Every Floridian should have a plan for this year’s hurricane season, DeSantis says

Clay Stevenson credits therapeutic side of hockey in learning to live with mother’s suicide

Hockey has always been more than just a game to Clay Stevenson. That was especially true after he suffered the biggest loss of his life: his mother, Holly, died by suicide seven years ago.

Would Canada actually spy on Cuba?

The Globe and Mail recently ran a series of stories on how “Havana syndrome” negatively impacted a number of diplomats working at the Canadian embassy in Cuba. As of this writing, there has been unusual radio silence on the topic from Mark Carney’s governing Liberals.

The reportage also linked the so-called “sonic attacks” or what the Americans call “anomalous health incidents” (and the attendant concussion-like symptoms) to a Russian high-frequency microwave weapon. More importantly, the Globe maintained that Moscow’s retaliation against Canadian officials in Havana was because of their close co-operation with U.S. intelligence agencies in spying on the Cuban government.

Some of the articles claimed that high-tech satellite gear, which was brought into Cuba covertly by U.S. officials, was installed on the roofs of the residences of Canadian diplomats in Havana. Presumably, Canadian officials — or what are sometimes referred to as officers or agents working under the Global Security Reporting Program (GSRP) within the Department of Global Affairs — were using this satellite technology to collect intelligence on human sources in Cuba.

The secret information was eventually passed on to Canada’s partners in the so-called “Five Eyes” alliance (the U.S., Australia, Britain and New Zealand). It’s worth pointing out that this wouldn’t have been the first time Canadian officials in Cuba were funnelling sensitive intelligence to their U.S. counterparts.

Spinning yarns into comedy, chaos and hope

“I watch ALL the new TV,” I recently bragged at a family Thanksgiving, a fiction that I was rightly called out on.

But I do watch a lot and, more than that, I read about as close to all the upcoming TV as I can. It’s not (usually) for bragging rights but because stories are either distractions or inspiration and both are now more valuable than ever. Here are a handful of worthy-looking new series and docs.

●Phony (series premières today (Oct. 20) on Disney+/Hulu)

High schooler Sonny (Sam Nivola, The White Lotus) has every reason to be faltering in his perception of reality. He did, after all, just barely survive a terrible car accident. But his friends and the other responsible adults in his life are having a hard time with his insistence that his single mom and the school’s principal (Connie Britton) has been replaced by an imposter. Is he suffering from brain trauma or is a sinister plot afoot? This is billed as comedy/mystery, which is an intriguing combo.

Every Floridian should have a plan for this year’s hurricane season, DeSantis says

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Two days away from the start of hurricane season, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s top emergency manager joked Friday that they didn't want to encounter each other again until the storm season ends in late November. Forecasts suggest that’s unlikely.

While the upcoming season, which starts Sunday, isn't expected to be as topsy-turvy as last season, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there's a 60% chance it will be above normal, a 30% chance near normal and just a 10% chance it will be quieter than average. Relentless storms, including Debby, Helene and Milton, which landed in Florida last year, made for the third-costliest hurricane season on record last year.

“You just have to prepare and plan that we are going to have impacts,” DeSantis said at a news conference in front of shelves of generators at a Home Depot store in Jupiter, Florida. “If you plan and it doesn't happen, you're never going to have regrets. If you don't plan and it happens, you're going to immediately be saying, ‘Why didn’t I do this?'”

Ahead of any hurricanes headed toward the peninsula, Floridians should be prepared to have seven days of food, water and supplies for their households, including pets. If they need to evacuate, they don't have to travel hundreds of miles when traveling just a few miles inland to a hotel or shelter works, officials said.

Campaign blunder: Klein features wrong city in election video

A paid ad from mayoral candidate Kevin Klein on his commitment to Winnipeg has been pulled after commenters noticed one small error: the footage used in the ad was actually of Edmonton.