World Headlines: The kids forced to wait too long or surgery

First Up

By Manuela Vega

Good morning. Here’s the latest on the Texas town suffering from the latest U.S. mass shooting, the risks of long wait times for childrens’ surgeries and why Justin Trudeau cancelled an appearance in B.C.

DON’T MISS

Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

School Shooting

A Texas town grieves the loss of children and teachers

“Uvalde is small. Everyone is either related or friends with each other,” said one of three high school girls leaving flowers at Robb Elementary School on Wednesday. “Everybody gets along with everybody,” a high school boy added. After 19 children and two teachers were killed, and another 17 wounded in the small town, there’s no sign of an end to mass shootings in the United States, Edward Keenan writes. Here’s how U.S. gun legislation is moving backwards.

Who they were: Here’s what we know about the victims and the shooting.
ICYMI: Residents of Buffalo, where 10 Black Americans were killed in a supermarket not even two weeks ago, have had enough “prayers and condolences” and want to know: “What’s the plan?”
Go deeper: The Texas school shooting is the latest, tragic reminder of the decades-long divide that the U.S. seemingly cannot bridge.

Rick Madonik/The Star

health care

Kids are waiting months too long for surgeries in Ontario

Thousands of children are living with chronic pain, missing key developmental milestones and risking long-term damage as surgery wait times extend beyond the safe clinical window. With delays exacerbated by the pandemic backlog, pediatric experts are calling for more funding to address the issue. Here’s how the crisis is playing out.

By the numbers: At SickKids, the number of children waiting for scheduled surgeries has gone up 50 per cent since the start of the pandemic.
Context: Behind the pandemic backlogs are provincially mandated surgical slowdowns in place to make resources available to COVID patients and recent waves that led to staff absences.
More: One senior psychotherapist recalled a teenager waiting more than a year for hip surgery. He was in constant pain, crawling to get around his home. He now uses a walker with the risk of never being able to walk on his own again, he said.

Braeden Caley/Twitter

federal politics

Justin Trudeau cancelled his B.C. appearance after protesters gathered carrying a noose

A gathering of approximately four dozen people outside a Liberal party fundraiser in Surrey prompted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to advise the prime minister to steer clear of the area for his own safety. Horns blared, one person held a prop with a noose and two scheduled speakers said protesters were hurling racial slurs at a crowd of mostly South Asian fundraiser attendees, the Canadian Press reports. Here’s more on the “escalating toxicity” of the far-right.

Watch: Trudeau responded to the events, saying no Canadian should be harassed for their political views.
ICYMI: At a stop in Peterborough this month, Jagmeet Singh faced a barrage of racial slurs and calls for his death. Police did not lay charges.

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WHAT ELSE

How the six Conservative leadership candidates made the case for themselves — and against each other.

Lex Harvey fact checked everything NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said for a week. Here’s what she found.

Newly built home prices slipped for a second month in the GTA as homebuyers pump the brakes.

A Canadian abuse charity cut ties with Q107 radio host John Derringer following allegations of verbal abuse.

Prices are rising in Toronto’s rental market again — and so is the competition.

The Law Society alleges a Mississauga man is behind the bar exam cheating scandal.

TDSB voted to remove skill-based assessments for specialized schools and programs.

Tamara Lich won’t return to jail after accepting an award for her role as a convoy leader, a judge says.

Peel’s medical officer of health Dr. Lawrence Loh is leaving his post to head up the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Toronto Public Health is investigating two new suspected monkeypox cases and one probable case.

Families boycotted the N.S. mass shooting inquiry after some mounties were allowed to avoid testifying due to concerns of re-traumatizing them.

Former “19 Kids and Counting” star gets 12 years in a child pornography case.

POV

Nick Kozak for The Star

Ecology is about saving ourselves, not just the planet.

CLOSE-UP

Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

PHILIPPINES: Activists burn an effigy of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte during a protest against election results at the Commission on Human Rights office on Wednesday in Quezon city, Metro Manila. Marcos, the son of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., is set to be proclaimed as the winner for the hotly contested presidential election marred by incidents of violence and complaints of faulty vote counting machines.

Also poised to win the vice presidency is Mayor Sara Duterte of Davao City, the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, who is the subject of an international investigation for alleged human rights violations.

Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

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