Recognizing the value of phys-ed for kids

The message from Premier Wab Kinew and Education Minister Tracy Schmidt last week about the importance of exercise for young people was timely and important — but it is not new.

Smart Suite lets families of children with disabilities learn how adaptive design, tech can improve their lives

The first thing Zoe Versteeg did after rolling into the living room was to change the hue-lighting colour to match the shade of her lavender glasses. The smile that spread across her face was nearly as bright as the lights in the room.

“It’s just joy, immediate joy when she sees something happening. She’s like, ‘I control that, I got to do that,’” Elsien Versteeg, Zoe’s mother, said. “Her being able to make those decisions on her own, she can just do it herself now.”

Zoe, who is 13 and non-verbal, uses eye-gaze technology to communicate and control both her wheelchair and an array of smart devices. Versteeg and Zoe were at the official opening of the Rehabilitation Centre for Children’s new Smart Suite on Aug. 26, where the team behind the project was demonstrating the breadth of adaptive design and technologies available locally for families of children with disabilities to provide them with greater independence.

The Versteegs use many of the devices in their own home near New Bothwell.

Meta reaches landmark $18 billion settlement with states in trial over teen social media addiction

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Meta agreed Wednesday to pay up to $18 billion and add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms as part of a landmark legal settlement that ended a trial over teen social media addiction and settled claims filed by nearly every state.

The settlement resolved a pivotal case years in the making that sought to hold the tech giant accountable for the role its platforms played in undermining children’s mental health. The effort targeted features designed to hook young people’s attention.

The agreement “institutes real change, real transparency, real protections for children and teens across the country,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

If approved by the court, the deal will stop an avalanche of litigation by states against Meta, although the company still faces lawsuits from individuals and school districts throughout the U.S. For the states, the settlement delivers money for mental-health programs for kids, including after-school or summer activities and digital literacy counselors.

‘Absolutely stoked’: Quiet hobby gets dose of adrenalin as speed puzzling grows

WINNIPEG - The most gruelling day of competition left Kirsty Williams sweating and collapsed on the floor, clutching a can of Coke as she tried not to pass out.

She still finished the puzzle.

Williams is one of the many who have gone deep into the world of speed puzzling, adding a boost of adrenalin to an otherwise tranquil hobby by racing others.

It was at the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship last September, when Williams ran into trouble. The air conditioning in a pavilion in Valladolid, Spain, had conked out as the temperature outside soared above 30 C. She was in the front row, a livestream camera keeping a close eye, and she sensed it would be a tough day.

Federal government invests $24 million for cannabis and brain health research

TORONTO - Federal Minister of Health Marjorie Michel has announced $24 million to create the Canadian Cannabis and Brain Health Consortium.

Funded through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the group of 10 research teams from across Canada will work together to study how cannabis affects the brain in people of various ages.

The consortium, announced Wednesday, aims to establish scientific evidence about both potential benefits and harms of cannabis, including its effects on epilepsy, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep, mental health and brain development in youth and during pregnancy.

Dr. Patricia Conrod, scientific director at CIHR's Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction, says the researchers will also recruit more than 3,000 people of all ages and collect data about brain function, mental health and substance use across the lifespan.

Alberta seeks proposals for gambling addiction services as part of iGaming launch

EDMONTON - Alberta's government is seeking proposals for new services and supports for gambling addiction as part of the recent launch of its regulated online gaming market.

The province, in a request for expressions of interest published on Monday, says it's looking to fund services that will be in addition to what's available through Recovery Alberta, such as a 21-day bed-based treatment program, and existing hotlines.

The Mental Health and Addiction Ministry said in a statement the new programs will be paid for through revenue the government is set to bring in from Alberta's regulated iGaming system, which officially launched last month.

"Nobody should have to struggle with addiction alone, including gambling-related addiction," the ministry said.

Delirium is often missed by health providers. Could an AI risk predictor help?

TORONTO - Bruce MacLeod never thought he would forget his own birthday.

But a couple days after a heart valve replacement in February 2025, he did.

"It was strange. It was just out of reach, like, if I reached a little further, I could have pulled those memories back, but I was unsuccessful at the time," MacLeod, 65, said.

His partner, Harry Ennis, recalls coming into the hospital room one day to find MacLeod had ripped off his heart monitor, and his belongings were packed up to leave.

Giant metal roosters spread autism acceptance in Maine after town zoning spat

OGUNQUIT, Maine (AP) — Giant metal roosters are popping up on lawns in and around a community in southern Maine and as far away as New Zealand in support of a 6-year-old autistic girl and her love of the colorful creations.

David and Sara LeBlanc had a rotating display of the roughly 6-foot-tall (1.8-meter-tall) ornaments decorating their Ogunquit lawn until officials in the small coastal town deemed them to be impermissible advertising for their attached restaurant, The Omelette Factory.

The couple initially resisted the town's removal order, insisting the roosters were meant to comfort their daughter Pyper, not advertise their business.

“Roosters don’t lay eggs,” David LeBlanc told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Cut the number of choices you make each day. Your brain will thank you

Jeans that fit perfectly. The ideal Netflix show for a Tuesday night. Your one and only soulmate. Modern life promises that with enough options, you will happily find the best of everything.

But behavioral scientists say the increasing flood of choices — whether it comes to shopping, social lives or relationships — is doing the opposite.

The idea that more choice is better is baked into Western culture, but research shows that having more options can make people anxious, indecisive and, paradoxically, less happy with what they pick, said Barry Schwartz, an emeritus psychology professor at Swarthmore College and author of “The Paradox of Choice.”

“There have been hundreds of studies showing that there can be too much of a good thing,” Schwartz said.

Bruce Oake Recovery Centre staff lead participants from darkness, despair of addiction

The Bruce Oake Recovery Centre is awash in summer light. Sun streams through the tall windows at the end of each hallway; through the glass walls of the group rooms, where the men here to recover from addiction are meeting; and through the entry atrium, where an urn holding the ashes of the centre’s namesake rests inside a glass case.

Websites suggest conspiracies fed accused Montreal gunman’s ‘buffet extremism’

Online activity suggests accused Montreal shooter Seth Hatfield watched videos about weapons, the outdoors and a tangle of conspiracy theories and grievances.

However, experts warn against drawing conclusions about the gunman. They also urge people to stop sharing online images of Monday's shooting outside a Montreal hotel.

Police said two officers were shot — Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, 34, was killed along with a bystander, Michel Mizrahi, 68, and the shooter died in the crossfire.

The coroner identified the dead suspect as 25-year-old Seth Hatfield from Lethbridge, Alta.

South African prisons open art galleries to showcase inmates’ work

When most people think of prison, they picture steel bars, locked gates and lost freedom. But at a correctional facility in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, visitors are greeted by something unexpected: an art gallery.

AI safety advocates say bill a good ‘first step’ on regulation, but more needed

The federal government’s proposed online safety legislation is a good start on regulating artificial intelligence chatbots — but more work will be needed to protect Canadians from their potential harms, a pair of advocates say.

Bill C-34, introduced earlier this month in the House of Commons, would regulate the companies behind AI chatbots by imposing on them a duty to act “responsibly.”

It includes measures to lower the risk of chatbots communicating harmful content and would put in place crisis intervention protocols for cases involving self-harm, suicide or violence.

Wyatt Tessari L’Allié, founder of Artificial Intelligence Governance and Safety Canada, said the bill’s effectiveness depends on how the details are worked out.

MPs urge action to undercut ‘manosphere’ by tackling anti-women ideology

OTTAWA - MPs are calling on the government to tackle the rise of antifeminist ideology by funding programs that undercut the "manosphere" of online influencers who blame women for men's problems.

The House of Commons status of women committee tabled a report Tuesday warning "antifeminist ideologies are becoming increasingly prominent in Canada and internationally."

The committee says boys and young men who are isolated or struggling to find their place in society are being presented with extreme content online that glorifies dominating and dehumanizing women and amplifies gender-based violence.

At a news conference on Parliament Hill, Conservative MP Dominique Vien, the committee's chair, told reporters witnesses who spoke to the committee struggled to identify a single reason for the rise in antifeminism.

New Brunswick woman sues OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT led to daughter’s death

When 24-year-old Alice Carrier told ChatGPT that she had to die to stop the pain she was feeling, the chatbot allegedly appeared to agree. By the next day, Carrier was dead.

Mother of B.C. cyberbullying victim Amanda Todd welcomes federal online safety bill

The mother of a British Columbia teen who died by suicide after being relentlessly tormented by a cyberbully says proposed federal legislation tackling online safety would have helped her daughter and will help save lives.

Carol Todd's daughter Amanda died in 2012 after being sexually exploited by an online predator.

Todd said in an interview on Thursday that the Safe Social Media Act addresses the mental and emotional toll of social media and is an important step toward keeping youth safe online.

It's also something Amanda would have wanted, she said.

Online therapy developed in Montreal helps seniors sleep better, study finds

MONTREAL - For many older adults, a restless night can be an unwelcome part of aging, but new research suggests that help may be just a few clicks away.

Researchers at a Montreal-based institute of geriatrics found that participants who completed an online program designed to treat insomnia and anxiety slept better and reported fewer symptoms of insomnia compared with when they started the treatment.

The study, published in May in the peer-reviewed journal "Age and Ageing," followed 80 adults aged 65 and older with insomnia symptoms. Participants completed the therapy through an online platform called e-SPACE Aging Well.

Researchers found that the treatment program improved participants' sleep efficiency — the amount of time spent asleep while in bed — by 11.46 per cent. Five participants met the study’s criteria for remission and no longer met the threshold for insomnia, say the researchers with Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal.

Far-flung buddies celebrate four decades of annual golf trips in the city their friendships were forged

A group of lifelong friends from Winnipeg are reuniting for their 40th annual golf trip.

Teaching, learning are unrealistic expectations in intolerably hot classrooms

There is something fundamentally wrong with a province that can find room for tax cuts yet still sends thousands of children and teachers into classrooms that feel more like saunas than places of learning.

Gov. Gen. Simon launches mental health project for North, Indigenous communities

OTTAWA - Outgoing Gov. Gen. Mary Simon has launched a project to fund community-based mental health services in Northern and Indigenous communities.

The legacy project will be run with support from the Rideau Hall Foundation.

It is called Ajuinnata, an Inuktitut word that means "never give up." The project will begin in Inuit Nunangat.

Simon launched a mental health learning and listening tour in 2024 as one of her priorities in the viceregal office. She said the people she met made it clear the shortage of stable services in the North is an acute problem.

You should be dancing, yeah. Moving to music offers all kinds of benefits as you age

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Carol Ross can’t stop smiling at dance practice as she shouts out the steps of a routine to members of her tap and jazz troupe for women age 50 and older.

“I’ve been dancing my whole life, it’s the best,” said Ross, who founded the Rodeo City Wreckettes group 23 years ago at an age when many people are getting ready for retirement.

Now 87, Ross and her husband and lifelong dance partner John, also 87, have long known what more older adults are now discovering: Moving to music is one of the best ways to stay healthy. Medical professionals say it doesn’t matter if it’s Western line dancing, ballroom steps, salsa, tap, Zumba at the gym, or with a group like the Wreckettes.

“Dancing is one of the most powerful activities for older people,” said Julio Loya, a nurse and geriatric program coordinator at the Tucson Medical Center.