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Toronto Star

Beneath a veneer of calm, Trump's inauguration holds warning signs for US democracy

All the living former presidents were there and the outgoing president amicably greeted his successor, who gave a speech about the country’s bright future and who left to the blare of a brass band.

2 hours ago

A$AP Rocky trial begins on charges he fired a gun at a former friend
Victoria Times-Colonist

A$AP Rocky trial begins on charges he fired a gun at a former friend

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in a trial against A$AP Rocky , who is charged with firing a gun at a former friend and could get a decades-long prison sentence if convicte ...
More ...LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in a trial against A$AP Rocky , who is charged with firing a gun at a former friend and could get a decades-long prison sentence if convicted.

2 hours ago

Fire destroys large portion of Conception Bay South metal fabrication shop
NTV

Fire destroys large portion of Conception Bay South metal fabrication shop

Fire has caused extensive damage to a metal fabrication shop in Conception Bay South. Shortly before 7:00 p.m. multiple 911 calls were made reporting the fire at Bursey Manufacturing Inc. on Oakes ...
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Fire has caused extensive damage to a metal fabrication shop in Conception Bay South.

Shortly before 7:00 p.m. multiple 911 calls were made reporting the fire at Bursey Manufacturing Inc. on Oakes Lane in Long Pond. When firefighters with the Conception Bay South Fire Department arrived on the scene they found smoke and fire coming from the large warehouse.

Within a half hour a request was made to receive support from the St. John’s Regional Fire Department. An aerial ladder truck and an additional fire engine were sent from St. John’s to aid in the firefight. An official on the scene said that an area that housed offices and a kitchen was most heavily damaged, with heat from the blaze buckling the exterior metal siding, and collapsing a second floor onto the first.

A piece of heavy equipment was used to partially tear down an exterior wall to ease access to the fire. While strong winds fanned the flames and made fighting the fire difficult, the same winds kept the fire in one end of the building. Pouring water into the building through garage doors and windows, and through the roof from an aerial ladder, firefighters were able to stop the blaze from reaching several dangerous tanks which contained flammable and explosive contents.

Fire crews remained on the scene into the late night hours, to ensure not hot spot remained. An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

Video from the scene of a fire that destroyed a large portion of a business in Conception Bay South.

2 hours ago

Kingstonist

Kingston Police seek public’s assistance locating missing youth

Kingston Police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing 15-year-old, Sheldon [surname withheld]. According to Kingston Police, Sheldon was last seen on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, ...
More ...Kingston Police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing 15-year-old, Sheldon [surname withheld]. According to Kingston Police, Sheldon was last seen on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at approximately 8:00 p.m. in the area of Portsmouth Avenue and Bath Road. Sheldon is described by police as Caucasian, 5’6 tall, weighing 130pounds

2 hours ago

No injuries reported following pair of crashes in St. John’s on Monday evening
NTV

No injuries reported following pair of crashes in St. John’s on Monday evening

There were no injuries to report following a pair of crashes in St. John’s on Monday evening, however there was significant damage. At about 6:10 p.m. crews responded to a single-vehicle cras ...
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There were no injuries to report following a pair of crashes in St. John’s on Monday evening, however there was significant damage.

At about 6:10 p.m. crews responded to a single-vehicle crash on Lemarchant Road near Shoppers Drug Mart. The driver of an eastbound vehicle lost control and struck a telephone pole, cracking it off at its base. The driver was assessed by paramedics at the scene, but was not taken to hospital.

Roughly twenty minutes later, at 6:30 p.m., crews were called to a two-car collision at the intersection of Torbay Road and MacDonald Drive. That crash caused extensive damage to both vehicles. The drivers of both SUV’s were assessed by paramedics, but suffered no reported injuries. Traffic was slowed in the area until the scene could be cleared.

There were no injuries following a pair of traffic incidents in St. John’s on Monday evening.

3 hours ago

CityNews Halifax

Ohio State wins 1st national title since 2014, outlasting Notre Dame 34-23 in CFP championship game

ATLANTA (AP) — Instead of crying over another collapse, Ohio State can celebrate another national title after holding off a Notre Dame comeback bid Monday night to walk away with a nailbiter of a 34 ...
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ATLANTA (AP) — Instead of crying over another collapse, Ohio State can celebrate another national title after holding off a Notre Dame comeback bid Monday night to walk away with a nailbiter of a 34-23 victory over the Fighting Irish.

Will Howard hit big-play receiver Jeremiah Smith for 56 yards on a late third-and-11 to lock down a game that had been a laugher, then turned into something else.

Trailing 31-7, Notre Dame scored two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions to make it a one-score game late in the fourth quarter.

The Irish stopped Ohio State on the first two plays of the next drive and used their timeouts. But on third down, Howard found Smith in single coverage on the right sideline and dropped his best pass of the season into the hands of the second-team All-American.

It set up a field goal that started the celebration in earnest, closing out a seven-week climb from the depths of a loss to 20-point underdog Michigan to the top of college football. Ohio State will bring its sixth “natty” and first since the 2014 season back to the Horseshoe in Columbus.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Eddie Pells, The Associated Press












3 hours ago

Victoria Times-Colonist

Coco Gauff says she has a lot more work to do after loss to Paula Badosa at the Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Coco Gauff's retooled forehand and serve abandoned her in the worst way and at the worst time at the Australian Open .

3 hours ago

NHL roundup: Coyle scores twice in third period as Bruins sink Sharks 6-3
Prince George Citizen

NHL roundup: Coyle scores twice in third period as Bruins sink Sharks 6-3

BOSTON (AP) — Charlie Coyle scored a pair of third-period goals, stealing the spotlight from fellow Boston University product Macklin Celebrini in his first game back at the TD Garden as an NHLer an ...
More ...BOSTON (AP) — Charlie Coyle scored a pair of third-period goals, stealing the spotlight from fellow Boston University product Macklin Celebrini in his first game back at the TD Garden as an NHLer and leading the Bruins to a 6-3 victory over the San J

3 hours ago

Prince George Citizen

Trump rolls out his blueprint on border security, but his orders will face challenges

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump rolled out a blueprint to beef up security at the southern border in a series of executive orders that began taking effect soon after his inauguration Monday ...
More ...WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump rolled out a blueprint to beef up security at the southern border in a series of executive orders that began taking effect soon after his inauguration Monday, making good on his defining political promise to c

3 hours ago

CBC British Columbia

Vancouver does about-face on FIFA World Cup training site at neighbourhood park

The City of Vancouver announced Monday that it will no longer be constructing a soccer training facility at Memorial South Park for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and will instead be using an existing facili ...
More ...A soccer practice field with a group of players in red shirts.

The City of Vancouver announced Monday that it will no longer be constructing a soccer training facility at Memorial South Park for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and will instead be using an existing facility at the University of B.C.

3 hours ago

Canadian Affairs

When pleasure becomes pain: How substance use damages the body and brain

Read: 4 minOn Jan. 3, the US’s top doctor made headlines for recommending that alcoholic drinks include health warnings about their cancer risks. Alcohol consumption is a leading preventable cause ...
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a person holding a plastic skeleton and brain
Read: 4 min

On Jan. 3, the US’s top doctor made headlines for recommending that alcoholic drinks include health warnings about their cancer risks. Alcohol consumption is a leading preventable cause of cancer, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy’s advisory notes. 

Murthy’s recommendation comes amidst mounting attention to the health risks of alcohol consumption. In 2023, the World Health Organization sparked controversy when it said “no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health.”

But all substance use affects the body, sources say, with illegal substances damaging nearly every organ in the body. Yet, the health effects of illegal substances receive relatively little attention.

“If you’ve ever looked at a population of people with substance use disorder [and] compared them to the general population, they would be worse off in terms of their cardiovascular risk,” said Dr. Christopher Labos, a Montreal-based cardiologist and host of The Body of Evidence podcast.

Several confounders

Illicit drugs like fentanyl, heroin and cocaine affect the body in all sorts of ways. But isolating their direct effects can be difficult, experts say, due to the social factors that often accompany addiction.

“People who are suffering from substance use disorder probably have poor nutrition, probably don’t exercise as much,” said Labos.

“Anybody who’s suffering from these problems is going to have several confounders that are going to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.”

But Labos says cocaine is known to be the most damaging to the heart. 

“In terms of which [illegal] substances are directly damaging to the heart, we clearly have a number one winner, and that would be cocaine,” Labos said.

“Cocaine is the one that’s very deliberately going to lead to higher rates of atherosclerosis [thickened artery walls] by increasing your heart rate, increasing your blood pressure and actually having a direct effect on thrombosis, so clogging of the arteries,” he added.

Opioids such as fentanyl and heroin also influence heart activity, Labos says. They lengthen the QT interval — a measure of heart electrical activity — which increases the risk of abnormal heart rhythms and potentially life-threatening cardiac issues.

Brain injury is another significant risk associated with illicit drug use.

Mauricio Garcia-Barrera, a psychology professor at the University of Victoria, says opioids such as fentanyl and heroin cause respiratory depression, leading to oxygen deprivation in the brain that damages brain cells.

“Between one to two minutes [after overdose, before resuscitation], the brain damage can start initiating, and between five minutes of cells in the brain not receiving oxygen, then we have the death of brain cells,” said Garcia-Barrera.

By contrast, stimulants like cocaine accelerate brain aging by damaging neurotransmitters, causing grey matter loss that leads to cognitive decline and impaired decision-making.

Brain changes

Neuropsychologist Carolyn Lemsky is the clinical director of Community Head Injury Resource Services, a Toronto not-for-profit that runs a brain rehabilitation program.

Lemsky says many of her patients want to quit using substances. But habitual drug use alters brain structure and function, making it difficult to quit.

“In people who use opioids and who have a lot of these non-fatal overdoses, their brain changes in many ways,” said Lemsky.

The brain atrophies in critical areas like the hippocampus, the region responsible for memory, and the temporal lobes. Simultaneously, neural pathways linked to habitual behaviour “get a little fatter,” reinforcing addiction.

This rewiring “tilts the brain toward immediate gratification,” Lemsky said. Meanwhile, impairments in the hippocampus diminish the ability to recall the negative consequences of past actions, making recovery even more challenging.

But Lemsky says alcohol remains the most problematic substance for her clients, due to its widespread use. 

And while it is a legal substance, alcohol also affects the brain, she says. It leads to cognitive issues like memory and executive functioning problems. Many of her clients develop alcohol-related dementia due to vitamin deficiencies caused by chronic alcohol use.

Cannabis, another legal substance, has also become “more and more problematic” for her clients over the past 15 years, Lemsky says. 

“Cannabis also interferes with cognitive functioning,” she said.

According to Health Canada’s 2024 cannabis survey, 80 per cent of Canadians recognize cannabis can be habit-forming and detrimental to youth brain development. Only 71 per cent said they were aware it is linked to mental health issues such as psychosis.

‘Further research is needed’

In a statement to Canadian Affairs, Health Canada said the long-term health consequences of illegal drug use require further study.

“Further research is needed to better understand long-term impacts of opioid-related harms, including the relationship between brain injury and substance use, as well as predisposing factors and long-term effects,” said Marie-Pier Burelle, a media relations advisor for Health Canada.

Lemsky says it is problematic that the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy — the government’s framework for addressing substance use-related harms — does not address the known health effects of illegal drugs.

“If you look at the Canada drug strategy, it doesn’t mention brain or cognition once,” she said. 

In 2022, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor introduced Bill C-277, a private member’s bill that aims to establish a national strategy on brain injuries. The bill was at the report stage when Parliament was prorogued in early January. Further work on the bill could resume in the next parliamentary session.

“They need a brain injury strategy,” says Lemsky, explaining that cognitive impairment is the leading reason people disengage from medical support services, such as getting treatment for addiction.

“The treatment has too high a cognitive load and isn’t adapted to their needs,” she said. “They can’t manage, and they leave.”

The post When pleasure becomes pain: How substance use damages the body and brain appeared first on CANADIAN AFFAIRS.

3 hours ago

Strong earthquake in Taiwan injures 27 and causes scattered damage
Victoria Times-Colonist

Strong earthquake in Taiwan injures 27 and causes scattered damage

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan early Tuesday, leaving 27 people with minor injuries and some reported damage. The quake hit at 12:17 a.m.

3 hours ago

Man dead after house fire in Oshawa
Toronto Star

Man dead after house fire in Oshawa

A man was found inside and rescued by officers. He was then transported to the hospital in life-threatening condition and died shortly after.

3 hours ago

Trump sets out to erase Biden
Prince George Citizen

Trump sets out to erase Biden's legacy with pardons and orders immediately after taking office

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump began erasing Joe Biden ’s legacy immediately after taking office as the nation’s 47th president on Monday, pardoning nearly all of his supporters who rioted at th ...
More ...WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump began erasing Joe Biden ’s legacy immediately after taking office as the nation’s 47th president on Monday, pardoning nearly all of his supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan.

3 hours ago

CBC Calgary

Alberta government lifts ban on coal exploration in Eastern Slopes

The Alberta government has lifted a ban on coal exploration in the Eastern Slopes and the Rocky Mountains, a move that the regulator says will allow suspended projects to resume. ...
More ...A mountain is pictured.

The Alberta government has lifted a ban on coal exploration in the Eastern Slopes and the Rocky Mountains, a move that the regulator says will allow suspended projects to resume.

3 hours ago

Traffic signal work set for Whitehorse
Yukon News

Traffic signal work set for Whitehorse's Range Road and Two Mile Hill Jan. 21

Temporary lane closures will be in effect in both northbound and southbound lanes

3 hours ago

CityNews Halifax

PHOTO COLLECTION: AP Top Photos Australian Open Tennis Quarterfinals

This is a collection of photos chosen by AP photo editors. The Associated Press ...
More ...

This is a collection of photos chosen by AP photo editors.

The Associated Press





3 hours ago

CBC Manitoba

Stan Pierre named head coach of the Manitoba Bisons football program

A familiar face with deep ties to the Bisons is set to replace a legend at the helm of the University of Manitoba's football program. ...
More ...A man stands in a classroom.

A familiar face with deep ties to the Bisons is set to replace a legend at the helm of the University of Manitoba's football program.

4 hours ago

Prince George Citizen

PHOTO COLLECTION: Trump Immigration

This is a collection of photos chosen by AP photo editors. The Associated Press

4 hours ago

Prince George Citizen

Trump order seeks to change the name of North America's tallest peak from Denali to Mount McKinley

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday calling for North America’s tallest peak — Denali in Alaska — to be renamed Mount McKinley, reviving an idea he’ ...
More ...JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday calling for North America’s tallest peak — Denali in Alaska — to be renamed Mount McKinley, reviving an idea he’d floated years ago and drawing a rebuke from Alaska’s Repub

4 hours ago

Finance minister says Trump
Victoria Times-Colonist

Finance minister says Trump's Feb. 1 tariff comments are 'nothing new'

MONTEBELLO, Que. — Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc says Donald Trump's suggestion that he will impose sweeping tariffs on Canada on Feb. 1 is "nothing new," and insists Canada has plans ready for s ...
More ...MONTEBELLO, Que. — Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc says Donald Trump's suggestion that he will impose sweeping tariffs on Canada on Feb. 1 is "nothing new," and insists Canada has plans ready for several possible scenarios.

4 hours ago

B.C. dad can
Victoria Times-Colonist

B.C. dad can't get back $500K he gave now-separated son, daughter in-law for home

The B.C. Supreme Court sided with a man's former daughter-in-law, who was gifted $500,000 to buy a $1.3-million home with her former spouse; the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld the judgement.

4 hours ago

CFLPA
Victoria Times-Colonist

CFLPA 'strongly protests' suspension of veteran DB Loucheiz Purifoy

TORONTO — The CFL Players' Association says it "strongly protests" the CFL's suspension of defensive back Loucheiz Purifoy for violating its drug policy.

4 hours ago

CBC

U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in Vermont near Canada-U.S. border, say authorities

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot and killed in Vermont on Monday while performing their duties near the Canada-U.S. border, according to U.S. federal and state authorities.  ...
More ...A closeup of a shoulder patch that reads 'U.S. Border Patrol'

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot and killed in Vermont on Monday while performing their duties near the Canada-U.S. border, according to U.S. federal and state authorities. 

4 hours ago

Victoria Times-Colonist

Blues hold on to defeat the Golden Knights 5-4 after giving up 2 late goals

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jake Neighbours and Brayden Schenn scored during a shootout after St. Louis gave up two goals in the final minutes of regulation, and the Blues held on to defeat the Vegas Golden Kn ...
More ...LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jake Neighbours and Brayden Schenn scored during a shootout after St. Louis gave up two goals in the final minutes of regulation, and the Blues held on to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 on Monday.

4 hours ago

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