El Nino weakening doesn't mean cooler temperatures this summer, forecasters say
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Symone Sanders, Vice President Kamala Harris' chief spokesperson and senior adviser, is leaving the Biden administration at the end of the year, according to a source familiar with the decision.
"Symone has served honorably for three years," the source told CNN. "The President and vice president are grateful for Symone's service and advocacy for this White House. She is a valued member, a team player, and she will be missed. We are grateful to have her working through the end of the year."
Her expected exit marks the second departure among Harris' top communication staff in recent weeks. Last month, a White House official told CNN that the vice president's communications director, Ashley Etienne, was leaving to pursue "other opportunities."
News of each departure followed a myriad of reports, including by CNN, of staff infighting and dysfunction. Still, the source dismissed that Sanders' exit has to do with reports of dysfunction, calling it the right time for her to go.
Harris has known for some time about Sanders' upcoming departure, according to a second source familiar.
Anita Dunn, a former top Biden aide, praised Sanders as "an extraordinary talent" in an interview with CNN on Wednesday night.
"Symone has been working at the highest levels and in an extraordinarily intense environment for three years for Joe Biden. And now also for Vice President Harris," Dunn said. "When you look at the three years, two on the campaign, one in the White House, nobody can question her decision that she needs a break and it's time to move on. And she'll always be a member of the Biden-Harris family."
Sanders, a 31-year-old African American political strategist, joined the White House from Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign, on which she served as a senior adviser. She was also the national press secretary for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign and was a political analyst for CNN prior to joining Biden's campaign.
During her time in the vice president's office, Sanders helped lead messaging for Harris, who has been tasked with what allies and supporters view as a thorny portfolio. Adding another dimension to Sanders' efforts, Harris -- who has been dogged with messaging challenges since her unsuccessful presidential campaign -- has publicly fumbled the White House's message during her time as vice president.
In February, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin expressed frustration over a television interview Harris did in his home state to promote the American Rescue Plan, suggesting the administration did not give him a heads up.
During her first foreign trip, Harris -- who heads diplomatic efforts to stem migration from the Northern Triangle -- had to deal with the fallout over her response about why she has not at that point visited the US-Mexico border as vice president.
And over the summer, White House had to dive into damage control following reports of dysfunction within Harris' staff.
The interview during which she made the border comment came after Harris had participated in a wide-ranging media training session to improve her delivery and presentation in interviews and speeches. That training had been one of several sessions over the last year, according to multiple sources.
In September, the vice president's office also attempted to contain the fallout over Harris' lack of pushback in an exchange with a student who characterized Israel's actions toward Palestinians as "an ethnic genocide and a displacement of people."
Since the messaging missteps, the vice president's office has hired two communications veterans -- Lorraine Voles, a crisis communications specialist, and Adam Frankel, a former Obama speechwriter -- to focus their efforts on "organizational development, strategic communications and long-term planning," according to the White House.
Sanders had previously made her White House ambitions known, writing in her 2020 memoir, "No, You Shut Up," "One day I want to be White House press secretary."
Bakari Sellers, a friend of Sanders, told the Washington Post this past spring that the decision to make Jen Psaki the White House press secretary "stung" Sanders and that being passed over "hurt."
Harris' team will likely see other exits over time.
"Offices reconstitute themselves. Symone is not the last person who will leave the White House," Dunn told CNN.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
A 15-year old boy who was critically injured after a stabbing in Nepean on Thursday has died of his injuries, Ottawa's English public school board said Sunday.
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
The Maple Leafs battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins with consecutive 2-1 victories - including one that required extra time - in their first-round playoff series to push the club's Original Six rival to the limit before suffering a devastating Game 7 overtime loss.
Amid scientists' warnings that nations need to transition away from fossil fuels to limit climate change, Canadians are still lukewarm on electric vehicles, according to a study conducted by Nanos Research for CTV News.
Three people have died and two have been hospitalized after a speeding car struck a tree and landed on another vehicle in Fredericton Sunday morning.
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro's vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans.
Thieves killed two Australians and an American on a surfing trip to Mexico in order to steal their truck, particularly because they wanted the tires, authorities said Sunday.
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.