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Are ‘tech dense’ farms the future of farming?

A 2024 McKinsey survey found that 57% of North American farmers are likely to try new yield-increasing technologies in the next two years. Another report, from 2022, by the US Department of Agriculture said that while the number of farms in the country is shrinking, the farms that remain are becoming "tech dense". Norah Lake, the owner and farmer at Vermont's Sweetland Farms, says to get a successful harvest, "there's a lot of looking forward and then backwards and then forwards and then backwards in crop farming". Sygenta, the argri-tech giant based in Switzerland, offers farmers the software Cropwise, which uses AI and satellite imagery to guide farmers on what to do next with their crops, or alerts them to emergencies. "It can tell the farmer that you need to visit the southeast corner of your field because something is not right about that section, such as a pest outbreak," says Feroz Sheikh, chief information office of Syngenta Group. "And the system also has 20 years of our weather pattern data fed into a machine learning model, so we know exactly what kind of conditions lead to what outcome."

How three Toronto couples moved in together, made it work — and slashed the cost of home ownership

When Jackie DaSilva wanted to finally buy a home in 2024 after years of renting, she approached her partner, Patrick, with a unique idea: buying into a place with two other couples. “Owning a home in Toronto is expensive, but it’s a lot less expensive to co-own with other people,” she says in the living room of her shared multiplex at Bloor and Dufferin streets. She and Patrick sleep and work downstairs. Another couple lives on the top floor, while a third couple occupies the laneway suite in the backyard where a garage used to stand. They each have 1,200 square feet of private space, their own kitchens and bathrooms, and the porch and backyard are shared. The couples, who were friends before co-owning a home, each pay an equal portion of the mortgage, share utilities, renovation and repair expenses, and meet frequently to discuss upcoming projects.

Why storytelling still matters, according to Walrus editor Jennifer Hollett

You could say there is no shortage of worries in the media for Jennifer Hollett, BA 97 — the rise of artificial intelligence, the decline of print readership or the constant churn of heavy news headlines. But as executive director of The Walrus, one of Canada’s most respected news organizations, she is focused on strong, meaningful storytelling. “I read a lot of Marshall McLuhan when I was at Concordia,” Hollett says with a laugh. “I call him my patron saint. The medium matters. Today, The Walrus is a multiplatform journalism organization, with its website publishing in-depth stories on politics, culture, technology and education. Many of those stories — led by editor-in-chief and fellow Concordia alum Carmine Starnino, BA 94, MA 01 — reach readers through a widely read e-newsletter, a growing slate of podcasts and speaker-led events across Canada, including a long partnership of public talks with Concordia, all designed to encourage thoughtful public conversations.

The art of marriage and the story of husband-wife artists Gina Rorai and David Urban

If you want to learn about an artist’s painting, just listen to their spouse talk about it. At Corkin Gallery in the heart of Toronto’s Distillery District, artist David Urban (BFA ’89) is admiring a painting by his wife Gina Rorai (BFA ’89), cocking his head and taking time to share his perspective. “With her work, she wears her influences on her sleeve,” he finally says of a depiction of a room with a window overlooking a coastal area, red and blue colours dominating the scene. “She loves post-Impressionism, like Rothko and Vuillard, so there’s an amalgamation of these influences from these artists right through to Matisse.”

Why Canadian youth want responsible pension plan investing

When Dr. Seuss famously wrote in The Lorax, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better,” he could’ve been talking about Travis Olson. The 22-year-old grocery store clerk from Camrose, Alberta, isn’t sitting on his hands about the change he would like to see in the world. Along with three other young applicants, he is suing the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the country’s largest investment manager, for claiming it breached its duty to invest in their best interests by failing to protect their pensions from climate risk. They are partnering with the lawyers from Goldblatt Partners LLP and Vancouver-based Ecojustice, Canada’s largest environmental law charity.

It’s been a Yonge Street fixture for 50 years. How Toronto’s Chelsea Hotel anchored a changing city

Ask any Torontonian what’s changed on Yonge Street between Queen and College in five decades and brace yourself for a long answer. In the late ‘70s, Yonge Street between Queen and College buzzed with controlled chaos. Movie-poster stores sold cannabis leaf pins, peep shows flashed overcompensating neon signs, and oversized pizza slices tempted the hungry. “Sin Strip,” as it was known then, was loud, smoky and unpredictable — you never knew what would happen next. The street’s energy remains, but its edges are softer and gentrified, its character more polished. Amid these changes, the Chelsea Hotel has remained a fixture for 50 years, marking its anniversary this fall. Located just off Yonge and Gerrard, its two towers house 1,590 rooms, making it Canada’s largest hotel. It often operates near capacity — sometimes approaching 90 per cent occupancy — a reflection of its enduring appeal in a downtown core that has grown denser and more expensive.

Why this Colby graduate preaches the power of self-compassion

Now living in Cambridge, Mass., and known nationally for his acclaimed work as a therapist specializing in mindful self-compassion, Germer eventually uncovered the source of his anxiety—and the next evolution of his career. Germer said of his teachings, “I’ve seen immediate positive effects when people give themselves permission to be self-compassionate.” Finding ways to be open about your vulnerabilities, about what you might not excel at, is part of self-compassion’s positives, he stresses, which can help stave off the panic of imperfection.

The story behind Alex Lau’s new invention: A stronger wood material

Initially founded as a research organization in 2016 and based in Maryland, InventWood raised more than $15 million this past spring in its first significant round of venture capital funding. This summer, the first iteration of Superwood was used for building exteriors, with the goal that it ultimately will be used to construct entire homes and commercial buildings, says Lau, who divides his time between Maryland and his home in Vancouver, Canada. “I’m really interested in this as a material because I think it’s not just good for the planet. It’s good for humanity,” Lau says. “People are putting up buildings at the fastest rate we ever have in human history, and doing it by building concrete jungles, but these aren’t efficient.”

From Robux to roaming, here’s how to prevent your kids’ costly smartphone mistakes

Taking these simple precautionary measures can save you from bill shock — but accidents do happen, and can invite teachable financial moments. When parents buy their kids their first smartphone, data overage fees are just one of the many financial surprises they may encounter. But with enough foresight and precautionary measures, parents can avoid the pitfalls that could balloon their cellphone and credit card bills.

How Sydney Montgomery helps first-gen students apply to college

When Sydney Montgomery was growing up in Montgomery County, Maryland, she recalls looking over her SAT score and thinking, “That’s a great score. I think.” Her score was 1520 out of 1600. But when she overheard classmates remarking on their scores, she realized hers wasn’t all that impressive. She says, “I remember being disappointed thinking this score wasn’t good enough to get into Princeton. I thought I should’ve tried harder.”

Ally Pankiw takes on Lilith Fair to show how the festival paved the way for female artists

When Ally Pankiw talks about Lilith Fair, the trail-blazing music festival in the late ‘90s and in 2010 featuring a who’s-who lineup of female musicians, the excitement is unmistakable in the filmmaker’s tone, even via a Zoom interview. “I think the women of Lilith Fair did so much for the next generation of musicians, and it’s clear many of them have been being inspired by Lilith Fair artists,” says Pankiw, born in Edmonton and now based in Los Angeles

Toronto can be a sleepy town. This one change might finally supercharge our nightlife

Several years ago, I found myself strolling around the New York’s Lower East Side close to 3 a.m. A friendly liveliness, a buzzing energy vibrated the streets, and throngs of people were enjoying the warm summer breeze. Toronto’s nightlife is nothing like what I saw in NYC. There are many reasons, but a key one stands out: for decades, our last call for alcohol has remained firmly at 2 a.m. For the night owls among us, this is a problem. Good new, though: a tidal shift is coming to Canada’s night economy. Look at Vancouver, a city hardly known for its nightlife. It recently voted to extend last call to 4 a.m., after B.C. decided to allow municipalities to make their own decisions on last-call extensions.

Netflix is losing this classic Steve Martin comedy

When Steve Martin spoke about the enduring appeal of his first feature film, "The Jerk," he said he and the writers (Carl Reiner, Carl Gottlieb, and Michael Elias) had one goal in mind: a joke for every page of the script. Judging by the incredibly high laughs-per-minute ratio in this 1979 classic comedy, Martin succeeded. He also gave us early peeks into what would make him such a unique comedian and a key fixture in the three-headed giant that is “Only Murders in the Building” — punching out tightly written one-liners, then amplifying them with wildly BIG slapstick movements when the scenes call for it.

How Canadian businesses can reduce their digital pollution levels

As companies embrace digital technologies, overloaded inboxes and energy-intensive AI are driving up emissions – but businesses can take steps to limit their impact. Major Tom, a Vancouver-based marketing agency, recently partnered with the Offset Foundation to reduce the emissions from their website. “The data centres, servers, and traffic behind our work all contribute to carbon emissions, so making our website carbon neutral was a practical next step,” says Victoria Samways, the agency’s marketing and branding manager.

University of Michigan alum explores the impact of wildfires in new poetry collection

“How should we raise our children in an increasingly fire-ravaged world?” Rachel Richardson, ’04, unpacks questions like this in her latest poetry collection, “Smother.” Her nuanced take on our relationship to fire began first began as a project to understand the pain she felt after a friend’s death, but morphed as a response to the surge of California wildfires from 2017-21. “As I was writing those poems, the smoke of the fires kind of kept coming in and interrupting what I was thinking about,” Richardson says.

Netflix is losing Preacher soon, so binge it while you can

How do you adapt a beloved comic series featuring God, Jesus, a centuries-old vampire and an alcoholic preacher into one of the most watchable series in the past 10 years? Ask Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the writing team behind "Preacher," an AMC original series based on the comic book by Garth Ennis, which is sadly leaving Netflix on August 19. Super-sprint, don’t just run, to take in this violent, hilarious and unique four-season series filled with loveable protagonists, engaging villains and cliffhangers you’ll want to binge through ASAP.

Geothermal hopes soar high in Canada’s Indigenous communities

Three years ago, deep snow covered the Clarke Lake Gas Field, about 8 miles (14 kilometers) southwest of Fort Nelson, B.C. Abandoned oil rigs had been whisked away to make way for circulation pumps, water heaters, diesel generators, ground loop piping, and a busy construction crew determined to finish a vital pump test. The tests delivered 21 gallons (80 liters) per second of hot brine to the surface, which were then reinjected back into the ground, a closed-loop process critical to geothermal energy. Now, after this successful test, two massive geothermal wellheads dot the site, but it’s just the beginning. Clarke Lake will soon be home to a geothermal power plant estimated to generate seven to 15 megawatts for the town of Fort Nelson and the Fort Nelson First Nation community south of town.

What does it to take to be a modern American farmer?

In this in-depth feature report, learn how Dartmouth graduates til the soil and employ savvy agricultural techniques to keep their farms prosperous and attractive to both consumers and visitors. Find out what makes regenerative farming so popular among these alums, and why profit margins are still thin no matter how hard they work. During Dick Cates Jr.’s first year at Dartmouth his father, Dick Sr. ’47, suggested he read A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There by environmentalist Aldo Leopold. “He told me, ‘This is important stuff. This is what working on the land, caring for the land, is all about,’ ” Cates remembers. The book, filled with essays on upholding a responsible relationship between people and the land they inhabit, has stayed with him. His email signature includes a Leopold quote: “When land does well for its owner, and the owner does well by his land, when both end up better by reason of their partnership, we have conservation.”

Generations have been lining up at this beloved Toronto bakery for 80 years

This isn’t the kind of bakery where the owners stay hidden in the back. Often taking orders and doling out change is Susan Wisniewski, Rafi’s sister. This year, she and her sister, Roz Katz, are marking 80 years since their family first took over the small bakery at Harbord and Major Streets. It continues to be a family affair. Wisniewski’s son Ben, also a co-owner, works full-time at the bakery, and her grandson Amit helps out during the summer. Today, the bakery is run by Susan and Roz, with Ben managing daily operations alongside them.

How tariffs are shifting global supply chains

In Spain, olive oil producer Oro del Desierto currently exports 8% of its production to the US. It says that the US tariffs on European imports, presently 10%, are having to be passed on to American shoppers. "These tariffs will directly impact the end consumer [in the US]," says Rafael Alonso Barrau, the firm's export manager. The company also says it is looking at potentially reducing the volume it sends to the US, if the tariffs make trading there less profitable, and exporting more to other countries instead.

Finding the virtue in AI: A Q&A with Juan M. Lavista Ferres

When the news broke of wildfires raging across Los Angeles in January, Juan M. Lavista Ferres picked up the phone. Wanting to be a part of the aid response, the chief data scientist at Microsoft's AI for Good Lab rang up Planet Labs, a satellite imaging company, and proposed a collaboration. Together, the two companies mapped which houses and structures would likely be affected by the fires and then worked with the American Red Cross and other partners on the ground.

Who gets to keep Nazi-looted art? A Toronto documentarian’s new film explores the battle over paintings taken by force

Jamie Kastner is probably best known for 2019’s “There Are No Fakes,” which uncovered a fraud ring that passed off phony paintings as originals by the popular Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau, before shifting into a shocking story of residential-school abuse. The film revealed how collectors had no idea there were up to 10 times more Morrisseau forgeries on the market than there were authentic pieces, a discovery that helped police arrest and convict several of the counterfeiters. With his latest film, “The Spoils,” the director follows the frustrating attempts by executors and university beneficiaries to claim the assets of a German Jewish art dealer who moved to Montreal just before the Holocaust.

From NHL scout to TSN analyst, Craig Button has an eye for the game

Craig Button, BA 87, exudes an unmistakable passion for hockey. His quick, animated speech and ever-present smile reflect a career immersed in the game. Whether recounting life on the road as an NHL scout or analyzing the potential of future stars, his enthusiasm never wavers. “Jarome Iginla was a really great player that I started to watch play during his time in Kamloops,” Button recalls. His ability to effortlessly connect with people, particularly the media, is just as evident as his hockey expertise. It’s a skill he honed during his three years as general manager (GM) of the Calgary Flames, where he fielded endless queries from sports journalists.

‘The damage has been done:’ Trump’s tariff tantrums have evaporated trust in America

By building a tariff wall around U.S. in support of his America-first agenda, President Trump has eroded the one key trait trade partners require from one another: trust. Without that confidence in the U.S. being a reliable trade partner, why would allies ever shake hands with them again? Eroding that trust seems to give Trump a particularly salivating glee, judging by his exclamation-mark-heavy social media posts and the unwavering hope in securing deals with countries whose backs must be bleeding from all the stab wounds.

High tariffs hurting cannabis sector, with little relief in sight

As President Donald Trump rolls out more reciprocal tariffs amid an already scrutinized economic environment brimming with earlier tariffs imposed on both Canadian and Chinese imports, the cannabis industry is anxiously watching its costs rise. But some companies have been proactive in trying to stem the bleeding. Kevin Kuethe, chief cultivation and production officer at Lume Cannabis in Michigan, has seen how the trade war has stalled the cannabis economy, mainly due to tariffs imposed on Chinese imports. “We’re starting to face a 2 or 3 cent increase per vape unit we sell to consumers, and we go through hundreds of thousands a month, so it can add up,” he says.

New documentary follows the production of Hamlet within GTA Online

Londoners (and actors) Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen are bored during the pandemic, and they want to embark on a project that blends their acting background with their newfound passion for GTA Online. They ambitiously decide to hold auditions and recruit actors for Hamlet in an empty outdoor amphitheater within the online game world. The result is a dizzying array of players who reject them outright, decide to kill them for the heck of it, or take them up on their offer.

Sure, the elevators stopped working and the shelves were depressingly bare. But Hudson’s Bay felt like ours

Yes, there are the material losses — the devastating job cuts and economic impact of the closure. But the Bay took on being a national symbol of Canadian commerce’s legacy, and its fade to black is a reminder of how few of these iconic companies are still standing. Perhaps that’s why the loss of The Bay stings so personally and I find myself getting verklempt, to borrow the Yiddish term, when I think about this iconic brand shuttering its doors for good across the country.

Why I watch ‘Field of Dreams’ on baseball’s opening day every year

If there’s any film I watch over and over again when Major League Baseball season begins, it’s “Field of Dreams." From its nostalgic look at baseball’s golden era to its poignant final scene to the main character’s deep passion for America’s pastime, the 1989 classic gets me ready to enjoy a sport that has been close to my heart since I was a kid. Starring Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer, “Field of Dreams” lives up to its title when a mysterious voice beckons Ray with the mantra of, “If you build, he will come.”

Trump’s tariff war: Some products made in Canada are not ‘Made in Canada.’ This must change — and fast

It comes as no surprise that the domestic manufacturing base for textiles and apparel is vulnerable to aggressive U.S. tariffs. This kind of trade destabilization has the potential to reverberate across Canada’s manufacturing landscape, resulting in hiring freezes and, worse yet, a deluge of layoffs. But the Canadian government can act on these tariffs by giving a helping hand to manufacturers such as SRTX.

Boston Pizza is thinking small and it’s working

By building smaller restaurants, Boston Pizza president Jordan Holm says the company is better serving smaller communities and catering to its takeout customers. “People used to go to the mall or a movie at these big-box areas, and come to Boston Pizza before or after for a meal,” says Holm. “But a lot has changed in 20 years, and how people entertain themselves has definitely shifted.” By reducing a typical franchise’s size from 6,500 square feet to around 4,800 square feet, the company could build restaurants that fit more snugly into smaller cities and towns, since these communities didn’t require the kind of expansive space of past franchises.

I used Google Gemini 2.0 to design football plays — could they have helped the Chiefs beat the Eagles?

A few months ago, I began to look deeper at the scrimmage games my friends and I play at our local park in Toronto. This two-hand-touch game isn’t played with pads, timed quarters or referees, but we take it seriously enough to dream up plays on both the offensive and defensive ends in order to feel more immersed in the sport. But why refer to Madden 2025 or our collective memories to come up with innovative plays? Why not leverage the vast resources available in an AI system such as Google Gemini 2.0?

Shoes, buttons and a baby’s dress: Objects in a major new Royal Ontario Museum exhibition exemplify the horrors of the Holocaust

A touring exhibition that began in Madrid in 2017, “Auschwitz.” brings some 500 objects to the museum’s fourth-floor space ahead of a timely date: the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27. The items and video testimonials, many of which are on loan from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, are not meant to simply horrify — you won’t see any photos of corpses, for example — but to tighten the focus on victims and survivors.

What’s the secret to Denmark’s happy work-life balance?

Only 1.1% of Danes have to work 50 or more hours a week, according to the most recent global figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). That's a significantly lower proportion than the world average of 10.2%. By contrast, the figure for the UK is 10.8% and the US is 10.4%. Meik Wiking, author of the book The Art of Danish Living, has long regarded his home country as a shining example of what other countries should aspire to mimic with their workplace policies.

How this Princeton grad’s Incarceration Transparency Project tracks inmate deaths

Andrea Armstrong wants society to care about the dire conditions faced by incarcerated Americans, a demographic who often die in their cells at alarmingly high rates. The law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans has spent the past five years developing and fine-tuning the Incarceration Transparency project, an online database of information about the deaths in every prison, jail, and youth detention facility in Louisiana and South Carolina since 2015.

Toronto can be a lonely city. I found community in an unlikely place: Facebook Groups

It would be too glib to declare that Facebook Groups will save local community, or that they have replaced our traditional locales such as churches or community centres. But it’s highly likely they have filled a widening gap. What circulates on Facebook Groups can also have long-standing impacts. In a 2021 study by German researchers, they stated that these groups “can influence a community’s practices and behaviors in the short term and shift norms, values and shared beliefs in the long term, ultimately contributing to the permanent institutionalization of social resilience.”

Social-media fundraising is the trendy model of altruism. But is it better than giving to traditional charities?

The growth of platforms such as Indiegogo and GoFundMe can be felt if you ever spend time on Facebook or Instagram. This isn’t just anecdotal: In 2023, GoFundMe recorded two million donations across Canada for various causes, organizations and people, an increase of 7.3 per cent from the previous year. The holiday season often encourages more charitable donations than other times of the year. But a slump in donating to the usual charities may be explained by realizing how the approach to giving has shifted to a new mode of altruism: We may be more likely to send money directly to the people affected by the tragedies they’re facing.

Our bodies are full of microplastics right now. Why is the government waiting to act?

Microplastics, miniscule bits of plastic no wider than a strand of hair, have invaded the human body at a worrying rate over the past few decades. They can be found in breast milk, testicles, hearts, kidneys and lungs. It’s estimated the average American ingests between 39,000 to 52,000 microplastic particles per year. But what’s harder to see is more complex to solve. It’s imperative that both government agencies and corporate sectors step up to enact change, as the status quo won’t be sufficient any longer.

The regenerative agriculture revolution starts with women: Q&A with Stephanie Anderson

In her new book, Anderson, a former farmer turned creative writing professor, talks to women across the U.S. who are leading the movement to transform the food system. From a mother/daughter team who run a diversified fruit and vegetable farm to Kelsey Scott, a Lakota Sioux member who runs a direct-to-consumer regenerative beef business, DX Beef LLC., each chapter tackles a different agricultural topic and someone devoted to making a change.

Converting offices to residential space requires thinking different

Walking down Bay Street on a weekday morning, it can feel like the city is trying to regain what it lost during the pandemic. Yes, there are lineups at Starbucks, but it’s clear: remote work has cratered workplace norms, and buildings in downtowns across Canada are pockmarked by empty offices. They are spaces that should be leveraged for residential use instead of accumulating dust, cobwebs and memories of forgotten office parties.

Meet The TikToker Exposing Homophobia And Racism Online

Complex caught up with Michael "TizzyEnt" McWhorter to chat about how he uses his social media platform to 'right a wrong.' This kind of public doxing has led to these perpetrators losing their jobs and, in some cases, facing criminal charges. He brings detective-like skills to his videos, pointing out identifying labels on work uniforms or tattoos that could lead to the person’s identity. But, in a conversation over Zoom, McWhorter is quick to deflect credit to his many fans.

Telling Tales of the Brave and Daring

When author and journalist Jennet Conant ’82 was researching the subject of her seventh book—legendary correspondent Maggie Higgins, who covered World War II and the Korean War—she couldn’t help but see parallels between her subject’s career and her own. Conant’s latest book, Fierce Ambition: The Life and Legend of War Correspondent Maggie Higgins, tells the story of Higgins, a female reporter making her way through a boys’ club of journalists who didn’t take her seriously, even though she won praise at the New York Herald Tribune with a harrowing account of the liberation of Dachau at the end of World War II.

The fakes are rising: Why Canadian students need a crash course in AI literacy

For too long, educators have been left in limbo as to how to teach youth about AI-generated images that can do more harm than pairing an actor with a classic tune. It’s up to individual teachers to dedicate their class time to discuss the risks of AI-generated content, which can range from, say, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing the war is over or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promoting a financial “robot trader,” to former U.S. president Donald Trump accepting the endorsement of Taylor Swift.

Aaron Lansky, founder of the Yiddish Book Center, pays tribute to his Montreal roots

The Yiddish Book Center has Canadian roots, thanks to its founder and CEO Aaron Lansky, who recently announced he will be stepping down from his role after 44 years of helming one of the leading Jewish cultural institutions in the U.S. When Lansky, 68, was studying Yiddish literature at McGill University, he had a difficult time finding the books he needed. He visited the Jewish Public Library to source what he could, but he extended his outlook toward the Jewish community.

How a new type of ‘smart soil’ can capture water out of thin air

A hydrogel developed by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin could give plants the power to feed and water themselves, allowing farmers to rely less on irrigation. The research, published over the summer in ACS Materials Letters, found that radish plants rooted in hydrogel soil saw a 138% increase in stem length while using approximately 40% less water. “With this kind of smart soil, you don’t need to actually irrigate as often due to how abundant moisture is, and it allows for the slow release of the fertilized in a controlled manner.”

How To Intercept Weapons, at Dragonfly Speed

If you’ve ever watched a dragonfly zig and zag over a pond in search of dinner, you know how fast these gauzy-winged insects can move. In less than half the time it takes a human eye to blink, a dragonfly calculates the coordinates of where its prey is headed and gets there in time to snatch it up. Neuroscientist Frances Chance, GSAS MS’97, PhD’00, a principal member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is studying the dragonfly’s amazing interception skills at the neural circuit level.

New York joins cities questioning ShotSpotter costs, benefits

The gunshot detection system may waste NYPD resources, a June audit states. Chicago and Houston are among the cities that plan to drop the technology. When the system was performing at its best, 20% of ShotSpotter’s alerts related to “confirmed shootings,” the audit found. But its performance was often below that level: Of the 940 alerts officers responded to in June 2023, for instance, only 13% corresponded to confirmed shootings.

‘Going to the World’s Biggest Bookstore was an event.’ 10 years after closing, it still has a grip on former readers

I remember that first time I walked into the World’s Biggest Bookstore. It was 1999 and I was a book-loving journalism student at Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University). “Wow!” I thought as I tried to take it all in. “Is this for real?” What was very real about the sprawling 64,000-square-foot space at 20 Edward St., brimming with 17 miles of shelves, was the sheer selection available to me. It reminded me of Honest Ed’s, urging you to get lost in its maze of products.

As RCMP chief psychologist, Norman Shields helps treat the trauma of Canada’s crime fighters

The three-time Concordia grad brings expertise in alcohol and gambling addictions, veterans’ PTSD to crucial role. First working as divisional psychologist for RCMP Quebec before promoting to a national position, the Montreal-based Concordia grad frequently meets with RCMP officers and employees who endure harrowing interactions and confrontations, including in domestic abuse or child-exploitation cases.

Toronto’s Google Sidewalk Labs battle comes to the stage

Playwright Michael Healey says there’s comedy in the story about Sidewalk Labs’ failed housing development on the Toronto waterfront. Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk both wanted do something vitally important in the world and the future, and this play, and the book, looks at what drives people to do great big things, and how interests can be comically at odds with each other, such as the Canadian versus U.S. vantage points, or the financial motive versus the city-building motive.”

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