Crime

Vancouver has set the stage for a showdown with Canada’s federal government by moving to become the first city in the country to decriminalize street drugs – setting itself on a collision course with Justin Trudeau, who has so far declined to pursue the option.

The city’s council voted unanimously last week to ask the federal government in Ottawa for an exemption to the country’s criminal code, which, if granted, would remove the threat of criminal sanctions for possessing small amounts of street drugs for personal use within a city.

A court order is blocking any sales of seven Toronto properties owned by the family members alleged to have been involved in the theft of $11 million in COVID-19 relief funds, the Star has learned.

Six condominium units and a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom home in North York are now subject to a court-ordered “no dealings indicator on the title,” meaning they cannot be sold or the ownership transferred.

As first revealed by the Star, the Ontario government alleges that “some or all of” Sanjay Madan, Shalini Madan, their sons Chinmaya Madan and Ujjawal Madan, and associate Vidhan Singh perpetrated “a massive fraud” to direct pandemic cash to hundreds of bank accounts.

I bet no one in the public service said a word because “racist.”

The lead detective in the Barry and Honey Sherman murder investigation says police have ‘numerous’ persons of interest in the three-year-old case.

Det. Sgt. Brandon Price issued a brief update and “clarification” statement late Friday, saying he was doing so “in fairness to the friends and family of Barry and Honey Sherman.”

Price’s comments regarding “numerous” persons of interest in the murders of the billionaire philanthropists follow those of one of his detectives during a court hearing last week where the Star was seeking to unseal search warrant information, and statements by Toronto police communications officers on Thursday. In all of those statements, police said they had identified a single person of interest.

Yea, sure ya do.

Toronto Police have “a person of interest” in the Barry and Honey Sherman murder investigation, the Star has learned through a court proceeding to unseal search warrants in the almost three-year-old case.

Police say they will not publicly identify the individual, both because that could hurt their investigation and — if they are wrong — it would prejudice the interests of an innocent person.

“It could compromise the investigation if the perpetrator knew they were identified. It could precipitate flight, they could take steps to get rid of evidence, frustrate our investigation,” said homicide Det. Const. Dennis Yim, the only full-time investigator on the Sherman case. Yim was testifying as part of an ongoing process where the Toronto Star is seeking to unseal search warrant material that details aspects of the case. Some documents were released last week; more than 1,000 pages remain under seal.

New York City has deteriorated into a lawless state of crime thanks to recent “riots,” budget cuts and police reform, a retired NYPD detective said — challenging Mayor Bill de Blasio’s frequent explanation that COVID-19 is to blame.

Pat Brosnan, the CEO and co-founder of national security and intelligence firm Brosnan Risk Consultants, said the coronavirus pandemic is only part of the problem plaguing the Big Apple.