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    • DeSantis, amid criticism, signs Florida bill making climate change a lesser state priority

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis thanks supporters after signing House bill 621 that protects homeowners and their property against squatting —the illegal possession of vacant homes— during a ceremony at the Ninth Judicial Circuit state attorney's office in Orlando, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis thanks supporters after signing House bill 621 that protects homeowners and their property against squatting —the illegal possession of vacant homes— during a ceremony at the Ninth Judicial Circuit state attorney's office in Orlando, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
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    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -

    Climate change will be a lesser priority in Florida and largely disappear from state statutes under legislation signed Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that also bans power-generating wind turbines offshore or near the state's lengthy coastline.

    Critics said the measure made law by the former Republican presidential hopeful ignores the reality of climate change threats in Florida, including projections of rising seas, extreme heat and flooding and increasingly severe storms.

    It takes effect July 1 and would also boost expansion of natural gas, reduce regulation on gas pipelines in the state and increase protections against bans on gas appliances such as stoves, according to a news release from the governor's office.

    DeSantis, who suspended his presidential campaign in January and later endorsed his bitter rival Donald Trump, called the bill a common-sense approach to energy policy.

    "We're restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots," DeSantis said in a post on the X social media platform.

    Florida is already about 74 per cent reliant on natural gas to power electric generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Opponents of the bill DeSantis signed say it removes the word "climate' in nine different places, moves the state's energy goals away from efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gases blamed for a warming planet.

    "This purposeful act of cognitive dissonance is proof that the governor and state Legislature are not acting in the best interests of Floridians, but rather to protect profits for the fossil fuel industry," said Yocha Arditi-Rocha, executive director of the nonprofit Cleo Institute, which advocates for climate change education and engagement.

    The legislation also eliminates requirements that government agencies hold conferences and meetings in hotels certified by the state's environmental agency as "green lodging" and that government agencies make fuel efficiency the top priority in buying new vehicles. It also ends a requirement that Florida state agencies look at a list of "climate-friendly" products before making purchases.

    In 2008, a bill to address climate change and promote renewable energy passed unanimously in both legislative chambers and was signed into law by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, at the time a Republican. Former Gov. Rick Scott, now a Republican U.S. senator, took steps after taking the governor's office in 2011 to undo some of that measure and this latest bill takes it even further.

    The measure signed by DeSantis would also launch a study of small nuclear reactor technology, expand the use of vehicles powered by hydrogen and enhance electric grid security, according to the governor's office.

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    Canada

    • Someone spray-painted graffiti onto the home of Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim on Halloween – marking the latest in a string of incidents targeting the property this year.

    • Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is slamming the province's plan to unilaterally remove bike lanes along some of the city's major streets, calling it 'arbitrary' while warning that it could ultimately make congestion worse.

    • Police in Kamloops, B.C., are reminding parents and guardians to check their children's Halloween candy after receiving a report of a mother finding a razor blade in one of her daughter's treats.

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    World

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    Health

    • An Ontario woman is facing serious charges after police allege she pretended to be a registered nurse at several Simcoe County facilities, despite being unqualified.

    • A measles outbreak has been declared in New Brunswick’s Zone 3, which includes Fredericton and the upper Saint John River Valley.

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    Local Spotlight

    A Windsor teen’s social media post showing off a distinctive Windsor pizza topping has gone viral, drawing millions of views worldwide and sparking new curiosity about Windsor-style pizza.

    Auston Matthews has come face to face with his look-alike. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs star met seven-year-old Grayson Joseph, who went viral for dressing up as an Auston Matthews hockey card.

    A Halifax junk remover shares some of his company’s strangest discoveries.

    When Leah arrived at work directing traffic around a construction site, she never expected to see a van painted in all sorts of bright colours, and covered in eclectic decorations, including a stuffed moose attached to its roof.

    After 14 years of repairing and selling bicycles out of the garage of her home, a Guelph, Ont. woman’s efforts have ended – for now, at least.

    Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.

    Witches and warlocks have been flocking to New Brunswick waterways this month, as a new Halloween tradition ripples across the province.

    New Brunswicker Jillea Godin’s elaborate cosplay pieces attract thousands to her online accounts, as well as requests from celebrities for their own pieces.

    A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.

    • On the same day Chip Wilson erected a controversial sign at his Vancouver mansion, the city was quietly honouring the billionaire and his wife.

    • A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.

    • A Vancouver Island woman who refused to accept her daughter died of an accidental overdose is relieved the record has been set straight.

    • One person is in life-threatening condition after being shot in North York Friday night.

    • Two people are in life-threatening condition while a third person is in critical condition following a collision in Mississauga, Peel paramedics say.

    • Two people are in custody after an alleged stolen pickup truck struck a police horse and rammed into three cruisers before crashing into a downtown Toronto store Friday afternoon.

    • A Calgary councillor wants the city to protect drivers from tow truck companies that are "preying" on drivers on scene of car crashes.

    • A CN train derailed near Beiseker, Alta., on Friday morning.

    • The Calgary Real Estate Board says October home sales were mostly flat compared with last year's levels, but remained around one-quarter higher than long-term trends for the month.

    • EXCLUSIVE

      EXCLUSIVE

      Internal documents show the National Capital Commission took what it called a 'manageable risk' to lower the standard for what qualifies as thick enough ice in order to squeeze a few more skating days into the Rideau Canal Skateway season.

    • Ottawa firefighters have contained a fire at a seniors' home in Richmond.

    • The switch to standard time occurs at 2 a.m. on Sunday, with clocks moving back one hour. The end of daylight saving time means it will get darker earlier in the evening, with sunset before 5 p.m. starting on Sunday.

    • Thanks to a private donation, the Old Brewery Mission renovated all its shelters to have semi-private rooms.

    • One of Montreal's best-known painters died this week at the age of 96 -- John Little captured the city's working-class neighbourhoods and highlighted an architecture that is fast disappearing.

    • A new second-hand store just opened at Quartier DIX30 on Montreal's South Shore where shoppers can find coats, kids' shoes, home decor, and even a Louis Vitton bag.

    • The government of Alberta says its new bill aimed at women's sporting divisions is about inclusion, but advocates don't agree.

    • An Edmonton Police Service officer was caught on camera running over a woman with a marked cruiser last month.

    • An appeal has been denied to extend the sentence of an Ontario trucker who killed a woman in his Edmonton hotel room in 2011.

    • Nova Scotia's premier is apologizing after a court criticized his government for what it calls a flawed, discriminatory and unfair process that led to two women being rejected for coverage of out-of-province treatments.

    • Montreal-based company Westcliff Management, a privately owned real estate development and management company, officially own Dieppe’s Champlain Place Mall as of Halloween.

    • The RCMP in Yarmouth, N.S., is investigating the sudden deaths of two people known to each other.

    • Manitoba RCMP are looking for more information after the remains of an infant were identified.

    • Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is not making any commitments on possible new municipal taxes in Winnipeg.

    • A 25-year-old man has been charged with multiple offences after he allegedly shot another man with a shotgun during a dispute at a North End home last month.

    • Advance polling stations for the Regina civic election opened Friday morning.

    • Swift Current RCMP are looking for two men after a 'serious assault' in the city early Tuesday morning.

    • A local makeup artist and business owner is bringing the runway experience back to Regina this weekend five years after the end of Saskatchewan Fashion Week.

    • Erick Buhr has asked the jury to find him not guilty in his grandmother Viola Erb’s death.

    • Waterloo Regional Police are putting out a stern reminder about fireworks safety after a concerning display in Breslau.

    • Waterloo Regional Police say charges are anticipated after a tow truck operator was seriously injured helping a disabled vehicle on the side of Trussler Road in North Dumfries Friday afternoon.

    • The family of a man shot and seriously injured at a jobsite 14 kilometres north of Prince Albert late last week is speaking out.

    • Soon, Saskatoon residents will know who of the five candidates will take the reins as mayor, and who will join the new mayor at City Hall for the next term.

    • SaskPower has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating workplace safety rules, but the victim won't receive any of the money.

    • With the surging number of homeless encampments in Ontario cities, Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre has joined other big city mayors in asking the province to back them up when they try and prohibit encampments.

    • Two males, including one young offender, were arrested Thursday evening after a shooting at a grocery store on Notre Dame Avenue in Sudbury.

    • Police in northern Ontario say a razor blade was found in a child's candy on Halloween night.

    • Already sentenced to spend a life in prison for committing two London murders, William McDonald, 34, continued to add to his already lengthy criminal record while behind bars at Collins Bay Penitentiary.

    • The London Fire Department said a blaze that destroyed a south London townhouse Friday killed a dog left home alone.

    • Since August 2023, detectives from the Niagara Regional Police Service have been investigating an allegation of sexual assault by a man against a 15-year-old girl.

    • An Ontario woman is facing serious charges after police allege she pretended to be a registered nurse at several Simcoe County facilities, despite being unqualified.

    • Christina and Troy Durocher are still struggling to come to terms with how the justice system handled the death of their son two and a half years ago.

    • While online shopping has become a multi-trillion-dollar worldwide industry, a new online marketplace launched in Simcoe County in recent weeks is making it easier and more affordable to keep e-commerce local.

    • A Windsor man is on trial for attempting to join a terrorist organization known as the Atomwaffen Division (AWD).

    • An Essex couple said they are unhappy with the town over a curb that was installed at the end of their driveway.

    • BREAKING

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      Windsor police have charged a 25-year-old man with first-degree murder in the death of a 69-year-old man in south-central Windsor.

    • A Vancouver Island woman who refused to accept her daughter died of an accidental overdose is relieved the record has been set straight.

    • Police on southern Vancouver Island are issuing a warning about the dangers of deer rutting season after a dog was gored to death by a buck earlier this week.

    • A B.C. Supreme Court judge has granted an order to establish a buffer zone around one of the province's largest Sikh temples this Saturday in advance of expected confrontations between protesters and Indian consular officials.

    • Police in Kamloops, B.C., are reminding parents and guardians to check their children's Halloween candy after receiving a report of a mother finding a razor blade in one of her daughter's treats.

    • More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.

    • Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.

    • Lethbridge County and the towns of Coalhurst, Nobleford and Picture Butte and the village of Barons have signed a new regional emergency management partnership agreement.

    • As overnight temperatures continue to dip below freezing, the City of Lethbridge has launched its second annual snow route season ahead of winter.

    • The University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Athletics Annual Safe Ride Home campaign is making a return this year, but with a new name.

    • More than half of Ontario's 480 wildfires last summer were in northeastern Ontario, according to new data from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

    • A 40-year-old suspect has been charged with sexual assault following an incident Wednesday in Sault Ste. Marie.

    • Juanita Migwans – or 'Winnie,' as her family calls her – of M'Chigeeng First Nation has been missing for almost a month.

    N.L.

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