As It Happens

As It Happens: Friday Edition

Feb. 26, 2021

Full Episode Transcript

Part One

Vaccine: Ottawa
An Ottawa doctor gets the green light to start vaccinating people over 80 a little ahead of schedule -- but she warns that's not a sign Ontario's vaccine rollout is going smoothly. 

Irish Ice Mile Swimmer
Most of us jump out of the shower when the temperature drops but a 66-year-old Irish amateur swimmer jumped into a frigid river, and broke a Guinness World Record by swimming a mile.

New Jersey-Texas Plumber
After the winter storm left millions of Texans struggling with water disruptions and flooding, a plumber from New Jersey drives 22 hours to lend a wrench.

Part Two

Equality Act
The first gay person of colour elected to U.S. Congress stands up for legislation that would ban discrimination against LGBTQ people -- and responds to critics who claim an expansion of his rights means an infringement on theirs. 

Nigeria Schoolgirls Kidnapping
This morning, hundreds more schoolgirls were kidnapped in Nigeria and a human-rights lawyer there tells us the kind of incidents that once became viral hashtags are now all too common in her country. 

Part Three

Virginia Death Penalty
We'll hear from one of the Virginia lawmakers behind a successful push to make his state the first in the south to abolish capital punishment.

Exoplanet Student Discovery
While we struggle to remember if Krypton is real or just from "Superman" comics, two Massachusetts high school students just discovered four new exoplanets.


As It Happens was produced this week by:

Jeanne Armstrong  
Sarah Cooper 
Katie Geleff 
Chris Harbord 
Sarah Jackson 
Mehek Mazhar
John McGill 
Niza Nondo
Kevin Robertson 
Chloe Shantz-Hilkes
and Kate Swoger

Our technicians this week are Reynold Gonsalves and Annmarie Karugonjo. And the show director this week is Susan McReynolds

The writers are Lisa Bryn-Rundle and Chris Howden. Austin Webb is our 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:  

Mary-Catherine McIntosh in Halifax 
Christopher Herodier, Jamie Little and Susan McKenzie in Montreal 
Paul MacInnis in Ottawa 
Frankie Fiorini, Sinisa Jolic, Tahiat Mahboob, Varad Mehta, Jonathan Ore, Olsy Sorokina and Brandie Weikle --  all in Toronto 
Suzanne Dufresne in Winnipeg 
Jennifer Keene in Calgary 
and Anne Penman in Vancouver.

As It Happens will be back again on Monday. Good night and have a good weekend.