Police turn to an AI tool to investigate Sherman murders + cops back in schools spark mixed reactions
Good morning. Did you notice a reddish hue to the moon last night? No you weren't imagining things (promise), that was June's strawberry moon making an appearance, a phenomenon that won't be seen again until 2043. Here's what makes it so special.
And here's the latest on police adding a resource to help with the investigation into the Sherman murders, a proposed legislation that could put police back in schools and how more visible minorities in the GTA are leaning blue.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
DON'T MISS
Police have turned to an AI tool to investigate the Sherman murders
Here's how Microsoft Power BI is helping investigators with the case.
Toronto police skipped 'Homicide 101' and never sought alibis from family and friends of murdered billionaires Barry and Honey Sherman
Barry and Honey Sherman: how the second autopsy revealed it was a double murder
Doug Ford's plan for putting cops in schools is getting mixed reactions
Officers could be back in the hallways next year. Here's why some are concerned.
Doug Ford accused of 'Trump-style politics' with legislation that allows sweeping new powers over the education sector
Ford government's changes to children's aid societies miss what actually needs fixing, critics charge
Conservative support increased for visible minorities in the GTA
Here's how Conservatives attracted the group, which shifted 20 percentage points rightward in some ridings.
'The most honest reflection of the country': Inside the 905 — the ridings that helped deny Mark Carney a majority
WHAT ELSE
Canada's supply management system protects Canadian farmers by limiting the amount of dairy, eggs and poultry that can be imported into Canada duty-free.
Lance McMillan/ Toronto Star file photo
With U.S. trade aggression heating up, the protection of Canada's dairy, poultry and eggs intensifies.
Mark Carney's government plans to balance AI regulation against the promise to unlock its potential. Here's how.
Here's what life is like right now for a community taking shelter from wildfires in hotels near Pearson airport.
Heather Mallick: Smoke drifting into Toronto has me choking on past lives in the north.
Canada Post's workers union accused the company of trying to dictate a new contract. Here's the latest.
The defence in the Hockey Canada trial said the complainant lied under oath. Catch up on the trial here.
The Bathurst bus lane battle continues. See the local councillors' latest offer to her constituents.
The 2025 Polaris Prize nominees are here. This is who made the list for Canada's top music award.
This Toronto couple had creative wedding gifts. Thirty years later, students are still benefiting.
From rib festivals to car shows, here are a few ways to celebrate Father's Day in Toronto.
Dave Feschuk: The secret to winning the NBA Finals is hidden in lowlight reels.
Gregor Chisholm: The surging Blue Jays are getting value from someone new almost every night.
POV
Inviting Narenda Modi to the G7 summit was the right move for Mark Carney.
CLOSE UP
Striking employees of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board march around its head office as the strike enters its third week.
Steve Russell/ Toronto Star
TORONTO: Some 3,600 employees of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) march around its head office as their strike enters its third week. The Ontario Compensation Employees Union blasted the government agency yesterday for using automation to handle a backlog of claims during the strike.
Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca. I will see you back here tomorrow.
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Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Trump has said he wants to meet growing U.S. energy demands using nuclear, oil, gas and especially coal. 'I call it clean, beautiful coal,' he told Fox News's Maria Bartiromo this week. 'I don't want windmills destroying our place. I don't want these solar things where they go for miles and they cover up a half a mountain that are ugly as hell.' This aesthetic objection to renewable energy is something of a long-running critique from Trump. In the past he's called wind farms 'unsightly' and 'garbage,' while referring to wind turbines themselves as 'big, ugly suckers' that are 'rusting and rotting.' Trump's Aberdeenshire golf club unsuccessfully sued to block a wind project off the coast of Scotland on the grounds that it would spoil the view. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. To be sure, it's not just Trump who considers renewables unsightly. Solar and wind farms have an enormous visible footprint, requiring significantly more land than nuclear, natural gas or coal to produce the same amount of energy. They also run the risk of sustaining damage from particularly fierce natural disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes. Plenty of projects in the United States have faced opposition from people concerned they would be an eyesore, hurting property values and tourism. The federal agencies that oversee permitting are obligated to conduct visual impact assessments and consider local stakeholders' feedback. But Trump's particular formulation raises the question: Which energy sources are least offensive to the eye? Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. What surprises some energy experts is not the president's distain for renewables, but his argument that fossil fuels are somehow more beautiful. 'Everyone has their own view of what's beautiful and what's not, but I have a hard time understanding how people could think that solar panels are such a desecration of the land while mountaintop drilling or drilling for natural gas and crude oil is not,' said Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business Energy Institute. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Some experts who spoke with The Washington Post noted that much of the visual impact of renewables is localized at a single site, whereas fossil fuel production involves multiple sites, with potential for multiple eyesores. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It's not just the coal-fired power plant that's going to be in my local area with the big smoke stacks,' Stephen Jarvis, an assistant professor of environmental economics at the London School of Economics, said. 'It's all the upstream supply chain, thinking about the railway tracks that are bringing coal to that area, all the way to the huge mine that's probably affecting a large part of the natural landscape as well.' There's also the visual impact of fossil-fuel emissions. 'Conventional fuels have – from an aesthetic point of view – an enormous impact, not only on climate change but visibility impairment everywhere,' Martin Pasqualetti, a geography professor at Arizona State University, has written extensively about the visual impacts of renewable energy landscapes. 'With the pollution that coal-burning power plants, refineries and oil put out, I think there's no comparison.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Experts have found that people who oppose renewables on aesthetic grounds tend not to have lived near fossil-fuel sources. And just because a community is pushing back against renewable projects doesn't mean residents would prefer a nuclear plant, a mine or a coal-fired power station in their neighborhood. 'If you look at research on pretty much any energy technology, it's pretty rare that people are thrilled about having this big piece of industrial infrastructure in their backyard,' Jarvis said. But from a policy perspective, the energy has to be generated somehow. 'Everything we do is going to have a visual impact; most of what we do is going to have a noise impact – although solar farms are probably the least impactful in that area, and some of the things we do are going to have a health impact,' Borenstein said. 'None of this stuff is going to be entirely free from these spillovers, and we have to make a choice.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A burgeoning field within design and architecture is devoted to making renewable energy more aesthetically pleasing. Some projects such as bladeless wind turbines and hummingbird-inspired blades use sleek designs to mitigate concerns about noise and visual distractions. Others, like the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation's DNA-shaped turbines and El Paso International Airport's illuminated installation, also serve an artistic purpose. Robert Sullivan, a former visual impact assessment consultant for federal agencies, said the geometric design of solar and wind technology makes it more conducive to artistic innovation than fossil-fuel sites. RECOMMENDED VIDEO 'From a design sense, they have some things going for them because they're sculptural,' Sullivan said. 'A pretty large number of people actually like looking at wind turbines and solar facilities. You never really ever get people saying they like looking at strip mines or open pit mines or refineries, because if you've seen a refinery, you know it's visually chaotic.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Pasqualetti points to Palm Springs, California, as an example of a 180-degree turnaround in public perceptions about the aesthetics of renewables. The community – once fiercely opposed to wind farms – now opts for new renewable projects over other energy sources. 'In Palm Springs, there were people who were suing the local jurisdictions because the wind turbines were obstructing their view,' Pasqualetti said. 'Nowadays, a generation later, they're promoting wind turbines for tourism, people are getting married in the wind turbine fields, they have wind turbines on the logos of one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the country at Indian Wells.' 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