B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
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.
Pacific Gas & Electric will face criminal charges because its equipment sparked a wildfire last year that killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes, a Northern California prosecutor announced Thursday.
It would be the latest action against the nation's largest utility, which was forced into bankruptcy over devastating wildfires ignited by its long-neglected electrical grid.
Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett announced on Facebook that her office had determined that PG&E was "criminally liable" for the Zogg Fire.
Prosecutors hadn't yet decided which charges to file, but they plan to do so before the September anniversary of the blaze, Bridgett said.
PG&E said the loss of life and devastation from the fire was "heartbreaking" but said it has resolved civil claims with Shasta County and continues to reach settlements with victims and their families in an effort to make it right."
"We do not, however, agree with the district attorney's conclusion that criminal charges are warranted given the facts of this case," the utility's statement said.
Pushed by strong winds, the fire that began on Sept. 27 raged through the Sierra Nevada mountains and local communities, killing four people, burning about 200 homes and blackening about 87.5 square miles (226.6 square kilometres) of land.
In March, state fire investigators concluded that the fire was sparked by a gray pine tree that fell onto a PG&E transmission line. Two counties, Shasta and Tehama, have sued the utility for negligence, arguing that PG&E had failed to remove the tree even though it had been marked for removal two years earlier.
PG&E, which has an estimated 16 million customers in central and Northern California, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 after its equipment was blamed for a series of fires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed 10,000 homes.
That blaze largely destroyed the town of Paradise, about 145 miles (233 kilometres) northeast of San Francisco. It was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century.
PG&E pleaded guilty to more than 80 counts of involuntary manslaughter over that blaze, which was linked to a badly maintained and aging transmission tower.
PG&E emerged from bankruptcy last summer and negotiated a $13.5 billion settlement with some wildfire victims. But it still faces both civil and criminal actions.
The Sonoma County district attorney's office filed charges in April over a 2019 blaze that forced nearly 200,000 people to evacuate.
PG&E also has been rebuked by California power regulators and a federal judge overseeing its criminal probation for breaking promises to reduce the dangers posed by trees near its power lines.
Last week, PG&E announced plans to bury 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometres) of its power lines in an effort to prevent its fraying grid from sparking wildfires when electrical equipment collides with millions of trees and other vegetation across the drought-stricken state.
The cost was put at $15 billion, most of which will likely be covered by customers.
The announcement came just days after PG&E told regulators that its equipment may have ignited the Dixie Fire northeast of San Francisco. That blaze in Plumas County had burned more than 346 square miles (896 square kilometres) of timber and head-high chaparral and was only 23% contained.
Currently the largest fire in California, it has destroyed more than 40 homes and other buildings and threatens about 10,700 more while the end of the week could see hotter temperatures and lower humidity that could make the battle harder, fire officials said.
A historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
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.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.
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.