The families of the six Canadian Armed Forces members killed in an April 2020 helicopter crash off the coast of Greece have launched a lawsuit against the aircraft’s manufacturer, alleging the crash was caused by its defective design. In the suit filed in Pennsylvania, where Sikorsky manufactured the CH-148 Cyclone helicopter, families of the crew members allege gross negligence and “reckless disregard for safety” on the part of the century-old company, and that it placed “sales and profits over the safety of the passengers and pilots of their CH-148 helicopters.” The allegations in the compl ..read more

Listen here or subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. Stay updated on episodes via our Twitter page. If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can at thestar.com/subscribingmatters. Please take five minutes to complete this podcast survey for a chance at a $100 gift card. Guest: Kenyon Wallace and Diana Zlomislic, investigative reporters A new Star investigation has revealed that owners of some of Toronto’s cheapest homes might be paying disproportionately more in property taxes than those living in ..read more

Airlines loathe it, intrepid jetsetters swear by it, while some travel experts are hesitant to endorse it. Skiplagging, also known as “hidden-city” or point-beyond ticketing, is the controversial travel hack that makes the headlines almost every travel season. Just earlier this month, a teenager in Florida was allegedly denied boarding and detained because of it. Yet, while many airlines prohibit the practice, some passengers still use it anyway. Here’s everything you need to know about skiplagging, the money-saving trick that could score you a deal on your next flight, or a trip to the airli ..read more

When Pete* moved back to Bruce County in 2021, he was reeling from a breakup, the loss of his service industry job in Toronto, the realization that his drinking was out of control and a feeling of profound loneliness. Since Toronto felt like a “ghost town,” he made the move to his hometown, partly to help his aging father. There, he started seeing a woman and they wound up getting engaged. “Sadly, she passed away just before Christmas,” said Pete. “So, when it comes to loneliness, I’m sort of back to square one.” We’ve all had our lonely moments, but Pete said these episodes felt like a deepe ..read more

Hamilton General Hospital is diverting the sickest patients to other hospitals because it is so short of critical care nurses that it can only run two-thirds of its highest level intensive care unit (ICU) beds. The nursing crisis became so acute Friday that Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) could no longer take patients from outside of Hamilton for trauma, neurosurgery, stroke, vascular care, cardiac surgery and burns who needed a level-three ICU bed. This is the highest level of ICU care for patients requiring advanced or prolonged respiratory support — including a ventilator — or support for m ..read more

Olivia Chow’s term in office got off to a harmonious start on Wednesday as city councillors unanimously backed her plan to tackle the city’s refugee crisis at her first council meeting as mayor. Chow was sworn in last Wednesday and made her first order of business at this week’s meeting an urgent motion to find shelter space for asylum seekers, some of whom have camped outside the city’s downtown referral centre for weeks. In an early test of the new mayor’s ability to secure support for her agenda at city hall, council approved her motion in a vote of 26 to 0. “I want to thank everyone for b ..read more

American country singer Jason Aldean is facing a furor of backlash over a controversial music video for his single “Try That in a Small Town,” which critics say contains lyrics and imagery that are racist and “pro-lynching.” The video was pulled from rotation on Country Music Television Monday after running for only three days, Billboard reported. It has also been criticized online by politicians, country music fans and celebrities, including Sheryl Crow. Aldean responded to the backlash on social media Tuesday, writing, “I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song … These references ..read more

Queen’s Park is giving children’s hospitals an annual booster shot worth $330 million. Lauded as the largest single expansion of pediatric health-care capacity in Ontario history, Premier Doug Ford insisted the new funding would “provide more children with the care they need close to home.” “We’re tackling wait times, adding new beds, and building up our health-care workforce to ensure everyone in Ontario, including and especially our children and youth, have access to the care they need, when and where they need it,” Ford told reporters at Ottawa’s Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Ale ..read more

VANCOUVER—Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan declared Wednesday that the surprise return of a port workers’ strike in B.C.’s biggest city is “illegal,” as the government won’t rule out using back-to-work legislation to end the disruptive labour dispute. In a statement on Twitter, O’Regan said the independent Canada Industrial Relations Board ruled the port workers’ union should cease its strike action because it did not provide 72 hours’ notice. “This strike is illegal,” he wrote. He posted a copy of a board decision that said the union representing the port workers — the International Lo ..read more

The Toronto International Film Festival is soldiering on with plans for its 48th edition, Sept. 7-17, despite ongoing strikes by Hollywood actors and writers that threaten to prevent many celebrities from attending. TIFF announced Wednesday its third world premiere for the fest, this time a Canadian one: “Seven Veils,” an opera-inspired film by Toronto’s Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”) that stars Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Mark O’Brien and Vinessa Antoine. The film, a drama of repressed trauma set in the opera world, also features Ambur Braid as Salome and Michael K ..read more