More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Rep. George Santos' lawyer said Monday the indicted New York Republican would risk going to jail to protect the identities of the people who cosigned the $500,000 bond enabling his pretrial release.
The lawyer, Joseph Murray, urged a judge to deny a request by news outlets to unseal the names of Santos' bond suretors, or guarantors, suggesting they could "suffer great distress," including possible job losses and physical harm, if they're identified publicly.
"My client would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come," Murray wrote in a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields.
Murray asked that she give them time to withdraw as cosigners if she decides to unseal their names, which Shields kept off the public court docket at the lawyer's request.
Murray said he, Santos and Santos' staff have been receiving threatening and harassing calls and messages, including death threats. The lawyer said he received a call Friday from someone shouting, "Who paid Santos' bond?" and said he worries Santos' critics "are just waiting to pounce" on the people backing his release.
"We truly fear for their health, safety and well being," Murray wrote.
Santos pleaded not guilty on May 10 to a 13-count indictment charging that he duped donors, stole from his campaign, lied to Congress about being a millionaire and cheated to collect unemployment benefits he didn't deserve. He is due back in court on June 30.
The 34-year-old, who represents parts of Queens and Long Island, has defied calls to resign and has said he won't drop his bid for a second term.
Prosecutors have not taken a position on the unsealing request.
In a letter last week, a lawyer for news outlets urged the judge to the release the names of Santos' bond suretors, citing a "compelling public interest in maintaining the greatest transparency possible in these proceedings."
The New York Times first wrote to Shields on May 23 asking to unseal the names. Other news outlets, including The Associated Press, joined the fight a few days later.
Separately, the House Ethics Committee wrote to Santos on May 16 asking him to identify the people who cosigned his bond.
Murray said Santos originally lined up three financially responsible cosigners as suretors, but one backed out and the other two didn't show up to his arraignment.
That forced them to make "other confidential arrangements" to ensure Santos' release, Murray said.
Santos' bond is unsecured. That means his cosigners didn't have put up any money up front, but could be forced to pay the full amount if he doesn't comply with his release conditions or fails to show up for court.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
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.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
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.”