Trader, brewer, newspaper: With Hudson’s Bay no more, what’s Canada’s oldest company?

When Hudson's Bay closed its department stores for good last year, it left behind more than the wreckage of a once-mighty retail giant.

A lofty title is also up for grabs: Canada's oldest company.

The defunct retailer would have turned 356 this week — the charter forming the U.K.-headquartered fur trading business was dated May 2, 1670 — and its unique role in the history of Canada means extensive records remain that trace its path through the centuries. But, as The Canadian Press discovered over the past year, determining what company now warrants the descriptor is not clear-cut.

As fuel prices surge, Canadian artists say touring is unsustainable

Somewhere near Cobourg, Ont., a tour bus powered by recycled cooking oil sputtered to a halt.

Inside was B.C. singer-songwriter Miina and her crew, midway through a 24-date cross-country journey built on a scrappy hypothesis: that with enough ingenuity, and fryer grease, a musician could still make the economics of touring work in 2026.

The bus, a converted 1972 Greyhound running on leftover oil collected from roadside diners, was meant to help her sidestep fuel costs — which continue to surge amid the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

For a while, it worked. Then, on the way to a gig last month, it didn’t.

The Bay is no more, so what’s Canada’s oldest company? Here are some contenders

Figuring out which Canadian company is the oldest now that Hudson's Bay has closed its doors is a complicated feat. Many of the country's earliest businesses have changed hands several times, been bought by more recently established or American firms and even stopped operating before later restarting.

The Hudson's Bay Co. was founded in 1670; the businesses now in the running were formed decades later, in the 18th century. Their records tended to be less detailed, further obscuring matters.

Library and Archives Canada, The Canadian Press and other researchers have turned up several contenders for the title that range from household names to lesser-known companies. 

Here's a snapshot of how they stack up.

Fugees rapper Pras reports to prison to begin 14-year sentence

SAFFORD, Ariz (AP) — Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees has reported to federal prison to begin a 14-year sentence following a conviction over illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

Michel reported to prison Thursday, a spokesperson said, with federal records listing him as an inmate at a low-security correctional institution in Arizona.

“Today is a painful day for Pras, for his family, and for everyone who believes in a fair system of justice. Pras honors the legal process as he reports to begin his sentence,” said Erica Dumas, a spokesperson for Michel, adding that his legal team is still contesting his charges.

“This chapter is difficult, but it is not his final one,” Dumas said.

Gerry Conway, comic book writer who co-created Punisher character in Spider-Man, dies at 73

Gerry Conway, a renowned comic book writer who helped create characters and stories for Marvel and DC, including the Punisher character in the Spider-Man comics, has died. He was 73.

In a Monday statement announcing his death, Marvel described Conway as a legendary comic book writer with a prolific career. He died of pancreatic cancer on Sunday in Thousand Oaks, California, his wife, Laura Conway, told The Associated Press.

“From Spider-Man to the Avengers, Iron Man to Captain Marvel, Gerry Conway has deftly written almost every character in the Marvel Universe,” Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski said. "Gerry Conway’s legacy has made an undeniable and indelible impact on the Super Hero stories we know and love. He will be dearly missed.”

Tributes were also shared on social media.

Weinstein accuser finishes five days of tense testimony

NEW YORK (AP) — The accuser at Harvey Weinstein ′s rape retrial returned to court Friday, a day after she said she was having difficulty focusing, and finished five days of fraught, often tearful testimony.

“I’m not doing too good right now, so I’m really trying to remember,” Jessica Mann said as a defense lawyer resumed scrutinizing her communications and get-togethers with the former movie magnate after the alleged 2013 rape. She added: “I feel like I said a lot, and I’m trying to get through this.”

But Mann went on to respond to hours of questions, at times seeming exhausted or asking for queries to be repeated. By the end of the day, as prosecutors took their second turn asking questions, she was slumped with her head propped on her left hand, weeping as she said she was being “as truthful and transparent as I can possibly be."

Mann, 40, and Weinstein, 73, are in the midst of the third trial about her accusation that he forced himself on her in a New York hotel room. Weinstein's lawyers say everything that happened between the two was consensual and part of a four-year, caring relationship.

Oscars organization expands international film eligibility, addresses AI in new rules

The organization behind the Oscars is for the first time addressing the use of artificial intelligence in performances and scripts for the 2027 Academy Awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday released updates across many categories, stressing the importance of human authorship while not banning AI.

The new rules also include significant changes to the much-criticized international film category, expanding eligibility to include films that won top qualifying awards from prestigious film festivals like Cannes, Venice and Toronto.

“As we do every year, we made a lot of, we think, really smart and progressive changes,” film academy CEO Bill Kramer told The Associated Press. “Obviously, as the academy becomes more global, we need to think about how we are inviting international films into the Oscars conversation.”

AI and the Oscars

Georg Baselitz, German artist known for provocation and upside-down paintings, dies at 88

Georg Baselitz, an acclaimed German artist prominent in the neo-Expressionist movement who had a penchant for provocation and was known for painting images upside down, has died. He was 88.

The Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery, which represented Baselitz, said the artist died on Thursday, citing his family. It said he died “peacefully,” but did not give a cause of death.

Born Hans-Georg Kern, Baselitz took his artistic name from the village of Deutschbaselitz in the eastern Saxony region, where he was born on Jan. 23, 1938, in Nazi-ruled Germany before the outbreak of World War II. After growing up in the ruins of the war, he left the then-East Germany in 1957 at a time of rising political pressure, and emigrated to the West.

“I was born into a destroyed order, into a destroyed landscape, into a destroyed people, into a destroyed society,” he told German news agency dpa before his 85th birthday.

A converted church in rural Pennsylvania is becoming an incubator for Amish roots music

McCOYSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Conrad Fisher's musical journey has taken him from an Amish country upbringing in Pennsylvania to Nashville and back. These days the singer-songwriter has been making videos and recordings of musicians with Amish and Mennonite roots — building audiences well beyond the conservative religious communities.

Last weekend Fisher took the stage in a former Presbyterian church that he bought for a song and converted into a performance space and recording studio he calls Ragamuffin Hall, in the rural Pennsylvania community of McCoysville.

Fisher performed two sold-out concerts with Ben and Rose Stoltzfus, a married couple whose Amish background and church choir harmonies have drawn millions of YouTube clicks. It was a sort of warmup for shows they're playing together in the coming months at much larger theaters in Pennsylvania and Indiana.

“Ragamuffin Hall,” Fisher said, "is supposed to be a place where those weird things that'll get you ostracized everywhere else, we're like, 'Oh, no, that's a gift. And here's how you use it.'”

What to know about the Eurovision Song Contest as it turns 70 with a Vienna extravaganza

LONDON (AP) — The Eurovision Song Contest is turning 70, with a few political clouds hanging over its glitter-drenched party.

The annual musical extravaganza that has been likened to a pop music Olympics takes place in Vienna, Austria, May 12-16. It will see singers and bands from 35 countries compete onstage for the continent’s musical crown — but with some high-profile absentees who are boycotting to protest Israel’s participation.

Here’s a guide to all things Eurovision: What it is, who to watch for and how to take part.

A contest to unite a continent

Donna Brothers steps away from NBC’s Kentucky Derby coverage after 26 races

Donna Brothers has been an integral part of NBC’s Kentucky Derby coverage since it acquired the rights to the race in 2001.

From speaking to trainers and owners on the walkover to the paddock to interviewing the winning jockey on horseback, Brothers has been front and center for some of the most emotional moments of NBC’s horse racing coverage.

Saturday will be Brothers’ final Run for the Roses. She decided two years ago that this would be her last year, but did not announce it publicly until last week.

“I told Lindsay Schanzer, our producer, that I definitely wanted to make it to Kentucky Derby 151 because that would be my 25th Kentucky Derby. But if I had my druthers, I would also like to make it to Derby 152 because then I’ll be 60 years old and I’ll feel like I’ve earned the right to retire,” said Brothers, who turned 60 on April 22. “And so now I have two careers behind me. I retired from being a jockey in 1998.

Music Review: Kacey Musgraves’ ‘Middle of Nowhere’ is where you’ll want to be

New York (AP) — She's from Texas I can tell by the way she's two-steppin' 'round the “Middle of Nowhere.”

Kacey Musgraves' sixth studio album isn't so much a love letter to her home of the Lone Star State as much as it is a place for profundity — a celebration of sounds familiar, new, old and revived, delivered with her glassy vocal style and cheeky wit.

But she's not straight honky-tonking on “Middle of Nowhere.” Her classic genre-hybridity is still in full effect: from the swaying sunset-pop of “I Believe In Ghosts” to the bluegrass-tinged banjo storytelling of “Abilene” to a brief vocal melody in the opening verse of “Loneliest Girl” that bares strikes resemblance to Post Malone's “Circles.”

“Middle of Nowhere” is a move away from the acoustic meditations of her last album, 2024's “Deeper Well,” with its kaleidoscopic warmth and ’60s-folk-informed storytelling. But to call it a return to the capital-C Country of her early records may be too myopic. Sure, steel guitar is a primary fixture of most of the album's 13-tracks — courtesy of Nashville stalwart Paul Franklin — but this is not a direct recall to 2013's “Same Trailer Different Park” or 2015's “Pageant Material.” With some very real exceptions, like the reappearance of her John Prine-informed humor on the laugh-out-loud funny “Dry Spell,” with its romantic guitars and lascivious lyrics that would make Sabrina Carpenter blush. And her cannabis-infused cleverness on “Rhinestoned.”

Disappearing before our eyes: One photographer’s passion project of capturing local newsrooms

NEW YORK (AP) — If you think the life of a journalist is glamorous, take a look at Ann Hermes' photograph of Tom Haley from a winter day in Rutland, Vermont.

He scribbles in a notebook, leaning back in an office chair while dressed in ill-fitting khakis and a baseball cap. His left foot rests on the one portion of a desk not covered with clutter — piles of notebooks, a newspaper, printed reports and a lanyard hanging from a stray photograph. What could be a calendar hangs askew on the wall behind him. The drab blue carpet has seen better days.

Hermes is fascinated by things that evoke a time gone by or are about to pass into history. She has photographed the last Morse code station operating in North America and department store photo booths. Lately, she's spent a lot of time in newsrooms like Haley's Rutland Herald.

The Brooklyn-based photographer has. brought her camera into some 50 newsrooms across the United States, many in smaller towns and cities, to document places and lives endangered by the industry's collapse over the past few decades. Already one of the newspapers she's photographed, in Alameda, Calif., has shut down.