School announcement and hurricane latest: In The News for Aug. 26

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Aug. 26 …

What we are watching in Canada … 

Justin Trudeau will visit a school in Toronto today to announce $2 billion in additional funding to help provinces and territories ensure that kids can safely return to class this fall.

The money is on top of the $19 billion the prime minister has already promised provinces and territories to help them cope with the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economies and health-care systems.

He informed premiers of the new funding during a conference call Tuesday afternoon.

The funding is expected to be allocated based on each province and territory’s number of students.

Federal officials say provinces and territories, which have sole jurisdiction over education, will have plenty of flexibility in deciding how best to spend the money.

They’ll be able to spend it as they see fit to bolster their efforts to ensure schools can reopen this fall as safely as possible.

Schools have been shut down across the country since COVID-19 started sweeping across the country in mid-March.

Many parents and teachers are worried about the impending return to school, fearful that class sizes won’t be small enough and safety measures won’t be strict enough to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

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Also this …

Nova Scotia’s appeals court is scheduled to hear a case today involving a woman who is trying to stop her husband from receiving medical assistance in dying.

The woman is appealing a lower court decision that rejected her request for an interlocutory injunction against her husband until the full case can be heard on its merits.

In his Aug. 7 decision, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Peter Rosinski concluded the man would suffer irreparable harm if such an injunction were granted.

The man’s request for medical aid in dying was approved and scheduled for July.

According to court documents, the man says he is near the end of his life due to advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but his wife maintains his wish to die is based on anxiety and delusions.

The couple are in their 80s and have been married 48 years.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

First lady Melania Trump cast her husband as the best hope for America and Americans in a Rose Garden address Tuesday night as U.S. President Donald Trump turned to family, farmers and the trappings of the presidency to boost his reelection chances on the second night of the scaled-down Republican National Convention.

The president pardoned a reformed felon, used the White House grounds to elevate his wife’s keynote address and oversaw a naturalization ceremony for several immigrants in the midst of the prime-time program. The welcoming tone was at odds with some of his own policies, which are aimed at reducing both legal and illegal immigration.

“In my husband, you have a president who will not stop fighting for you and your families,” said Mrs. Trump, an immigrant herself. “He will not give up.”

Mrs. Trump and two of his five children led a diverse collection of supporters, including a convicted bank robber, calling for Trump’s reelection on a night that featured a distinctly more positive tone than the night before.

The first-term president is labouring to improve his standing in a 2020 presidential race he is currently losing under the weight of the coronavirus and its related economic devastation. Most polls report that Democratic rival Joe Biden has a significant advantage in terms of raw support; the former vice-president also leads on character issues such as trustworthiness and likability.

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And …

In the largest U.S. evacuation of the pandemic, more than half a million people were ordered to flee the Gulf Coast on Tuesday as Laura strengthened into a hurricane that forecasters said could slam Texas and Louisiana with ferocious winds, heavy flooding and the power to push seawater miles inland.

More than 385,000 residents were told to flee the Texas cities of Beaumont, Galveston and Port Arthur, and another 200,000 were ordered to leave low-lying Calcasieu Parish in southwestern Louisiana, where forecasters said as much as four metres of storm surge topped by waves could submerge whole communities.

The National Hurricane Center projected that Laura would draw energy from warm Gulf waters and become a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday, with winds of around 185 km/h. The strengthening may slow or stop just before landfall, forecasters said.

“The waters are warm enough everywhere there to support a major hurricane, Category 3 or even higher. The waters are very warm where the storm is now and will be for the entire path up until the Gulf Coast,” National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Ed Rappaport said.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Laura is shaping up to look a lot like Hurricane Rita did 15 years ago when it ravaged southwest Louisiana.

“We’re going to have significant flooding in places that don’t normally see it,” he said.

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On this day in 1994 …

Montreal bassist Melissa Auf der Maur played her first gig with Courtney Love’s band “Hole” at the Reading Festival in Britain. Auf der Maur replaced Kristen Pfaff, who had died of a heroin overdose in June.

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In entertainment news …

One of the stars of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is criticizing a Quebec French-language adaptation of the popular American police comedy before the first episode even airs.

The series — called “Escouade 99” — is a French-language version of the NBC show following the comedic hijinks of a disorganized but effective police precinct, and is scheduled to premiere on Videotron’s Club illico on Sept. 17.

Melissa Fumero, a Latina actress who plays Detective Amy Santiago in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” tweeted her disappointment that her character and that of fellow Latina Stephanie Beatriz were both played by white women.

She later posted that while she understands the Latina population is small in Quebec, and there may not be many funny actors among them, the roles could have been any Black, Indigenous and person of colour.

Fumero calls it a missed opportunity.

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is known for being a progressive show with main characters who are racially diverse and LGBTQ+.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 26, 2020

The Canadian Press