Two advocacy groups say detainees in Texas' juvenile prisons suffer from frequent physical and sexually abuse, inadequate mental healthcare and high rates of staff turnover. Texas Appleseed and Disability Rights Texas asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Texas Juvenile Justice Department lockups in a complaint Wednesday. The groups allege the hundreds of youth held in five secure state facilities continue to have their rights violated despite recent and long-standing efforts to reform the Texas youth corrections systems. A Texas Juvenile Justice Department spokesman did not

The BC College of Family Physicians has issued its report card on the election platforms of the province's three main political parties, and it gives the highest marks to New Democrat proposals. The NDP, Liberal and Green platforms could receive a maximum of 10 points on each of four issues, access to a family doctor, Indigenous health, pandemic readiness and the overdose crisis. Liberals scored six out of ten on all four questions, the Greens received a perfect ten on proposals to handle the overdose crisis, eight for access to a family doctor and Indigenous health but only two out of 10 for

New Democrat Leader John Horgan is campaigning in ridings traditionally held by the B.C. Liberals in the waning days of the provincial election. Horgan says people are seeing the NDP differently after the past 3 1/2 years in government because the party has shown it can balance the books and spur economic growth. Horgan was campaigning in Langley and was later scheduled to visit Abbotsford, areas where the Liberals have done well in the past. The NDP has also made a push in Green Leader Sonia Furstenau's Cowichan Valley riding, where federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh recently visited. In her ri

The federal Green party will vote against a Conservative motion to form a committee to investigate Liberal spending on COVID-19. The three Green votes would all but assure defeat of the Tory motion. The Liberals said the motion meant the Trudeau government had lost the confidence of Parliament. When a government loses a confidence vote, an election quickly ensues. The Bloc Quebecois earlier indicated its members would back the Tories. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh would not say if his party will vote with the Liberals. But he did say he would not allow the Liberals to be able to hold an election.

A woman is dead and a man and two-year-old child were injured in a stabbing Tuesday night in Surrey, B.C. A statement from Surrey RCMP says the victims were attacked at about 9 p.m. in a home in the Newton neighbourhood. Police say a suspect was in custody. The woman was still alive when police arrived and the man and toddler were seriously hurt. All three were rushed to hospital where the woman was pronounced dead, but police say the other two were recovering. The suspect was located near the home.

There will be no fall federal election. A motion by the Conservatives to form a committee to investigate Liberal COVID-19 spending has been defeated. The Liberals deemed it to be a confidence motion, which could have sparked an election if it passed. It was defeated in a vote of 180 to 146. The Conservatives had dubbed their proposed committee as an ``anti-corruption'' committee, which prompted the Liberals to say that made it a confidence matter. The Conservatives then tried to amend the name, but that amendment was defeated before the main vote today. But those opposition MPs made it clear

Melania Trump's return to the campaign trail will have to wait. Her chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, said Tuesday that Mrs. Trump continues to feel better every day following her recent recovery from COVID-19 but has a lingering cough. Grisham says the first lady has decided not to accompany President Donald Trump to a campaign rally Tuesday evening in Erie, Pennsylvania, out of an abundance of caution. Mrs. Trump's last public appearance was during the Sept. 29 presidential debate in Ohio and she and the Republican president received their positive test results in early October. The first

A nine-month investigation has led to 16 arrests and 138 criminal charges, mainly drug-trafficking counts, in eastern Ontario and Quebec, police say. The Ontario Provincial Police say they executed 12 search warrants in Ottawa as well as Gatineau and Luskville, Que., last Thursday with help from the Surete du Quebec. Police say they were targeting wholesale drug sellers linked with criminal networks in Ontario, including outlaw motorcycle gangs, as well as Ottawa and Quebec-based criminal organizations supplying drugs to mid-level traffickers and street gangs. In the raids police say they sei

The Oceanside RCMP detachment on Vancouver Island says charges have been laid following a ``lengthy and complex'' investigation into a fatal hit-and-run more than a year ago. A statement from the detachment says 35 year old Ryan Grob has been charged with several counts including dangerous driving causing death and impaired driving, while 31 year old Travis Taylor has been charged with one count of obstruction of justice. Police allege Grob was driving and Taylor was a passenger when a 32 year old man was hit and killed while crossing a Parksville street in August of last year. Court document