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Covid-19 Featured

Andrew Vaughan / The Canadian Press files Look familiar? There’s a new COVID-19 variant out there.

COVID’s ready for another round — are we?

Editorial 4 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023

It’s a brave new wave, and this one’s named Eris. Subvariant EG.5, if you want the formal name. Omicron’s grandchild, if you really want to know its genealogy.

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The Great Grift: 5 things to know about how COVID-19 relief aid was stolen or wasted in the U.S.

Aaron Kessler, Richard Lardner And Jennifer Mcdermott, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

The Great Grift: 5 things to know about how COVID-19 relief aid was stolen or wasted in the U.S.

Aaron Kessler, Richard Lardner And Jennifer Mcdermott, The Associated Press 6 minute read Monday, Jun. 12, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — The greatest grift in U.S. history was brazen, even simple. Criminals and gangs grabbed the money. So did an U.S. soldier in Georgia, the pastors of a defunct church in Texas, a former state lawmaker in Missouri and a roofing contractor in Montana.

Over the last three years, thieves plundered billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief aid intended to combat the worst pandemic in a century and to stabilize an economy in free fall.

Here are some key takeaways from an Associated Press analysis of what may have been stolen or wasted.

HOW MUCH WAS STOLEN?

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Monday, Jun. 12, 2023

FILE - A portion of a Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program Borrower Application Form is seen in Washington on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. An Associated Press analysis published on Monday, June 12, 2023, found that fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. Combined, the loss represents a jarring 10 percent of the total $4.2 trillion the U.S. government has so far disbursed in COVID-relief aid. (AP Photo/Wayne Partlow, File)
FILE - A portion of a Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program Borrower Application Form is seen in Washington on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. An Associated Press analysis published on Monday, June 12, 2023, found that fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. Combined, the loss represents a jarring 10 percent of the total $4.2 trillion the U.S. government has so far disbursed in COVID-relief aid. (AP Photo/Wayne Partlow, File)

When the going got pandemic, Bob Stroh commited to Hallmark

Jen Zoratti 3 minute read Preview

When the going got pandemic, Bob Stroh commited to Hallmark

Jen Zoratti 3 minute read Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022

When the pandemic started, Bob Stroh felt unmoored.

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Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022

When COVID measures prevented Bob Stroh from driving his school bus, he turned to watching Hallmark movie. Aimee Teegarden, here in 2018’s Once Upon a Christmas Miracle, is his favourite actor of the genre. (Hallmark)
When COVID measures prevented Bob Stroh from driving his school bus, he turned to watching Hallmark movie. Aimee Teegarden, here in 2018’s Once Upon a Christmas Miracle, is his favourite actor of the genre. (Hallmark)

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