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.
GOP lawmakers in Utah pushed through a ban on transgender youth athletes playing on girls teams Friday, overriding a veto and joining 11 other states with similar laws amid a nationwide culture war.
A veto letter from Gov. Spencer Cox drew national attention with a poignant argument that such laws target vulnerable transgender kids already at high suicide risk.
Business leaders also sounded the alarm that the ban could have a multimillion-dollar economic impact on Utah, including the possible loss of the NBA All-Star Game next year. The Utah Jazz called the ban "discriminatory legislation" and opposed it.
Before the veto, the ban received support from a majority of Utah lawmakers, but fell short of the two-thirds needed to override it. Its sponsors on Friday flipped 10 Republicans in the House and five in the Senate who had previously voted against the proposal.
Cox was the second GOP governor this week to overrule lawmakers on a sports-participation ban, but the proposal won support from a vocal conservative base that has particular sway in Utah's state primary season. Even with those contests looming, however, some Republicans stood with Cox to reject the ban.
"I cannot support this bill. I cannot support the veto override and if it costs me my seat so be it. I will do the right thing, as I always do," said Republican Sen. Daniel Thatcher.
With the override of Cox's veto, a dozen states have some sort of ban on transgender kids in school sports. Utah's law takes effect July 1.
Not long ago efforts to regulate transgender kids' participation in sports failed to gain traction in statehouses, but in the past two years groups like the American Principles Project began a well-coordinated effort to promote the legislation throughout the country. Since last year, bans have been introduced in at least 25 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. This week, lawmakers in Arizona and Oklahoma passed bans.
"You start these fights and inject them into politics," said Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project. "You pass them in a few states and it starts to take on a life of its own and becomes organic. We helped start this fight and we're helping carry it through, but a lot of this is coming from the local level."
Leaders in the deeply conservative Utah say they need the law to protect women's sports. The lawmakers argue that more transgender athletes with possible physical advantages could eventually dominate the field and change the nature of women's sports without legal intervention.
Utah has only one transgender girl playing in K-12 sports who would be affected by the ban. There have been no allegations of any of the four transgender youth athletes in Utah having competitive advantages.
The group Visit Salt Lake, which hosts conferences, shows and events, said the override could cost the state $50 million in revenue. The Utah-based DNA-testing genealogy giant Ancestry.com also opposed it.
Salt Lake City is set to host the NBA All-Star game in February 2023. League spokesman Mike Bass said the league is "working closely" with the Jazz on the matter. The team is partially owned by NBA all-star Dwyane Wade, who has a transgender daughter.
Ban supporters, though, say they planned ahead to blunt the impact of boycotts like those that forced North Carolina to repeal a law limiting which public restrooms transgender people could use, Schilling said. The American Principles Project strategically focused on early legislation in populous, economic juggernaut states where companies and organizations would lose sizable investments if they left. With a precedent of muted economic backlash set, the group expects smaller states to get similar treatment.
Legislative leaders in Utah said concerns about economic blowback and the NBA's withdrawal from Salt Lake City were premature and noted Texas and Florida hadn't faced boycotts.
"I hope the NBA and other groups understand that our intent here is to protect women sports and keep women's sports safe and competitive. And if they have thoughts on how best to do that, we'd be happy to chat with them," said Utah Republican House Speaker Brad Wilson.
Utah has historically been among the nation's most conservative states. But an influx of new residents and technology companies coupled with the growing influence of the tourism industry often sets the stage for heated debate over social issues in the state home to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On Thursday and Friday, demonstrators both for and against a ban rallied at Utah's Capitol.
Friday's deliberations came after more than a year of negotiation between social conservatives and LGBTQ advocates. Republican sponsor Rep. Kera Birkeland worked with Cox and activists at Equality Utah before introducing legislation that would require transgender student athletes to go before a government-appointed commission.
The proposal, although framed as a compromise, failed to gain traction on either side. LGBTQ advocates took issue with Republican politicians appointing commission members and evaluation criteria that included body measurements such as hip-to-knee ratio.
In the final hours before the Legislature was set to adjourn earlier this month, GOP lawmakers supplanted the legislation with an all-out ban.
Birkeland, who is also a basketball coach, acknowledged the proposal provoked intense emotion, but said conversations with female student athletes compelled her to continue her effort.
"When we say, 'This isn't a problem in our state,' what we say to those girls is, 'Sit down, be quiet and make nice,"' she said.
Lawmakers anticipate court challenges similar to blocked bans in Idaho and West Virginia, where athletes have said the policies violate their civil rights. They've argued the bans violate their privacy rights, due to tests required if an athlete's gender is challenged. The ACLU of Utah said on Friday that a lawsuit was inevitable.
Utah's policy would revert to the commission if courts halt the ban.
The threat of lawsuits worried school districts and the Utah High School Athletic Association, which has said it lacks funds to defend the policy in court. Lawmakers also amended the ban on Friday to provide taxpayer dollars to underwrite fees from potential lawsuits and insulate districts and the association from liability.
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.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
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.
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.