Fringe reviews #1: Choose your fighter, then your venue

Absolutely not a cult, Afeni, #Black Eye, Chekov Shorts, Fakespeare, The Ghost of a Flea, A Sexy Pigeon Show, The Shelter, Things That Go Bump, Viento.

Maximize your wine-buying dollars

Getting the best bang for your buck, wine-wise, isn’t always the most straightforward endeavour — the razzle-dazzle of marketing, the safety of brand recognition and fear of the unknown can prompt imbibers to stick with the same old-same old.

But for those with the know-how, there are some tricks to maximizing your wine-buying dollars. Here are a few of my favourite ways to optimize your budget the next time you’re at your favourite shop.

Stay connectedI know, most of us feel like we get way too many emails already, but for those looking to save a few bucks on wines, signing up for updates/newsletters from your preferred shop can provide benefits.

Liquor Marts, for example, tend to send out emails at the beginning and midway point of each month detailing limited-time offers and “hot buys.”

Foodborne illnesses at restaurant chains are rare but can sicken customers, roil businesses

NEW YORK (AP) — Big U.S. restaurant chains don't get linked to foodborne illness outbreaks often, but the number of meals they serve causes a lot of concern when contamination of some kind sickens customers.

Federal health officials identified iceberg lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations in five states as a source of widespread infections from the diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation identified a single supplier as the source of the suspect lettuce.

Taco Bell issued a statement on Thursday saying that “the affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.” The company described the move as precautionary.

A federal official who was briefed on the outbreak investigation and not authorized to discuss it identified the supplier as Taylor Farms, a company based in Salinas, California, that produces fresh vegetables for commercial use and meal kits and bagged lettuce products sold at supermarkets.

Saskatchewan investigating two deaths believed to be ‘wildlife related’

MCTAVISH LAKE - Saskatchewan says investigators are looking into the death of two people in the province's north who are suspected of being killed by wildlife.

The province's Ministry of Community Safety says the deaths in the McTavish Lake area are thought to be "wildlife related," but did not say what kind of animal it suspects was involved.

It says the Conservation Officer Service's Wildlife Human Attack Response Team is working with the coroner's service and RCMP to investigate.

Conservation officers are also working to identify and find the animal, or animals, involved.

Man charged with hate crimes after confrontation with ‘Today’ show’s Melvin at NBC studio

NEW YORK (AP) — A 40-year-old New York man faces hate crime charges following a confrontation with “Today" show host Craig Melvin at NBC's studio in Manhattan.

The man was arrested Thursday morning inside 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown by an officer responding to reports of a disorderly individual inside the building, police said Friday.

NBC News says in a statement that an individual approached Melvin after entering an unauthorized area in a vestibule near Studio 1A. Melvin notified security, who held the man until police arrived, according to NBC.

No altercation occurred and no injuries were reported. NBC did not say how the man gained access to the area.

Fairlife pauses US production after cyberattack breached milk brand’s systems

NEW YORK (AP) — Milk brand Fairlife is pausing its production in the U.S. after a ransomware cyberattack breached the company's systems.

Coca-Cola, which owns Fairlife, announced Thursday that its dairy company had identified “unauthorized access by a third party” to a portion of its systems, including those related to production. The company disclosed that this was in connection to a ransomware event — and in response, it took some operations offline.

“Product quality and safety have not been impacted," Atlanta-based Coca-Cola said in a statement. “However, as a result of the incident, production operations at fairlife in the United States are temporarily suspended.”

Fairlife’s Canadian operations were not affected. The full scope and impacts of the attack are otherwise still unknown, Coca-Cola added — but the beverage giant said it had informed law enforcement, and is also working with cybersecurity experts as it continues its investigation and recovery to restore operations.

Wildfire smoke kills tens of thousands of people a year. Here’s how it attacks the body

Smoke from wildfires — which are burning more of the Northern Hemisphere as Earth warms — attacks nearly every system in the human body, killing tens of thousands of people a year, numerous medical studies show.

It attacks the body immediately, spiking asthma cases with increased ambulance runs within hours, swamps emergency rooms in a day or so with people suffering from heart attacks and other cardiovascular and lung issues, as well as mental health issues, doctors and scientists told The Associated Press.

Smoke also harms pregnant women, increasing the risk of premature births and low-weight babies who could have breathing problems the rest of their lives, doctors and studies say. And then there are long-term risks connecting prolonged smoke and other air pollution exposure to some cancers and dementia.

After huge global fires in 2018 and 2019, the medical and science communities started looking at the health effects from the smoke with “more and more studies coming out finding that there’s all types of impacts that may not have been so obvious before,” said Dr. Mary Johnson, a Harvard School of Public Health environmental health scientist.

Latin American governments prepare for El Nino as drought, floods and heat loom

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Governments across Latin America are mobilizing firefighters, activating contingency plans and preparing water, energy and transportation systems as El Nino strengthens across the Pacific, raising concerns about drought, extreme heat, flooding and other climate-related disruptions in the months ahead.

The preparations come as meteorologists warn that El Nino is already underway and increasingly likely to strengthen through the remainder of the year. Unlike hurricanes or earthquakes, the climate phenomenon develops gradually over months, which gives governments time to prepare before its most severe impacts arrive.

But experts say authorities across the region have often struggled to turn forecasts into action, raising questions about whether countries will be better prepared than during previous El Nino events that caused widespread economic damage and disrupted water, energy and food systems.

“Now is the time for decisions, for effective preparedness and the political consistency to really be proactive this time,” said Rodney Martinez, the World Meteorological Organization’s representative for North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

A Brazilian bay’s surprise shark nursery sparks conservation project

ANGRA DOS REIS, Brazil (AP) — A fishing community in Brazil’s southeastern Ilha Grande bay once saw the blacktip sharks navigating the sparkling, emerald green water as potential food.

That perception has shifted, at least in part thanks to scientists who discovered that a nearby cove is frequented by dozens of pregnant blacktip sharks, prompting efforts to protect the area.

Recent studies describe Brazil as the largest consumer of shark meat. Yet sharks are among the most threatened group of vertebrates on Earth, with more than one-third of species at risk of extinction due to overfishing, habitat degradation and climate change, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Brazil’s coastline harbors a large diversity of shark species and includes critical habitats for many threatened populations, making their protection an important part of global ocean conservation.