After years of legal battles, Montreal suburb finally kills deer in park

BANFF, Alta. – A popular selfie spot for visitors to Banff National Park has become a victim of its own success.

The two-metre-high, $350,000 “Banff” sign was installed in 2017 on Mount Norquay Avenue, one of two entrances into the Alberta mountain park’s idyllic townsite.

But the narrow two-lane road, which runs from the Mount Norquay Ski Resort seven kilometres away, is fraught with traffic jams, even between the peak tourist seasons of winter and summer.

Town officials have decided it needs to be moved.

“We’ve debated this for over three years now,” said Darren Enns, Banff’s director of planning and environment. “We’ve finally reached the point that we made the decision to take the next step forward.”

Banff gets about four million visitors a year, and Mount Norquay Avenue sees 55 to 60 per cent of the traffic, said Enns.

In the summer, there are about 17,000 vehicles a day on the avenue, with lots of pedestrians crossing the road from a parking lot to the sign.

“We’re very fortunate to not have any public safety incidents. But certainly that’s always top of mind, and our council has directed us to look at a more pedestrian-oriented environment for the sign,” said Enns, adding a move could happen as early as next summer.

On a recent sunny day in October, a steady stream of visitors made their way from across the road to the sign, causing traffic to stop.

A lineup of about 30 people waited for a chance to take photos, many offering to snap shots for others.

Mike Jones and his wife were among those in line.

“It’s something we always do when we go to a touristy place. We always like to have a memory of wherever we’re visiting, whether it’s Banff or somewhere else. It’s kind of what we do and I know a lot of others think the same way,” said Jones, who is from Fort McMurray.

He was surprised to hear the sign will be moving but said it’s likely the right call.

“I’m sure they’ll pick a good spot and a safe spot,” he said. “If it’s causing an issue, they do have to move it.”

Alissa Kittelson, her husband and two daughters were visiting from Minneapolis.

“Banff was on my bucket list. It’s beautiful. I’ve seen photos and I wanted to come and check it out. I hope it makes the Christmas card,” Kittelson said.

She was glad to get the family photo before the landmark is moved.

“I feel like it’s the perfect spot. We’re right on the edge of town. You can see the beautiful mountains behind it. You can see the beautiful trees. I’d be sad to see it moved.”

Enns said there are a couple of places where the sign could find a new home, including a downtown park. But the most likely location is a kilometre away at the Banff train station, where there are about 450 parking stalls.

“It’s always great to see a project that is so successful that it has unintended consequences around it,” Enns said.

“I’m very grateful for all the interactions we’ve been able to provide our visitors and all the memories that we’ve been able to create.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2024.

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LONDON (AP) — A British man who used artificial intelligence to create images of child abuse was sent to prison for 18 years on Monday.

The court sentenced Hugh Nelson, 27, after he pleaded guilty to a number of sexual offenses including making and distributing indecent images of children and distributing “indecent pseudo photographs of children.” He also admitted to encouraging the rape of a child.

Nelson took commissions from people in online chatrooms for custom explicit images of children being harmed both sexually and physically.

Police in Manchester, in northern England, said he used AI software from a U.S. company, Daz 3D, that has an “AI function” to generate images that he both sold to online buyers and gave away for free. The police force said it was a landmark case for its online child abuse investigation team.

The company said the licensing agreement for its Daz Studio 3D rendering software prohibits its use for creating images that “violate child pornography or child sexual exploitation laws, or are otherwise harmful to minors.”

“We condemn the misuse of any software, including ours, for such purposes, and we are committed to continuously improving our ability to prevent it,” Daz 3D said in a statement, adding that its policy is to assist law enforcement “as needed.”

Bolton Crown Court, near Manchester, heard that Nelson, who has a master’s degree in graphics, also used images of real children for some of his computer-generated artwork.

Judge Martin Walsh said it was impossible to determine whether a child was sexually abused as a result of his images but Nelson intended to encourage others to commit child rape and had “no idea” how his images would be used.

Nelson, who had no previous convictions, was arrested last year. He told police he had met like-minded people on the internet and eventually began to create images for sale.

Prosecutor Jeanette Smith said outside court that it was “extremely disturbing” that Nelson was able to “take normal photographs of children and, using AI tools and a computer program, transform them and create images of the most depraved nature to sell and share online.”

Prosecutors have said the case stemmed from an investigation into AI and child sexual exploitation while police said it presented a test of existing legislation because using computer programs the way Nelson did is so new that it isn’t specifically mentioned in current U.K. law.

The case mirrors similar efforts by U.S. law enforcement to crack down on a troubling spread of child sexual abuse imagery created through artificial intelligence technology — from manipulated photos of real children to graphic depictions of computer-generated kids. The Justice Department recently brought what’s believed to be the first federal case involving purely AI-generated imagery — meaning the children depicted are not real but virtual.

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MILAN (AP) — Italian politicians called Monday for better protection of citizens’ online data following a probe into a hacking scheme that allegedly breached law enforcement, tax authority and other sensitive public data.

According to prosecutors in Milan, the data of at least 800,000 Italians was compromised in breaches dating from 2022 by a private investigative agency that compiled dossiers for a fee on top Italian business and political figures. Prosecutors were still investigating which officials had been targeted.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani described the breach as “a threat to democracy,” while the opposition Democratic Party called on Premier Giorgia Meloni to address parliament about data protection measures.

Four people were under house arrest, including Carmine Gallo, a former law enforcement official, who ran a private investigative agency that is the focus of the probe, as well as the alleged lead hacker. Another 20 people, including prominent business people, were under investigation in the probe announced Saturday.

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