As It Happens

A union president heeds the call of Ontario's premier to hit back against US President Donald Trump's doubling of tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel. Montrealers were upset when a beloved music venue shut down last because of a noise complaint. So the city passed a new bylaw, but one owner says it won't protect venues like his from a similar fate. We'll hear from a State Senator in California who is pushing to establish new rules governing AI – if the Trump Administration doesn't ban him from doing it first. After almost 70 years, Medicine Hat, Alberta's CHAT-TV has faded to black, and the channel's news anchor tells us he's heartbroken. We'll check in with Oilers Superfan Magoo, who says there's magic in the air and on the ice, and the team is ready to bring the cup back to Canada. Knock wood. Don't skip that part. Scientists delve into the question of whether we'd like robots more if they swore, and discover a fascinating cuss and effect. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that warns you: the results are not cut and droid.

One of the Canadian godfathers of AI launches a non-profit, with some 40-million dollars in funding, to protect people from the technology he pioneered. A Manitoba chief is urging anyone who hasn't left his community yet to flee the out-of-control blaze that's approaching -- before it's too late. On the eve of a potential doubling of tariffs, an Ontario mayor braces everyone who works at the local steel plant -- and everyone in the city who doesn't -- for extreme economic pain. A Montreal tour guide shares the story behind a new Canada Post stamp depicting a 1977 police raid on one of the city's most historic gay bars -- and the fight for equal rights that followed. He's an Albertan, and he works at a big hockey bar -- but despite his Canadian pride, a Calgary Flames fan tells us he just can't bring himself to cheer for the Edmonton Oilers. Residents of a UK community resort to some very colourful -- and disproportionately dramatic -- language, when a section of local road is painted red for safety. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that figures the problem is just a pigment of their imagination.

The prime minister and the premiers meet to try to reshape the Canadian economy, and our guest says there's no time to waste. Nine of her ten children, and her husband, are dead after an Israeli airstrike. Now, a Gaza doctor's last surviving child is in hospital with serious injuries; I'll talk to the surgeon who's treating him. Researchers find that colon cancer patients who are given an exercise routine, and the support of a coach were significantly more likely to survive. Thanks in part to their late lead singer, James Lowe, the Electric Prunes were psychedelic savants whose motto was "so far out, so good". A former member of British Parliament tells us about the renewed battle to allow Stilton, England to produce Stilton cheese, which is, after all, named for Stilton, England. A perfumer-turned-astrobiologist answers the question we've all always asked: what does space smell like? And if you assumed cat urine and "poisonous marzipan clouds", good news. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that senses she's a real odor-achiever.

As the prairie fires force Manitobans from their home, the head of the province's nurses union tells us how her members are caring for others, when their own homes and loved ones are at risk. A Swiss village manages to evacuate, but not to save their historic community, as a massive glacier collapses and buries their homes under millions of tons of rock and ice. We hear from with an Alaskan man who got trapped under an enormous boulder while out hiking, and his wife, who helped rescue him – just in the nick of time. A new study suggests horses use a wide range of facial expressions to communicate, not just with their human keepers, but with one another. Taylor Swift announces that after all of the drama, and all of the Taylor's Versions, she is now the proud owner of her entire catalogue of music. The Hollywood hit "Sinners" is a Jim-Crow-era horror set in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where locals were excited to see it but couldn't because the city doesn't have a movie theatre. We hear from one of the people who pulled off a special showing, with some special guests. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that always screens with excitement.

As fires burn across the prairies, our guest describes the moment she had to evacuate her community, and the nightmare she and her neighbours have been living through since. Elon Musk announces he's turning his focus away from Washington and back to his companies -- and a Washington reporter takes stock of the Tesla tycoon's adventures in government. The Ontario Hockey League's top team hasn't had an ostensibly mandatory sexual violence prevention training in years. And our guest says that's especially disappointing given the reckoning happening in the sport right now. Some investors are using the acronym TACO -- as in "Trump Always Chickens Out " -- to describe the president's tariff flip-flops. And the journalist who coined was flabbergasted to hear it denounced by in the Oval Office. And, we hear from the passenger who captured the mayhem that ensued when a pair of pigeons made its way into the cabin of commercial plane. As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that's always open to ruffling a few feathers.

The federal government says it will quickly ramp up military spending. A former Conservative defence minister tells us there's no time to waste because the country is facing a security emergency. The U.S. Department of Justice cuts a deal that allows Boeing to avoid a trial over two deadly crashes in exchange for a billion dollar payout. But a lawyer for families of victims says there's much more than money at stake. A 96-year-old Nova Scotia woman was so frustrated about not having a family doctor that she took out an ad pleading her case in the local newspaper. Nearly 40 years after a marble bust vanished from Jim Morrison's grave, one of music’s strangest cold cases gets busted wide open. A PhD candidate in California tells us about her team's efforts to remove invasive bullfrogs from Yosemite waterways, one at a time, by hand. And about the encouraging impact it's had on native turtle species. And, Spain proposes legislation to help prevent the sewer blocking monsters made of fat and wet wipes known as fatbergs, so we revisit our interview with a man who would really appreciate that effort. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that guesses they're all feeling pretty wiped out.

We'll hear from AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak about why today's throne speech was an important victory for Indigenous people in Canada -- and for all treaty peoples. Every minute that sepsis goes untreated increases the risk it will be fatal. Now, a team of researchers in Canada is developing a portable detection device to predict a patient's sepsis risk, and save valuable time. A controversial US-backed humanitarian organization begins giving out food packages to desperate Gazans. But a longtime aid worker says the chaos that ensued shows the plan is deeply flawed. In the New Zealand parliament, bills that aren't part of the government's legislative agenda still have a chance to be advanced -- and that chance comes in the form of an old cookie tin that one official tells us embodies nothing less than democracy itself. We meet the 22-year-old who is closing in on completing the quest he began at 10, to visit every Old Spaghetti Factory in the world. Turkey gets serious about airplane etiquette -- promising to fine passengers who stand and crowd the aisles before their rightful turn to disembark. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that anticipates some seated debates.

King Charles is providing the pageantry. But Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada provided the impetus. A former diplomat says the royal visit sends a strong message to the White House at a crucial time. A woman in Kyiv tells us what it's been like to weather Russia's largest aerial assault on Ukraine since the war began. Major flooding in Australia has killed at least four and displaced thousands. A resident of one of the worst-hit cities tells us about having to flee her home and what it was like to return to the damage. A new New York City festival will have pigeon fans flocking to celebrate the much-maligned bird. And Pigeon Fest's origins all go back to an iconic pigeon on a plinth, which we first told you about last summer. An Ontario couple gets a draw-dropping price for the antique tobacco tin they discovered while renovations led them to rip out a bathroom wall. And, a 3-year-old goes viral after her parents share her intense fear of John Wilkes Booth. As It Happens, the Monday edition. Radio that understands that some people just can't handle the Booth.

It's been five years since George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer. His cousin tells us she won't stop fighting to make sure his death leads to lasting change. Shreya Mishra Reddy was fulfilling a dream by attending Harvard -- but now that the Trump administration wants to bar international students, she has no idea what will become of her, or her expensive education. Can't teach a new Kat old tricks. A lot of Americans say it's time to say goodbye to the Democrats' old guard -- emphasis on "old". And 26-year-old online personality Kat Abughazaleh is ready to be the life of the party. Making history and prehistory. Almost forty years after a father and daughter discovered a fossil in British Columbia, it's officially recognized as a new genus and species. Doing the rounds. People put a lot of things on bagels, but only the late Judith Hope Blau put smiley faces on them -- and the resulting artworks made her the family breadwinner. And...he was just lying there, and then Prow! In Norway, an off-course container ship runs aground and nearly smashes into Johan Helberg's cottage, sending the neighbourhood into a panic -- except Johan Helberg, who sleeps through it. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that assumes by now he's been to hull and back.

Two young staffers from the Israeli Embassy are shot on the street in Washington DC; a friend of one of the victims says Sarah Lynn Milgrim was a bright light – and her loss is devastating. A Canadian nurse in Gaza says more and more malnourished children are being brought to her hospital – so the territory needs a lot more aid shipments, and it needs them now. And then re-checking them. Weeks after the federal election, a Newfoundland and Labrador riding is still awaiting the results of a recount; the candidates tell me how they're dealing with the suspense. The man who coached Canadian basketball star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in high school reflects on the new NBA MVP. Newfoundland and Labrador writer Michael Crummey tells us he's known for weeks that he'd won a major literary award -- but it still hasn't sunk in. And, the semi-colon may be on the decline, but your love for it is not! We’ll hear from the listeners who called in to show their support for precise punctuation. As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that celebrates a victory for comma sense.

President Trump has big plans for the "Golden Dome" and he says Canada wants in. Former Minister of National Defence David Pratt tells us it actually is about time that Canada bolstered its missile defence. A woman looking to sell her charming country home in Ireland tells us why she decided go with a lottery approach -- which the winner will end up purchasing for an investment of about 9 bucks. Canada has never had a successful domestic car company of its own -- but one industry leader says it's past time to take the idea for a test drive. Climbers summited Everest today using a new method that allowed them to do it in days, instead of the usual weeks. A veteran mountaineer says they're missing the point. The Chicago Sun-Times is called out for a "summer reading" list that includes novels that don't exist -- generated, it may not surprise you, by AI. And, water voles are endangered in Wales -- but by feeding them sparkles so they poop out sparkles, scientists see a glimmer of hope. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that assures you the sparkles are safe -- so it's no-harm dung.

Magnus Carlsen may be the world's greatest chess player -- but a game against 143,000 simultaneous opponents didn't offer him the easy win he may have expected. The leaders of France, Britain and Canada threaten action against Israel if it doesn't lift its restrictions on aid, and end its military offensive in Gaza. A former Canadian ambassador tells us what that might accomplish -- if anything. In response to a water crisis in a small village in Nunavik, the mayor declares a state of emergency. She tells us how thirsty residents are coping. Trump says Qatar's offer of a free, lavishly appointed jumbo jet is a nice gesture from an ally -- but new reporting suggests there's more to the story. The best things in life are three. An Ontario woman was shocked to find two female robins and a male co-parenting in a single nest on her front porch -- a family she has dubbed the Avian Sister Wives. And, a new study finds the puzzling, peculiar punctuation mark is getting less popular all the time -- to the point where it may have been sentenced to death. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that watches the collapse of the dot-comma bubble.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone today at length, but one analyst says what he saw wasn't so much progress toward a ceasefire, but the U.S. President failing to stand up to Russia. Eighty years after his father's plane was shot down over Dorset, the son of a Canadian Flying Officer killed in the Second World War tells us how he pieced together the details of that day -- and how he's commemorating them now. A Vancouver art student tells us why she wanted to take portraits of others who, like her, spent time in foster care. An English historian explains how he liberated an original version of the Magna Carta from obscurity, after discovering it deep in the Harvard Law School archives -- because it was believed to be a copy. Fifty years after "Jaws" made the waters around Martha's Vineyard seem very scary, a long-distance swimmer is braving them, to show that sharks deserve our friendship, not fear. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that just hopes things don't get too chum-my. (Plus: A bonus episode of "As It Happened: The Archive Edition" featuring stories about surprising and incredible journeys.)

I'll talk to the man who has served as the head carpenter for "Saturday Night Live" since the very first episode -- on the eve of his very last episode. The trial of five ex-world junior hockey players accused of sexual assault is thrown into disarray once again, as the judge discharges the jury for a second time. A doctor who ran for his life when wildfires hit Los Angeles this year tells us the aftermath hasn't been easy -- so he set up a clinic to help others and, in some ways, himself. He put on more than a happy face. A member of the original cast of the classic musical "Annie" remembers composer Charles Strouse -- for the joy and vulnerability he put into every song. Students at Vancouver Island University are hard at work baking up a single Nanaimo bar -- that's more than 21 meters long and weighs over 450 kilos. And, a couple in England promised to build a storage facility for horse semen, but just built a house instead. And now their lie is going to get that house knocked down. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio thinks they should have just built up an equine cellar.

An aid worker says new air attacks and dwindling food supplies are making life even worse for Gazans, but she's still finding a way to put on a brave face for her two kids. As Manitoba struggles to deal with deadly wildfires, the reeve of one hard-hit area tells us it hasn't been easy, but a massive outpouring of support has given him hope. A British bank analyst is sentenced to 10 years in prison in Saudi Arabia, and his own lawyer tells us she hasn't been told exactly what her client has been accused of. We hear from a Labrador woman who ended up stuck on a remote highway in a snowstorm – in May – and decided her best bet was to just start walking. The service we knew as "HBO Max" and then came to know as "Max", now requires us to come to know it as "HBO Max" again. And, a British conservationist tells us about the plan to bring elk -- which we call moose -- back to the UK, after an absence that's lasted thousands of years. As It Happens, the Thursday Edition. Radio that tells Britain: don't just stand there -- make yourself mooseful.

A political commentator says he's shocked that Gregor Robertson has been appointed Canada’s federal minister of housing -- because he couldn't get the housing crisis under control when he was Vancouver's mayor. Canada's first-ever Indigenous Minister of Indigenous Services, Mandy Gull-Masty, tells us a cabinet post was never a job she imagined having -- but has big plans now that she’s in the role. After the Taliban bans chess, a player who fled Afghanistan for safety in Belgium says he won't let the game he loves die in his homeland. As fires burn through parts of Manitoba, one man describes his family's dramatic escape. Producers uncover the long lost pilot episode of Thomas the Tank Engine TV show and put it up online, for fans longing to see how the show got itself on track. And, new research reveals that flamingos aren't passive feeders, but "super feeding machines" -- that use their bills to create a vortex that sucks up their shrimpy prey. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that moves in for the krill.

Longtime Liberal minister Steven Guilbeault talks to us about today's cabinet appointments, and what his present company means for Canada's future. British Columbia is making the case that American health care workers worried about Donald Trump should relocate to Canada. A nurse from Texas tells us things are unsettling, so she's considering resettling. Honda delays its multi-billion-dollar EV plant in Alliston, Ontario. The town's mayor tells that –- auto industry troubles aside – he believes the project just needs some time to recharge. New research into WIFW – which, of course, stands for "water-inducted finger wrinkling", reveals some analog truths about our digital appendages. A group of Finnish Eurovision fans are driving a sauna to Switzerland for this year's contest. One tells us getting people to grab a towel and join them is proving to be no sweat. And, one of the world's largest snails is filmed for the first time doing something with its neck that makes the hairs on ours stand on end – laying an egg. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that provides full-throated support.

There is celebration as the last living American hostage in Gaza -- 21-year-old Edan Alexander -- has been released by Hamas. A close friend of the family describes their elation. After the US and China agree to put tariffs on hold for 90 days, a supply chain expert tells us that's great -- but a suspension isn't the same as a solution. A sociology organization decides to move some sections of its upcoming conference north of the border -- because some Canadian members refuse to travel to the US. A Soviet-era spacecraft was meant to land on Venus spent more than 50 years trapped in Earth's obit -- until this weekend, when it finally came crashing down. Somewhere. The Professional Women's Hockey League breaks a record for the longest game, as Montreal and Ottawa battle their way into quadruple overtime. A fan who was there tells us how she survived the five-and-a-half hour match. And, it's the end of the end of the world as we know it. Scientists reveal that the universe will decay billions and billions of years earlier than they previously thought -- meaning the end of the world is merely billions and billions and billions of years away. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that greets you with open armageddons.

Dishonourable discharges. Rae Timberlake has served their country in the U.S. Navy for 17 years. But as the Trump administration begins its removal of a thousand trans troops, they don't feel like their country is serving them. Running for coverage. A Russian journalist flees house arrest and a possible prison sentence, and escapes to France. She tells us leaving her loved ones behind was the only way to break free. Out of office replies. I'll talk to Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai about his surprise resignation announcement; he tells us that, when it comes to his children, it's time to make up for lost time. Disaster aria. A new opera sets a horrendous case of wrongful conviction to music. The composer behind "The Central Park Five" tells us its themes have a whole new resonance right now. I get where they're coming from. No one knows what to call people from Chelsea, Quebec -- and the mayor tells us the city's 150th anniversary is the perfect time for residents to decide how to identify themselves. And, indubitably, unreservedly sorry, not sorry. A UK researcher reveals that the more uncommon and sesquipedalian vocabulary you utilize in an apology, the more sincere it will seem. As It Happens, the Friday edition. Radio that never cuts a long sorry short.

Holy smoke. A Canadian Catholic tells us what it was like to stand with thousands in St Peter's Square when the white smoke billowed -- and waited to hear the first words of the first American Pope. Well, the first except for the pretend American Pope, chosen by university students in Chicago recently, in a re-creation of the Conclave of 1492. The history prof behind it explains the powerful lesson in that exercise. And: the Young Pope. We hear from a childhood friend of the boy known as Robert Prevost -- long before he became Pope Leo the Fourteenth. It's kind of a big deal. The UK becomes the first country to hammer out a new trade agreement with the White House. An expert in business diplomacy tells us it won't be so easy for Canada. Getting his message across. The sister of a murder victim used artificial intelligence to generate a victim impact statement from her late brother. She tells us she believes he would have offered his killer the forgiveness she can't. The bleat goes on. Sheep are still by far the dominant population in New Zealand -- but a new count reveals that humans are closing the gap. Slowly, and slightly. As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that puts people behind baa-ers.