation. Several company directors, including Canadian billionaire Paul Desmarais Jr., have also been questioned by police and reports in France indicate that the FBI has also launched an investigation (for subscribers).
The legal move came on Thursday after a court hearing in Paris and it’s a key step toward criminal charges. It marks the first time a western company has faced possible sanctions for crimes against humanity. In a statement, Lafarge said the legal action was expected but that the company will contest the “charges which do not fairly represent the responsibilities of Lafarge SA.”
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
New documents point to the origins of the alleged bread price-fixing scheme
The scheme got started more than a decade ago and was hatched by Person X from Canada Bread Co,, whose identity or even sex cannot be revealed, a court has ruled. The court documents say this employee made a presentation at an industry event showing how bread price increases were lagging those in other segments and suggested the bakery business should also increase prices. Person X “was going to the retailers to get their buy-in for a price increase with the goal of orchestrating alignment through the retail community.”
Grocery giant Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent George Weston Ltd., which also owns Weston Bakeries, have admitted participating in what they called an industry-wide price-fixing scheme for bread, and, in return, got immunity from criminal charges and co-operated in the investigation. Loblaw gave customers $25 gift cards this year in an effort to make amends and win back consumers’ favour (for subscribers).
MORNING MARKETS
Stocks climb
Global stocks enjoyed a strong bounce on Friday as a recovery in Asian markets spread to European shares after a turbulent week of selling as investors’ fears of higher barriers to trade came closer to becoming reality. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 1.6 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite 2.2 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.7 and 1.4 per cent by about 5:40 a.m. ET. New York futures were also up. The Canadian dollar was above 75.5 US cents. Oil prices steadied as the escalating trade dispute between the U.S. and other major economies cast doubt on future demand growth.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
The teacher who changed your child’s life deserves more than a gift card
“The teacher who changed my life didn’t get a bottle of Riesling or a gift card from the neighbourhood coffee franchise. I don’t believe my mother even sent a thank-you card. Such tokens of gratitude weren’t standard in the mid-1980s.” – Nicole Macintyre
U.S.-Canada bond still runs deep, but it’s being put sorely to the test by Trump
“The mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, is the kind of politician who will attend the opening of an envelope. He’ll go anywhere there’s a crowd or a photographer. But he won’t be going to the U.S. ambassador’s July 4 party. Not this year. Donald Trump is a bully, Mr. Watson says. So he won’t be heading to the ambassador’s residence to eat ribs and ice cream, or whatever culinary Americana is being served up this year. Take that, Yankees!” – Campbell Clark
Life-saving solutions for Toronto streets already exist – and it’s time to implement them
“As Toronto looks to spend an additional $22-million to make its roads safer, it’s time to implement life-saving solutions that already exist. Side-guards and sensors for trucks, among other devices and road-design changes, have been proposed before. But despite these recommendations and the release of visionary road safety plans, traffic deaths of people walking and bicycling continue to rise.” – Albert Koehl and Nancy Smith Lea. Koehl is a lawyer and founder of Bells on Bloor. Smith Lea is the Director of the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation.
FILM FRIDAY
Brad Wheeler says North Mountain, starring Justin Rain, Glen Gould, Meredith MacNeill, is an inexplicable would-be thriller with plot holes big enough to drive a better movie through (half a star).
Kate Taylor writes Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, starring Marsha Timothy, is a remarkable Indonesian revenge story that takes elements of a classic western and reconfigures them as a feminist fable, both simultaneously charming and grisly (four stars). (For subscribers)
Barry Hertz says Upgrade, starring Logan Marshall-Green and the disembodied voice of Simon Maiden, is like the world’s most dangerous roller-coaster – all transparent buildup and then steep, hellishly fun drops (three stars).
LIVING BETTER
How to stay in shape while away from the gym during the summer
Summer can offer a much needed break from routine, but it’s easy to go overboard. No matter if you’re at a cottage, beach or B&B, personal trainer Paul Landini shares how to stay trim away from the gym. The key, he says, is picking up a few easy-to-find and very affordable pieces of equipment, so you can bring the gym with you wherever you go. Equipment such as a jumping rope or ab wheel will help you use your body weight to get in a good workout. Afterwards, a cold beer (or glass of wine) will be that much more refreshing.
MOMENT IN TIME
June 29. 1908: It was four years away from being branded the Calgary Stampede, but the Dominion Exhibition rodeo of 1908 made a monumental impression on Guy Weadick, an American trick roper. He performed with the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show and saw 100,000 people attend Calgary’s federally funded, seven-day Exhibition. But Weadick figured the outdoor show could be bigger still. So he went in search of financial backers and eventually recruited George Lane, Patrick Burns, A. J. McLean and A. E. Cross. They put up $100,000 between them to become co-founders of the Frontier Days and Cowboy Championship Contest, which was renamed the Calgary Stampede. Weadick was told by the four businessmen to organize “the greatest thing of its kind in the world.” The Stampede became the richest of all the rodeos, with $20,000 in prize money. (The Stampede now pays out $2-million in prizes.) For their efforts, the co-founders were labelled the Big Four. To this day, there is a building on the Stampede grounds named the Big Four while every year the cowboy who “best typifies the spirit of the Calgary Stampede” wins the Guy Weadick Trophy. – Allan Maki
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