LIVE B.C. seeks ban on using drugs in 'all public spaces,' shifting approach to decriminalization
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in "all public spaces," marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
A bill that would keep transgender women and girls in Louisiana from competing on college and K-12 women's and girls' athletic teams was approved Tuesday 72-21 by the state House, moving the bill closer to the desk of Gov. John Bel Edwards, who vetoed similar legislation last year.
The Senate had already passed the measure by Sen. Beth Mizell, a Franklinton Republican. It needed a second routine vote on minor House changes before going to Edwards. If the bill becomes law, Louisiana would join a growing group of mostly conservative states with similar legislation.
Last month, Edwards said the bill was unnecessary because there have been no reported incidences in the state of transgender women competing on girls' or women's teams. "Because it is unnecessary, I think that there is a certain mean-spirited nature to it," Edwards told a radio audience in April.
But Edwards, a Democrat, hasn't said yet whether he will veto the measure again and set up a showdown with a Republican-dominated Legislature. The Senate voted to override his veto last year but the override effort fell two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed in the House. Tuesday's vote was two more than would be needed for an override in the House.
Since that time, Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, won an NCAA women's swimming championship. The University of Pennsylvania senior's victory has been cited repeatedly during the current legislative session by supporters of Mizell's legislation who say athletes born male have a biological advantage in women's sports. The bill, they said, is needed to make sure biological women and girls aren't edged out of athletic scholarship opportunities.
Handling the bill for Mizell on the House floor, Rep. Laurie Schlegel, a Republican from Metairie, said the measure is needed to "protect the future of women's sports."
Rep. Sam Jenkins said the bill will be painful for "some of our most vulnerable citizens."
"These kids will see us," Jenkins said. "They will see their Legislature as bullies. They will see their legislators as people who reject them."
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in "all public spaces," marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
An idyllic 453-acre private island is up for sale off the west coast of Scotland and it comes with sandy beaches, puffins galore, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a flock of black-faced sheep.
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.