With the Pickering plant set to close in 2025 nuclear power needs a way forward

Yesterday 

As the world’s population sits at the brink of eight-billion human souls—doubling in just 47 years—there is an insatiable demand for more energy.

Non-renewable dirty fossil fuels have radically altered the Earth’s atmosphere while ocean levels are rising dangerously (Florida alone is expected to lose $66 billion in real estate value over the next 75 years due to lost coastal lands). As our climate continues to warm toward a tipping point, we are in the middle of an accelerated plan to replace our 250-year dependence on carbon, since coal was first broadly used to fuel the industrial age.

Nuclear power has, at times, been at the centre of this plan.

Since the 1950s, it has gained popularity and during the ‘60s and ‘70s seemed destined to be our answer to carbon. High profile nuclear disasters such as Three Mile Island in the U.S. (1979), Chernobyl in Russia (1986) and Fukushima in Japan (2011) dealt a massive blow to the viability of nuclear power.

Most nuclear plants that generate electricity use thermal reactors with enriched uranium to extract power through a process called nuclear fission—a reaction caused by the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into two or more nuclei.

The devastation from nuclear radiation when reactors meltdown, rendering entire landscapes unrecognizable, has drawn more attention to forms of renewable energy, which pose very little risk.

Currently nuclear power is responsible for meeting approximately 60 percent of Ontario’s energy needs. But debate continues over the technology’s safety, cost and capabilities.

The long-term use of nuclear energy is an issue very much up in the air.

While some activists say nuclear is the way forward—bridging the gap between dirty fossil fuels and renewable energies such as hydro, wind and solar—notable environmental organizations like Greenpeace call it a “distraction”.

“It's a distraction from us investing seriously in the solutions that we need to address climate change,” said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, Program Director at Greenpeace.

He hints at the transition to renewable energy sources. Nuclear energy is not renewable. There is a finite amount of uranium and plutonium on Earth.

But many scientists are not concerned since uranium and plutonium are energy dense, meaning a lot of potential power for electricity production can be extracted from a small amount of raw material.

One of the major problems with renewable energy sources is they are not available on-demand. Solar energy can only be captured when the sun is shining. Similarly, wind power can only be harnessed when winds reach a certain speed.

Nuclear, on the other hand, can be harnessed around the clock and is available to our electricity grid on demand.

“In terms of viable replacement for fossil fuels, you need to do something that's as good or better, and nuclear fits that model,” said Chris Keefer, president of Canadians for Nuclear Energy.

Canada is failing badly in its commitment to reduce emissions. We have endorsed nine national plans since 1990 to meet carbon reduction goals; we have failed on all of them. Currently, Canada ranks 31st among the 38 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for carbon intensity (carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP). We also rank 24th for ability to reduce carbon intensity over a decade.

“We’ve really just been treading water,” said Keefer.

Nuclear power provides the opportunity to create emissions-free power that can be supplied on an on-demand basis; it provided 90 percent of the energy needed to phase out coal in Ontario after the early 2000s.

Surprising to some, nuclear power is the cleanest of all energy technologies. Since uranium and plutonium are energy dense, very little mining needs to be done to extract the raw materials. In addition, the only substance emitted from nuclear plants is water vapour.

“I'm a physician, I work at a hospital, I had a baby who was in an incubator for five weeks. We need to have really reliable electricity,” Keefer said. “And nuclear provides that with the lowest emissions, lifecycle emissions of any power generating technology.”

But some environmental organizations, such as Greenpeace, still staunchly oppose nuclear power.

One of the major concerns is nuclear waste.

Proponents argue pop culture has done a disservice to the nuclear movement.

The animated show The Simpsons, which is in its 33rd season, running since 1989, routinely lampoons the fictional Springfield nuclear plant.

It is notorious for safety violations that include leaky pipes, unsafe storage and spent nuclear fuel being dumped into surrounding waters.

Such depictions, and the lingering effect of the Cold War, when the nuclear-arms race loomed large over multiple generations, have shaped people’s perceptions about nuclear power as a fuel source.

“You have a number of communities who are unwilling to host nuclear repositories. And there's some deep concern, especially given where Ontario is located and where existing nuclear facilities are located, near the Great Lakes where you could see a possible contamination of our drinking water,” says Mike Schreiner, leader of the Green Party of Ontario.

The Party has a stated position on nuclear power, included on its website: “Don’t build new uranium mines or nuclear plants that add to our huge pile of dangerous nuclear waste that has already been in ‘temporary’ storage for 50 years.”

Nuclear waste is much easier to track than emissions from fossil fuels. We know exactly where nuclear waste is stored unlike fossil fuel waste which is sent out and dispersed invisibly into the atmosphere.

Estimates are that coal used to kill 1,000 people in Ontario every year; by replacing it with nuclear, we have essentially saved a thousand lives annually.

Supporters of the energy source point to the relatively small footprint created by nuclear power and push back against those who believe the waste by-products are too dangerous a risk to tolerate.

The World Nuclear Association estimates that, on average, the waste created by a reactor for one year of a person’s electricity needs would be the size of a brick. Only 5 grams, about a teaspoon of this would be what is considered high level waste.

There are three levels of nuclear waste. Low-level waste includes mops, rags, clothes, floor sweepings and other industrial items that contain short-lived radiation and can be handled with simple precautions. Intermediate-level waste consists of reactor core components, resins and filters which are more radioactive. High-level waste is the spent fuel. Due to the long-lived radioactivity, this waste must be carefully managed over the long term.

After high-level waste is cooled, it is stored in deep geological repositories. These repositories are designed to ensure that harmful radiation would not reach the surface even in the event of an earthquake or through the passage of time.

“There's no plausible way or mechanism for properly contained nuclear waste to get out and harm anyone,” Keefer said. “We're not talking about a civilization storing it, we're talking about geology, storing it in geology, with the correct geology that has been stable for hundreds of millions of years, and can really effectively contain the waste. The way for it to get out of the geologic repository is that it has to dissolve in water and move outwards through the rock to get to a water table or get to the surface where it can potentially harm people.”

Another problem for proponents of nuclear power is the association with the technology’s use as a weapon.

“People are afraid of nuclear because they are afraid of the nuclear bomb. And they've made that kind of that leap in their head that a nuclear plant can explode like a nuclear bomb [but] the physics just don’t allow that,” Keefer says.

Two nuclear meltdowns in particular have shaped the attitudes of many Canadians: Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Chernobyl was the only nuclear meltdown to cause direct deaths as a result of radiation exposure. It was an old nuclear site in the Ukraine that wasn’t being managed properly and when the meltdown occurred, 31 people died directly from the disaster.

Global regulations and safety standards are much more strict now.

“I was at a nuclear waste facility, where they were changing the lighting from fluorescent to LED, and they'd had a seven-month study, just to make sure that rewiring the lighting system would have no impact on the running of this area that was just stored nuclear fuel casks,” Keefer explains. “Everything is so overdone in terms of the engineering and the planning and that's a good thing. It's really admirable, this culture of excellence.”

The Fukushima nuclear accident happened as a result of the most powerful earthquake to ever hit Japan and a tsunami that hit the coast in 2011.

There were no deaths as a direct result of radiation exposure during the disaster but there were deaths from the government’s mismanaged evacuation plan.

Stensil fears a similar disastrous emergency management plan could put Toronto at risk if a meltdown were to occur at the Pickering nuclear plant.

“Having a nuclear station in the middle of a city is not a smart thing, in the event that you do have an accident. [It] was an issue that we raised a lot after the Fukushima disaster,” Stensil says. “I don't believe the government has adequate evacuation plans for the Greater Toronto [Area]. I just don't believe that.”

The plant, which has been in operation since 1971, is one of the largest in the world, supplying 14 percent of Ontario’s electricity.

Pickering has been at the centre of the debate around nuclear energy in Ontario as the plant is set to officially close in 2025, with two of its remaining six reactors shuttering in 2024.

Since it is over 50 years old, it would need upgrades to be kept in operation. Instead, the Ontario government has decided to shut it down.

Schreiner says the Green Party of Ontario believes nuclear will be a part of our electricity supply for a long time, but he believes there are benefits to the closing of Pickering and does not support the construction of more nuclear plants in the future, largely due to the risks.

“We're strong supporters of closing Pickering. It's past its best before date.”

Pickering originally had eight reactors but two were shut down in the early 2000s. Stensil sees this as proof that the nuclear plant is no longer needed.

“We don't need those reactors,” he said. “And because of falling electricity demand and other alternatives that have been put online, we're not using the full capacity of the nuclear station.”

Approximately 8 percent of Ontario’s electricity still comes from natural gas, and once Pickering closes, the Ontario government plans to replace it with more natural gas, which releases harmful methane into the atmosphere. Methane is considered a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. If natural gas replaces the energy produced at the Pickering plant, Canada’s all-sector national GHG emissions will increase by one percent.

“Unfortunately, due to a lack of vision, we are heading in the wrong direction,” Keefer said. “We need to be adding and building more carbon free electricity generation. But in fact, we're doing the opposite by letting this plant shut down.”

Stensil and Schreiner are hoping Ontario can come up with a plan to replace Pickering with renewable energy.

“We think Pickering should be replaced with a wind, solar, water-power, combined with storage capacity,” Schreiner said, noting that solar has become the cheapest form of clean electricity generation.

While solar may be the lowest cost option, it requires an outsourcing of solar panels.

There are economic benefits to using nuclear power.

“We have our own reactor technology, and we control the entire fuel cycle for our nuclear fleet, which gives us unparalleled energy security in a world where there's more and more geopolitical issues, which are affecting energy prices,” Keefer said.

“If we're talking about replacing fossil fuels and spending the hundreds of billions that are necessary so that we have options, we can either spend that in country where people make great salaries, as you know, skilled trades people and operators throughout this whole sector, which is all in Canada, or we send that money to China and import solar panels and wind turbines that unfortunately can't can't replace fossil fuel services.”

While Stensil is against nuclear energy and Schreiner wants it phased out, many environmentalists support the use of nuclear power; the co-founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, left the organization in 1986 to support nuclear energy generation.

In a historic shift, the Green Party of Finland voted to adopt a pro-nuclear stance earlier this year with the party manifesto backing nuclear as a “sustainable energy”.

It is the first Green Party across the globe to ditch the anti-nuclear stance.

Keefer sees this as a positive step toward a more global acceptance of nuclear power.

“I think as the threat of climate change looms larger and larger, nuclear is really the obvious solution.”


Rachel Morgan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer

Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul Is Divisive — That’s The Point

Ineye Komonibo - Thursday

Since the beginning of time, organized religion has played a fundamental role in most, if not all, societies. From a top-down level, many cultures have propped up faith and the communal expression of it as a pillar of their social structure — and to mixed results. In the new film Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul, a project from Daniel Kaluuya’s production company 59%, the nuances of Black church culture are put under a microscope, following the spirited efforts of a pair of Black pastors to redeem their good standing after falling from grace. A group Zoom interview with stars Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall, and filmmaking duo Adamma and Adanne Ebo highlighted the radical intention of the story. Though the narrative is told through a comedic lens, the subject at hand is no laughing matter: the church might need saving from itself.


4200_D019_00328_RC Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown star as Trinitie and Lee-Curtis Childs in HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL., a Focus Features release. Credit: Steve Swisher / © 2021 Pinky Promise LLC© Provided by Refinery29

“We’re trying to encourage people to ask questions of this specific institution, the institution of church and religion, but also of all larger institutions that we let govern our lives because we don’t ask questions,” Adanne offers in the interview. “When there’s no transparency, then that’s how you get unchecked power. And that runs rampant in our culture today.”

Honk For Jesus, a creative partnership between the Nigerian-American filmmakers (and identical twins), introduces us to the whispers plaguing Pastor Lee Curtis Childs (a simultaneously smarmy yet charming Brown) and his devoted wife Trinitie (Hall in her best form), the leaders of the dwindling Atlanta megachurch Wander to Greater Paths Baptist Church. When we meet the First Couple of this house of God, there’s a hunger emanating from them. Not for the Word, but for restoration — to status, to fame, and to glory.

Lee-Curtis and Trinitie are planning a big comeback for themselves and for their church, anxious to regain their status after a scandal that knocked them off the pulpit. The controversy, which is never explicitly explained but is instead relayed in pieces through enthusiastic gossip throughout the city, hints that Lee-Curtis’ counseling of several young men in his community was less helpful than it was predatory; word on the street is that he befriended young men and showered them with gifts and a concerning level of affection because of a closeted same-sex attraction, an obvious no-no in the church. The pastor’s “mentorship” comes back to haunt him in the form of a multi-million dollar lawsuit alleging that he preyed on the young men seeking his guidance at church. Lee-Curtis and Trinitie, of course, deny the allegations vehemently. (But they’re still coughing up the money for settlements — y’know, just to smooth things over.)

Lee-Curtis’ not-so-private efforts to reconcile his sexuality to his faith are exactly what drew Brown to the character after reading the script. “One of the primary things that attracted me to the role was an opportunity to challenge the church’s very specific views on anyone who is not cisgendered and heteronormative,” reveals Brown of his role as the tortured lead pastor. “I think that’s worthy of examination because your relationship with God is personal, and just because it doesn’t look like everybody else thinks it should look, doesn’t negate its existence.”

As a result of the shocking accusations, it’s been years since the couple has been able to fill up the pews of their sanctuary. To make sure that the news of Childs’ return to the church circuit makes a splash, they’ve teamed up with a talented documentarian who will capture the behind-the-scenes footage of their preparations. But what the cameras actually capture is a crumbling foundation being hastily rebuilt by a couple in crisis. Lee-Curtis and Trinitie are not divine beings but regular-degular humans, deeply flawed, calculated, and on the verge of a breakdown. Preaching the Gospel isn’t really their main objective right now. Saving souls is important or whatever, but first, they have to get back on the map.

Watching Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul, I felt a sense of disquiet wash over me scene by scene — not because the film wasn’t good, but because as someone born and raised in the church, it was real. Too real. Jesus Himself may have been poor, but the business of Jesus is a very lucrative one, and I’ve come across many pastors more focused on increasing their platform (and lining their pockets) than spreading God’s Word. To make things even more troubling, just like in the movie, the morals of these real life clergy are just as questionable. Rampant sexual abuse. Poorly hidden tax fraud. Repeated infidelity. Exploitation of parishioners. There’s no shortage of horror stories about pastors preaching heaven while living like hell behind closed doors.

Those contradictions, and the way that they’ve become normalized within church culture, are exactly what the Ebo sisters are trying to speak to with their film. The project is meant to pull back the curtain of church hypocrisy, forcing congregations of past and present to wrestle with the darkness that often corrupts what should be one of our safest spaces.

“I’ve always been the one who’s been like, Oh, y’all going to church this Halloween? I will be dressing up and going to get candy,” Adamma tells Unbothered. “I’ve always been sort of one foot in, one foot out when I felt like church wasn’t resonating with me or wasn’t serving me well or bringing me joy and happiness. So I’m very accustomed to critiquing it.”

“I think it helps that all four of us had our own personal relationship with faith and the church, and are still sort of figuring things out,” adds Adanne. “Because of that, we were able to understand the full spectrum of this culture, and that helped the overall balance 

Honk For Jesus is a satirical story, and its dark comedy, mockumentary approach emphasizes the comically cringy double-mindedness of its protagonists (who are, ironically, also its antagonists). Through the behind-the-scenes vantage point of the Curtis’ journey, we’re able to see the glaring discrepancy between who they’re pretending to be and who they really are, despite their best efforts, and the breaking of that fourth wall feels uncomfortable because it hits too close to home. It’s funny, but it’s also not funny; one scene will have you cackling, doubled over in sheer delight, and the next, it’s more like a wait, did the Ebos go to my home church? nervous chuckle. (“Black folks in general balance comedy with the hardest stuff all the time,” Adanne reminds me. “It’s our coping mechanism.”)

In the week since the film’s release, it’s already drummed up a host of mixed reactions ranging from genuine delight to pearl-clutching indignation. Old school churchgoers across the country are tuning in to the film in theaters or streaming it on Peacock expecting a celebration of the Black church only to find the dirty little secrets of church culture being exposed for the world to see. Some dissatisfied viewers claim that Honk For Jesus is “making fun” of the church and of Christianity through its storytelling, but its message doesn’t intend to be a takedown of the faith by any means. Though the characters and their church are fictional, their desperation to maintain the status quo by any means necessary (even if it means playing into the same problematic cycle that traumatized them) and the ripple effects those attempts have on their congregation are informed by real church events and real church people. The Ebos and their talented cast didn’t have to search too far for inspiration; cautionary tales of pastors failing to separate their vastly contradictory double lives can pretty much be found everywhere. (Honk For Jesus is rumored to be a fictionalized take on the controversial life of the late Bishop Eddie Long.)




For Hall, bringing Trinitie Childs to life wasn’t challenging because she, too, grew up in the church. To prepare for the role of the tightly wound co-captain of Wander to Greater Paths, the leading lady tells Unbothered that she personally reached out to several church First Ladies — no, she’s not naming any names — and those candid conversations shed light on the daily pressures of supporting their husbands and keeping the church afloat, even to their own downfall.

“You know what our culture says about us as Black women needing to be ‘ride or die’,” says Hall. “When you add in the gravity of the covenant of marriage before God and before the community, before the congregation, you really feel the weight of that conflict. I wanted to show the full humanity of this woman who is so invested in these institutions that have been around a long time that everyone loves but could stand, in certain areas, for evolution to occur.”

Her co-star Brown did a bit of research on his own, finding inspiration for his character Lee-Curtis in the messy tension that exists between what sociologist Erving Goffman would describe as our “front stage” and “backstage” behaviors — or the characters we play in front of people and who we are when we think we’re all alone. On the pulpit, Lee-Curtis is a handsome (I know y’all saw that shirtless scene), charismatic, and obscenely rich pastor who has been hand-selected by God Himself to share the Gospel. When he’s not standing in front of his congregation, however, we see a man who is struggling to come to terms with his identity and harming others in the process.

“I have family members who are LGBTQIA and have a deep affinity for God and wanted to have what they would term a ‘regular’ life,” Brown says. “And I’ve seen them, as individuals and as a collective, sort of twist themselves to fit into a square peg, even though they’re sort of rectangular. That was painful for me as someone who just loved an individual, regardless of how they identified, and knowing that light lives inside of them. But because things had to look a very particular way in order to be accepted by everyone else in this space, they’re having to dim that light or try to force it into a space that it was never really intended to be.”

Church people, myself included, can be quite touchy about any criticism of their faith, so the Ebo sisters and their stars already know that Honk For Jesus won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, they’re expecting it to shake the table and to spark heated conversations as more people tune in. Throughout the centuries that organized religion has existed all over the world, we haven’t gotten anywhere by covering up scandals in the church, shaming victims, and pretending like modern day Christianity is exactly as God intended it to be. Starting an honest, nuanced discourse about the toxic aspects of church culture and the way that it has spawned trauma in many people’s lives is the first step to healing — one step closer to creating the heaven on earth that we deserve. All they’re asking is for people to have a willingness to see where and how the church can evolve. So if you’re mad about the movie…well, you’re just going to have to stay mad. The cast and crew of Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul said what they said.



4200_D011_00773_R Sterling K. Brown stars as Lee-Curtis Childs in HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL., a Focus Features release. Credit: Steve Swisher / © 2021 Pinky Promise LLC© Provided by Refinery29

“At the premiere, somebody came up to me and said, ‘You know, you’re probably going to lose a lot of fans. But you’ll probably gain a lot of fans, too. And the ones that you lose, you probably didn’t want them to begin with’,” recalls Brown.

“Exactly. I mean, we set out to make people uncomfortable with this film,” nods Adamma. “And it’s like our grandmother always said: hit dogs will holler.”

US VS THEM

Man speaks out on what he calls ‘utter brutality’ from Halifax police

Karla Renić - Yesterday 


Aman who chaired a Neighbourhood Watch group in the Halifax area for 15 years says he's fed up with alleged "utter brutality" from city police after four people were arrested at a protest against a development in Dartmouth, N.S.


Bill Zebedee says he left his role with the Neighbourhood Watch over alleged brutality from Halifax Regional Police.© Submitted/Bill Zebedee

Bill Zebedee wrote an open letter to Halifax Regional Police chief Dan Kinsella this week, saying he is stepping down from the Watch with a heavy heart.

"I have remained silent ... but no more," he wrote in the letter.

"I can no longer sit by and watch this Chief Kinsella. I know many, many good officers, many of whom will no longer speak with me, but it is time to speak."

Police chief Kinsella was unavailable for comment upon a request from Global News.

Zebedee joined the Neighbourhood Watch back in 2005, saying he has “always been a community minded person.”

Those who are on the watch get a special number to contact local police when they suspect a crime is happening in their community, and they can do so anonymously. Zebedee was in the Lynn Drive area in Dartmouth.

Read more:
Demonstrators protesting development in Dartmouth, N.S. wetland charged with obstruction

He was an active member of the Watch for two years before he became the chair.

“Whenever I would see a crime happening, a drug deal happening at the base of my driveway, whenever I heard gunshots or any manner of crime, I would be the first one on the phone with the police,” Zebedee said.

“It’s been happy and sad,” he said of his time on the Watch. “I have met some really incredible police officers who actually care about the community.”

'That sort of woke me up'

After spending years of supporting Halifax Regional Police, Zebedee got a bad taste in his mouth for the first time in 2014.

That year, Halifax Regional Police arrested Jason MacLean, then-vice-president of NSGEU, during protests over a controversial health-care labour bill.

Police said he’d be charged with assaulting an officer. But a video from the arrest showed an HRP officer pushing MacLean to the ground and handcuffing him. After seeing the video, police dropped the charges and publicly apologized to MacLean.

Zebedee said MacLean was a friend of his, and the situation surprised him.

“He was the only individual who was arrested, the only African Nova Scotian who was arrested,” Zebedee said. “I always knew that there was police violence. I never thought I'd see it in Nova Scotia, in Halifax.”

Video: Advocates rally, demand public apology over Halifax encampment evictions

But, he said, more recent incidents have made it clear to him.

“What happened in the public library situation just recently … that sort of woke me up.”

In August of 2021, dozens of city police officers descended on parks around the municipality to remove unhoused people staying in crisis shelters and tents.

Hundreds of people poured into the city’s downtown, by the Old Library, to protest the shelter removal. This resulted in officers deploying pepper spray into crowds of people and more than two dozen arrests.

Read more:
Housing rally held in Halifax a year after police-lead encampment evictions

Then this August, environmentalist Jacob Fillmore chained himself to a piece of tree-cutting equipment to protest a development slated for the Eisner Cove Wetland in Dartmouth. The protest ended up turning dangerous as machinery was operated in close proximity to the protesters.

Zebedee said he was disappointed to see the Halifax police response that day.

“They didn't respond to what was happening with Jacob," he said. "They didn't respond to the fact that a citizen was almost run over by one of these machines.”

Zebedee said he instead witnessed police respond to a small group of protesters on Lynn Drive with several vehicles. “I began getting very frustrated with the actions of the police that day," he said.

Read more:
Protest against development on N.S. wetland turned dangerous

That’s when he began reflecting on his role. “I've been very complacent and very silent on the matter,” he said.

The final act pushing him to resign was the arrests made on Tuesday during a protest against the Eisner Cove development.

Contractors were trying to get into the site to clear cut trees, but the protesters blocked that work. Nova Scotia actor Elliot Page also attended the protest, and recorded HRP officers arresting Mi’kmaw elder and land protector Darlene Gilbert.

Another video posted to social media seems to show an officer using his bicycle to push a woman sitting on the pavement, and telling her to stand up. In another video, she can be seen standing up and turning her back to the officer, and he is seen pushing the handlebars of his bicycle into her lower back.

WATCH:
Video: Submitted video shows Halifax police interaction with protesters at Eisner Cove

“It's that type of, (what) I call ‘the Goon Squad’ activity in my letter to chief Kinsella,” Zebedee said. This was the final wake-up call, he said.

"I was sitting back helping the police get the criminals … while at the same time, I was protecting those who were getting away with doing crimes like assaulting citizens for absolutely no reason," he said.

Zebedee said he ripped his 10-year plaque from his wall on Thursday morning, which had been given to him by previous HRP police chief Jean-Michel Blais, and sent the open letter to Kinsella.

In the letter, Zebedee said there are decent officers in the city force, but they are silenced.

"The utter brutality of the officers under your command is palpable Chief, and they do it without discipline. All under the guise they do it as part of their duties as police officers. Bullsh--t Chief Kinsella. They do it because they know they will get away with it," the letter read.

HRP spokesperson John MacLeod did not address a question about Tuesday's incident. He did not answer a question about police silencing.

"If anyone has any concerns with the actions of our officers we encourage them to contact our Professional Standards Branch," MacLeod wrote in an email. That contact is available on the city's website.

Read more:
Protecting Eisner Cove: Dartmouth residents protest housing project slated for wetland

Zebedee said the open letter was the hardest letter he's had to write in the last two decades.

"I put my blood, sweat and tears into the Neighborhood Watch," he said.

"What I hope from the police is accountability. There are less violent ways to deal with protesters ... We're not allowed to protect ourselves against the violence the police are perpetrating on us."

He said he's not sure if he's expecting a response to his letter, but he has no regrets sending it.

"I just hope that the police chief and the police commissioner pay attention to it, and do something about it before more people are ... tackled and having their head smashed against the pavement."

HRP has also not responded to a follow-up request for a comment on the video from Tuesday's Eisner Cove protest. In a 3:50 p.m. tweet, however, police said they will look into the incident.

Student finds 1.8 million-year-old tooth, one of oldest signs of hominins outside of Africa

Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY - Yesterday 

Archaeologists in the nation of Georgia last week discovered a tooth belonging to an ancient human species believed to around 1.8 million years old.

The molar was found by a research student at the Orozmani dig site, dated between 1.77 and 1.84 million years old, in the Caucasus region. It's one of the earliest signs of hominins outside of Africa.

He showed the tooth to the team from the Georgian National Museum leading the dig. “Then we contacted our paleontologist and he confirmed it was a hominin tooth,” Giorgi Kopaliani, an archaeologist with the Georgian National Museum, told USA TODAY.

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Kopaliani and his team began excavating Orozmani in 2019, but suspended the digging efforts in 2020 because of the pandemic. Work picked back up again last year. The team has so far discovered ancient stone tools and fossils from extinct animals such as saber-toothed cats and Etruscan wolves, Kopaliani said.

The area is located roughly 15 miles away by car from a world famous dig site called Dmanisi, where researchers uncovered hominin remains, including skulls, aged around 1.8 million years old. The tooth discovered last week joins those remains as some of the oldest evidence of early human species outside of Africa, according to Kopaliani.

Related video: Georgian archaeologists find 1.8-million-year-old human tooth

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The team, led by fellow archaeologist Giorgi Bidzinashvili, plans to continue excavating the Orozmani site for another week, and hopes to expand the team and the dig area in the future.


Researchers work at the Orozmani dig site roughly 60 miles from Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.© Giorgi Bidzinashvili

“Based on this tooth, the information we get from this site and its close proximity to Dmanisi site, now we … can talk about the population of the hominins in this area,” Kopaliani said. “There is a lot to work on, still. There is a lot to study.”

While the remains found in Georgia are still believed to be the oldest found outside of Africa, researchers in China found stone tools dating 2.1 million years old that could indicate an earlier hominin presence there.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Student finds 1.8 million-year-old tooth, one of oldest signs of hominins outside of Africa

Protesters interrupt NFL's season-opener between Bills-Rams with pink smoke bombs

Josh Peter, USA TODAY - Yesterday

Leaving a trail of pink smoke in the air, two animal rights protesters ran onto the field at SoFi Stadium Thursday night during the game between the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills.

The women carried red flares and one of them appeared to throw a pink smoke bomb as they briefly interrupted play in the fourth quarter before security removed them from the field and the Bills went on to beat the Rams, 31-10.


A protester is brought down by a security guard after she runs onto the field.

© Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports

The women were identified as Emek Echo and Katia Shokrai by Direct Action Everywhere, which bills itself as grassroots animal rights network and said the women were representing them.

Direct Action Everywhere is the same group whose protesters disrupted the Fourth of July Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest and three Minneapolis Timberwolves games in April.

The group said the protesters on Thursday night were trying to highlight an upcoming Smithfield Foods factory farm trial.

Smithfield Foods, founded in Smithfield, Virginia, in 1936, is owned by Hong Kong-based WH Group. According to Forbes, Smithfield is the world's largest pork processer and hog producer.

Princeton will cover all tuition costs for most families making under $100,000 a year, after getting rid of student loans

asheffey@businessinsider.com (Ayelet Sheffey) - Yesterday 

People walk through the Princeton University campus in Princeton, N.J., Thursday, April 5, 2018. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Princeton announced most families making under $100,000 will not have to pay any tuition costs.

This is expected to benefit about 25% of undergraduate students starting next fall.

Princeton was also the first school in the US to eliminate student loans from its financial aid packages.

Some students might soon get to attend Princeton University for free.

On Thursday, the New Jersey Ivy League school announced it would be expanding its financial aid program to offer free tuition, including room and board, for most families whose annual income is under $100,000 a year. Previously, the same benefit was offered to families making under $65,000 a year. This new income limit will take effect for all undergraduates starting in the fall of 2023.

"One of Princeton's defining values is our commitment to ensure that talented students from all backgrounds can not only afford a Princeton education but can flourish on our campus and in the world beyond it," Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber said in a statement. "These improvements to our aid packages, made possible by the sustained generosity of our alumni and friends, will enhance the experiences of students during their time at Princeton and their choices and impact after they graduate."

According to Princeton, about 1,500 students — or 25% of the undergraduate student body — will benefit from this additional aid. Also beginning next year, the University will increase the allowance for personal and book expenses to $4,050 from $3,500 in financial aid packages to allow for more flexibility to cover those miscellaneous charges.



This is just the latest action from Princeton to make its cost of attendance more affordable. In 2001, it became the first school in the US to eliminate student loans from its financial packages and replace them with grants to ensure students do not have any debt to pay back post-graduation.

A growing number of colleges have since adopted the policy. Amherst, Harvard, and Yale have pivoted to offer grants only, and smaller schools and HBCUs have been using stimulus funds from President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan to wipe out tuition-related student debt for its students.

The switch away from student loans sheds light on the debate in tackling college affordability. At the end of August, Biden took a significant step toward tackling the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis by announcing $10,000 to $20,000 in debt cancellation for federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year. While many advocates and Democratic lawmakers lauded they relief, they emphasized that this cannot be the end of the road when it comes to making higher education more accessible.

"We really need to address the cost and the rising cost of college," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren told PBS after Biden announced his loan forgiveness. "And there are a lot of different ways we can do that... I have been working very hard on a piece of legislation that requires more transparency, so the schools actually have to reveal the true cost of going, how many graduate, how long it takes people to graduate, and how much money they make on the other side."

Massive rail strike next week could deal another blow to America's economy

Chris Isidore - Yesterday 


Freight railroads have been around since the 19th century, but you can’t run a 21st century economy without them

Maersk CEO: We need more labor in the ports
View on Watch  Duration 3:01

The looming possibility of a strike by unions representing more than 90,000 workers at the nation’s freight railroads has businesses nationwide worried. The unions are poised to go on strike on September 16, a move that could bring nearly 30% of the nation’s freight to a grinding halt, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

It’s about the last thing the US economy needs as it struggles to get over several years of supply chain issues. A prolonged strike could mean empty shelves in stores, temporary closures at factories that don’t have the parts they need to operate, and higher prices due to the limited availability of various consumer goods.

“We’re hearing more and more that shippers and the railroads are getting anxious,” said John Drake, vice president for transportation, infrastructure and supply chain policy for the US Chamber of Commerce. The chamber is calling on the two sides to reach a deal that avoids the first national rail strike in 30 years.

The unions and the National Railway Labor Conference, which represents management at the negotiating table, met with federal mediators and US Labor Secretary Martin Walsh Wednesday to see if they could move closer to an agreement. The unions said there was no progress.

The freight railroads have generally thrived during the pandemic, so a key dispute is not over pay, but rather the rules controlling worker scheduling. Many of the engineers and conductors who make up the two-person crews on each train have to be “on call” to report to work seven days a week, preventing them from making their own plans, depriving them of time with their families and creating a high turnover rate.

Time running out

Since railroad workers are under a different labor law than the one that control labor relations at most businesses, it’s possible that Congress could act to prevent or quickly stop a strike. But that would require a level of bipartisanship that is rare in Washington just weeks ahead of midterm elections.

President Joe Biden prevented a strike two months ago by imposing a cooling off period during which a panel he appointed, known as a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), looked at the disputed issues in the negotiations and issued a recommended settlement.

That 60-day cooling off period is due to expire at 12:01 am ET Sept. 16, and Biden does not have the power to prevent a strike at that time. Only Congress can act to prevent a work stoppage, either by imposing a deal on the two sides or to extending the current cooling off period.

The PEB recommended multiple annual raises back to July 2020, when the previous contract had been set to expire.

They would give workers an immediate 14% raise, as well as additional back pay for the hours they worked since 2020. There would be more raises going forward, resulting in a 24% pay increase over the five-year course of the contract that would run from 2020 to 2024, as well as annual cash bonuses of $1,000.

The PEB’s wages recommendations are somewhat less than the unions requested, and somewhat more than management had previously offered.

But it was a lucrative enough that five of the smaller unions that represent more than 21,000 railroad workers agreed to a tentative labor deals based on the panel’s recommendations, although they still need to be be ratified by their rank-and-file members to go into effect. And the PEB’s wage recommendations would probably have been enough to win the approval of the other unions, even though they were asking for more.

“We’re not going to sit here and argue about [wages] or health care. We’re beyond that,” said Jeremy Ferguson, president of the union that represents the conductors, one of the two workers on freight trains along with the engineers.

Anger over work rules

The conductors’ union and other six unions poised to strike, which includes the one representing engineers, are not satisfied with the work rule recommendations, and how the “on call” requirement will affect the quality of their members’ lives, denying them any free time with their families even when off of work.

The unions are urging allies in Congress not to act, arguing that a strike is the only way to reach a deal that can improve what they say are intolerable work rules driving employees to quit the business, causing staff shortages and well documented service problems in freight rail service.

“The fact is they [the railroads] are counting on Congress to act,” said Dennis Pierce, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. “We’ve let them [the union’s allies in Congress] know we need them to stay out of it.”

“This is a chance for the Democrats to stand up for something they say they support, the working class and labor,” Ferguson said.

Will Congress act?

If Congress does act, it would pose a difficult political choice for the Biden administration. Biden is as pro-union as any president in history, but he doesn’t want to see any problems for supply chains, prices and the economy ahead of crucial midterm elections.

Asked about risk of a strike, a White House official did not address the possibility of Congressional action, instead stressing the need for a negotiated settlement to avoid a shutdown it hopes to avoid.

“After the pandemic and supply chain disruptions of the past two years, now is not the time for more uncertainty and disruption,” the official told CNN’s Betsy Klein.

The official said the White House “stands ready to support the parties as they work toward an agreement or a voluntary extension of the cooling off period.”

“We take no position on what the elements of an agreement should be,” the official added. “We are confident the parties will make every effort to negotiate in good faith toward a mutually acceptable solution, and we urge both sides to do so promptly.”

Democrats in Congress could impose a contract more to the unions’ liking than what was recommended by the presidential panel. But that might have trouble getting the necessary Republican support to pass. Republicans could potentially benefit if there was a prolonged rail strike causing problems in the economy right before the election, especially if it could be blamed on the Democrats.

Even some businesses that would like to see the dispute settled without a strike are nervous about turning to Congress.

“Quite frankly, it’s not a good sign if it ultimately goes to Congress,” said one business official closely monitoring the potential for a strike, who spoke on the condition his name not be used.

“You don’t know what you’re going to get. You could have members that could hold up legislation to demand one thing or the other…Once Congress gets involved, it’s a mess.”

This executive believes that Congress will kick the can down the tracks, extending the cooling off period, perhaps past election day, rather than imposing a contract. But that’s still no solution.

“Here’s the rub, it’s been 30 days since the [presidential panel’s] recommendations. Only five of the 12 rail unions have signed onto the recommendations,” he said.

At this point the railroads are still urging the unions to agree to the terms recommended by the presidential panel, rather than calling on Congress to act.

“It is in the best interest of all stakeholders and the public for the railroads and rail labor organizations to promptly reach agreements that provide pay increases to employees and prevent rail service disruptions,” said the National Railway Labor Conference “Now is the time to use the PEB’s recommendation as the basis for a prompt and voluntary agreement.”

The railroad’s trade group put out an estimate Thursday that a halt to freight rail service would cost the US economy $2 billion a day. It did not specifically call for Congressional action, encouraging the parties to settle the dispute through negotiations, although it’s statement said, “ultimately, Congress has the power to intercede and avert a shutdown.”

Record profits for railroads

The strike threat comes as several railroads, including Union Pacific (UNP), Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA)’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe have reported record earnings.

The unions argue the companies are making the profits on the back of their employees, creating conditions that are driving workers to quit. Employment at the nation’s major railroads is down by more than 30,000, or about 20% of the workforce, since the last contract was reached in 2017.

Leaders of the unions say their members are now at a breaking point and that they are eager to strike to win changes.

“This isn’t a personal choice by the presidents of the unions,” said the engineers union president Pierce. “Our membership has made it loud and clear that this is not a deal membership would ratify.”

– CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report

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UFC 279: Press conference canceled due to a general brawl

Buzznews - Yesterday


Dana White had to cancel the UFC 279 press conference in the middle of it due to a general brawl that broke out backstage!


UFC 279© Twitter

The crowd sent up a ton of boos because of the sudden cut, but White couldn’t afford for it to get out of hand in order to keep everyone safe.

In the aftermath of the event, White clarified, without explaining in detail all the brouhaha, but by his account, it was VERY violent.

White said four fighters were involved, including Kevin Holland and Khamzat Chimaev, who were the first to open that rumble with two other fighters.

The Diaz clan was also involved, as they showed up with 57 people…

This September 10 card is not in jeopardy at the moment, but that could quickly change if the guns aren’t put away.

Restoring ancient grave stones a

“painstaking exercise”: Chief Maracle

Yesterday 

The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte are nearing completion of the restoration of grave stones damaged decades ago at Christ Church in Tyendinaga Territory.

“In the 1960s, some of the marble gravestones were broken and smashed deliberately,” Chief R. Donald Maracle said in an interview in his office in Tyendinaga Territory.

Over the years, the broken pieces were relocated several times, eventually ending up covered in overgrown earth, until a $150,000 restoration project began the process of repairing not only the broken stones, but a tomb and other parts at the historical site.

“The Christ Church, when it was built, was a church for the Mohawk people as well as a lot of the United Empire Loyalists who lived in the area came there because there were not very many Anglican churches at that time,” the chief said. “So a lot of (UEL people) were buried there as well, so some of those stones (belonged) to non-native United Empire Loyalists, as well as Mohawk people.”

Thanks to an $18,000 grant from My Main Street Community Activator program, combined with funding from Bay of Quinte Marketing, the Anglican Diocese of Ontario, Aboriginal Labour Force Development Circle and some private donations, the stones have been painstakingly being pieced back together and soon will be returned to their original burial site.

“It’s a community project,” Chief Maracle said, “an example of restoring heritage and some of the early history in the community. Some of these people buried there were born in the late 1700s.”

The process of piecing the centuries old stones is no simple project, Chief Maracle said.

“They’ll put the pieces together, they’ll use epoxy to cement the different pieces together and they’ll put a metal bracket on the side and then put them back where they should go. Some of them we do know where they go, some of them we don’t. There are still a lot of the bases for those stones that came out of there. They’ll have to measure the width and thickness of the stone and match it up to the base. It’s a painstaking exercise.”

Acknowledging that it took a long time to get to restoring the stones, Chief Maracle said it was something he’s known for a long time that had to be done.

“It was disrespectful to our Mohawk ancestors and to the other people who are buried there to have those gravestones in that type of shamble.”

Since the restoration project began, there have been family members emerge who believe their ancestors’ stones to be among those damaged decades ago.

“One of our police officers believes that some of (the broken stones) might be (from the graves) of his relatives,” Chief Maracle said, adding that recently someone from Burnt Rapids showed up at church believing an ancestor’s grave to be among the damaged. “I’m sure that we’ll hear more from people who might have relatives buried there.”

Anyone with information about the location of the graves can contact Chief Maracle at 613-396-3424.

*

News and notes:

Tyendinaga Mohawk Council has approved the replacement of all play structures throughout the community.

In an effort to prepare the playgrounds for construction, the locations are temporarily closed. Residents with questions or seeking information can call 613-396-3424 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.

The affected playgrounds are located at Bayshore Road, Huron Brant Drive South, Huron Brant Drive North, Lower Slash Road and Young Street.

*

Shelby Kramp-Neuman, MP for Hastings-Lennox & Addington, provides mobile office sessions on the third Wednesday of every month at the Mohawks Bay of Quinte administration office at 24 Meadow Dr. in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

During the sessions, Shelby-Neuman’s team offers support for: passport application reviews; Service Canada; Canada Pension Plan; disability pension plan; Canada Revenue Agency; Veterans Affairs; employment insurance; old age security; Phoenix pay issues; federal small business program and more. Call 613-437-0649 or toll free at 1-866-471-3800 or email eric.lorenzen.439@*parl.gc.ca to book an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome.

Jan Murphy is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Belleville Intelligencer. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Jan Murphy, Local Journalism Initiative, Belleville Intelligencer

Land defenders, developers prepare for next

legal stage of Caledonia dispute

Things have been quiet at 1492 Land Back Lane, the planned subdivision in Caledonia that has been occupied by Indigenous land defenders since July 2020.

But the legal dispute between Foxgate Developments and the Haudenosaunee-led group continues, with the developers set to return to court on Monday seeking to reclaim the 25-acre property on which they had planned to build over 200 homes.

The site has seen clashes with police by land defenders who claim the territory as unceded Haudenosaunee land on the Haldimand Tract — a claim the developers reject.

The OPP has arrested dozens of supporters who visited the disputed property, most of whom have had their charges dropped. These days, about 20 people live on the land in tiny homes set up near community gardens and young trees.

“It’s still about giving space for Mother Nature to do her work,” Land Back Lane spokesperson Skyler Williams of Six Nations told The Spectator.

“It’s quite the thing to be able to build and grow a community around this movement.”

Monday’s Superior Court hearing at the Cayuga courthouse is essentially a legal do-over of an October 2020 hearing that saw Justice R. John Harper grant Foxgate a permanent injunction barring unauthorized personnel from the McKenzie Road site.

An appeal court later determined Harper erred by barring Williams from the proceedings. The higher court ordered a new hearing, which will be led by a different judge.

Williams and his lawyers, Meaghan Daniel and Aliah El-houni of the Community Justice Collective, are expected to argue the Canadian Constitution guarantees Indigenous treaty and inherent rights, and governments have corresponding duties to First Nations where those rights are engaged.


Legal submissions are also expected from Foxgate, Haldimand County and the province.

The federal government was invited to participate but chose not to, which Williams found disappointing.

“Canada has continued to stay mute on the entire subject,” he said. “Money talks. So these big developers and this pro-development Ford government is continuing to push for our lands to be developed.”

A spokesperson for the developers previously told The Spectator that Foxgate “has never opposed” Williams’ participation in the hearing.

“The completion of a final judgment in the injunction proceedings is an important step to definitively proving Foxgate’s legal right, title and ownership of the lands,” said William Liske, vice-president and chief legal officer for Losani Homes, one of the companies in the Foxgate consortium.

The two-day hearing could have broader ramifications for other Indigenous land defence actions.

“If the injunction isn’t granted, this could be a very significant precedent,” El-houni told The Spectator, explaining that the court could confirm the Crown’s duty to consider Indigenous rights before deciding whether to grant developers permission to build.

“All of this could have been avoided if our community had been consulted with in a real way,” Williams added, noting Foxgate only consulted with “the pro-development group, which in this case is band council.”

If, however, the court grants Foxgate the injunction, Williams said he and others at Land Back Lane are worried about the police again trying to clear the site as they did in August 2020, when officers fired at least one rubber bullet while making arrests.

“There’s definitely some nervousness, knowing what transpired last time,” Williams said.

“There’s a pathway towards peace here, and it doesn’t come with a guy with a badge on his chest. It comes with nation-to-nation negotiation.”

J.P. Antonacci, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator

Pentagon warns of GPS interference from Ligado broadband network
By David Shepardson - Yesterday 


Aerial view of the Pentagon is seen in Washington© Reuters/JOSHUA ROBERTS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department said a study https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3153449/press-release-on-the-nasem-section-1663-report/ released Friday shows Ligado Networks' planned nationwide mobile broadband network will interfere with military global positioning system receivers (GPS) receivers.

The Federal Communications Commission in April 2020 voted to permit Ligado to deploy a low-power network. In January 2021, the FCC rejected a bid by U.S. government agencies to put its decision on hold.

The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report released Friday https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2022/09/potential-effects-of-operating-a-terrestrial-radio-network-near-gps-frequency-bands-assessed-by-new-report warned some Iridium Communications mobile satellite services "used by the U.S. Department of Defense and others will experience harmful interference under certain conditions and warned some high-precision devices sold before about 2012 "can be vulnerable to significant harmful interference."

The Defense Department said the study is consistent with its view that "Ligado’s system will interfere with critical GPS receivers and that it is impractical to mitigate the impact of that interference" and noted the study found FCC's proposed mitigation and replacement measures "are impractical, cost prohibitive, and possibly ineffective."

Ligado argued the report found "a small percentage of very old and poorly designed GPS devices may require upgrading."

It noted that with the FCC it established a 2020 program "to upgrade or replace federal equipment, and we remain ready to help any agency that comes forward with outdated devices. So far, none have."

Ligado said it hopes U.S. agencies "will stop blocking Ligado’s license authority and focus instead on working with Ligado to resolve potential impacts relating to all DOD systems."

Iridium said the study shows "that Ligado’s proposed operations will cause harmful interference.... Iridium urges the FCC to take swift action to reverse the order before Ligado starts its technical demonstrations this fall."

The FCC did not immediately comment.

The study also found Ligado's network "will not cause most commercially produced general navigation, timing, cellular, or certified aviation GPS receivers to experience harmful interference."

In May 2020, the U.S. Commerce Department filed a request with the FCC on behalf of executive branch agencies, including the Defense and Transportation departments, arguing it would cause "irreparable harms to federal government users" of GPS. The report called on FCC and Commerce to conduct joint testing and "a more collaborative approach to resolving spectrum issues."

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)