‘Vulnerable’ South Asia least prepared to deal with urban heat: World Bank

Amin Ahmed Published April 30, 2023  

ISLAMABAD: South Asia is one of the regions most at risk due to extreme heat but the majority of its urban areas are ill-equipped to deal with the phenomenon, which is increasing in frequency, severity and complexity due to climate change.

This was stated in a new World Bank report which said that the region, home to a quarter of the world’s population, was accustomed to extreme heat, but rapid urbanisation and climate change were pushing the region’s limits of adaptation with lethal consequences.

The impacts of heat in South Asia are already emerging with over 3,600 heat-related deaths in India and Pakistan during the 2015 heat waves. More recently in 2022, at least one billion people in India and Pakistan experienced further record-breaking heat waves with temperatures reaching 51 degrees Celsius in some parts of Pakistan.

The report, ‘Urban Heat in South Asia: Integrating People and Places in Adapting to Rising Temperature’ said high-density living, along with low permeation of green and blue spaces, has created heat management challenges for a large number of communities in South Asia.

New report calls high-density, less green spaces ‘a challenge’; says ‘inclusive planning’ needed to mitigate effects

These environmental factors were important considering that heat adaptive measures, such as mechanical cooling through air conditioning, were rarely afforded in South Asia.

In many South Asian communities, air conditioning use is impractical due to erratic electricity supply or affordability.

The report stated that across Pakistan, electricity demand often exceeded supply resulting in blackouts lasting three to four hours per day. These factors were not limited to low-income communities and extended across many urban communities in the region.

Data limitations

Urban heat is a rising risk across South Asian cities that is often underestimated and underreported. Unlike many other climate hazards, urban heat is a relatively predictable hazard that can be largely measured and protected against.

The report pointed out that the knowledge of urban temperatures in South Asia has been largely limited to satellite data or studies that have not accounted for spatial variability. This has limited the awareness and understanding of intra-urban heat differences in South Asian cities.

According to the report, South Asian cities face unique challenges, competing demands, and resource constraints, unlike anything in developed economies.

Still, lessons could be learnt from outside the region to understand best practices and potential heat management improvements, the report suggested.

Urban heat island

While explaining the complications of urban heat, the report said the heat has uneven spatial and social distributions, with wide variations in temperatures and adaptive capacities across buildings and cities around the world.

Urban areas often experience higher temperatures by absorbing more solar radiation than surrounding rural areas, a phenomenon called the urban heat island (UHI) effect, it stated.

The existing heat risks in cities were amplified by warming temperatures from climate change as the global surface temperatures have risen 1.1C above pre-industrial levels. These global effects of climate change are further amplified at a local level through the UHI effect.

The report said that between 1950-2017, 60 per cent of the world’s urban population experienced warming twice as large as the global average, and by 2100, 25pc of the world’s largest cities could warm by 7C

The report emphasised that future heat management efforts should be designed to address both social and spatial vulnerabilities.

Inclusive planning

The cities need to map out overall heat vulnerability, including both heat risk factors, such as building density, materials and access to green/blue spaces, and demographic and socioeconomic determinants, such as income, age, education, gender, health, and social isolation.

There should be inclusive heat planning and policymaking processes to address thermal inequities, particularly in the most vulnerable communities and population groups, the report stated.

The report urged policymakers in the region to ensure urban planning and development was adapted to higher temperatures in the face of climate change and the UHI effect.

The cities in the region should integrate people and place in managing the acute and chronic impacts of urban heat by better understanding the heat risks; garnering the necessary human, technical, and financial resources; and embedding urban heat resilience into planning and development processes, the report suggested.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2023

Concerns raised after 'blatantly transphobic' book labelled as staff pick at Whitehorse library

CBC
Sat, April 29, 2023 

The Whitehorse Public Library in downtown Whitehorse. (Sarah Xenos/Radio-Canada - image credit)

A book one Yukoner describes as "blatantly transphobic" was recently featured as a staff pick at the Whitehorse Public Library, triggering concern amongst some members of the LGBTQ community and prompting the territorial public libraries branch to launch a review.

Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters was among the books included in a staff-picks display at the library earlier this month with a sticker on it, an image of which began circulating on social media last week.

Lane Tredger, the Yukon's first openly-non-binary MLA, said they learned about the situation on Twitter and that it was a "hard tweet to see."

"I love the library so much — I think it's such an important space that's so welcoming, so it was pretty blindsiding to see that really hateful book be promoted there," Tredger, who represents the Whitehorse Centre riding for the Yukon NDP, said in an interview Thursday.

Irreversible Damage has courted controversy and outrage even prior to its publication in 2020. In the text, American author Abigail Shrier, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment, repeatedly refers to a "transgender craze" and "social contagion" affecting teenagers in particular, blaming internet content for "enlisting" young girls into "a lifetime of hormone dependency and disfiguring surgeries."

Shrier has previously defended her work and accused critics of misconstruing the book's contents.

Tredger, however, described the book as "very blatantly transphobic" and "transmisogynistic," adding they've seen lots of reactions on social media from people who are "pretty concerned" and "pretty upset."

"My personal opinion is that I don't think we should ban books but I do think for me, the line is when we start promoting them," they said.

"That's when we need to think about, what values are we promoting?"

'All voices' welcome in library reconsideration-of-materials process

In an interview, Yukon public libraries director Melissa Yu Schott said the branch had heard the concerns about Irreversible Damage and has launched a reconsideration-of-materials process.

People can submit their views via forms available at the Whitehorse library, she said, after which a committee which will include herself, the Whitehorse public librarian and a member of the Whitehorse library board will "make a determination."

"I would welcome all voices to this so that it can help inform us and make the right decision," Yu Schott said, adding that the book had been removed from circulation while the review is underway.

Yu Schott added that generally, library collections include materials meant to represent "the broadest range of ideas and points-of-views possible," and that having a particular item in a collection "doesn't mean that the library endorses the content."

"Rather, libraries generally endorse the freedom to access that item, the freedom to access that information," she said.

However, Yu Schott acknowledged that the staff-pick sticker "complicated" the situation, and the review would include how the book came to be labelled as a staff pick.

'I'm really hopeful that this will be a learning moment'

Queer Yukon executive director Mona Luxion told CBC News that while they wished the situation had never happened, the library appeared to be taking steps to "make things right," including "immediately" reaching out to Queer Yukon and being receptive to conversations and feedback.

"I'm really hopeful that this will be a learning moment and an opportunity to rebuild trust," Luxion said.

They added that Queer Yukon was already in discussions with the library about possibly offering inclusivity training for staff, and the situation underlined the importance of that kind of training.

Tredger, for their part, said they thought the "most important" things for the library to do would be publicly responding to concerns and developing a policy ensuring "whatever books are promoted are in line with the values of the library" so that "this sort of thing doesn't happen again."

"I think it can be made right, but I do think that was a really big mistake that has made a lot of people question this institution that we really love," Tredger said.

"I think one piece is that, we're not talking about an issue where people just have different opinions and it's fine to disagree," they added.

"We're talking about a movement that gets people killed, we're talking about a movement that bans people from public spaces, that denies them health care… That's what we're talking about when we talk about transphobia and transphobic books, and I think that's something that the library and all of us have a responsibility to stand against."

Hollywood's film and TV writers could go on strike this week. Here's what you need to know


CBC
Sat, April 29, 2023 

The Writers Guild of America West offices are shown in Los Angeles on April 25. Hollywood film and TV writers voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to authorize a strike if their union fails to reach a deal by May 1. The WGA is in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (Mike Blake/Reuters - image credit)

Hollywood film and television writers could strike on Tuesday if their demands aren't met during contract negotiations with the industry's largest production companies.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA), a labour union representing film and TV writers, is renegotiating a three-year contract for 11,500 members that is set to expire this week. It's in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), an association that represents America's studios, streaming services and production houses.

The WGA received overwhelming support from its members earlier this month to authorize a strike, if a deal isn't reached by a looming May 1 deadline.

Here's what you need to know about a potential writers' strike.

What are the issues?

Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images

Film and television writers are seeking pay increases from large studios and production companies such as Netflix and Disney. The WGA says that working conditions have declined during the streaming era and that writer compensation has suffered due to shortened seasons, smaller residuals and the rise of writers' "mini-rooms."

Mini-rooms are pre-production groups, usually made up of a showrunner-creator and a few writers, who work ahead on several scripts of a potential show's first season to offer to streaming executives. Rather than the traditional pipeline of ordering a TV series from a pilot episode, some companies are now opting for script-to-series orders.

The practice of mini-rooms is meant to give executives a sense of the series' direction as well as its budget. But critics say they offer less pay. Many TV and film writers are based in New York and Los Angeles, industry centres with a high cost of living.

The WGA is also pushing studios to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in scriptwriting. While it says it's open to the use of the technology (so long as writers maintain sole credit of the work), the guild has also said that AI can't be used to undermine screenwriters and their work by impacting their compensation.

What would a strike entail?

A walkout could begin as early as Tuesday morning. If it does, union members have to abide by a strict set of rules that the WGA has released in advance.

As soon as a strike begins, writers can't meet, negotiate with or work for a struck company. That includes selling or optioning material, according to the WGA's negotiations website.

Writers must also send a formal statement to their agents and professional representatives forbidding them from doing any business on their behalf.

Any union members who violate the strike rules and cross picket line can be disciplined by the guild for jeopardizing the strike process.

What do the studios say?

Dado Ruvic/Reuters

The AMPTP, which represents Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Comcast and other corporations in the contract negotiations, says its goal is to reach "a fair and reasonable agreement" with the guild.

Sources close to the studios have said that budgets are tight and companies are focused on profiting from expensive streaming investments that haven't been as fruitful as expected, according to Reuters.

How will a strike affect my favourite TV shows?

That the strike will most likely start at the beginning of May, when many TV series are at the tail-end of their seasons, means that viewers probably won't notice changes to their favourite scripted programs.

Comedies and dramas, many of which are filmed months in advance of their air dates, would be impacted only if there are outstanding episodes that have yet to be written once the strike begins.

But a strike would be immediately felt on U.S. late-night talk and variety shows such as Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show, which depend on topical subjects and are written on a much tighter timeline than other scripted programs.

Daytime soap operas would also be impacted relatively quickly.

Given that movies are written years in advance, near-future releases won't be affected by the strike, though it could stall films currently in the writing stage of development.

Will this be like the 2007-08 strike?

Damian Dovarganes/The Associated Press

The last writers' guild strike began in November 2007 and ended in February 2008 after 100 days. Because the action began mid-season and lasted for a long time, its impacts were very much noticeable to viewers. TV networks replaced their usual programming with reruns and reality shows.

Scripts were rushed in order to be finished by the strike deadline. Series including Breaking Bad and 30 Rock were forced to finish their seasons early, and many others were cancelled. Meanwhile, nearly 40,000 jobs were cut and California's economy lost $2 billion US.

Nowadays, production companies like Netflix have a backlog of content that they would release in case of a strike. Streamers have also upped their roster of international series during the last few years — shows that would be unaffected by an American writers strike.

During the 2007-08 strike, a flood of Canadian series like Orphan Black, Flashpoint and The Listener were picked up by U.S. networks, including BBC America, NBC and CBS.

A potential writers' strike was averted in 2017 when both parties reached an agreement by their deadline.

Pipeline restores gas flow after lightning-sparked inferno

The Canadian Press
Sat, April 29, 2023 

CORINTH, Miss. (AP) — Natural gas is flowing again in a Mississippi pipeline after a towering blaze Friday that officials believe was caused by a lightning strike.

The pipeline's owner, TC Energy Corp. of Calgary, Alberta, said Saturday that it had “completed operational adjustments.” The Canadian company notified its customers through an electronic system that it was lifting the force majeure it had declared on Friday. The contract term allows the pipeline to curtail deliveries because of forces outside the owner’s control.

Tina Faraca, president of TC Energy’s U.S. Natural Gas unit, told investors on a conference call Friday that the blaze caused “very minimal impact to facilities.”

Alcorn County Emergency Management Director Ricky Gibens told local news outlets that firefighters were called to the compressor station of the Columbia Gulf Transmission Pipeline northeast of Corinth around 1 a.m. Friday. He said it appears that lightning sheared off a piece of pipe and set the natural gas ablaze.

Firefighters and workers with TC Energy closed valves, which Gibens said may have prevented an explosion. The fire burned for more than four hours until firefighters could put it out.

Nearby resident Philip Trest told WTVA-TV that the flames glowed over treetops and sounded like a jet engine.

No one was injured.

The compressor station helps push natural gas through the Columbia Gulf Transmission Pipeline, which runs between Kentucky and Louisiana. The pipeline carries natural gas from southern Appalachia to liquefied natural gas terminals in Louisiana, where it's frozen into a liquid and loaded onto giant ships for export.

The Associated Press

Big budgets, population growth will delay economic downturn: Desjardins

Infrastructure spending climbing, with Ont., B.C., Alta. and Sask. slated to spend more in 2024 than in 2023

Alicja Siekierska
Tue, April 25, 2023

Strong population and employment growth and fiscal stimulus will delay an economic downturn in Canada until later this year, a new Desjardins report says. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)

Strong population and employment growth and fiscal stimulus will delay an economic downturn in Canada until later this year, a new Desjardins report says, with Ontario and B.C. feeling the pain of higher interest rates more than other provinces.

Desjardins principal economists Marc Desormeaux and Hélène Bégin updated their provincial outlook on Tuesday, pushing their recession call to later in 2023 amid stronger growth rates in many Canadian provinces. While they expect inflation will continue "to dominate the economic outlook for Canada's provinces," the previously expected economic slowdown will be delayed.

"We expect all regions to increasingly feel the dampening impacts of easing but still-elevated price pressures and still‑high interest rates as 2023 progresses, particularly in construction activity and interest-sensitive industries," the economists wrote in their report.

"But early 2023 surges in employment and population, plus stimulative infrastructure spending and affordability relief measures laid out in this year's budgets, will delay the downturn until later this year."

The economists say that government support has increased since their last quarterly provincial outlook. Infrastructure spending is on the rise, with provinces such as Ontario, B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan slated to spend more in 2024 than in 2023. While affordability measures have been scaled back, the Desjardins report notes that "the latest fiscal blueprints did introduce new measures that could very well stimulate consumer spending (and possibly inflation)."

While the report focuses only on provincial budget spending, federal spending is also on the rise. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government unveiled a spend-heavy budget in March despite calls for fiscal restraint. The 2023 federal budget features larger deficits and elevated spending, with net new spending up by $46 billion over six years, and no timeline for a return to a balanced budget.

Surprisingly strong employment rates are also helping provinces fend off an economic slowdown.

"With some exceptions, provincial employment has also started the year stronger than we anticipated," the report said.

"While we think this trend will reverse as the full effects of interest rate increases make their way through the economy, it nonetheless improves the (first-quarter) growth handoff in many jurisdictions."

Population growth has also helped provinces through economic uncertainty, with the Prairie provinces and Atlantic Canada experiencing the strongest gains, helping fill high numbers of job vacancies.

Ontario, B.C. to see biggest slowdown

But the pending economic downturn will not play out equally across the country. The economists say housing-exposed provinces like Ontario and B.C. will see the biggest economic slowdowns this year, while commodity-producing provinces – Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador – will have the best economic prospects. The report says Quebec will also see a downturn, as global economic headwinds weaken exports and investments in the province in 2023 and the labour market softens.

"We still expect the late-2023 recession to impact Ontario disproportionately. Sharply higher interest rates, stretched affordability, high household debt levels and moribund housing market activity have significantly impacted the economy," the report said.

"More challenging conditions in the financial services sector could also contribute to the slowdown ahead."

Alberta, on the other hand, "appears to be firing on all cylinders," the report says.

"Provincial crude output should also continue to rise—albeit at a diminished pace. Yet completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion later this year may support further increases down the road (and reduce the gap between Alberta and U.S. oil prices)," the report said.

"And while household debt is higher in Alberta than in most of the country, the housing market is still much more affordable than in other parts of the country. That continues to spur net interprovincial migration to Alberta — particularly from higher-priced Ontario — amid surging international immigration and net non-permanent resident admissions."

Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.

LOSERS NO MORE

Maple Leafs win 1st playoff series in 19 years with OT victory over Lightning in Game 6

CBC
Sat, April 29, 2023 

Maple Leafs centre John Tavares, left, celebrates with defenceman Luke Schenn after scoring in overtime for a 2-1 win over the Lightning in Game 6 of their first-round series on Saturday night at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. (Chris O'Meara/The Associated Press - image credit)

John Tavares had dreams of suiting up for the Maple Leafs.

When the chance to come home arrived, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to join the team he cheered for as a kid just down the road.

Despite a number of painful moments and plenty of tough questions, a night like Saturday made it all worth it.

Toronto finally exorcised its playoff demons — and is off to the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Tavares scored at 4:36 of overtime and Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves as the Leafs downed the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 to win their series 4-2 and advance in the post-season for the first time in nearly two decades.

"Special being a Maple Leaf," said the 32-year-old from Oakville, Ont. "Growing up in the [Greater Toronto Area], you get a sense of the history and tradition and what it means to the city, to the people and how big and how incredible Leafs Nation is.

"To get a big one tonight is really nice, especially with some of the disappointments."

The Leafs captain, who signed with Toronto in 2018 after bolting the New York Islanders in free agency, threw a puck in front that went off Lightning defenceman Darren Raddysh's skate and in for his fourth goal of the series to send Toronto players spilling off the bench in ecstasy.

The emotions ran the gamut for an organization that hasn't tasted playoff success in a generation under an intense microscope.

Getting the 'monkey off the back'

Relief was right up there alongside the jubilation.

"Great feeling when the puck goes in," said Leafs blueliner Morgan Rielly, who scored in OT in Game 3, tied Game 4 late and was in front of Tampa's net on the series clincher. "For it to be Johnny, I think is just extremely special.

"It's a mix of being relieved, being extremely happy, being grateful."

Auston Matthews had the goal in regulation for the Leafs, who lost to Tampa in seven games last spring.

"I've been here seven years," Matthews said. "It's huge mentally for us just to get that monkey off the back."

Steven Stamkos replied for the Lightning, who saw their streak of three straight trips to the Stanley Cup final come to an end. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots.

"We played well enough to win this series," Tampa head coach Jon Cooper said. "Anybody that watched the series would agree with that."

"At some point they were going to get a break," he added of the Leafs. "It sucks it was against us."

'Long time coming'

Toronto last made the NHL's final eight in 2004 — before the league introducing a salary cap, before Twitter was launched, and just over four months after Paul Martin became Canada's 21st prime minister — when they beat the Ottawa Senators in seven games.

Joe Nieuwendyk was the hero that night with two goals on a shaky Patrick Lalime. Toronto would go on to lose a second-round matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers when Jeremy Roenick scored the clinching goal in overtime of Game 6.

The wait for another series triumph in hockey's biggest market would last 6,948 days.

The Leafs have seen 268 skaters, 33 goalies, seven coaches and six general managers pass through the doors since.

"Long time coming," Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Long time coming for a lot of players in our room, long time coming for myself, even longer coming for Leafs Nation.

"It's a big night."

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Toronto entered Saturday with 10 straight losses in games where they had a chance to eliminate an opponent dating back to the start of the Matthews-Mitch Marner era, including a 4-2 loss in Game 5 this spring on home ice, in the process of stumbling at the post-season's first hurdle six years running.

"We just kept believing in our group here, didn't listen to anything outside and knew we had the potential to do something special," said Marner, who sported a bloodied lip.

Including a first-round defeat in 2013, Toronto's record in games where it could clinch a series sat at 0-11 before puck drop — the second-longest streak in NHL history.

"You want to keep pushing for more," said Rieilly, a black eye showing the price he paid. "That's great thing about our group — we're looking forward to the challenges that are ahead. We're proud of the effort.

"But ultimately we want to keep playing and we want to keep pushing."

Samsonov comes through in the clutch

Coming off Cup triumphs in 2020 and 2021 before falling in last year's final to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 at home, the Lightning tied things 1-1 at 4:11 of the third when Stamkos scored his second on a rebound.

Matthews bagged his series-leading fifth at 13:47 of the middle period for a 1-0 lead when he blasted a one-timer over Vasilevskiy's shoulder.

Samsonov made a big stop on Stamkos early in a spirited first where the Leafs were under siege at times.

"Don't think I can say enough great things about Sammy," Matthews said. "I admire his mindset, his attitude.

"Every single day just comes to the rink and he works his ass off."

Tampa beat Toronto 7-3 in Game 1, but lost Erik Cernak to an illegal check to the head from Michael Bunting on a sequence that kept the minute-crunching defenceman sidelined the rest of the series.

Toronto picked up a 7-2 victory two nights later before securing consecutive overtime wins in Tampa, including a 5-4 decision Monday after trailing 4-1 midway through the third period to build a 3-1 series lead.

The Lightning responded with that 4-2 victory Thursday at Scotiabank Arena to stave off elimination before the Leafs finally sealed the deal Saturday.

"It's been a long road for a lot of our guys," Keefe said. "They've been through a lot of [crap] to get here, to get to this spot. For them to get this feeling tonight, they deserve it.

"Those guys have worked incredibly hard and been through a lot, and have been questioned a lot. It's about time a bounce went our way."

Maple Leafs rewarded for staying the course

Toronto's loss to Tampa in last year's playoffs resigned the organization to that sixth consecutive opening-round exit, and more tough questions about roster makeup, management philosophy and coaching.

The Original Six franchise elected to stay the course with its high-priced core, Keefe and GM Kyle Dubas.

The decision paid off.

The Leafs made the playoffs just once in 11 years following the 2004-05 lockout, with their only appearance ending in a stunning Game 7 collapse against Boston.

Toronto, which already had Marner, Rielly and William Nylander in its system, then bottomed out in 2015-16 for the right to draft Matthews first overall.

The Leafs returned to the playoffs the next spring, falling to Washington in a solid showing from their young roster.

Toronto followed that up with two more seven-game defeats to Boston in 2018 and 2019.

The Leafs were then tripped up inside the NHL's COVID-19 bubble in 2020 by Columbus. Toronto dominated the league's pandemic-necessitated North Division in 2021 before blowing a 3-1 series lead and losing in seven to Montreal for another stunning low point.

The Leafs started to turn a corner by going toe-to-toe with the battle-tested Lighting last year, but lost in a matchup that went the distance despite leading the series 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, including an OT defeat in Game 6 where they also led Tampa in the third period.

A year later, all that heartbreak is now well and truly in the past.

Oilers overcome Stuart Skinner's blunder to eliminate Kings in Game 6

Kailer Yamamoto scored the game-winning goal late in the third period as the Oilers punched their ticket to the second round of the NHL playoffs.


James O'Brien
·Contributing Writer

Sat, April 29, 2023

Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto (56) celebrates his game-winning goal that eliminated the Kings from the playoffs. (Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)

The Los Angeles Kings went down fighting against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 in a way that paralleled this exciting series overall. Los Angeles didn’t allow setbacks to leave it sagging for too long, rarely leaving Edmonton with a dull moment. Ultimately, the Oilers kept fighting back in their own right, outgunning the Kings 5-4 in Game 6 to notch a 4-2 series win.

Kailer Yamamoto ended up scoring the series-clincher with slightly more than three minutes remaining in Game 6.

With this result, the Oilers will face the Vegas Golden Knights in the two teams’ first-ever playoff meeting. The Golden Knights begin with home-ice advantage, yet with the way the Oilers have performed against the Kings (and down the stretch), plenty of people will pick Edmonton to prevail.

The wrong kind of Mike Smith flashbacks for Stuart Skinner

Here’s a take: for all of the ups and downs during Mike Smith’s time with the Oilers, his overall numbers were often pretty good (sometimes really nice, like a .923 save percentage in 2020-21), particularly considering how affordable his contract was.

It’s human nature to focus on the bigger memories. With Smith, puckhandling misadventures often stick in your mind.

Considering Stuart Skinner’s light NHL resume and similarly-cheap asking price, the unlikely All-Star’s already surpassed expectations. However, it’s tough to focus on that after an epic blunder on the 4-4 goal, when Skinner coughed up the puck and Phillip Danault scored shorthanded midway through the third period.

Although maybe it was just bad luck? Skinner’s stick appeared to break on that dreadful goal:

Luckily for Skinner, Yamamoto bailed him out a few minutes later to take most of the sting out of the gaffe.

Starting to thrive at 5-on-5

Remember when there were mild concerns about Connor McDavid being able to produce at even-strength against the Kings? Those worries have largely dissolved since Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft decided to load up with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the same line. Just 1:25 into Game 6, McDavid scored in a slightly unusual way for him: finding space and tipping in a brilliant pass by Evan Bouchard.

Luckily for the Oilers, such even-strength gains haven’t come at the cost of power-play potency. McDavid set up Draisaitl for a power-play marker during a hectic second period, giving Edmonton nine such goals in this series.

Repeating storylines from earlier in the series

While the Oilers’ increased even-strength threat level highlighted one change as this series went along, there were also some narratives that carried over (and sometimes resurfaced).

At times in this series, the Oilers struggled to maintain multi-goal leads versus the Kings. Adrian Kempe factoring into a rally was also a fixture, so maybe it shouldn’t have been surprising that he scored one of two Kings power-play goals to dissolve a 3-1 Oilers lead into a 3-3 tie.

Every now and then, the Kings baited the Oilers into taking extra penalties (or you could argue the Kings were getting favorable calls). That thought was difficult to shake during that frantic second period, as by the time it was 3-3, the Kings received three power-play opportunities (scoring twice) compared to the Oilers going 1-for-1.

In another familiar storyline, the Oilers got some crucial help from players not named Draisaitl or McDavid. In the case of Game 6, Klim Kostin scored two important goals, showing off his powerful release.

Make no mistake, Draisaitl, McDavid and the other top Oilers drove the bus. That said, if Edmonton wants to win a Stanley Cup, it will need other players to pitch in here and there. That’s especially true if the Oilers go top-heavy with Draisaitl and McDavid on the same line more often than not

Report: Ryan Reynolds, Remington Group preparing $1B bid to buy Senators

After finding success in the soccer world, Reynolds is ready to take on ownership in the NHL

Elias Grigoriadis
·Contributing Writer
Fri, April 28, 2023 

A consortium led by Ryan Reynolds is reportedly preparing a huge bid to buy the Senators. (Getty Images)

After his purchase of Welsh soccer team Wrexham AFC in 2020 along with fellow Hollywood star Rob McElhenney, which has resulted in incredible success both on and off the field, Ryan Reynolds looks to be gearing up to try his hand at a hockey team.

The ownership status of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators has been in the news since the passing of former owner Eugene Melnyk in March 2022. According to a report in the Ottawa Sun, a joint bid between Reynolds and real estate mogul Christopher Bratty of the Remington Group are accelerating, with the estimated figure expected to be over $1 billion, a far cry from the $92 million Melnyk paid for the franchise in 2003.

The New York-based Galatioto Sports Partners will be the ones in charge of overseeing the bids, with May 15 set as the deadline. According to the Sun, Reynolds’ consortium is very keen on getting the deal done as soon as possible and has been pushing aggressively throughout the process.

The offer will also reportedly include the building of a new arena closer to Ottawa’s downtown core. The Senators currently play at the Canadian Tire Centre in the suburb of Kanata, roughly 25 kilometers away from downtown Ottawa and has long drawn the ire of Sens fans for being so far away. However, another plan would be developing the 75 acres surrounding the Canadian Tire Centre instead of building an entirely new arena—something the Remington Group specializes in.

Reynolds’ bid is not the only one being considered, however. As many as six major groups have all expressed interest in acquiring the franchise, including a bid featuring Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé, according to the report.

Reynolds initially expressed interest in ownership of the Senators in November 2022. He is not the only A-lister to have an eye on Ottawa, though, as actor and former star wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson threw his name in the ring last month.

Virginia Sole-Smith wants parents to have the 'fat talk' with their kids

The "Fat Talk" author on parenting and "how anti-fat bias shows up in your family life."


Meg St-Esprit
Mon, April 24, 2023 

Fat Talk author Virginia Sole-Smith shares how parents can do their part to break the cycle of exposing kids to diet culture. (Photo: Gabrielle Gerard Photography)

Welcome to So Mini Ways, Yahoo Life's parenting series on the joys and challenges of childrearing.

Virginia Sole-Smith wants every parent to talk about fat with their kids — and no, this does not mean she wants them to count calories and read labels. The writer actually encourages parents to do the opposite in her new book, Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture, out April 25.

“We're really dealing with systemic culture-wide oppression of fat people and all the ways that ripples out and shows up in our daily lives," the mom of two tells Yahoo Life. "And so we have to name that bias.”

Sole-Smith says that means having frank and honest conversations with kids about what it means to be fat and why it’s become a dirty word in America. “We have to work on learning that bias,” she says. “We have to look at how that bias has caused harm for ourselves in our relationships and all the different public spaces. And so I really wanted this book to be a way to reckon with how anti-fat bias shows up in your family life.”

Ahead, she shares some of the biggest takeaways from her work exploring the overlap between anti-fat bias and parenting.
It's OK to enjoy food

One of the biggest things Sole-Smith fears parents have lost sight of is that it’s OK to enjoy food and teach kids to enjoy it, too. It’s fine for people to have a list of foods that fuel their body well and make them feel good, she says. What’s not fine is when needing to control their family’s food intake causes anxiety that interferes with life. That’s a surefire way to pass on food issues to kids.

“It’s great to have identified a way of eating that feels really good to me," she says. "But of course, it's great to go to the fair and eat all the concession foods and have fun. OK, so you poop afterward for two days. You made memories with your kids.”

The issue at the heart of this decision is how parents have begun to judge themselves and others on food choices. “It's the way we've intertwined morality with those food choices that makes it really problematic," Sole-Smith, who writes the Burnt Toast newsletter on Substack, explains.

Food can be a comfort too, she says. The label of “emotional eating” has become fraught and negative, but there is nothing wrong with providing comfort to kids through food. Her own child recently was seeking some connection and comfort before bed, so they microwaved some hot chocolate and snuggled up.

“That's when she'll sit and talk to me," she shares. "And from a nutrition perspective, having a nice big mug of hot chocolate is a great way to lock up some carbs and protein in her before bed. If I was overly worried about sugar — good foods and bad foods — I would feel like it couldn't just be a hot chocolate.” Removing that stress and stigma allows Sole-Smith to connect with her kid without berating herself over the bedtime snack.

Sole-Smith's new book explores how parents can better protect their kids from diet culture and anti-fat bias. (Photo: Courtesy of Henry Holt and Company)

Kids are watching

Sole-Smith says that the best way to for parents make sure kids don’t fall victim to diet culture is for them to heal their own relationships with food and body image. It’s no easy task, though. Her book walks parents through claims about the childhood obesity epidemic, the false narrative about food today’s parents were taught as kids and the messages currently being taught at the dinner table.

"Getting family dinner ‘right’ often feels like one of our most important parenting priorities," Sole-Smith writes. "Our discourse around family dinner, especially on social media, worships its potential without acknowledging how difficult, if not impossible, it can be to execute for families.”

Withholding dessert until kids eat a certain amount of dinner, having a power struggle over a bite of vegetables or forcing kids to clear their plates might seem like common parenting tactics, but they can be really damaging for kids who are already struggling with body and food issues. Sole-Smith says to praise kids for any adventurous food choice they make, even if it’s a new ice cream flavor. Forcing anyone to eat is rarely successful in building healthy relationships with food. Parents can also model positive self-talk out loud, too. When a parent is chiding themself over an extra bite of dessert, the kids are listening and internalizing that. Why not just enjoy the cake?
Parents deserve grace, too

Parents who were raised in diet culture, and are raising kids in today’s diet culture, are not going to get it perfect. Even Sole-Smith has moments where she realizes she is subscribing to outdated and harmful ways of thinking that have been ingrained in her. In addition, American parents are emerging from a collective trauma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s OK if a parent finds that routines and patterns have become different than what they imagined for their family. If drive-through milkshakes were a saving grace during the pandemic, that’s wonderful. Finding small joys through celebratory food is a wonderful parenting choice, no matter what the voices in one's head — or in the broader culture — may say.

“It's not that parents are like, ‘We don't have to try to raise healthy kids anymore, thank goodness,’” says Sole-Smith. Families are finding their rhythms again. Kids have also spent a lot more time inside being sedentary and might need to find joy in movement once more.

“Brainstorm with kids about how they like to move their bodies, what would feel good, what sounds fun to them. … You can do all of that without talking about weight. You should be doing that for your thin kids, too. They need to move their bodies as well,” she adds. “When we make it about weight, we always miss the bigger picture.”

Virginia Sole-Smith’s book, Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture, is available at all major retailers on April 25.

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