As It Happens

The Liberals brag that their brand-new budget is big and bold. Opposition leaders have have some less-positive adjectives to describe it. And now a Conservative MP has left caucus over it. One of the big winners in today's federal budget is the Canadian military. We'll ask a defence analyst if this new financial attention compensates for what he feels were years of neglect.Kelowna is the first Canadian city to be named a UNESCO "Creative City of Gastronomy". The head of a First Nation pushed for the title -- and says he's savouring the success. A journalist who wrote several books about the late Dick Cheney reflects on how the most powerful Vice President in American history wanted to be remembered -- and how he'll actually be remembered. The next stop on this week's Hometown series is Vulcan, Alberta -- where they leaned in to their inadvertent "Star Trek" connection, sat back, and watched the Spocks fly.Scientists have finally discovered precisely how mosquitoes court and have sex -- and all it took was staring at close-up footage, frame by frame, in agonizing slow motion, for literally hundreds of hours.As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that's proud to announce: no more guess-ti-mating!

Before tomorrow's federal budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canadians are going to have to make some "sacrifices" -- which is not what anyone who's already making sacrifices wants to hear. It's already created a crisis for families that rely on federal food assistance -- and now, the U.S. government shutdown is threatening the child care program many of those same families depend on.The late actor Björn Andrésen reluctantly found fame as director Luchino Visconti's "most beautiful boy in the world". A friend tells us that's not how he wanted to be known, or remembered.We'll take you to Tantramar, New Brunswick -- in the first of a weeklong series on smaller communities across Canada, and the controversies, characters, and cultures that defy their size. A tourist returns a human skull he stole from an Austrian cathedral decades ago -- which reminded us of the inebriated Beatles fan who thought better of a theft nearly 50 years later.A New York man doesn't just talk a good game, he talks the best game: after 20 years of complex computing, he's revealed the Boggle board that would contain the most possible words. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that minds the Boggle.

Amid a messy breakup with the U-S, Canada looks elsewhere -- and our guest says today's meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping suggests the start of a new chapter. As the UN reports on mass killings and executions in the Sudanese city of El Fasher, families struggle to reach their loved ones there. A D.C. woman tells us she hasn't slept for days waiting for news of her uncle. All systems goo. According to science, when you zone out, it's not just all the thoughts leaving your brain -- a certain amount of cerebrospinal fluid gloops out as well. We have just learned that bats in Georgia glow -- and not only that, but a bunch of them glow in precisely the same way. A researcher tells us this new information is illuminating in every sense. If you're trying to figure out how to fulfill your responsibility as a Toronto Blue Jays fan and as the parent of a trick-or-treater, an Ontario man says it's like taking candy from a ... neighbour. As It Happens, the Halloween edition, Radio that listens for things that go ump in the night.

The world is stunned, and arms control experts are up in arms, over U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments about potentially testing nuclear weapons for the first time in more than three decades. The most jaw-dropping story in this World Series is the Blue Jays' rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage. His former coach tells us what makes him so singular -- and what it's been like to watch him make history. An Illinois police officer is found guilty of killing Sonya Massey -- an unarmed Black woman who'd called police for help. Her father tells us their family is profoundly disappointed was not convicted of first-degree murder.We’ll look back thirty years at the day Quebec nearly voted for sovereignty. A columnist tells us what has changed since then - and what divisions still remain. In Quebec, doctors are being encouraged to prescribe visits to the symphony – and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra says it can’t wait to fill those ‘scripts'.A British paper quotes a former New York City mayor criticizing Zohran Mamdani - only to find it quoted a Bill de Blasio, but not the Bill de Blasio.As It Happens, the Thursday edition, Radio that presents an exciting double Bill.

After U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra’s unleashes an expletive-lace rant about Doug Ford’s anti-tariff ad, Ontario premier's says his trade envoy deserves an apology. Paul Well says he shouldn't hold his breath.Blossom Davis tells me about the moment Hurricane Melissa crashed through her neighbourhood in Rocky Point, Jamaica, and the terrifying moments that have followed.A Virginia soybean farmer says the US president has to end the tariff war with China - because it's already cost him this year's crop, and he could lose a farm his family has worked for generations. It’s not clear when the National Guard will be deployed in Chicago, but an active member of the force says that if that order does comes down, he won’t follow it. Thanks to the “mummification” of a 66-million-year-old dinosaur in ancient clay, scientists are able to uncover some incredible new details -- like its pretty special set of hooves. Seems like some Australian teachers don't spent enough time thinking about the Roman Empire -- because they taught students about Augustus Caesar when the exam was on Julius Caesar.As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition, Radio that knows the dangers of running with Caesars.

We'll reach a government minister who is among those trying to make sure people have what they need to make it through the chaos.Donald Trump cozies up to Japan's new Prime Minister and signs a deal that will see billions in Japanese investment in the U.S. An expert tells us that's good for those two countries, and a clear message to a third country: China. Alberta uses its federal Charter override to force teachers back to work. One teacher tells us the labour action wasn't about higher pay -- but about ensuring the best learning environment for the kids she cares about. They had pivotal decisions made for them. Now, the authors of a new report hope their work will help Canadian survivors of forced sterilization make informed decision about their reproductive health and fertility moving forward. A bar and grill in Iqaluit is a local hub for baseball fans -- and after Blue Jays commentators mentioned it on air, praising its hospitality, its manager feels like she hit a home run.As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that's always raising the bar.

A Jamaican living in the path of what could be the worst hurricane in the country's history says he is preparing as best he can -- and thinking a lot about what he endured thirty-seven years ago, when Hurricane Gilbert hit.We'll talk to a Wisconsin mom who's started a one-woman food bank to help families who, in just days, could lose their federal food benefits because of the U.S. government shutdown.Police in France make two arrests in connection with robbery at the Louvre -- and our guest is among museum officials from around the world speaking up to defend the honour of their French colleagues.Chicago's mayor shuts down a reporter who asked about so-called "illegal aliens" by objecting to the use of that term -- and by reminding Americans of some other offensive descriptors that were once commonplace. Maligned and reduced to a footnote for centuries, our guest reveals the real story of First Daughter Eliza Monroe Hay -- and helps get her remains back to the United States -- 185 years after she died, destitute, in France.We'll talk to a diehard Blue Jays fan in the UK -- who, along with dozens of others -- has been taking over pubs in the early hours of the morning to watch the team's historic run.As It Happens, the Monday edition. Radio that senses now's the time to give in to our base instincts.

A former Canadian ambassador to the US weighs in on what's really going on with Ontario's anti-tariff ad, former president Ronald Reagan's own words and the current president's reaction.A Toronto faith leader says the city's decision to replace a homeless encampment outside her church with eight foot fences and a bunch of concrete blocks serves no one. One of the researchers behind new research on antidepressants hopes mapping out their varied side effects will help doctors and patients navigate a complicated pharmaceutical landscape. The PA announcer for tonight's Blue Jays Games got his start at a small radio station in northern Ontario ... and now his voice is the one sports fans inside the Rogers Centre will hear as the World Series gets underway. After an Anne of Green Gables doll becomes online famous, for not the best reasons -- the son of the artist who made it tells us what he thinks about its nickname: "Anne of Scream Gables."  Water skiing squirrels aren't enough anymore. No, in this age of death-defying internet one-upmanship it takes a skateboarding pig to turn our heads. As It Happens, the Friday edition. Radio that promises never to be a boar. 

Just as the NBA begins its new season, federal officials announce dozens of arrests in a sweeping gambling investigation that includes allegations of mob involvement. A Ukrainian journalist rushed to a kindergarten near her home earlier this week, after sirens alerted her there’d been a Russian strike. She describes seeing smoke everywhere. An ex-boxer in BC fights off a mother grizzly bear -- and lives to tell the tale. If you’re inclined to ask an AI chatbot for advice, the Dutch Data Protection Authority has some advice for you: Don’t ask it who to vote for. Soft Cell defined the sound of eighties pop with 'Tainted Love'. A musician tells us about meeting one half of that duo -- the late Dave Ball -- outside a record store -- and the collabs that came next.At only 8 and 10 years old, siblings and baseball superfans Meredith and Hugo Fu explain how they got their start in sports reporting...and landed interviews with Blue Jays stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kevin Gausman. As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that gives minor leaguers major props. 

Canada's financial-crimes watchdog levies its heaviest fines ever against a crypto currency exchange -- but a journalist tells us that, knowing what he knows, it's going to be tough to collect. A spokesperson for the largest UN agency providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians says she's hopeful that today's advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice will help her colleagues get back to life-saving work in Gaza and the West Bank. The fallout from a jewel theft at the Louvre throws the French government into damage-control mode -- but the mayor of central Paris tells us he's still holding out hope some of the artifacts could be recovered. When an enormous manta ray ends up in a tuna net, it's bad for the creature and the crew. So now fishermen and scientists have created a new kind of safety net.We'll talk to an athlete who'll be representing Canada at the upcoming Pickleball World Cup; she says she was sour on the sport at the beginning, but now she relishes it. Monday's worldwide outage didn't just disrupt banking and email -- it also disrupted the sleep of people whose smart beds went haywire.As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that knows sometimes technology just makes mattress worse.