B.C.'s lax drinking water regulations put residents at risk
B.C.’s discretionary approach to drinking water protection has put yet another community – this time in Metro Vancouver — at risk, proving once again that the province’s existing regulations are ineffective and do little to protect the health of its residents. An Aug. 24 article in the Vancouver Sun reported that White Rock...
After Katrina, New Orleans cops were told they could shoot looters
By Sabrina Shankman and Tom Jennings of Frontline, Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi of The New Orleans Times-Picayune and A.C. Thompson of ProPublica This story was co-published with The New Orleans Times-Picayune. In the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina, an order circulated among New Orleans police authorizing officers...
The Net Neutrality spat explained
By Marian Wang in PropublicaIn recent weeks, top officials from the Federal Communications Commission have held closed-door meetings to negotiate with the country’s biggest communications companies and online service providers on how the Internet should be regulated. In a statement today, the FCC said it had called off those...
Salmon farming industry refuses to cooperate with provincial reporting stragegies
The B.C salmon farm industry's decision to not co-operate with provincial reporting strategies has rendered government officials impotent and incapable of regulating the notoriously secretive industry, environmental groups Ecojustice and T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation said today.As of April 1, 2010, salmon farms have...
Gitmo challenges could endanger half of convictions
By Chisun Lee in ProPublicaDecisions on two legal challenges to the Guantanamo military commissions system, both expected this summer, could undo half the convictions won so far before the tribunals and disrupt a number of pending cases.The appeals of two 2008 convictions attack several core aspects of the young trial system....
Oil recycling challenges can't be solved by local government
People are changing the way they think about garbage. When it comes to recycling and reusing, Canadians are shifting their perspective. As Environmental Services Director for the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) says, there is no magic garbage can for all our waste anymore. So it's no surprise that as thinking ...
Ambulance Cuts and a Cowboy’s Death
It was bound to happen. And it has.Serious questions have arisen about whether B.C. ambulance service cuts contributed to the death of a bull rider at a rodeo Friday. And they must be answered.Makwala Derickson-Hall was severely injured when he was bucked and then trampled by a rodeo bull at the Valemount Rodeo. He was ...
Mental illness cited as reason for not-guilty plea in Grand Forks murder trial
Kimberly Noyes pled not guilty in court today as the trial of the murder of 12-year-old John Fulton got underway in Rossland, B.C. In the first day of what is slated as a three week trial, both the prosecution and defense attorneys agree that the central issue for the court to determine is the mental state of Kimberly Noyes,...
Blast at BP Texas refinery in 2005 foreshadowed Gulf disaster
by Ryan Knutson, ProPublicaThis story is part of an ongoing collaboration between ProPublica and FRONTLINE (PBS).TEXAS CITY, TEXAS -- Ever since the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, David Senko has been tallying the similarities between what he calls "my blast" in 2005 and this new BP disaster.Anonymous...
Trustees pass conflict of interest guidelines at special meeting
In probably one of the shortest meetings ever of the Board of Trustees for Boundary School District 51, the board tied off a few loose ends for the close of the school year. The main decision they made was to accept their conflict of interest guidelines as presented to the board in April of this year. The guidelines have ...
