BREAKING Bob Cole, veteran CBC broadcaster and former voice of 'Hockey Night in Canada,' dead at 90
Bob Cole, legendary CBC broadcaster and former voice of Hockey Night in Canada, has died. He was 90.
Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday he regrets approving a statewide ban on face mask mandates earlier this year and has called the state Legislature into a special session in an effort to amend the law.
"In hindsight, I wish that had not become law," Hutchinson said during a news conference. "But it is the law, and the only chance we have is either to amend it or for the courts to say that it has an unconstitutional foundation."
The governor's comments -- a shift from his earlier defense of the measure -- reflect the changing public health landscape across the US brought on by the highly transmissible Delta variant. On Tuesday, for the first time since February, more than 50,000 hospital beds across the country were occupied by Covid-19 patients, according to new data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. That number is more than triple what it was a month ago.
The ban of face mask mandates, SB 590, was first introduced in late March and eventually passed both chambers of Arkansas' GOP-led General Assembly in April. It prohibits state and local officials and entities from ordering a face mask mandate, but makes an exception for private businesses, health care facilities, correctional facilities and facilities operated by the Department of Human Services' Division of Youth Services.
The ban allows state and local officials and entities to recommend using a face mask but requires them to "provide notice that the recommendation is not mandatory."
Now, however, Hutchinson has asked state lawmakers to amend the ban so that school districts have the opportunity to mandate face masks if they choose. He wrote in a proclamation calling the state Legislature into a special session that the Delta variant "has infected a higher rate of school-aged children and it is more contagious than previous variants of the virus."
"There is an urgent need to enact exceptions to Act 1002 of 2021 so that public school boards have the flexibility necessary to utilize masks to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in schools," the proclamation said.
The state House adjourned on Wednesday without amending the mandate, but is set to reconvene Thursday morning.
In general, children have less severe illness from Covid-19, but they are not immune to the virus and can occasionally have serious issues.
"We're seeing a real surge with the Delta variant that we did not see previously," Dr. Rick Barr, chief clinical officer at Arkansas Children's Hospital, told CNN last month. "This is the worst that we've seen it for kids, absolutely."
Bob Cole, legendary CBC broadcaster and former voice of Hockey Night in Canada, has died. He was 90.
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.