As It Happens, Friday Edition

Part One

Zika virus: reproductive health
Pregnant women in Brazil who've contracted the Zika virus have little recourse, because abortions are illegal and contraception is hard to come by — but activists are fighting to change that. 

Lois Weisberg
Malcolm Gladwell remembers a woman who connected everyone in Chicago's arts scene to everyone else: a dynamic "connector" named Lois Weisberg. 

Toilet artist
Conceptual artist Lisa Levy sends a message to the art world about pretension and self-importance. She will sit on a toilet for hours, naked, in a New York gallery.  

Part Two

Yoga assault settlement
The founder of Bikram Yoga, Bikram Choudhury, is ordered to pay millions in damages to a former legal advisor he sexually harassed — and the accusations don't stop there. 

Cowboy poetry 
Versifiers, musicians, and ranchfolk gather at the 32nd annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Nevada — where seldom is heard a discouraging word. 

Part Three

Michigan water
New documents show that, while residents of Flint, Michigan were being told their water was safe, some state employees were given the choice of drinking purified water at work. 

Dutch refugees
The Dutch Labour Party, with the support of the Dutch Prime Minister, has put forward a plan for the EU to accept up to 250,000 refugees directly from Turkey, while shipping back any refugees who arrive in Greece via boat.

Car accident
When a terrible car accident happens outside the window of his shop, an Ontario man rushes to the wreckage to help. 

As it Happens was produced this week by: 

Laurie Allan
Jeanne Armstrong
Imogen Birchard
Dawna Dingwall
Katie Geleff
Chris Harbord 
Sean Laughlin
Kevin Robertson
Pedro Sanchez
and Kate Swoger. 

Our technician is Reynold Gonsalves.The show director is John McGill. Chris Howden is our writer.  

John Perry is the Senior Producer. And the Executive Producer of As It Happens is Robin Smythe.

We'd also like to thank some other people who helped us out this week: 

Angela McIvor and Sandy Smith in Halifax
Susan McKenzie in Montreal
Matthew Kupfer in Ottawa
Michael D'Souza, Keith Hart and Tim Lorimer in Toronto
Jody Porter in Thunder Bay
Suzanne Dufresne in Winnipeg
Michael O'Halloran in Calgary
and Anne Penman in Vancouver.

As It Happens will be back again on Monday. Goodnight, and good weekend.