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The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
National

CP's Top News Advisory for Feb. 3, 2022

Here are the latest Top News stories from The Canadian Press. All times are Eastern unless otherwise stated. Coverage plans are included when available. Entries are subject to change as news develops.

IF YOU NEED HELP, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO mainslots@thecanadianpress.com and we'll get back to you right away.

TOP HEADLINES:

Canada's Chinese community celebrates Olympics

Military response to protest 'not in the cards'

Trucks heading to U.S. get through blockades

More provinces to loosen COVID restrictions

Canadian Forces cuts more than 50 unvaxxed troops

Bergen starts new job as interim Tory leader

PBO: More money needed for child-care plan

NEW TOP STORIES SINCE THE LAST ADVISORY:

Canada's Chinese community celebrates Olympics

OLY-Chinese-Community

Toronto, Ontario, Canada -- Longtime Olympics fan Malinda Lee is experiencing the best of both worlds this year, as a Team Canada fan and someone who has always been proud of her Chinese heritage. By Sadaf Ahsan.  Wire: Entertainment. Photos: 1

Kidney patients get strong antibodies with Moderna

Vaccine-Kidney-Patients-Study

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine may produce a stronger antibody response than Pfizer-BioNTech's in patients undergoing dialysis for kidney disease, a Canadian study suggests, but researchers say more data is needed to determine what that means for protecting vulnerable populations against the virus. By Melissa Couto Zuber.  Wire: Lifestyle. Photos: 1

B.C. Speaker yelled at staff during inquiry: Trial

Legislature-BC-Trial

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada -- A former employee of British Columbia's legislature says he was "screamed at like a dog" by the former Speaker and his special adviser during an investigation into misspending allegations against former clerk Craig James. By Amy Smart.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

CONVOY PROTEST:

Military response to protest 'not in the cards'

Trucker-Protest

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is playing down the notion of a military response to the ongoing Ottawa protest against COVID-19 measures, saying that sending in troops is "not in the cards right now." By Jim Bronskill and Erika Ibrahim.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

Trucks heading to U.S. get through blockades

Trucker-Protest-Border

Coutts, Alberta, Canada -- Gurdeep Chumbur says he sympathizes with fellow truckers concerned about cross-border COVID-19 vaccine mandates who have taken drastic action to make their views known. By Bill Graveland.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

GoFundMe called to Commons committee

Trucker-Protest-American

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada -- A parliamentary committee has called on GoFundMe representatives to testify about how it ensures that money raised on its platform isn’t used to promote hate, such as antisemitism and white supremacy. By Mike Blanchfield.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

No vaccine exemption for truckers, feds clarify

Truckers-Order

Ottawa, ,  -- The government has issued an order-in-council clarifying that truckers are not exempt from a vaccine mandate after bureaucrats were confused by their own policy. By Marie Woolf.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

Toronto mayor doesn't want Ottawa-like protest

Trucker-Protest-Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada -- Toronto officials are bracing for a planned protest against COVID-19 measures at the provincial legislature on Saturday, with the mayor saying he wants to stop it from devolving into a dayslong demonstration like the one that's gripped Ottawa. By Nicole Thompson.  Wire: Ontario/Quebec.

OMICRON AND COVID-19:

More provinces to loosen COVID-19 restrictions

COVID-Cda

Saskatchewan's premier says he's committed to ending all COVID-19 restrictions soon, while most other provinces are laying out more gradual plans for easing public health measures. By Kelly Geraldine Malone.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

Military cuts more than 50 unvaccinated troops

Military-Vaccines

Ottawa, ,  -- The Canadian Armed Forces has kicked out dozens of service members who refused to bare their arms and get vaccinated, while release proceedings have started for hundreds of others. By Lee Berthiaume.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

COVID restrictions on freedoms will end: Moe

COVID-Sask

Regina, ,  -- Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says his government will soon end COVID-19 measures that restrict people's rights and freedoms. By Mickey Djuric.  Wire: Prairies/BC. Photos: 1

Ontario reports 2,797 COVID-19 hospitalizations

COVID-Ont

Toronto, Ontario, Canada -- Ontario is reporting 2,797 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 541 in ICU.  Wire: Ontario/Quebec. Photos: 1

Quebec reports 42 COVID deaths, drop in ICU cases

COVID-Que

Montreal, Quebec, Canada -- Quebec is today reporting 42 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus as hospitalizations related to COVID-19 again dropped.  Wire: Ontario/Quebec.

N.L. to lower pandemic alert level as of Monday

COVID-NL

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada -- Bars will reopen on Monday in Newfoundland and Labrador for the first time since the government tightened pandemic restrictions in December amid soaring COVID-19 cases. By Sarah Smellie.  Wire: Atlantic. Photos: 1

COVID limits to begin lifting in Yukon

COVID-Yukon

Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada -- Yukon is making tentative plans to gradually lift its COVID-19 restrictions, but the state of emergency declared in November will remain in place for another 90 days.  Wire: Prairies/BC. Photos: 1

OTHER TOP NEWS STORIES:

Bergen aims to transform Tories into winning party

Conservative-Leadership

Ottawa, ,  -- Candice Bergen says her goal as interim leader of Canada’s official Opposition will be to strengthen the conservative movement and leave the next leader with a party that’s ready to win.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

Candice Bergen brings 'calm' to tumultuous Tories

Newsmaker-Bergen

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada -- The new interim leader of Canada's Conservatives hails from a small Mennonite community and is no stranger to leadership. By Stephanie Taylor.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

PBO: More money needed for child-care plan

PBO-Child-Care

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada -- The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government has not set aside enough money to build a national child-care system aimed at expanding spaces and cutting fees.  Wire: National.

Feds earmark $18M to support pardon applications

Pardon-Funding

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada -- The Liberal government will give community organizations $18 million over the next four years to help people navigate the process of applying for a criminal pardon. By Jim Bronskill.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

Quebec minister rebuffed in court on judge file

Que-Bilingual-Judges

Montreal, Quebec, Canada -- The Quebec Superior Court has ruled that the province's justice minister does not get to decide whether judges can be required to speak English as well as French.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

Ontario to develop 'portable benefits' plan

Ont-Portable-Benefits

Ontario intends to develop a "portable benefits" system for workers who don't have health, dental or vision coverage, with the package intended to move with the individuals if they change jobs. By Holly McKenzie-Sutter.  Wire: Ontario/Quebec. Photos: 1

Olympics a 'dream' for Quebec cleaning company

OLY-Cda-Sanitation

Montreal, ,  -- In the days before Canada's athletes began arriving in Beijing with their dreams of Olympic glory, Brian Massie and Jean-François Picard were already hard at work doing the somewhat less glamorous work of scrubbing and disinfecting. By Morgan Lowrie.  Wire: National.

Manitoba expands subsidies for child care

Mba-Child-Care

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada -- The Manitoba government says it is expanding childcare subsidies to allow more people to be eligible.  Wire: Prairies/BC. Photos: 1

Passes to national parks good medicine: counsellor

Park-Prescriptions

The first time clinical counsellor Tanya Clary prescribed a Parks Canada pass for anxiety, her client seemed confused but also pleasantly surprised that getting out in nature was considered a form of therapy that she didn't have to pay for. By Camille Bains.  Wire: Lifestyle. Photos: 1

Black history input now key part of N.S. sentences

Black-History-Courts

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada -- Jason Middleton says the inclusion of Black history in his sentencing — both personal tragedy and communal struggle — set a new path for his troubled life. By Michael Tutton.  Wire: Atlantic, National. Photos: 1

Police in U.K. confirm death of B.C. woman

Homicide-Vernon-England

Police say a 19-year-old woman from Vernon, B.C., has died in Chelmsford, England, and a man has been charged with murder.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

3 Montreal high school coaches face sex charges

CRIME-Mtl-Coaches-Arrested

Montreal, Quebec, Canada -- Montreal police say they are looking for other possible victims after three coaches at a St-Laurent borough high school were arrested this week on sex crime charges.  Wire: National. Photos: 1

Police find first-responder uniforms, weapons

Alta-Stolen-Uniforms

Edmonton, ,  -- Edmonton police say officers found stolen first-responder uniforms, high-calibre firearms and an explosive device at a home over the weekend.  Wire: Prairies/BC. Photos: 1

B.C. Liberal leadership vote set to start

Liberal-Leadership-BC

Online and telephone voting is scheduled to start today for the next leader of the B.C. Liberal party.  Wire: Prairies/BC.

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE STORIES:

The LJI is a federally funded program to add coverage in under-covered areas or on under-covered issues. This content is delivered on the CP wire in the "Y" or spare news category, or you can register to access it at https://lji-ijl.ca. This content is created and submitted by participating publishers and is not edited by The Canadian Press. Please credit stories to the reporter, their media outlet and the Local Journalism Initiative. Questions should be directed to LJI supervising editor Amy Logan at amy.logan@thecanadianpress.com. Below is a sample of the dozens of stories moved daily:

University of Manitoba gears up for partial return to class

LJI-MAN-VIRUS-U-OF-M

Manitoba’s largest university has announced a “partial return” to face-to-face operations at the end of the month to address both community concerns about Omicron and academics’ calls to resume in-person learning. 500 words. Maggie Macintosh/Winnipeg Free Press

----

Indigenous athletes among those aiming for medals at Beijing Olympics

LJI-Man-Indigenous-Olympians-Beijing

Up until this week, it appeared just three women’s hockey players with Indigenous ties to the country would be participating at the Games. But on Monday, Snowboard Canada officials announced Liam Gill, a member of Liidlii Kue First Nation in the Northwest Territories, would compete in Beijing. 850 words. Sam Laskaris/Windspeaker.com

----

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation criticizes government’s approach to border blockade

LJI-ALTA-DOUBLE-STANDARD-EVIDENT

The Athabasca First Nation Chief and Council suggests that if it were Indigenous people operating and participating in the U.S-Canadian border blockade in Coutts, Alberta, the government would have responded immediately and used the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act to end the protests. They say they now expect the same treatment should an Indigenous protest erupt. 500 words. Jacob Cardinal/ Alberta Native News

UPDATED FROM AP:

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NEW/DEVELOPING

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Adds: HIV VIRUS MUTATION; TV-BLACK HISTORY MONTH; BRITAIN-POLITICS; POLICE SHOOTING-MINNEAPOLIS; ARGENTINA-TOXIC-COCAINE; OPIOD-CRISIS-TRIBES; GREAT LAKES-WINTER WATER; BLACK MAN’S DEATH-MISSOURI; LOCAL REDISTRICTING-GEORGIA; MEDIA-CNN-ZUCKER

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ONLY ON AP

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SANCTIONS-MARITIME TECHNOLOGY — A maritime intelligence company whose data is used by the U.S. government to investigate sanctions violations says that since January 2020 it has detected more than 200 vessels using technology to hide a ship location that was previously available only to militaries. One of the more egregious examples involves an oil tanker that could be tracked sailing to Iraq even as it was in reality loading crude in Iran, which is banned from selling its oil by U.S. sanctions. By Joshua Goodman. SENT: 1,270 words, photos.

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TOP STORIES

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UNITED STATES-SYRIA-MILITARY RAID —President Joe Biden says the leader of the Islamic State group has been killed in Syria during an operation by an elite U.S. military force. A U.S. official says Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi exploded a bomb that killed himself and members of his family during the overnight raid in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province. By Ghaith Alsayed, Lolita C. Baldor, Bassem Mroue and Zeke Miller. SENT: 1,380 words, photos, video.

SYRIA-IS-LEADER — The leader of the Islamic State group, killed in a U.S. raid overnight in northwest Syria, was a veteran insider and top ideologue of the extremist movement, believed to have played a key role in one of its most horrific atrocities: the enslavement of thousands of women from Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority. By Bassem Mroue. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

SYRIA RAID-CIVILIAN CASUALTIES — Facing criticism for civilian deaths in U.S. airstrikes, the Biden administration targeted the leader of Islamic State in a way that was riskier for American forces, landing dozens of U.S. commandos outside his Syrian hideout. But the U.S. raid still brought the deaths of women and children. By Ellen Knickmeyer and Chris Megerian. SENT: 960 words, photos.

UKRAINE TENSIONS — The U.S. accuses the Kremlin of an elaborate plot to fabricate an attack by Ukrainian forces that Russia could use as a pretext to take military action against its neighbor. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says the alleged scheme included production of a graphic propaganda video that would show staged explosions and use corpses and actors depicting grieving mourners. By Aamer Madhani, Lorne Cook and Suzan Fraser. SENT: 1,300 words, photos, video. With UKRAINE TENSIONS-THINGS TO KNOW— Developments around Ukraine. SENT: 1,060 words, photos.

UKRAINE TENSIONS-WAR WEARY EUROPE — Many European nations are wary about spending big on their militaries, scarred by losing tens of millions of lives on their soil in two world wars. Now, as Russian pressure builds at the Ukrainian border, they’re facing a painful reality: Much of Europe remains reliant on U.S. might to deter another potentially huge conflict in its own backyard. Some EU policy makers are sounding the alarm. By Raf Casert. SENT: 910 words, photos.

For full coverage of Ukraine.

MED--VIRUS OUTBREAK-VACCINE FUTURE — COVID-19 vaccines are saving an untold number of lives, but they can’t stop the chaos when a hugely contagious new mutant bursts on the scene, leading people to wonder: Will we need boosters every few months? A new vaccine recipe? A new type of shot altogether? By Lauran Neergaard. SENT: 985 words, photos.

BEIJING OLYMPICS-PREVIEW — It's time to raise the curtain on the Beijing Winter Olympics, one of the most difficult-to-navigate Games in history due to COVID and a multitude of issues that trouble many who are coming to China to compete. By National Writer Eddie Pells. SENT: 1,200 words, photos, video.

META-RESULTS-FALLOUT — Meta is putting a lot of virtual eggs — and billions of dollars — into the metaverse basket, and Wall Street is pretty anxious about it. Shares of the company formerly known as Facebook saw a historic plunge after the social media giant reported a rare profit decline. SENT: 820 words, photos. WITH: FINANCIAL MARKETS — A historic plunge in the stock price of Facebook’s parent company helped yank other tech stocks lower on Wall Street, abruptly ending a four-day winning streak for the market. SENT: 555 words, photos.

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MORE ON THE OLYMPICS

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2008 VS 2022 — The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are opening with the same concerns that loomed over the 2008 Beijing Olympics: China’s record on human rights and its treatment of Tibetans and Uyghur Muslims in western China. SENT: 1,090 words, photos.

OLY-AVOIDING-COVID — Athletes can spend decades trying to become the best in the world, and another year or two to qualify for what could be their only trip to the Olympics. And this year, they realize, it can start to fall apart with a single sneeze. With Beijing Olympic organizers adopting a “zero COVID” policy and strict testing just to get on flights to China, skiers, sliders and skaters are taking extreme measures to avoid the coronavirus and its omicron variant. SENT: 970 words, photos.

OLY-BEIJING-TORCHBEARER — At the age of 17, Kamaltürk Yalqun was chosen to help carry the Olympic flame ahead of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. The following decade saw Beijing impose policies on his home region of Xinjiang that split apart his family and his Uyghur community. Today, he is an activist in the United States calling for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Games, which has seen the Olympic flame returned to China. SENT: 905 words, photos.

RUSSIA-CHINA — American and European officials may be staying away from the Beijing Winter Olympics because of human rights concerns, but Russian President Vladimir Putin will be on hand even as tensions soar over his buildup of troops along his country’s border with Ukraine. SENT: 920 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-MEYLEMANS — Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans was permitted to enter one of the Olympic villages hours after she tearfully turned to social media and detailed how upset she was about being in isolation over coronavirus concerns. SENT: 880 words, photo.

BEIJING-METOO-EXPLAINER — The controversy surrounding Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s accusations of sexual assault against a former top politician continues to cast a shadow over the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. SENT: 970 words, photos.

OLY-CUR-ICE CUBE-EXPLAINER — Somewhere under the four sheets of curling ice being used for the Beijing Olympics is the swimming pool where Michael Phelps splashed his way to history in the 2008 Summer Games. SENT: 890 words, photos.

GLIMPSES-GREAT WALL — Even a shortened Olympic torch relay had time for a stop at the Great Wall of China. SENT: 130 words, photo.

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TRENDING NEWS

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MICHAEL-AVENATTI-STORMY-DANIELS — The jury deliberating the fate of Michael Avenatti on criminal charges that he ripped off his star client, Stormy Daniels, told a judge that it is deadlocked on the first of two counts. SENT: 345 words, photos.

HASTY-PUDDING- “Ozark” actor Jason Bateman is being feted as 2022 Man of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals. SENT: 240 words, photos.

MUSIC-ACM-HOST — Country music icon Dolly Parton will be hosting this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, bringing her star power to the show’s new streaming home on Prime Video. SENT: 215 words, photo.

BRITAIN-BAFTA-NOMINATIONS — Sci-fi epic blockbuster “Dune” and Jane Campion’s dark Western “The Power Of The Dog” lead the nominations for this year’s British Academy Film Awards. SENT: 275 words.

NYC-MAYOR-DINNER-WITH-CUOMO — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is pushing back against the suggestion there was anything wrong with his dinner this week with disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. SENT: 260 words, photos.

PALIN-NY TIMES — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is back in a New York City courtroom more than a week after her libel trial against The New York Times was postponed because she tested positive for COVID-19. SENT: 510 words, photo.

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MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

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VIRUS-OUTBREAK-TEACHER-SHORTAGES — U.S. school administrators dealing with pandemic-driven teacher shortages are getting creative to keep their classrooms staffed. But some experts are warning there are longer-term problems with the teacher pipeline that cannot be solved with emergency substitutes, bonuses and loosened qualifications. SENT: 1,015 words, photos.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-FOREIGN NURSES — Many American hospitals are looking abroad for healthcare workers, saying they’re facing a dire shortage of nurses amid the slogging pandemic. It could be just in time as there’s an unusually high number of green cards available this year for foreign professionals seeking to move to the United States. SENT: 1,290 words, photos.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-MEDICARE-COVID-TESTS — The Biden administration says people with Medicare will be able to get up to eight free over-the-counter COVID tests per month, starting in early spring. SENT: 510 words, photos.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-AFRICA-TESTING — Unlike rich countries, African nations have very limited access to COVID-19 tests, especially at-home tests. In the absence of vaccines, that discrepancy has denied millions of poor people an easy way to stem the spread of the coronavirus, health officials say. The World Health Organization has not yet issued advice for how people in all countries might use self-tests. SENT: 1,125 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-WHO EUROPE — The director of the World Health Organization’s Europe office says the continent is now entering a “plausible endgame” to the pandemic and that the number of coronavirus deaths is starting to plateau. SENT: 420 words, photo.

VIRUS-OUTBREAK-JAPAN-CLOSED BORDER — Hundreds of thousands of foreigners have been denied entry to study, work or visit families in Japan, which has kept its doors closed to most overseas visitors during the pandemic. SENT: 1,125 words, photos.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-CANADA PROTESTS — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a military response to the ongoing Ottawa protest against COVID-19 measures is “not in the cards right now.″ SENT: 550 words, photo.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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SUPREME COURT-KRUGER — Leondra Kruger serves on the California Supreme Court and she’s won praise for her intellect, energy and demeanor on the bench. She’s among the group of Black women whose names are being floated as a possible replacement for retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. SENT: 1,070 words, photo.

SUPREME COURT-O’CONNOR-KENNEDY — For years the Supreme Court moved to the left or right only as far as Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy allowed. They held pivotal votes on a court closely divided between liberals and conservatives. Now, though, a more conservative court that includes two men who once worked for Kennedy is taking direct aim at major opinions written by the two justices, now retired. SENT: 1,095 words, photos.

BIDEN-CRIME — President Biden pledges to New Yorkers and the nation that the federal government will step up its fight against gun violence by working more closely with police and communities to stop the surging bloodshed. SENT: 1,070 words, photos, video.

REPUBLICAN MEETING-CHENEY — Republican Party officials looking to punish GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney for perceived disloyalty to Donald Trump water down a resolution that sought to expel them from the House Republican Conference. UPCOMING: 500 words, photos by 7 p.m.

ELECTION-WORKER-THREATS — Lawmakers in a handful of states are seeking greater protections for election officials amid growing concerns for their safety after they were targeted by threats of violence following the 2020 presidential election. SENT: 1,035 words, photos.

LOCAL REDISTRICTING-GEORGIA — Republican state lawmakers in Georgia are reaching down to redraw election districts for county officials in Democratic controlled counties, a power grab possible in part because there’s no federal oversight of redistricting in Georgia for the first time in decades. SENT: 800 words.

FIRST BLACK CONGRESSMAN — Congressional leaders name a room in the U.S. Capitol for Joseph Rainey, who more than 150 years ago became the first Black person elected to the House of Representatives. SENT: 690 words, photos. (Stands for CONGRESS-JOSEPH RAINEY on 2 p.m. digest.)

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NATIONAL

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WINTER WEATHER — More than 200,000 homes and businesses lost power across the U.S. as freezing rain and snow weighed down tree limbs and encrusted power lines, part of a winter storm that caused an apparent tornado in Alabama, dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of the Midwest and brought rare measurable snowfall to parts of Texas. By Kathleen Foody and Jill Bleed. SENT: 970 words, photos.

OPIOD-CRISIS-TRIBES — Money that will flow to Native American tribes as part of an opioid drug settlement with a major manufacturer and three distributors won’t come quickly. But tribal leaders say it will play a part in healing their communities from an epidemic that has disproportionately killed Native Americans. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.

POLICE SHOOTING-MINNEAPOLIS — A man fatally shot by Minneapolis police executing a search warrant in a homicide investigation did not live in the apartment raided by the SWAT team, according to a civil rights attorney citing the man’s family. SENT: 700 words, photos.

CHICAGO POLICE-LAQUAN MCDONALD — Former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke left prison after serving less than half of his nearly seven-year sentence for killing Black teenager Laquan McDonald, angering community leaders who feel the white officer’s punishment didn’t fit his crime. SENT: 890 words, photo.

BLACK MAN'S DEATH-MISSOURI — The family of a Black Missouri man killed by his neighbor has called for the resignation of the county coroner over his handling of the case as well as his social media posts that they describe as racist. SENT: 680 words, photo.

CALIFORNIA BUS SHOOTING — Authorities say a 21-year-old man opened fire on a Greyhound bus in Northern California, killing a 43-year-old woman and wounding four others before he was arrested, naked, inside a nearby Walmart. SENT: 480 words, photo.

GREAT LAKES-WINTER WATER — Winter is changing across the Great Lakes region, and scientists want to know what that will mean. Teams from more than a dozen U.S. and Canadian universities and government agencies will venture onto the frozen surfaces of all five lakes this month. SENT: 735 words, photo.

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INTERNATIONAL

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BRITAIN-POLITICS — Four of Boris Johnson’s most senior staff have quit, triggering new turmoil for the embattled British prime minister. SENT: 530 words, photos.

MIGRATION-EUROPE — European Union interior ministers agreed to create a new decision-making body amid efforts to beef up the 27-nation bloc’s borders, and to kick-start desperately needed reforms to the EU’s malfunctioning asylum system on a step-by-step basis. SENT: 740 words, photos. WITH: MIGRATION-TURKEY — Turkey: 19 migrants now found dead at border with Greece. SENT: 375 words, photos.

BRITAIN-PLATINUM-JUBILEE-MOMENTS-OF-CHANGE — Britain is marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee on Sunday, 70 years after she was proclaimed queen. The world has undergone profound changes since she became queen and so has the monarchy. SENT: 1,070 words, photos.

ARGENTINA-TOXIC-COCAINE — A batch of cocaine that has killed at least 20 people in Argentina appears to have been laced with a synthetic opioid, and police are scrambling to get as much of it off the streets as they can. SENT: 550 words, photos.

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HEALTH/SCIENCE

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HIV-VIRUS MUTUATION — Scientists have found a previously unrecognized variant of HIV that’s more virulent than usual and has quietly circulated in the Netherlands for the past few decades. HIV medicines worked just as well in people with the mutated virus as everyone else. SENT: 400 words, photo.

MED--PRETERM BIRTH-ORAL HEALTH — A new study raises the possibility that simply chewing sugarless gum might make a difference in reducing early births. Researchers presented the results at a conference on Thursday. It shows that in the African country of Malawi, rates of premature birth were slightly lower in study participants who chewed the gum sweetened with xylitol, compared to those who didn’t. UPCOMING: 630 words, photos by 5 p.m.

SAVING THE GREAT SALT LAKE — With the Great Salt Lake in dire condition, a new burst of energy dedicated to preserving the lake has come from the conservative Republicans who control state government, including the governor and the powerful House speaker who said his realization this summer of the lake’s precarious position “terrified” him. SENT: 1,190 words, photos.

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BUSINESS/ECONOMY

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ECONOMY-JOBS REPORT — Last month, U.S. employers might have shed jobs for the first time in about a year, potentially raising alarms about the economy’s trajectory. Yet even if the January employment report coming Friday were to show a deep loss of jobs, there would be little mystery about the likely culprit: omicron. SENT: 835 words, photos.

WHISKEY-SALES — When COVID-19 shuttered much of the economy in 2020, Bill Thomas sold off his whiskey inventories to keep his Washington, D.C., whiskey bar afloat. By the next year, he was replenishing inventories. Thomas’ restocked supplies reflect the start of a comeback for on-premise spirits sales at U.S. restaurants and bars. SENT: 595 words, photos.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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MEDIA-CNN-ZUCKER — The abrupt ouster of CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker because of a workplace relationship has left some prominent employees feeling angry and uncertain about the direction of their network at a pivotal moment. SENT: 890 words, photos.

TV-BLACK HISTORY MONTH — How U.S. history is told and taught is being challenged and potentially constricted on several fronts, but television’s approach to Black History Month is firmly in overdrive. SENT: 830 words, photos.

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SPORTS

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BLACKHAWKS-SCANDAL — The Chicago Blackhawks have resolved a pair of lawsuits stemming from the organization’s handling of allegations by a former first-round pick that he was sexually assaulted by an assistant coach in 2010. But questions raised by the suits live on, not just in Chicago, but well beyond. After he resigned his position with the Blackhawks, Brad Aldrich worked or volunteered for USA Hockey, the University of Notre Dame and Miami University in Ohio before returning to his native Michigan. SENT: 1,230 words, photos.

FBN--COMMANDERS-INVESTIGATION — Former Washington Commanders employees and members of Congress are pressuring the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell to release a report about the team’s history of sexual harassment and its sexist, hostile workplace culture. SENT: 625 words, photos.

The Canadian Press

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