'Tsunami' of woes: U.S. school shootings spike amid pandemic stress | Canada News Media
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‘Tsunami’ of woes: U.S. school shootings spike amid pandemic stress

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A 19-year-old former student was shot and killed after a high school basketball game a week ago in Beloit, Wisconsin. On Monday, a shooting outside Chaparral High School in Las Vegas left three teens hospitalized.

On Tuesday, five teenage girls were shot and injured outside Rufus King High School in Milwaukee. Also Tuesday, a student was killed and another shot outside the South Education Center in Minneapolis, the only of these cases in which suspects were arrested. Two students from the school have been charged.

Signs are emerging that the stresses and challenges of the pandemic are worsening gun violence in American schools. Researchers who are studying the phenomenon worry it will only get worse.

Already, campuses have been the site of 141 shootings so far during the 2021-22 school year – more than at any point in the previous decade, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

Problems that predated the pandemic – such as inequality and inadequate resources – have grown worse even as COVID-19 has introduced new challenges, like creating such stress that half of teachers say they want to quit or retire early, according to recent surveys by the National Education Association.

What that means is there are now and will continue to be fewer adults connected to students who can see warning signs that a child may be heading toward violent behavior.

“Kids are walking into a system that has been massively weakened,” said Ron Avi Astor, a school violence expert at UCLA. “We’re going to see a variety of different forms of gun violence and violence in general. We’re in a situation where things are going to get worse.”

Astor said there are myriad factors behind the violence, among them the pandemic, increases in overall community violence and breakdowns in family structures. All those issues have created a “tsunami of mental health needs” in schools, he said. And the problems are cresting as teachers and administrators are ill-equipped to deal with them because of burnout, lack of staff and illness.

The problem is not necessarily too little funding, Astor said, but the missing human capital — teachers, specialists and staff who could help tackle the crisis of violence.

BROKEN ROUTINES, MANY GUNS

Katherine Schweit, a retired FBI special agent who focused on active shooters and author of the book “Stop the Killing” published last year, said another key factor in the violence has been parents’ erratic schedules in the pandemic. This means less oversight and less predictable routines for kids, making it even more difficult for parents, teachers and others to see warning signs.

“One of the things that we focus on when we talk about preventing shootings … is what is different in someone’s routine that might indicate to us that this person is on a trajectory towards violence,” she said. “But who has a routine these days? Nobody.”

The availability of guns is another factor, according to Jillian Peterson, a criminology professor at Hamline University and co-creator of the Violence Project research center. The past year saw consistent monthly record gun sales, though purchases have begun to ebb. Peterson said far too many of those guns are not secured in homes, allowing teens access.

One of the most important things schools can do right now, Peterson said, is create crisis response systems and teams so that students and teachers can report their concerns about specific students. This information can be funneled to people trained to evaluate the threats.

Peterson said that while it is impossible to know exactly what is driving increases in violence, researchers agree the decimation of school services is a big contributor.

“We know that a lot of things that prevented violence, like after-school programs and sports, are still not up and functioning in many places,” she said.

“The pandemic,” Peterson added, “has shown us that schools are so much more than schools. They really hold our society together and hold our kids together in many ways, from mental health to physical health to food security. And we lost that.”

 

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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NHL’s Ottawa Senators reach downtown arena deal with National Capital Commission

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September 20, 2024

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OTTAWA – The National Hockey League’s Senators and the National Capital Commission have reached an agreement in principle to build a new arena in downtown Ottawa.

The NCC and the Senators announced at a joint press conference Friday that the arena will be part of a development of the LeBreton Flats site.

The team had entered a memorandum of understanding with the NCC to develop the downtown LeBreton Flats area, with a deadline of Friday to reach a deal.

The Senators will be purchasing a 10-acre site from the NCC, which team president and chief executive officer Cyril Leeder called a significant step forward. He said next steps will include working on the design of a new facility.

The Senators have played at the Canadian Tire Centre in the western suburb of Kanata since 1996.

The 25-kilometre drive from Ottawa’s downtown to the Kanata facility, often made longer due to traffic, has been cited as an obstacle for attracting walk-up crowds — an issue teams with downtown arenas don’t face.

A previous deal to redevelop LeBreton Flats and build an arena under former owner Eugene Melnyk collapsed in 2019 following a fallout between Melnyk and business partner John Ruddy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Toronto FC balances MLS playoff push against upcoming Canadian Championship final

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September 20, 2024

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Coach John Herdman finds himself between a rock and a hard place ahead of Toronto FC’s game Saturday at the Colorado Rapids.

With just four regular-season games remaining, eighth-place Toronto (11-16-3) needs points to stay above ninth-place Philadelphia and 10th-place D.C. United in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt. The two chasing teams are both three points behind with a game in hand.

The eighth- and ninth-place teams meet in a playoff wild-card game, with the winner moving on to take on the first seed in the East (currently Inter Miami).

But Herdman has to balance his playoff push with Wednesday’s Canadian Championship final in Vancouver against the defending champion Whitecaps — a chance to lift a trophy and secure a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the elite club competition in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Injuries are another concern.

Both captain Jonathan Osorio and Italian star Lorenzo Insigne had to leave the 2-0 mid-week loss to visiting Columbus. Herdman said while both are “OK to be put on the team sheet,” the extent of their weekend participation will be decided with one eye on the cup final.

Defenders Nicksoen Gomis and Henry Wingo are out with hamstring injuries.

On the plus side, Shane O’Neil returns from suspension and fellow defender Kevin Long, who missed the last two games with a hamstring injury, is expected to be available for some minutes off the bench.

“There will be some (personnel) shifts for sure, to accommodate the cup final, but at the same time there’s still players that are trying to earn their right into that cup final, on form,” Herdman said after training Friday.

After Vancouver, Toronto returns to league play, visiting the Chicago Fire on Sept. 28 before returning home to host the Red Bulls on Oct. 2 and Inter Miami on Oct. 5.

Colorado (14-10-5) sits fourth in the Western Conference, tied on points with Seattle but ahead in the standings because it has played one less game than the Sounders.

Former Toronto coach Chris Armas took charge of the Rapids last November, inheriting a team that finished last in the Western Conference at 5-17-12. Colorado was 28th in the Supporters’ Shield standings, five points ahead of cellar-dwelling Toronto (4-20-10).

Colorado goes in Saturday’s game seventh overall in the league, with nine more wins and 20 more points than last season.

The Rapids are coming off a 4-1 loss at Sporting Kansas City that snapped a three-game win streak.

“There’s going to be nights like that,” Armas said after the mid-week defeat. “The 29th game (of the regular season) in MLS I believe. You can’t have your good stuff all the time. And we’ve had it for most of the season.”

He called the loss “probably a wake-up call.”

“Everyone’s fighting for something. Everyone’s got something to play for in our league. Every team is capable,” he added.

Colorado is 9-2-3 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park this season, unbeaten in its last nine league games (7-0-2) there since a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes on May 11. Toronto has not won there since a 1-0 decision in August 2008, going 0-5-2 since.

The teams played to a scoreless draw the last time they met in suburban Commerce City, in September 2021.

Colorado’s roster includes Canadian forward Kimani Stewart-Baynes as well as former CF Montreal midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, one of the Rapids’ designated players.

Defender Reggie Cannon made his debut for Colorado mid-week. The U.S. international joined the Rapids as a free agent following a stint with Queens Park Rangers in England’s second-tier Championship and three seasons with Boavista FC in the Portuguese top flight.

Toronto fired Armas in July 2021 in the wake of a humiliating 7-1 loss at D.C. United, the club’s sixth-straight defeat. Under the first-year coach, Toronto (1-8-2) was winless in seven and languishing in last place in the league.

Assistant coach Javier Perez ran the team for the rest of the season with Bob Bradley taking over as head coach and sporting director prior in November 2021.

Bradley was axed in June 2023 with TFC mired in 14th place in the East at 3-7-10, having won just two of its last 17 matches (2-7-8) in all competitions.

Assistant coach Terry Dunfield served as interim coach until Herdman arrived in October 2023.

Armas went on to serve as an assistant coach at Manchester United under Ralf Rangnick and Leeds United under Jesse Marsch, who succeeded Herdman as Canada coach.

“He’s a smart coach,” Herdman said of Armas. “He gets the best out of his players in terms of intensity and he recruits players that fit that style of play as well.”

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024



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Supervised consumption site to stay temporarily closed after fatal attack: Kingston

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September 20, 2024

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KINGSTON – The only supervised consumption site in Kingston, Ont., will stay temporarily closed while the city says it carries out a review of its operations and security after two people were killed in a nearby attack.

In a news release this week, the City of Kingston says “substantive operational changes” need to be made at the Integrated Care Hub.

The city says the hub’s services are “crucial to support the most vulnerable in our community and it will reopen and reopen safely.”

Police say officers were called on Sept. 12 to a nearby encampment where they allege a 47-year-old male suspect wielded an edged or blunt weapon and attacked three people, killing two and injuring one.

The suspect is facing two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Police have said he was not living at the encampment, but at a residence nearby.

Mayor Bryan Paterson quickly called for the encampment to be cleared and the hub closed, a move denounced by a community legal clinic as premature and misguided.

The city says it will leave up a security fence blocking access to the Belle Park encampment and police will keep a presence in the area.

The city says further information will be provided when a reopening date is confirmed.

The move comes after the Ontario government announced last month it would close 10 supervised consumption sites by no later than March 2025 and prohibit any new ones from opening.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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