Regina News

The chief of the James Smith Cree Nation said he feels emotional and hurt after watching a detailed video depicting the dramatic and dangerous arrest of 32-year-old Myles Sanderson. Sanderson killed 11 people and injured another 17 others on the First Nation and in nearby Weldon on Sept. 4, 2022. He evaded capture for three days before tips to RCMP helped police get a lock on his location. The video was played during the first day of a coroner’s inquest into the death of Sanderson. “Today, looking at it emotionally, I’m hurt. Clever way of (Sanderson) not facing our people. A cowardly way,” Chief Wally Burns told reporters. Burns said watching the video of Sanderson driving a White Chevy Avalanche into oncoming traffic on Highway 11 near Rosthern was unbelievable. “There was a lot of people. Forty-one vehicles. You can imagine what they were thinking at that time… I had a couple friends on that highway,” he said. “I feel for those people. For me, I think it was traumatizing because – take a look at it – you know they just about lost their lives, too,” Burns added. Sanderson eventually drove across a grass median into the southbound lanes of of Highway 11. He was then clipped by an RCMP vehicle, sending the stolen Avalanche into a ditch. At least half a dozen RCMP vehicles surrounded Sanderson, who was pulled out and hauled to the ground where he was arrested. At that time, the video was stopped. According to the RCMP, Sanderson went into “medical distress” and died shortly after his arrest. The inquest seeks to determine how Sanderson died, and the jury will be permitted to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future. Burns said he was attending the second inquest to support families, friends and community members, but said it also opened up old wounds. He said he’s focused on healing, both for his own community and for the Village of Weldon. The chief renewed his call for a national inquiry into the mass stabbing incident, adding that he plans to meet with members of the Parole Board of Canada and other officials next month. “The whole justice system has failed our nation,” he said. The inquest into Sanderson’s death is expected to continue until Friday, March 1. Sgt. Ken Kane of the Saskatoon Police Service and pathologist Dr. Shaun Ladham are expected to testify Tuesday.

So what do you suppose would happen if senior officers in a company consistently ran up $100,000-a-year travel bills without any cost-benefit analysis? Read More

It's not easy to make a go of it as an upstart airline in Canada. Here is a list of Canadian discount airlines, born since 2000, that no longer fly.

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today... Online harms: Liberals seek to create digital safety commission, new ombudsperson The Liberal government plans to create a new digital safety regulator to compel social-media platforms to take action against online harms and remove damaging content _ including child sex-abuse material and intimate images shared without consent _under penalty of millions of dollars in fines. Justice Minister Arif Virani tabled the long-awaited Online Harms Act on Monday, along with a suite of other amendments to the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act. Known as Bill C-63, the legislation ushers in the creation of a ``Digital Safety Commission of Canada,'' along with a new ombudsperson to advocate for users who have concerns about online safety. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has long promised to better protect Canadians, especially youth, from online harms _ including a vow to table legislation within 100 days of his re-election in 2021. Inquest into killer's death enters second day A Saskatchewan coroner’s inquest will hear more details today about how a man who killed 11 people and injured 17 others during a stabbing rampage died in police custody. Myles Sanderson had been on the run for several days when police caught up to him on Sept. 7, 2022, and during the first day of the inquest Monday, jurors were shown video from RCMP dashboard cameras of a high-speed police pursuit. A Mountie used her vehicle to ram into the truck Sanderson was driving. The vehicle lost control and went into a ditch on a highway north of Saskatoon, and the inquest heard Sanderson had a medical emergency while he was taken into custody and died in hospital. Here's what else we're watching ... Toronto area worries shootings will revive stigma For a Toronto community once notorious for crime and the influence of organized gangs, two shootings this month targeting innocent victims at the same spot, less than 24 hours apart, were more than just a chilling outbreak of indiscriminate violence. The shootings that killed a newcomer to Canada supporting four children in Ghana and critically injured a 16-year-old boy also marked a setback for the neighbourhood around Jane and Finch, which community workers and experts say has made progress in addressing its reputation as one of Toronto's most troubled areas. Police have said that gun violence in the northwest Toronto area "was at a 10-year low" last year. Pensions still moving too slow on climate: report A new report by an advocacy group says Canada's largest public pension funds are showing modest improvements on climate action but are moving too slowly overall. The progress report from Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health notes that four of the 11 pension plans it examined still don't have emissions reduction targets for 2030 or 2050. It says many of the pension funds are still not being transparent about their fossil fuel holdings, and none have acknowledged the need to phase them out. Shift says there were some improvements, including the first climate plans out of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. Ontario euthanizes raccoons, charges rehabber Ontario has euthanized 84 raccoons and laid dozens of charges in its investigation of a wildlife rehabilitation centre. Mally's Third Chance Raccoon Rescue in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, is outraged and demanding accountability from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry over its handling of the animals. Mally's helps rehabilitate injured and orphaned raccoons and returns them to the wild once they are able. Court documents show the owners of Mally's, Derek Zavitsky and Barbara Zavitsky, collectively face more than 40 counts laid under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. Why so many of Canada's discount airlines fail Now-defunct Lynx Air is the latest in a long line of discount carriers that failed to take off. Stiff competition, high fees and Canada’s vast geography make it hard for airlines to succeed in the long term. Lynx, which filed for creditor protection Thursday, is at least the eighth budget airline to take off and then fizzle out since 2000. It joins the ranks of shuttered carriers such as Roots Air, CanJet and Swoop. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2024. The Canadian Press

Over the past five years, Navy Nguyen says she has watched thousands of international students arrive at Cape Breton University to find a town that was wholly unprepared for them. From 2019 to 2020, the school more than tripled its efforts to recruit international students, before being forced to scale back as incoming students couldn't find anywhere to live or work, and services such as public transportation were swamped. Nguyen said the situation set up international students to bear the brunt of these failures, and then to be blamed for them, all while they were paying more than double the fees a Canadian student pays. "We were recruited into this situation that we did not cause," Nguyen, 24, said in an interview.  "We all moved here because we want a better life, we want a better education, we want a better outcome," she added. "It's possible. I'm definitely a better version of myself, but it comes with so much cost." Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced last month that new visas for international students would be cut by more than one-third this year, a move presented in part as a way to alleviate pressure on housing. Students say that rather than capping international study admissions, governments should address the systemic problems the high number of admissions exposed. Figures obtained through access to information legislation show that in 2018, Cape Breton University hired 53 agents to recruit international students. The next year, that number leapt to 142, and then in 2020 it hit 179. The school cut back to 102 recruitment agents in 2021, and then to 70 and 53 in the following years. In 2018, the year Nguyen arrived from Vietnam, there were 1,982 full-time international students at the school, making up 48 per cent of the university's population, figures from the Association of Atlantic Universities show. Now, there are nearly 7,000 international students at the school, three-quarters of the university's population. That's more than a fifth of the entire population of Sydney, N.S., the coastal community where the university is located. The university doubled its revenue in that time, from $69.1 million in 2018 to $139.5 million last year, according to financial statements available online. International students pay around $20,000 each year in tuition and fees at the school. Nguyen said the community quickly became strained as more students arrived. Jobs became scarce and students crowded into rentals, many of which were in need of repair. CBC News reported that Rajesh Gollapudi, a business analytics student at the school, died in a fire in 2022 in a house he shared with seven other people. Court documents show the landlords have been charged with several fire safety infractions, and they are scheduled to enter a plea in March in provincial court. Public buses between Cape Breton towns became packed with students, who had to live farther away and plan their days around sporadic rural bus schedules and long commutes, Nguyen said. Some live in their cars because they can't find housing, or they live in Halifax and make the long drive to Cape Breton. They face racism and xenophobia from some, she said, but others see the young, educated people breathing life into a region known for its aging population. Seventy-six-year-old Murdoch Moore and his 69-year-old wife, Lynn, have grown close with several international students and their families. When the couple's home near Sydney was buried during a massive snowstorm this month, their international student friends shovelled out him and many of his neighbours, Moore said in a recent interview. “I consider the international students that have come here for the last five-plus years to be a great asset and blessing to the area,” Moore said. "They're taking our jobs? If I hear that once more, I'll go ballistic." Rather, he said, they're building lives in the region and using their education to fill essential roles, particularly in health care. Omon Iyoriobhe is doing a health-care internship in Halifax, and he's set to graduate from Cape Breton University in May. He said he was shocked to find rent cheaper in Halifax than in Cape Breton, where he paid $650 for a room in a house with seven other people. The 28-year-old from Nigeria worries the federal government's two-year cap on study permits for international students is a blanket measure that doesn't recognize the nuances of Cape Breton, or the university's efforts to reduce overseas recruitment and build new student housing. There is a "symbiotic" relationship between international students and their community, as they get Canadian educations while offering an economic boost to a struggling region, he said. "These students definitely bring a lot to the system," Iyoriobhe said. "Trust me, that's why the government opened the borders in the first place." For Nguyen, adequate government support for post-secondary education would ensure schools don't have to use international students as "cash cows." She has volunteered and worked with non-profits in the five and a half years she has been living in the region, and she hopes to continue that work after she graduates in May. "I can see myself working ... to further develop the community," she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2024. Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press

SASKATOON — A Saskatchewan coroner’s inquest will hear more details today about how a man who killed 11 people and injured 17 others during a stabbing rampage died in police custody. Myles Sanderson had been on the run for several days when police caught up to him on Sept. 7, 2022, and during the first day of the inquest Monday, jurors were shown video from RCMP dashboard cameras of a high-speed police pursuit. A Mountie used her vehicle to ram into the truck Sanderson was driving. The vehicle lost control and went into a ditch on a highway north of Saskatoon, and the inquest heard Sanderson had a medical emergency while he was taken into custody and died in hospital.  Three days before he was captured, Sanderson went from home to home on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby village of Weldon, kicking in doors and attacking people. The second day of the inquest is expected to hear information from a member of Saskatoon police about what happened when Sanderson was apprehended. The inquest is also scheduled to hear from a pathologist later in the day. After the killings occurred, Sanderson travelled to Crystal Springs, a hamlet in east-central Saskatchewan near Wakaw, where he was able to evade capture for three days and seven hours.  The inquest heard how a call came in to police from a woman who said Sanderson had broken into her home and stolen her truck. It set off a rapid search throughout the area for the truck and Sanderson.  Video presented to the inquest shows Mounties close behind the racing truck as it weaved towards oncoming traffic before hitting the ditch.  Cindy Ghostkeeper-Whitehead, a family wellness worker for James Smith Cree Nation, said watching the videos was very difficult. “You could feel the emotions in the room,” she said. “There was mixed emotions for sure.” A separate inquest into the massacre was last month, which examined each of the killings and issued more than two dozen recommendations.  Ghostkeeper-Whitehead said she hopes the second inquest helps provide insight into some of the unanswered questions the community still has.  The inquest, which is scheduled for a week in Saskatoon, is required under legislation because Sanderson died in police custody. It is to establish when and where Sanderson died and the cause of his death. The six-person jury may provide recommendations. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2024. Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Ontario has euthanized 84 raccoons and laid dozens of charges in its investigation of a wildlife rehabilitation centre it accuses of allowing animals to suffer with no real hope of recovery, the The Canadian Press has learned. Mally's Third Chance Raccoon Rescue in Kawartha Lakes, Ont., says it is outraged and wants accountability from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry over its handling of the animals. The rescue, a non-profit, says it helps rehabilitate injured and orphaned raccoons and returns them to the wild once they are able. Court documents show the owners of Mally's, Derek Zavitsky and Barbara Zavitsky, face 18 counts and 23 counts, respectively, under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. "A total of 93 raccoons were seized, with six found dead on-site, three succumbing to severe disease and 84 humanely euthanized," said Marcela Mayo, a spokeswoman with the ministry. "All seized raccoons tested positive for canine distemper, with many displaying severe signs of the disease when MNRF took possession of them." The province also revoked Mally's wildlife rehabilitator custodian licence. Distemper is caused by a virus that is commonly found in wild raccoons and is fatal, usually killing animals in a matter of days or weeks. On Sept. 26, 2023, more than 50 conservation officers with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry raided Mally's Third Chance Raccoon Rescue, acting on a tip from the public.  "We're absolutely devastated," said Tiffany Devon, a spokeswoman and volunteer with Mally's.  "Our biggest fight, and our number one priority, was for the safety of those raccoons." The majority of the raccoons were orphans Mally's had been caring for since the spring, Devon said. The province alleges the Zavitskys failed to keep updated log books, lacked raccoon identification, kept the animals more than 12 months and provided rehabilitation to raccoons that "had no reasonable chance of surviving." The province also alleges the pair allowed raccoons to be in contact with domestic animals, kept raccoons in their home and treated raccoons that displayed symptoms of distemper, and failed to euthanize those animals that displayed distemper symptoms. Mally's will fight the charges, Devon said. The mass seizure and subsequent euthanization sparked protests at Queen's Park. A small group of so-called "raccoon freedom fighters" have also demonstrated against Natural Resources and Forestry Minister Graydon Smith, including at a recent Progressive Conservative policy conference in Niagara Falls, Ont. In November, Mally's took the government to court, seeking an injunction to return the seized raccoons. The injunction was denied. But the court documents portray two vastly different versions of events. The province alleges the raccoons were "living in unsanitary, squalid conditions." "Forty-nine raccoons were living in the same house as humans and domestic animals, including in bedrooms and bathrooms, causing significant biosecurity risks and depositing urine and feces everywhere," the Ministry of the Attorney General wrote in its factum. One "very sick raccoon" was found in a cabinet under the bathroom sink. Investigators said they found a dead raccoon in a cage in the home "full of rigor mortis" and another was "infested with live maggots." The ministry said it had to euthanize 15 raccoons that day because they "showed obvious signs of suffering including active seizing, head tremors, discharge from their eyes and nose, and open sores on their paws and bodies."  The ministry alleged Mally's had "mistreated the raccoons for who knows how long." They say testing at the University of Guelph revealed all raccoons had distemper and all were eventually euthanized. Mally's took issue with the government's characterization of its operations and the state of the animals on its property. In court documents, Mally's owners say ministry conservation officers were rough with the raccoons that were "aggressively ripped out of cages" and "shoved into cages that were far too small." The raccoons were left in those ministry cages for hours as the eight-hour raid unfolded, "where they were unable to move, struggled to breathe, and involuntarily defecated," Mally's factum said. The officers "were heard laughing callously as they terrorized the raccoons," Mally's said. The rescue organization said the ministry made "uncorroborated allegations" that all raccoons had contracted distemper. The raccoons had all been vaccinated for distemper, Devon said, raising concerns over false-positives in the ministry's testing. They also question how raccoons could have lived for several months with distemper before they were euthanized. "Things are not adding up at all," Devon said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2024. Liam Casey, The Canadian Press

Arguments surrounding the constitutional challenge against Saskatchewan’s pronoun policy have been halted – due to an impending appeal from the provincial government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden was meeting Tuesday with the top four leaders of Congress to press them to act quickly to avoid a looming government shutdown early next month and to pass emergency aid for Ukraine and Israel. Biden was hosting House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Vice President Kamala Harris also was attending. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden invited the leaders to the Oval Office meeting because he wants to make sure U.S. national security interests are “put first." She said those interests include continuing to fund the government. “Look, what the president wants to see is we want to make sure that the national security interests of the American people gets put first, right?” she said Monday as Biden flew to New York. “It is not used as a political football, right? We want to make sure that gets done. “And we also want to see that, you know, that the government does not get shut down,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that keeping the government open and functioning is a “basic, basic priority” of Congress. The Senate's top two leaders also urged that the government be kept open. Parts of the government could start to scale back operations as early as Friday unless a deal is reached on spending and legislation is sent to Biden for his signature. “We want to avoid a government shutdown," Schumer said Monday on the Senate floor. "We want to work with all our House counterparts to spare the American people the pain that a shutdown would bring.” McConnell likewise urged the political parties to work together to avert an “entirely avoidable” shutdown. “Shutting down the government is harmful to the country,” he said Monday in a separate floor speech. “And it never produces positive outcomes on policy or politics.” The House, under Johnson's leadership, is under pressure to pass the $95 billion national security package that bolsters aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. That measure cleared the Senate on a bipartisan 70-29 vote this month, but Johnson has resisted scheduling it for a vote in the House. Apart from the national security package, government funding for agriculture, transportation, military construction and some veterans' services expires Friday. Funding for the rest of the government, including the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, expires a week later, on March 8. Darlene Superville, The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco's supervisors plan to offer a formal apology to Black residents for decades of racist laws and policies perpetrated by the city, a long-awaited first step as it considers providing reparations. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the resolution apologizing to African Americans and their descendants. All 11 members have signed on as sponsors, guaranteeing its passage. It would be one of the first major U.S. cities to do so. The resolution calls on San Francisco to not repeat the harmful policies and practices, and to commit “to making substantial ongoing, systemic, and programmatic investments” in Black communities. There are about 46,000 Black residents in San Francisco. “An apology from this city is very concrete and is not just symbolic, as admitting fault is a major step in making amends,” Supervisor Shamann Walton, the only Black member of the board and chief proponent of reparations, said at a committee hearing on the resolution earlier this month. Others say the apology is insufficient on its own for true atonement. “An apology is just cotton candy rhetoric,” said the Rev. Amos C. Brown, a member of the San Francisco reparations advisory committee that proposed the apology among other recommendations. “What we need is concrete actions.” An apology would be the first reparations recommendation to be realized of more than 100 proposals the city committee has made. The African American Reparations Advisory Committee also proposed that every eligible Black adult receive a $5 million lump-sum cash payment and a guaranteed income of nearly $100,000 a year to remedy San Francisco's deep racial wealth gap. But there has been no action on those and other proposals. Mayor London Breed, who is Black, has stated she believes reparations should be handled at the national level. Facing a budget crunch, her administration eliminated $4 million for a proposed reparations office in cuts this year. Reparations advocates at the previous hearing expressed frustration with the slow pace of government action, saying that Black residents continue to lag in metrics related to health, education and income. Black people, for example, make up 38% of San Francisco’s homeless population despite being less than 6% of the general population, according to a 2022 federal count. In 2020, California became the first state in the nation to create a task force on reparations. The state committee, which dissolved in 2023, also offered numerous policy recommendations, including methodologies to calculate cash payments to descendants of enslaved people. But reparations bills introduced by the California Legislative Black Caucus this year also leave out financial redress, although the package includes proposals to compensate people whose land the government seized through eminent domain, create a state reparations agency, ban forced prison labor and issue an apology. Cheryl Thornton, a San Francisco city employee who is Black, said in an interview after the committee hearing that an apology alone does little to address current problems, such as shorter lifespans for Black people. “That’s why reparations is important in health care,” she said. “And it’s just because of the lack of healthy food, the lack of access to medical care and the lack of access to quality education.” Other states have apologized for their history of discrimination and violence and role in the enslavement of African Americans, according to the resolution. In 2022, Boston became the first major city in the U.S. to issue an apology. That same year, the Boston City Council voted to form a reparations task force. Janie Har, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — While Joe Biden and Donald Trump are marching toward their respective presidential nominations, Michigan's primary on Tuesday could reveal significant political perils for both of them. Trump, despite his undoubted dominance of the Republican contests this year, is facing a bloc of stubbornly persistent GOP voters who favor his lone remaining rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, and who are skeptical at best about the former president's prospects in a rematch against Biden. As for the incumbent president, Biden is confronting perhaps his most potent electoral obstacle yet: an energized movement of disillusioned voters upset with his handling of the war in Gaza and a relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that critics say has been too supportive. Those dynamics will be put to the test in Michigan, the last major primary state before Super Tuesday and a critical swing state in November's general election. Even if they post dominant victories as expected on Tuesday, both campaigns will be looking at the margins for signs of weakness in a state that went for Biden by just 3 percentage points last time. Biden said in a local Michigan radio interview Monday that it would be “one of the five states” that would determine the winner in November. Michigan has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation, and more than 310,000 residents are of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. Nearly half of Dearborn’s roughly 110,000 residents claim Arab ancestry. It has become the epicenter of Democratic discontent with the White House’s actions in the Israel-Hamas war, now nearly five months old, following Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attack and kidnapping of more than 200 hostages. Israel has bombarded much of Gaza in response, killing nearly 30,000 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to Palestinian figures. Democrats angry that Biden has supported Israel's offensive and resisted calls for a ceasefire are rallying voters on Tuesday to instead select “uncommitted.” The “uncommitted” effort, which began in earnest just a few weeks ago, has been backed by officials such as Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman in Congress, and former Rep. Andy Levin, who lost a Democratic primary two years ago after pro-Israel groups spent more than $4 million to defeat him. Abbas Alawieh, spokesperson for the Listen to Michigan campaign that has been rallying for the “uncommitted” campaign, said the effort is a “way for us to vote for a ceasefire, a way for us to vote for peace and a way for us to vote against war.” Trump won the state by just 11,000 votes in 2016 over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and then lost the state four years later by nearly 154,000 votes to Biden. Alawieh said the “uncommitted” effort wants to show that they have at least the number of votes that were Trump’s margin of victory in 2016, to demonstrate how influential that bloc can be. “The situation in Gaza is top of mind for a lot of people here,” Alawieh said. “President Biden is failing to provide voters for whom the war crimes that are being inflicted by our U.S. taxpayer dollars – he’s failing to provide them with something to vote for.” Our Revolution, the organizing group once tied to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has also urged progressive voters to choose “uncommitted” on Tuesday, saying it would send a message to Biden to “change course NOW on Gaza or else risk losing Michigan to Trump in November.” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a Biden backer who held several meetings and listening sessions in Michigan late last week, said he told community members that, despite his disagreements over the war, he would nonetheless support Biden because he represents a much better chance of peace in the Middle East than Trump. “I also said that I admire those who are using their ballot in a quintessentially American way to bring about a change in policy,” Khanna said Monday, adding that Biden supporters need to proactively engage with the uncommitted voters to try and “earn back their trust.” “The worst thing we can do is try to shame them or try to downplay their efforts," he said. Trump has drawn enthusiastic crowds at most of his rallies, including a Feb. 17 rally outside Detroit drawing more than 2,000 people who packed into a frigid airplane hangar. But data from AP VoteCast, a series of surveys of Republican voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, reveals that his core voters so far are overwhelmingly white, mostly older than 50 and generally without a college degree. He will likely have to appeal to a far more diverse group of voters in November. And he has underperformed his statewide results in suburban areas that are critical in states like Michigan. Several of Trump’s favored picks in Michigan's 2022 midterm contests lost their campaigns, further underscoring his loss of political influence in the state. Meanwhile, the state GOP has been riven with divisions among various pro-Trump factions, potentially weakening its power at a time when Michigan Republicans are trying to lay the groundwork to defeat Biden this fall. Both Biden and Trump have so far dominated their respective primary bids. Biden has sailed to wins in South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire, with the latter victory coming in through a write-in campaign. Trump has swept all the early state contests and his team is hoping to lock up the delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination by mid-March. Nonetheless, an undeterred Haley has promised to continue her longshot presidential primary campaign through at least Super Tuesday on March 5, when 15 states and one territory hold their nominating contests. As Haley stumped across Michigan on Sunday and Monday, voters showing up to her events expressed enthusiasm for her in Tuesday’s primary -- even though, given her losses in the year’s first four states, it seemed increasingly likely she wouldn’t win the nomination. “She seems honorable,” said Rita Lazdins, a retired microbiologist from Grand Haven, Michigan, who in an interview Monday refused to say Trump’s name. “Honorable is not what that other person is. I hate to say that, but it’s so true.” ___ Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report. Seung Min Kim, The Associated Press

The voters of Bridgeport, Connecticut, are going to the polls to choose their mayor — some for the fourth time — after the result of the last election was thrown out because of allegations of absentee ballot box stuffing during a Democratic primary. Tuesday's election could finally decide whether incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim wins another term or his former aide, John Gomes, takes the reins of Connecticut's largest city. Both Democrats have been trying to rally voters, many fatigued and frustrated, to once again cast ballots in a protracted race that's been overshadowed by accusations of voting irregularities. They have also sniped at one another. Ganim accused Gomes of running for mayor out of revenge for being fired as the city’s acting chief administrative officer, saying putting him in charge would be a “mistake." Gomes, in turn, has brought up Ganim's criminal record. After an initial 12-year run as mayor, Ganim was convicted of corruption. He spent seven years in prison, then persuaded voters in 2015 to bring him back as mayor. “I can no longer tolerate the abusive insults and ad hominem attacks aimed at me by a lawless, immoral, and unscrupulous disbarred lawyer who is bent on perpetuating a corrupt enterprise in the City of Bridgeport,” Gomes wrote in a recent opinion piece. Bridgeport's path to Election Day has been complicated, and to some in the city of 148,000, embarrassing. There have now been two primaries. Ganim appeared to win the first one, held in September, but the result was voided by Superior Court Judge William Clark after security camera footage emerged showing what appeared to be at least two of the mayor's supporters making repeat trips to ballot collection boxes and stuffing them with papers that looked like absentee ballots. Longtime political observers in Bridgeport said it looked — at best — like evidence of ballot harvesting, an illegal practice where campaign operatives and volunteers cajole people into filling out absentee ballots for their candidate, and then collect and submit those ballots. Connecticut law requires most people to drop off their ballots themselves. Ganim, who has accused the Gomes campaign of committing voting irregularities, said he was unaware of any wrongdoing by his supporters. Because the court decision came less than a week before the general election was scheduled, the November vote went ahead as planned. Ganim got more votes, but that result didn’t count, either, because of the judge's ruling. A new Democratic primary was held on Jan. 23. Ganim won again, this time more comfortably, but the two Democrats are facing off yet again Tuesday because Gomes had also qualified for the ballot as an independent candidate. Some potential voters are exhausted. “I hear customers talk about it,” said Nick Roussas, owner of Frankie’s Diner in Bridgeport. “A lot of people are tired that we’re coming to a fourth election.” Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said despite the fatigue, voter turnout during this protracted election has been modest yet steady. Also, she said election monitors have been in the Town Clerk's office daily, conducting spot checks of absentee ballot applicants and reviewing video footage of outdoor drop boxes. Since Feb. 1, her office has made three referrals to the State Elections Enforcement Commission regarding possible election violations. Ganim picked up support from top Democrats in the final days of his campaign, including endorsements from Gov. Ned Lamont, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes and appearance by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz at a get-out-the-vote rally Saturday. “Your support is crucial now more than ever,” he urged supporters in a Facebook post. Besides Ganim and Gomes, Republican David Herz is running in the do-over general election. Herz didn't attract much support in the first election in the heavily Democratic city. Susan Haigh, The Associated Press

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) will withdraw from noon-hour supervision on Thursday, Feb. 29 in select school divisions across the province. The announcement marks four straight days of job action by educators in the province.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republicans in the Tennessee House voted Monday to advance a bill that would prevent local governments from reappointing state lawmakers who were expelled due to behavior. The proposal is one of several restrictions being considered after the GOP's high-profile expulsion proceedings last April against Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. It would bar what happened after: Jones and Pearson were reappointed and quickly went back to work. One of the Legislature's staff attorneys expressed concerns about the bill last week, telling House lawmakers during a committee hearing that it raises constitutional questions and suggesting proposing the change to voters in a constitutional amendment instead. Rep. Johnny Garrett, a Goodlettsville Republican who sponsored the bill, argued that the Tennessee Constitution would allow the change. “I believe that the language is absolutely clear,” Garrett said. Toughening restrictions on expelled lawmakers likely will face more scrutiny in the Senate, where Speaker Randy McNally says his chamber will await the House’s action before considering any of the proposals. Pearson, who proposed multiple amendments that were voted down, said the proposal amounted to a government overreach that strips constitutional power from local officials. "Truthfully, I am so tired of the retaliatory, racist reaction of bills targeting Rep. Jones and myself,” Pearson, of Memphis, said just before Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton ruled his comments out of order. Jones, of Nashville, was not called on to speak about the bill before Republicans cut off debate and voted on it. He was ruled out of order twice and lawmakers voted to cut his comments short during two other proposals Monday. They included a Republican resolution about the U.S.-Mexico border that Jones said sends the kind of message that encourages white supremacists to come to Tennessee, including when neo-Nazis recently marched at the state Capitol, which prompted bipartisan condemnation from lawmakers. Jones then said, “Some may argue that this is a neo-Nazi rally happening every time we convene in this body," prompting the vote that his comments were out of order. Jones and Pearson, two young Black lawmakers, were expelled for waging a protest on the House floor last April calling for gun control just days after a Christian elementary school shooting in Nashville killed six people. They and Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson joined chants by protesters in the public gallery and outside the chamber. Johnson, who is white, was spared from expulsion by a single vote after her legal team argued her role was lesser, noting she didn’t use a bullhorn. The Democrats were dubbed the “Tennessee Three” and drew national attention and fundraising. Republicans are also proposing constitutional amendments for voters that would ban lawmakers from returning to office after they were expelled. One proposal floats a four-year ban. The other would make it lifelong. Both Pearson and Jones easily won special elections months after they were reappointed. Johnson is hoping momentum carries over into her uphill run for Republican U.S. Marsha Blackburn's seat. At the same time, Johnson is running for statehouse reelection. Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, are also pushing forward on a proposed bill that would keep Johnson from appearing on the ballot multiple times for different offices in one election. It would also prohibit holding multiple elected offices at once. Republicans have said Johnson isn't being targeted. In the wake of the expulsions, Tennessee House Republicans also installed new rules this year that limit how long lawmakers can debate bills and restrict members deemed “out of order” from speaking, potentially for a couple of days for some repeat offenses. Jones has sued over his expulsion and a temporary special session House rule that Republicans applied to silence Jones for part of one day in August. Jonathan Mattise, The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah teachers will be free to display LGBTQ+ Pride flags and other social, political or religious imagery after the state House blocked a bill on Monday that would have banned teachers from using their position to promote or disparage certain beliefs. The Republican-led chamber defeated the proposal in a 39-32 vote as they raced to address hundreds of outstanding bills during the final week of the 2024 legislative session. Both Democrats and Republicans criticized the bill’s vague language and warned that it could stymie important lessons in critical thinking. Educators would have been prohibited under the bill from encouraging a student to reconsider their sexual orientation or gender, and they could have faced punishment for affirming or refusing to affirm a student's identity. Challenging a student’s political viewpoints or religious beliefs, even within the context of an educational exercise, also could have left a teacher vulnerable to a lawsuit. Some teachers pleaded with lawmakers earlier this month to reject the bill, which they said would make them afraid to speak openly in the classroom. But Rep. Jeff Stenquist, a Draper Republican and the bill's primary sponsor, encouraged educators to view it as a tool to improve trust in the state's education system. Although teachers would have to be more careful to filter out their personal beliefs, he said they would have a new resource to ease parents' worries about what their children are being taught in Utah schools. “Unfortunately, there is a perception out there that our students are being pushed toward particular ideologies, or religious viewpoints or whatever it might be,” Stenquist said Monday. “And this bill now gives us the ability to say definitively to parents, ‘No. We don’t allow that in the state of Utah.'" The bill's unexpected failure on the House floor comes a month after Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation limiting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the state’s educational institutions. Already this year, Republican lawmakers in at least 17 states have proposed dozens of bills rolling back diversity efforts in colleges and some K-12 schools. Several of those states are also pushing to ban classroom instruction about LGBTQ+ topics in the early grades and prevent teachers from affirming a child's gender identity or pronouns. Utah Education Association Director Sara Jones raised concern that a teacher with a family photo on their desk — one of the few personal displays allowed under the bill — could still be punished if that image included their same-sex partner or showed their family standing outside a place of worship. In a legislative body overwhelmingly comprised of Latter-day Saints, several raised alarm before the vote that the bill could stifle religious expression. Local LGBTQ+ rights advocates and other critics celebrated lawmakers’ choice to kill the bill, which the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah had denounced as a vessel for “viewpoint-based censorship.” Utah Republicans this session have passed other legislation, including a transgender bathroom ban, that the ACLU said perpetuates discrimination against trans people. Rep. Joel Briscoe, a Salt Lake City Democrat who teaches high school civics and comparative government classes, worried the bill might prevent him from hanging up the flags of other nations or displaying the campaign signs of all candidates running in a state or local race. The policy would have allowed U.S. flags or those of other countries deemed relevant to the curriculum. He and several legislators argued that the proposal did not adequately define what it means to “promote” a belief. A teacher could face backlash from a parent or student who confuses promoting a point of view with simply explaining a controversial topic or challenging a student to defend their argument, he said. “I did not find it my job as a teacher to ask my students to think in a certain way," Briscoe said. “I did believe as a teacher that it was my job to ask my students to think.” Hannah Schoenbaum, The Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A bill that would largely ban displaying pride flags in public school classrooms was passed by the GOP-led Tennessee House on Monday after Republicans cut a heated debate short. The 70-24 vote sends the legislation to the Senate, where a final vote could happen as early as this week. The motion to cut off debate prompted Democratic Rep. Justin Jones, of Nashville, to yell that House Speaker Cameron Sexton was out of order and ignoring people's requests to speak. Republicans in turn scolded Jones by voting him out of order, halting his immediate comments. Before that, at least two people against the bill were kicked out of the gallery due to talking over the proceedings as Democrats and other opponents blasted the legislation as unfairly limiting a major symbol of the LGBTQ+ community in schools. “I am proud when I walk into the public schools in my city, to see the LGBTQ flag in the classrooms, proudly put up by teachers who understand the suffering that many of their students go through,” said Rep. Jason Powell, a Nashville Democrat. “We should be welcoming and celebrating our students, not hating on them.” The legislation says “displaying” a flag by a school or employee means to “exhibit or place anywhere students may see the object.” The proposal would allow certain flags to be displayed, with exceptions for some scenarios. Among those approved would be the flags of the United States; Tennessee; those deemed protected historical items under state law; Native American tribes; local governments' armed forces and prisoners of war or those missing in action; other countries and their local governments; colleges or universities; or the schools themselves. Other flags could be temporarily displayed as part of a “bona fide” course curriculum, and certain groups allowed to use school buildings can show their flags while using the grounds under the bill. The legislation sets up an enforcement system that relies on lawsuits by parents or guardians of students who attend, or are eligible to attend, public school in a district in question. The lawsuits could challenge the display of flags by a school, employee or its agents that wouldn’t fall under proposed criteria for what would be allowed in classrooms. Republican Rep. Gino Bulso, the bill sponsor from Williamson County south of Nashville, said parents reached out to him with complaints about “political flags” in classrooms. When pressed about whether the bill would allow the Confederate flag to be on display in classrooms, Bulso said the bill would not change the current law about when such a symbol could be shown. He said the bill's exceptions could be applied on Confederate flags for approved curriculum and certain historical items that already cannot be removed without extensive state approval. “What we’re doing is making sure parents are the ones who are allowed to instill in their children the values they want to instill,” Bulso said. The proposal marks another development in the ongoing political battle over LGBTQ+ rights in Tennessee, where the state’s conservative leaders have already moved to restrict classroom conversations about gender and sexuality, ban gender-affirming care and limit events where certain drag performers may appear. The Senate's version of the bill would be more restrictive about who could sue over a flag, limiting it to that specific school's students, parents or guardians of those students or employees there. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to town, school, and school district officials who have implemented or are considering flag bans or other pride displays. The group warned that under First Amendment court precedent, “public schools may prohibit private on-campus speech only insofar as it substantially interferes with or disrupts the educational environment, or interferes with the rights of other students.” Bulso contended that displaying the pride flag does not constitute protected free speech for school employees. Jonathan Mattise, The Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Legislation aimed at easing Kentucky's near-total abortion ban by creating limited exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest was introduced Monday in the GOP-dominated House, as lawmakers wrangle with an issue at the forefront of last year's campaign for governor. Republican state Rep. Ken Fleming filed the measure on the last day that new House bills could be introduced in this year's 60-day session. The bill's prospects are uncertain, with House Speaker David Osborne saying the chamber's GOP supermajority has not discussed any particular abortion bill. Kentucky's near-total abortion ban has been in place since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The state's so-called trigger law took effect, banning abortions except when carried out to save the mother’s life or to prevent a disabling injury. It does not include exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Fleming's proposal would change that by making abortions legal in cases of rape and incest if done no later than six weeks after the first day of the woman’s last menstrual period, according to a statement describing the bill. The measure also would allow an abortion to remove a dead fetus and in cases of a lethal fetal anomaly, meaning the fetus wouldn't survive after birth. “We all encounter difficult heart-wrenching decisions in life," Fleming said in the statement. “As a father of two daughters, I have always supported them financially, emotionally, and especially spiritually. With them on my mind and in my heart, exceptions for life-saving measures for the mother and in cases involving rape or incest should be included in our state’s abortion law.” Current exceptions to save the mother's life or prevent disabling injuries would remain under his bill. The measure also includes a provision creating a process for physicians to document the circumstances surrounding an abortion performed under state law. The last-minute bill filing mirrors another GOP lawmaker's attempt last year to relax the state's abortion ban. That measure, also filed on the last day for bill introductions in the House, made no headway as the abortion issue was skipped over in 2023 by the legislature's Republican supermajorities. The issue rose to the forefront of Kentucky's hotly contested governor's race last year. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, an abortion-rights supporter who won reelection to a second term, hammered away at his Republican challenger's support of the state’s sweeping abortion ban. Kentucky’s Supreme Court refused to strike down the ban last year. The justices, however, ruled on narrow legal issues but left unanswered the larger constitutional questions about whether access to abortion should be legal in the Bluegrass State. In late 2023, a Kentucky woman sued to demand the right to an abortion, but her attorneys later withdrew the lawsuit after she learned her embryo no longer had cardiac activity. In 2022, Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure aimed at denying any constitutional protections for abortion. Kentucky is one of 14 states with a ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy currently in effect. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to abortion, bans of some kind have kicked in in most Republican-controlled states. Two — Georgia and South Carolina — ban abortion once cardiac activity can be detected, around six weeks into pregnancy and before women often realize they’re pregnant. Utah and Wyoming have bans on abortion throughout pregnancy, but enforcement has been paused by courts while they weigh whether the laws comply with the state constitutions. Bruce Schreiner, The Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — Emergency crews responded Monday after a letter containing an unidentified white powder was sent to the Florida home of Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of former President and GOP front-runner Donald Trump. A person familiar with the matter said that results on the substance were inconclusive, but officials do not believe it was deadly. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm details of the letter, which were first reported by The Daily Beast. Trump Jr. opened the letter, which also contained a death threat, in his home office, and emergency responders wearing hazmat suits responded. Jupiter police said the investigation is being handled by the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, which didn’t immediately have any details to release. Trump Jr. is one of his father's top campaign surrogates, frequently headlining events and appearing in interviews on his behalf. It's the second time white powder has been sent to the former president's oldest son. In 2018, his then-wife, Vanessa, was taken to a New York City hospital after she opened an envelope addressed to her husband that contained an unidentified white powder. Police later said the substance wasn’t dangerous. In March 2016, police detectives and FBI agents investigated a threatening letter sent to the Manhattan apartment of Donald Trump Jr.’s brother Eric that also contained a white powder that turned out to be harmless. Envelopes containing white powder were also sent twice in 2016 to Trump Tower, which served as Trump’s campaign headquarters. Hoax attacks using white powder play on fears that date to 2001, when letters containing deadly anthrax were mailed to news organizations and the offices of two U.S. senators. Those letters killed five people. __ Colvin reported from New York. Jill Colvin And David Fischer, The Associated Press

The investigation of a fire that heavily damaged an apartment complex in south Regina over the weekend has concluded.

Regina will host the Canadian Baton Twirling "Team Trials" to determine who will represent as Team Canada at the World Baton Twirling Championships.