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Weekend Newsstand: January 10, 2015
Is it still cold out? Let's just stay inside until Monday morning and then check. In the news: John Tory laments the poor treatment of the mentally ill, Bill Cosby performed in Hamilton last night, and microfibers are the new microbeads—and that's not good.
On Friday, Mayor John Tory called the treatment of mentally ill people in the city, province, and country “a scandal—in terms of the degree to which we don’t provide the care people need,” and said he is learning more about how mental health and homelessness often go hand in hand. “I don’t think any of us can properly put our heads on the pillow at night, especially those in elected office, until we’ve done everything we can to reduce those numbers,” Tory added. He did not make any commitments of policy announcements at the press conference that would affect the city’s treatment of mentally ill or homeless people.
Bill Cosby received another standing ovation after a Canadian performance last night, this time in Hamilton. Protesters had gathered outside the performance and some people inside interrupted the comedian’s show, prompting boos from the audience. Cosby asked the audience to let the protesters “[have] their say” before asking that they leave so he could continue with his performance. “I want to thank all of you here tonight because you stayed with what you believed in,” Cosby told his audience. While allegations of sexual misconduct appear to have followed Cosby quietly for years, in the last several months at least 18 women have come forward to say he either drugged or sexually assaulted them, or both. The list includes model Janice Dickinson.
People familiar with water pollution issues have likely heard of microbeads, the small orbs of plastic that travel into bodies of water from things like facial scrubs and toothpaste. But a new danger, and one that might be even harder to get rid of, is microfibers. These tiny plastic filaments come from things like synthetic fabrics—your fleece sweater might slough off thousands in a wash—and are often invisible to the human eye. Once they enter the water, they’re eaten by fish, much like microbeads. The beads, however, usually pass through fish. Microfibers, because they’re even smaller, can stay in a fish’s gastrointestinal tract and build up there. And while many companies are switching from microbeads to natural substances like fruit pits for their products, microfibers are so widely used it’s uncertain if we’re likely to see their disappearance any time soon.