Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive Squad, eked out a closer-than-expected Democratic primary victory Tuesday against a centrist challenger who questioned the incumbent's support for the “defund the police" movement.
The evening went far smoother for another progressive, Becca Balint, who won the Democratic House primary in Vermont — positioning her to become the first woman representing the state in Congress.
A key race was unfolding in western Wisconsin, where Democratic Rep. Ron Kind’s retirement after 26 years in office opens up a seat in a district that has been trending Republican. The GOP nominee vying to replace Kind is a former Navy SEAL who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, which preceded the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Some of the top elections:
Omar, who represents Minneapolis and is one of the left's leading voices in Congress, has defended calls to redirect public safety funding more into community-based programs. She squared off with former City Councilmember Don Samuels, whose north Minneapolis base suffers from more violent crime than other parts of the city.
Samuels argued that Omar is divisive and helped defeat a ballot question last year that sought to replace the city police department with a new public safety unit. He and others also successfully sued the city to force it to meet minimum police staffing levels called for in Minneapolis' charter.
Samuels said his narrow loss shows that Omar is beatable: “If this was the general election, no doubt that we would have won this race." Omar countered, “Tonight’s victory is a testament to how much our district believes in the collective values we are fighting for.”
Barb Atkinson, a 53-year-old part-time event planner for a radio station who supported Samuels, called Omar "too far to the left.”
“Although I respect Ilhan Omar and what she’s done, I disagree with the defund the police. I really think that wording sends the wrong message,” Atkinson said. She added, "We need our leaders to work together to solve this issue.”
Omar, who is seeking her third term in the House, had crushed a similar primary challenge two years ago from a well-funded but lesser-known opponent.
“She’s had a lot of adversity already and pushback. I don’t think her work is done,” said Kathy Ward, a 62-year-old property caretaker for an apartment building in Minneapolis who voted for Omar. “We’ve got to give her a chance.”
Two other members of the Squad — Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri — won their Democratic primaries last week.
Voters in southern Minnesota, meanwhile, were deciding two races related to the same seat vacated by Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died earlier this year from cancer.
A special election for the remainder of Hagedorn's term pitted Republican Brad Finstad, who served in the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Trump administration, against Democrat Jeff Ettinger, a former chief executive at Hormel Foods. Both won a May 24 special primary election for Hagedorn's seat to serve until January — though the race was too early to call Wednesday morning.
Regardless, Finstad and Ettinger will face off again in November for a full term in the district — it includes Rochester and Mankato — after each secured their party's nomination Tuesday. Ettinger faced minimal primary opposition while Finstad had little trouble dispatching state Rep. Jeremy Munson. Munson said he doesn't think President Joe Biden's victory was legitimate — despite federal and state election officials, courts and Trump’s own attorney general saying there was no credible evidence the 2020 presidential election was tainted.
Republicans see a pickup opportunity in Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District, the seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Kind.
The district covers a swath of counties along Wisconsin's western border with Minnesota and includes La Crosse and Eau Claire. Republican Derrick Van Orden was unopposed in his primary Tuesday and has Trump's endorsement.
Van Orden narrowly lost to Kind in the 2020 general election. He attended Trump's “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House but has said he never stepped foot on the grounds of the Capitol during the insurrection.
State Sen. Brad Pfaff topped three other Democrats to secure the party's nomination and will face Van Orden in the fall. Pfaff, a onetime state agriculture secretary, had previously worked for Kind and received his endorsement.
Vermont is the last state in the country yet to add a female member to its congressional delegation. Balint, who immediately becomes the favourite in November's general election, would also be the first openly gay member of Congress from Vermont.
She was endorsed by some of the nation’s leading leaders on the left, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“Vermont has chosen a bold, progressive vision for the future, and I will be proud to represent us in Congress,” Balint said in a statement.
Balint is vying to fill the state’s lone House seat, which is being vacated by Rep. Peter Welch who is running for Senate and easily secured the Democratic nomination on Tuesday. Welch is trying to succeed Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate’s longest-serving member, who is retiring, creating Vermont’s first open Senate seat since 2006, when Sanders succeeded Jim Jeffords.
Balint defeated Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, an ex-staffer for Welch and has been backed by Leahy and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. In November, she'll face Liam Madden, a Marine Corps veteran from Bellows Falls who secured the Republican nomination.
___
Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski, Doug Glass and Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., and Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vt., contributed to this report.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Here are the latest recalls Canadians should watch out for, according to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.