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A firsthand account of life behind bars in Canadian women’s prisons

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

Movies and television shows have betrayed me, and probably you too at least when it comes to depicting life behind bars.For over a decade, I’ve been fascinated with and done a lot of reporting on Canada and Ontario’s correctional system.I’ve been in many provincial jails, and they look like jails, primarily dated, bars on some cells, metal doors with small windows and hatches, inmates in orange jumpers and t-shirts.But when it comes to women’s prisons where offenders are convicted of serious crimes and serving terms of two years or more, it looks more like a campus than a correctional centre.For six months, my crew and I spent considerable time in the Grand Valley Institution for Women (GVI) in Kitchener, ON and Alberta’s Edmonton Institution for Women (EIW) to film the latest episode of VeraCity: Prison Moms.I was expecting scenes from the TV show Orange is the New Black and the Australian show Wentworth, and instead, it felt like a rougher version of 90210 but with an all-female l...

Israeli defense chief says military has more than doubled strikes on Iranian targets in Syria

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s defense minister Monday said that Israel’s new government has greatly increased the number of strikes on Iranian targets since taking office late last year.Yoav Gallant did not provide an exact number of airstrikes. But the address, delivered at a security conference, marked rare public comments on Israeli military activity in Syria.“Since I took office, the number of Israeli strikes against the Iranians in Syria have doubled,” Gallant said. “As part of this campaign, we are working methodically to strike the Iranian intelligence capabilities in Syria,” he said. “These strikes inflict significant damage to the attempts by the Revolutionary Guard to establish a foothold a few kilometers from the Israeli border.”Gallant also accused Iran of converting civilian ships into military vessels armed with weapons such as drones, missiles and intelligence-gathering capabilities. He said Iran hopes to station these ships at long distances from ...

Rick Hummel, esteemed St Louis-based baseball writer, dead at 77

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rick Hummel, an esteemed writer who covered the St. Louis Cardinals and Major League Baseball for five decades for the Post-Dispatch until his retirement last year, has died. He was 77.Hummel died in his sleep at his St. Louis-area home early Saturday after a short, aggressive illness, the Post-Dispatch said Monday.He was nicknamed “The Commish” for running an American Professional Baseball Association board game with colleagues, and the moniker became so widespread throughout baseball that even Commissioners Bud Selig and Rob Manfred called Hummel by the label.“The 51-year ride, except for a couple of broken windows, has been a smooth one,” Hummel wrote in a farewell column in the Post-Dispatch last November. “I got to cover countless Cardinals playoffs, including three World Series champions, 35 World Series and the past 42 All-Star games, starting and ending in Dodger Stadium. There was the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase of 1998 and `Whiteyball’ in ...

Autopsy finds ‘severe neglect’ to blame for man’s death in bedbug-infested jail cell

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A man who died in a bedbug-infested cell in a Georgia jail’s psychiatric wing “died due to severe neglect,” according to an independent autopsy released Monday by lawyers for his family.Lashawn Thompson, 35, died in September, three months after he was booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Public outrage over his death spread last month after a lawyer for his family, Michael Harper, released photos of Thompson’s face and body covered in insects.“Mr. Thompson was neglected to death,” says the autopsy report written by Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., a former chief medical examiner in Washington, D.C., who is now a professor and chair of the pathology department at Howard University College of Medicine.The independent autopsy report lists the cause of death as “Complications due to Severe Neglect,” with “Untreated Decompensated Schizophrenia” identified as a contributing cause. A combination of dehydration, rapid weight loss and malnutrition, compl...

St. Sabina hosts gun buyback for Fr. Pfleger's 74th birthday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

CHICAGO — Father Michael Pfleger’s 74th birthday is Monday and to celebrate, he wanted to get some guns off the streets.The gun buyback started around 9:00 a.m. goes until 3:00 p.m. and several people came with guns of all varieties for this buyback and have been greeted by Fr. Pfleger with a message on gun violence."You know, there’s a whole comprehensive array of what we need to do about Molins but one of the things we have to do is deal with guns," Fr. Pfleger said.Handguns get $100 cash assault Stone weapons get $200 in cash.The Chicago Police Department has those guns, collecting them, and hauling them away for destruction. “We’re supposed to step in together:” Fundraiser supports families of 4 high school seniors killed in car crash "It’s real personal for me. I lost my adopted son just two blocks from here. I buried so many other people. Purpose of her pain group is based here," Fr. Pfleger said.Fr. Pfleger, who has been a staple in the Auburn-Gresham community since the 1...

Another Chicago Bears player returns to get his college degree in 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

SOUTH BEND — For a second time this offseason, a current member of the Chicago Bears has returned to school to finish what he started. A few weeks after quarterback Justin Fields went back to Ohio State to get his bachelor's degree, tight end Cole Kmet did the same on Sunday.The Lake Barrington native traveled to South Bend to graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science on Sunday from the University of Notre Dame. He took part in the ceremony at Notre Dame Stadium, where Kmet established himself as one of the best tight ends in the country from 2017 through 2019. He was also a member of Notre Dame's baseball team in 2018 and 2019.The former St. Viator High School standout would declare for the NFL Draft after his junior year with the Fighting Irish, and the Bears selected him in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. "No longer a dropout," said Kmet on his Instagram post on Sunday.Kmet was able to graduate alongside his brother, Casey, who is an infielder for the Notre D...

Lego goes back to the '80s with a Pac-Man cabinet - and it has a hand crank

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - Lego is going back to the '80s with a new premium set that is a detailed recreation of the classic Pac-Man arcade game. The set marks the 43rd anniversary of the original game, which was originally released on May 22, 1980, by Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.While you can't actually play Pac-Man on it, the set features a hand crank that moves Pac-Man and the ghosts around the 'screen'. The set also contains large versions of Pac-Man and ghosts Blink and Clyde that rotate on a base showing both Pac-Man and the ghosts on the run.(LEGO)(LEGO)(LEGO)(LEGO)(LEGO)(LEGO)(LEGO)The set also features a light up coin-slot, and a small vignette of a female minifigure playing Pac-Man on an arcade, hidden inside of the cabinet.Lego designer Sven Franic described the set as "a one-of-a-kind Lego creation that captures the magic of the original game while adding a playful new twist and a couple of Easter eggs – in true video game style.” Lego releasing 3,981-piece ‘Batman Returns’ Batca...

VIDEO: Fireball turns night into day in Australia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

CROYDON, Australia — The hunt for pieces of meteorite is underway in Australia after a meteor plummeted to Earth in a blaze that lit up the sky.The meteor fell near Croydon, Queensland Saturday night, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). SpaceX sends Saudi astronauts to International Space Station on chartered flight Footage captured by a camera at Cairns Airport shows the meteor flashing bright green as it falls to earth.“We witnessed some pretty incredible activity across our skies last night,” the airport wrote on Facebook.Australian media cited astrophysicist Brad Tucker as saying the object was “definitely a meteor.”He estimated the rock would have measured between 1.5 and 3 feet in diameter, and was travelling at a speed of 62,000-93,000 mph, the ABC said.Video credit: Cairns Airport via Storyful

Actor Ray Stevenson of 'Thor' films, 'RRR' and 'Vikings' dies at 58

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

(KTLA) – Ray Stevenson who is known for his roles in "King Arthur," "Punisher: War Zone," and "RRR" has died.Stevenson's publicist told Variety that the prolific actor passed away on Sunday, however no cause of death was revealed.Stevenson starred as the main villain in the hit movie "RRR." He also played Volstagg in Marvel's "Thor" franchise and starred as Othere in the History Channel's "Vikings." The actor also voiced the character Gar Saxon in the "Star Wars" animated series "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels."Deadline reported Stevenson was set to join Disney+'s upcoming series "Ashoka," which is a spinoff of "The Mandalorian."The site also said the actor had been cast in the historical drama "1242: Gateway to the West." He took over the lead role that originally was to be played by Kevin Spacey.Stevenson was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, and started his career in the early '90s appearing in European television series and televised films.In 1998 he starred in "The...

Person taken into custody after barricading in Georgetown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:04 GMT

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) -- One person was taken into police custody after barricading themself on Axis Loop in Georgetown. The Georgetown Police Department tweeted at 10:54 a.m. that officers were "working a barricaded subject" in the 200 block of Axis Loop, which is off Williams Drive in the Deer Haven subdivision. Police posted an update at 1:37 p.m. that a person had been taken into custody without incident. The police department said in the tweet it involved a mental health situation, therefore no other details will be released.