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The AIH Transcript for September 16, 2024

For more episodes of this podcast, please click this link.

NIL KOKSAL: Hello, I'm Nil Köksal.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening, I'm Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight:

NK: Too close for comfort. After what appears to be a second assassination attempt against Donald Trump, a former FBI agent wonders how a man with a rifle went undetected at the edge of the former president's golf course for nearly 12 hours.

CH: Dreading water. The head of the U.N. World Food Program in Maiduguri, Nigeria, says flooding has submerged nearly half the city and the rain is still falling.

NK: The spark that lit the fire. Mahsa Amini was killed two years ago today, igniting a worldwide protest movement for women's rights. An exiled photojournalist reflects on Amini's death and its aftermath in Iran.

CH: Graced with grace. Black ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince helped blaze a new trail in the world of dance. Her sudden death at age 29 leaves that world in a state of shock and mourning.

NK: Just track no field. Drivers at Europe's Tram Olympics must balance speed control and precision in a series of skill testing events, including tram billiards and tram bowling. Naturally, in a competition that is full of Tram-matic gestures.

CH: And exercise in futility. If your friend's running fitness statistics on a popular app look suspicious, they may have paid a so-called Strava mule to run in their place in a twisted long distance relationship. As It Happens, the Monday edition. Radio that introduces a new kind of sneaker.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Secret Service Support, Mahsa Amini Death Anniversary, Tram Driver Olympics, Strava Mules

Secret Service Support

Guest: Kenneth Gray

CH: Donald Trump is safe today after another near-miss and after an apparent second assassination attempt against the former US president. There are once again questions about how the Republican candidate is being protected. The man now facing gun charges connected to the incident spent nearly 12 hours near Mr. Trump's Florida golf course before he was spotted by a Secret Service agent. Here's what President Joe Biden said to reporters today before boarding Marine One.

SOUNDCLIP

JOE BIDEN: Thank God the President's okay. I think got a full report so far. [inaudible] down there tonight. But one thing I want to make clear, the service needs more help. And I think the Congress should respond to their needs if they need more service workers.

CH: Kenneth Gray is a former FBI agent who now lectures on Homeland Security at the University of New Haven. We reached him in West Haven, Connecticut.

NK: Ken, the question I mean, it's impossible not to think and to ask, how could this happen?

KENNETH GRAY: So that's a good question and one that I've been asking myself also, is that a golf course, unlike a political rally, is a much more difficult area to secure. In some ways, it seems like it would be easier, in that you don't have all the people that you have at a political rally. But there you have people going through magnetometers. You have people checking bags. You have a lot of additional law enforcement that should secure the middle and outer perimeter. Golf course, you have none of that. And consequently, Secret Service had a very hard task where they were trying to provide security for President Trump. But that being said, even if the sitting president of the United States was there, that would not have been sufficient personnel, in my opinion, to be able to totally secure that golf course.

NK: Do you agree with what Joe Biden was saying there, that this does come down to more support for the Secret Service, that this is a failure of resources and staffing?

KG: So, I think that that is part of the problem is a failure in resources, in staffing. But I also think that this was a very difficult environment to secure the area. The shooter in this particular case was hidden in the bushes at a hole ahead of where the President was when he was discovered. He was waiting for former President Trump to get to the next hole to be able to take a shot. But even at the distance that the President was at the time of discovery, the shooter could have shot him there because he had an AK 47 type weapon with a scope on it. And a 400 to 500 yard shot could have been possible without weapon. He was waiting for him to get closer to guarantee a kill shot.

NK: And, you know, on the one hand, the detail that was with Donald Trump saw the barrel of that firearm, as I understand it, from the coverage and the reporting so far, pointing through the bushes. So, on the one hand, they thought that that's good. But when you hear the detail that's being reported from court documents that the correspondents have looked at, that cell phone location data says that Ryan Routh, the person who's been arrested, spent almost 12 hours near that golf course undetected. What kind of questions does that raise for you?

KG: So that means he knew that the President was going to be there that day, but he did not know the exact time he would be in that area. So, he had to place himself in the bushes there and wait through the course of the day for the President to become visible and to get close to him, for him to take the shot. That the President was going to be there but he did not know exactly when. But that's the big question. How did he even know that?

NK: He's been charged with two gun related crimes. As you know, when you assess what we know so far about this case, do you feel that perhaps other people might have been involved in this?

KG: I think that that's why they put the 'I' in FBI office to do the investigation. And so, we will have to see the results of the investigation to be able to say whether there were others involved. I think that it's quite possible that this guy acted alone, that he had his own personal demons that were causing him to want to take action like this. But at the same time, the investigation may reveal that there were other co-conspirators or other people directing his actions. We just have to see that and wait for the results of the investigation.

NK: What more do you think the Secret Service could have done to protect Donald Trump?

KG: So, the Secret Service in their response to this was very good. Additional resources would certainly help. But this was a very difficult environment. So perhaps trying to convince former President Trump not to play golf between now and the election might be one route to take. But the President is going to do what the President's going to do. We saw that when he walked out behind the protective barrier at the outdoor rally after Butler, Pennsylvania, Butler County Pennsylvania in that Secret Service wanted him to be protected after he insisted on doing outdoor rallies. And he still walked away on the barrier exposing himself.

NK: You may have seen the Donald Trump is on social media blaming the Democrats and rhetoric for what has happened. What do you make of that allegation?

KG: I think that this is a contested election coming up and there's a lot going into this. And that everything is going to have a political sense to it. And so, I'm not surprised him making this accusation. But, you know, investigation will show whether or not this person was acting on their own or acted at somebody direction. But I think the rhetoric the fact that everybody is so spun up over this, that it's causing the crazies to be crazy.

NK: Are you worried that there might be more of this sort of thing, more potential attacks or security concerns in the run up to November?

KG: I think Secret Service is always concerned about potential threats to their protectees. We've had two attempts on Donald Trump so far. A cat only has nine lives. Hopefully the second one here will be the last one.

NK: Ken, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

KG: Any time.

CH: Kenneth Gray is a former FBI agent and homeland security expert at the University of New Haven. He's in West Haven, Connecticut.

[Music: Techno instrumental]

Mahsa Amini Death Anniversary

Guest: Yalda Moaeiry

CH: Two years ago today, Mahsa Amini died in a hospital in Tehran after being arrested by Iran's morality police for allegedly not wearing a hijab. Authorities claim she had died of a heart attack. But eyewitnesses and medical records indicated that she had been beaten by police. The death of the 22 year old ignited the "Woman. Life. Freedom" movement, the largest protests in Iran in over a decade, leading to mass arrests and killings of protesters. And a new report from the human rights organization, the Artistic Freedom Initiative, suggests that the systemic repression of women activists has intensified in the years since Mahsa Amini's death. Yalda Moaeiry is a photojournalist who is featured in that report. She fled Iran while on bail after being jailed in 2022. We reached her earlier today.

NK: Yalda, how do you mark a day like this?

YALDA MOAEIRY: The day that Mahsa Amini died is like a day that we will not, never ever go back to the day before it. It's like a new beginning and it's like a day that all the women sure that all the protests and fightings and a struggling will end to have freedom. They don't have any doubt about it. But of course, it's a sad day also.

NK: Yeah. You have documented women's protests in Iran since the beginning of your career. You've been arrested and jailed for your work in the past. How would you describe the differences between that time and the movement that emerged after Mahsa Amini's death?

YM: It's completely different as a person that I have photographed all these 20 years or more than 20 years protests. It's completely different from the silent protest in Green Movement during the Green Movement. But everything's completely changed. Maybe it's because of this generation, the new generation that we have. Maybe it's because of all of this. I mean, fighting people really get tired of all of this. But this is completely different. Maybe we have in some cases we have more violence or something, but people are more serious than before.

NK: You were arrested again just a few days after her death. Tell our listeners about the kinds of conditions you were held in.

YM: The day that I have arrested that I have arrested, like all the people that are in the same place. I mean, they just arrested people randomly without any answer or question or anything.

NK: You were in the streets. You were at a protest?

YM: Yeah, I was in the street. But on the time on the point that they arrested me, it was very calm and nobody were in the street. It was after the sunset, but they randomly just put everyone in the car and in the police station. They just decided to ask about the Social Security number. And then they realized, who am I? Everything completely changed. But all the protesters were injured very, very hard and badly. All women were bleeding and most of them sent to the hospitals. And after that they sent back again to the jail. And as you may know, some women, I mean, most of them had sexual assault, unfortunately.

NK: Were you hurt?

YM: Yeah, me too. I had, of course, not bad as the other one, because I wasn't as tough as the, you know, the young people. But yeah, me too. It happened for me, too. They wrapped my scarves under my neck. They wanted to maybe kill me. I don't know. But I was going to the police station in a very, very bad situation. And they just pushed me in the van. And sexual assault abuse happened for me also.

NK: I'm so sorry, Yalda.

YM: Thank you.

NK: How long were you held?

YM: I was two months in public prison. The Qarchak Prison that's, there's a women prison. There's a prison that's especially for women in outside of Tehran, like near Tehran. But one months in solitary cell in Evin Prison.

NK: Even having gone through all of that, once you were released, you turned to your art and to your experience and photographed women that you met in prison and actually went back to the sites where they were arrested to take those photographs. What was that like for you and your subjects?

YM: Yeah, exactly. I had to do it. It was my duty because I was living with them. I was one of that people. And when I saw that nobody cared about them. Nobody knew who are they and what they did. I mean, they are a very, very brave people. And I just wanted to show an identity and face of the people who are the protesters, because in Iranian history, we didn't have any like information or document that we can show to the world that, who are these protesters? And it was the, I mean the main part of my job and I mean, I was very lucky because all my, you know, subjects of the photos, all the women that I took, picture of them, they were very happy about it. And they wanted me to do that. They really helped me in this way. And it's like a very small tribute to them and to what they did for Iran.

NK: What is it like for you to be outside of Iran now?

YM: I am very unhappy, very sad. Every day and night I'm thinking about Iran. I really want to go back. I wish to go back. And yeah, I hope I can go back. This is my dream. This is everything I want.

NK: What are you hearing from your contacts who are still in Iran? Because as our listeners heard, you're profiled in a new report that that talks about the repression of activists and particularly artists who are women, that that's intensifying now. So, what are your contacts and friends in Iran right now telling you?

YM: Yeah, they put a lot of pressure on, especially of the women and activists. I had a case in Iran and they just opened it. And they asked some of my friends and my families to send me back to Iran. They want to put me in jail again. And this is the first time that I'm talking about it because it just happened last week. But yeah, everything just gets worse and worse.

NK: And so how are people there feeling?

YM: Women are wearing more hijab these days than before, like two years ago. They have to do it because the punishment that regime put for them, like, you know, they are taking their driving license or passports or something. But in another hand, they have this feeling that they can do something. I mean, all of the people think that it needs time, but at the end they will get to freedom.

NK: Yalda, I appreciate your time. Take care.

YM: Thank you so much. Thanks. Thanks for calling. Thanks for the interview.

CH: Yalda Moaeiry is a photojournalist who fled Iran after her arrest in 2022.

[Music: Strings instrumental]

Tram Driver Olympics

Guest: Wieland Stumpf

CH: It is common for those of us who take public transit to complain about it. "Why is the bus late?", We grumble, ignoring the fact that there is traffic and buses aren't magic. "This bus driver is all over the road.", we whine as the driver saves our lives by swerving to avoid grave danger. Well, at an event in Frankfurt this past weekend, Europe's transit drivers finally got the attention and the respect they deserve. They gathered for the European Tram Driver Championships, in which drivers compete in a series of skill testing competitions like one that requires a driver to come to a full stop while balancing a dish of water on the front of their tram.

SOUNDCLIP

ANNOUNCER: And off she goes for the first discipline with start and stop, lose as little water as possible. The softer and the smoother you drive, the less water you will lose. The thing is, if you do it too slowly, you lose time. And timing is a factor in the end as well. So, the braking on target, she's lifting up her hands. That means she has, she had, she has put power on the brakes already. And let's see how much... that was very good, 350 points.

CH: Play by play of Budapest's Krisztina Schneider competing in the European Tram Driver Championships. Weiland Stumpf is the president of the championships, he founded them in 2012. We reached him back home in Dresden.

NK: Weiland, the team from Budapest won this weekend. What made that team so strong?

WIELAND STUMPF: I think you have to know that the competition needs two runs, right? We have a male and a female driver and we take both together for the result. And guys from Budapest, they delivered two perfect runs. And I think that was the difference. I mean, at the end, it was only 50 points before the guys from Brussels, but 50 points are 50 points.

NK: What is a perfect run?

WS: A perfect run is when you collect a maximum of 500 points on each discipline. We have six disciplines in total. You have to finish in the round in a very good time. Very good time means less of five minutes. And on each discipline, you can get 0 to 500 points.

NK: I like that. You make sure to have a male and female driver. And we know that teams train in some cases for weeks for this competition. They take this really seriously.

WS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is really interesting to see. A lot of companies, they do pre-events before and the drivers go into training before to do that. They are representatives of their city and the nation and it’s like a little bit sports, but what we say all the time, please take it easy. Have fun at this time. Meet colleagues. This is, I think, the deeper sense behind the event.

NK: Do you have a favourite event within the six that go through the competition?

WS: I mean, we have classics like Perfect Stop, where you have to stop maybe with the second or the third door exactly on an arrow. Actually, one of my favourite is the tram-bowling where we play with a two metre ball to two metres pins. It is really nice to watch, especially for families, you know. So then trams play with a ball. Yeah, we play also tram-billiards, if you want. I mean we takes driver skills and we higher it up and we transform it in entertainment. I think that is one of the key for the success of the event.

NK: Precision is important if you're... especially tram-billiards, how does that work?

WS: You have to have a very good feeling for your joystick in the cabin, you know, to drive the tram very slowly and soft and touch the cue just... to create just a little bit. It's a regular pool table. They have to push the cue just a little bit and to push the ball just a little bit to get a good point. And I think that's not easy for a lot of drivers because they learn everyday don't touch things on the track, you know, So it needs a lot of yeah, how can I explain it? [NK: Control.] Control of yourself. Yeah. Thank you.

NK: You started this. You engineered all of this back in 2012. This is the 11th time these, this competition has been held. Why did you start this in 2012?

WS: Yes. The Public Transport Authority in my hometown came to me and asked me, could you create a concept for an anniversary party for our tram line, it was the 140th anniversary. And we thought, what does it need for a good birthday party? And the answer was, okay, yes, we will need guests, of course. That was the first idea to invite guests to the party. So, we invited international guests and thought, when we have all this international guests, they should do something together. And on a birthday party you have very often also games, right? I saw all the drivers in different uniforms. They spoke with different languages, but there was such a positive energy in the room that I thought, wow, if we could take this little flame of energy and we can bring it all over Europe, that would be great.

NK: I don't know if it's the same across Europe, but in North America, certainly transit drivers, sometimes they don't get a lot of respect. They get the anger that riders are feeling because they don't like the transit service, what the service is doing. Is it the same where you are? And do you think something like this, is that your hope that you will help change that?

WS: Yeah, yeah, exactly. This is exactly the thing. We take out the drivers from the neutral cockpit and we send them on the stage as a representative for their country, for their nation, for their profession and cities. And that makes them very proud, you know, So and the public transport gets a face on this way I think and this is yeah, one part of the key of the success story.

NK: Wieland, glad we could speak thank you.

WS: Yeah thank you. Bye bye. Best regards to Canada. It was a pleasure, bye.

NK: Bye, bye

CH: Wieland Stumpf is the president of the European Tram Championships. We reached him in Dresden, Germany.

[Music: Funky instrumental]

Strava Mules

CH: Okay. [sound of stationary bike running] "Now it's As It Happens annual ranking of red carpet looks from the Emmy Awards. Quinta Brunson was perfection in a... [phone alarm beeping] Oh, thank God, there's my alarm. Alan Cumming underwhelmed in a tartan getup that was busier than L.A. traffic and Jeff Probst... Sorry, I just need a second. I'm sorry about that. I had to, I had to hop on my exercise bike for a minute. I just got behind on my duties as a Strava mule, as I was saying. Survivor host Jeff Probst wowed in pleather overalls and a velour top hat made by"... Just a sec. I assumed you knew what a Strava mule was. But if you're not part of the fitness world/underworld, you may not. Strava is a popular exercise app. Whether you cycle or run or swim, Strava keeps track of your progress, and if you wanted to, it will share your progress with other people who use the same app. And this apparently is where people like Velijko come in.

SOUNDCLIP

VELIJKO: This is a hard video to make, but I have to confess that for over a year now I have been a Strava mule. So basically, somebody will pay me to run a race with their Strava account on my phone. I did this with the Brooklyn Mile last year and that was my mule PR. I track my stats on my watch and then they get the results on the phone. Sometimes they give me their phones like this, right here is a mule phone for today. Certain clients prefer to give me their phone and they want me to go the extra distance of even like messaging their spouse. Send them a picture of Central Park, send him a screenshot of the run, and be like, Be home soon, honey.

CH: Yeah, I know that last thing sounds more like establishing a personal alibi than a personal best. But the other stuff where people pay him to register running times on Strava on their behalf, that's just about trying to impress people with your prowess, which is his prowess. And Velijko is not the only one. There is a network of Strava mules in Indonesia, where runners charge between 40 cents and three dollars Canadian per kilometre, depending on how fast you want them to run while they're being you. It sort of seems like that desperation to appear super fit might make you super unfit for, you know, human interaction. And if you keep hiring mules instead of doing your own exercise one day you're going to run into a problem.

[Music: Techno instrumental]

Part 2: Nigeria Flooding, Michaela DePrince Obit, Blanchet House of Commons, Springfield Pastor

Nigeria Flooding

Guest: Emmanuel Bigenimana

CH: The magnitude of the floods that have killed at least a thousand people across western and Central Africa is just starting to become clear. Last Tuesday, record rainfall in the state of Borno in Nigeria caused a dam to burst near the city of Maiduguri. At least 30 people are dead, but that number is expected to rise. It's the worst flooding that part of the country has seen since 1994, when that same dam collapsed. Authorities say nearly a million people have been affected by the floods in an area that was already suffering from malnutrition, Emmanuel Bigenimana is the head of the U.N. World Food Programs Maiduguri office. That's where we reached him.

NK: Emmanuel, I heard you were able to fly over Maiduguri recently. What did you see?

EMMANUEL BIGENIMANA: I flew over Maiduguri town. With the United Nations humanitarian helicopter, a couple of days ago. And what I saw was really heartbreaking. I saw homes, I saw public infrastructure. Almost 40 per cent of the town suffered much by water.

NK: 45 per cent of the town submerged.

EB: That's correct.

NK: You're also, of course, surveying what is happening on the ground as well as speaking to people. What are they telling you about what it was like last week when that dam burst?

EB: So, what people are telling me, the people that are affected, really, they have lost everything. This flooding happened in the middle of the night and they were forced to leave their homes empty handed, trying to seek refuge. And they have lost everything. They are really in desperate situation and we are trying our best to help to save lives.

NK: Then there's the issue of the camps where people are crowding into, you know, seeking refuge. Can you describe for our listeners what these camps are like?

EB: Well, if you go to the camps they're really overcrowded and the camps have been built up to start to do two camps, but as we speak, we have 30 camps across the city. We have overcrowded population. So, it's a bit chaotic as we speak because everyone is trying to save lives and also try to seek refuge. And what the situation looks like right now, we continue to experience rainfall and this is really not helping at all in terms of response. But also, the people are overcrowded due to no proper shelter, poor sanitation. So, it's really a disaster.

NK: What kind of assistance are you able to provide under those circumstances?

EB: Ok, as WFP, we immediately deployed the resources that we have on the ground, and we set up soup kitchens to provide hot meals to the people. We started with the initial of 50 thousand people that we reached in the first two days. But when you saw the growing number of the population in camps, now we have been registering over three hundred thousand people. So, we have now plan to scale up at least to reach two hundred thousand people.

NK: Is there enough to go around, enough food?

EB: It's not enough. It's not enough because WFP has been providing immediate food to over 1.5 million people in this region. And as you may be aware, this is really a region that has been already experiencing a conflict for over a decade. We have a Boko Haram insurgency that forced over 2 million people to leave their farms. So, they can't accept their farms to plant crops. And more recently, the country also is experiencing economic shock with inflation and food inflation in particular. That's where prices of basic food prices are really skyrocketing. So, we're already facing a crisis, food insecurity crisis. And we were before this, the flooding there, where 4.8 million people who are hungry, who need food assistance. So, this is an additional burden and resources are not enough. What we need now is really more resources to save lives. And also think of how we invest more in longer term, more recovery, as well as the solutions that we really focus on... climate lens, because these are the effects of climate change that this year, we have been experiencing above average rainfall.

NK: There's another layer to this already multilayered catastrophe that you're describing. Authorities in Nigeria say 281 inmates escaped from the main prison there during the flooding. Seven inmates, as we speak, we know, have been recaptured. And authorities are trying to quell any concern, saying it does not affect public safety. But how are people there feeling about that reality that the prison wall collapsed?

EB: Yeah. Well, yes, the prison wall collapsed. And this is the high profile prison where some of the suspected terrorists were held in custody. And so, they are on the run. In addition to that, we know that the region is also facing this insurgency. So, it's a very insecure location. So, we are trying to protect our personnel and also trying to make sure that the people we serve are also safe. So, all these really compounding factors are very critical, and that makes the response more difficult. But we are here to support and we have as WFP, we have teams, we have experienced personnel. We have logistics and we are ready to support.

NK: How are you doing, Emmanuel? I know this is the work you do, obviously, but it is difficult to see all of this unfolding. How are you handling it?

EB: Well, it's really difficult. I've been working with WFP for over 28 years now in many crisis situations. But I think what we are having right now with me, I do agree it's really one of the worst situation. But we are coping and pushing the teams to save lives. But we need more resources to really to reach the maximum that people who are affected by these devastating floods.

NK: Emmanuel, thank you for your time. Please take care.

EB: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

CH: Emmanuel Bigenimana is the head of the U.N. World Food Program office in Maiduguri, Nigeria. That's where we reached him.

[Music: Funky instrumental]

Michaela DePrince Obit

Guest: Tamara Rojo

CH: When Michaela Mabinty DePrince was a child living in an orphanage, she came across a magazine with a ballerina on the cover. In a 2014 TED Talk, she said that ballerina looked happy to her, and in that moment, she thought that she'd be a ballerina, too. At that point, Ms. DePrince had already lost her parents during the Civil War in Sierra Leone. She'd been dubbed the "Devil's Child" and ridiculed because of a skin condition that left white patches on her body. But Ms. DePrince started dancing, and after she was adopted and moved to the U.S. with her best friend turned sister, Mia, she continued dancing. She would go on to become a principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She also danced with the Dutch National Ballet and more recently, the Boston Ballet. On social media, American dancer Misty Copeland wrote, despite being told the world wasn't ready for Black ballerinas or that Black ballerinas weren't worth investing in, Michaela remained determined, focussed and began making big strides. Michaela Mabinty DePrince died last week. She was 29. Her family has not provided a cause of death. Here's how she closed that TED Talk in 2014.

SOUNDCLIP

MICHAELA MABINTY DEPRINCE: The reason why I'm here today, the reason why I'm telling you my story, is because I want to encourage young people to aspire to dream. I want people to understand that it is okay to be different. It is okay to stand out. I'm different. And I want you to understand, to believe in yourself, to believe that you have talent, even if you don't think you do. No matter what circumstances you are under, no matter how poor or how sad you are at any given moment, believe and dare to dream. Dare to push boundaries, dare to be different. Dare to stand out and all above.

CH: Montreal born Tamara Rojo is the artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet. We reached her in San Francisco.

NK: Tamara, you know, watching that, listening to Michaela for the first time for me, there's so much to take away from that Ted Talk. She's such a natural and powerful speaker who has gone through so much in her life, who had at that point already dealt with so much. What do you hear when you hear her speaking in that clip now?

TAMARA ROJO: I agree with you. I hear her strength, but I also hear her sweet nature. She was very kind and very open, you know, surprisingly candid and very generous. So, yeah, it's not easy.

NK: One of the things I noticed, you know, she had no effect. She was so natural, even in sharing the most difficult details of her life. When do you first remember meeting her?

TR: I saw her first perform in a gala. She was doing a very difficult piece called [inaudible], where this, you know, huge jumps in elevation. And she was just so full of joy and so generous with her performance and yeah, and wonderful to be around. And so, after that, I invited her to come and perform with English National Ballet in London while I was the artistic director there. And again, she was a joy in the studio. She was, you know, despite having already accomplished so much and being an international star, she wanted to work, she wanted to share. She wanted to continue to grow artistically and to learn from others. So, yeah, it was just always, always wonderful to have her around.

NK: She speaks in that Ted Talk about the power of dance for her, even just seeing as a child, a photograph of a ballerina and how that felt for her and how dancing felt for her, how important it was. People, so many people have been commenting about her passing, even here in Toronto, in the National Ballet. Her strength when she danced is something that comes up over and over again.

TR: She was a very strong person. I mean, she had to be to overcome everything that happened to her in her childhood. But she was still, like I said, often, that strength comes with barriers. But she had none. She was completely transparent and completely open, which, you know, is also a strength of character. Just showed that courage that she had to be open to the world.

NK: Did she speak about her childhood with you?

TR: No, not in the context of our professional work. I mean, of course, I heard her talk and I know of her book. And, you know, in the ballet world, we all knew her story. But she, it wasn't something that she talked about in everyday professional context. She, you know, she carried on with her life.

NK: Even with everything she had to deal with personally. She also, as you know, made it a point to talk about representation. In an interview with The Guardian, who you also wrote a piece for today. She said, quote, There are practically no black people in ballet, so I need to speak out, unquote. Ultimately, what kind of impact do you think she had on the world of dance and on ballet?

TR: I think the one thing that is I think, extraordinary about Michaela Mabinty is that she reached beyond the traditional ballet audience. And that's very rare today. You know, most people that we hear about are, you know, they're industries. And so, for us as an art form, she was incredibly valuable and therefore she had an immense impact. She had an impact, of course, internally in diversity in our art form, which is, you know, always something that we need to continue to strive for. But she also had an impact in her charity work with War Child, something that I know was very important to her. So, she was a true, a true trailblazer by using her position and her fame for good, constantly.

NK: Given her reach. I mean, she was even in Beyoncé’s 'Lemonade' video. Many people will know her from that. But given her reach, as you've described, what are your colleagues and friends in the ballet world telling you? How are you all coping with this?

TR: I mean, it depends. You know, some people knew her more than others and some were childhood friends and, you know, almost like family. So, people need to grieve in their own time and in their own ways. But what has been obvious, I think, from everyone's reaction is that the entire art form loved her and valued her and that perhaps she didn't know how much. And that's heartbreaking because I wish she had known how much she meant for us.

NK: Oh, Tamara. Is there, you have so many memories. As much as you're comfortable sharing. Is there one that you want to share with our audiences that's playing in your heart and your mind today?

TR: Yeah, I just think her beauty, her joy, you know, she had so much joy to share and, yeah. And while, she's going to be missed she's also going to be carried forward in everything she did.

NK: It's beautiful to watch her dance even on a screen, I'm sure in person it's breathtaking.

TR: Yeah, breathtaking. She was breathtaking. Yeah.

NK: Tamara, I appreciate your time. Thank you. Please take care.

TR: Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye.

CH: It was Tamara Rojo, artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet. We reached her in San Francisco.

[Music: Electronic instrumental]

Blanchet House of Commons

CH: Today, MPs returned to the House of Commons to begin a consequential sitting of Parliament. It's the first sitting since the NDP ended its pact with the governing Liberals. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre will probably be pushing for a no confidence vote as soon as possible. While the government will need to secure support from other parties if it wants to prevent a federal election. Before the session got underway this morning, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet spoke to reporters.

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YVES FRANCOIS BLANCHET: We are playing chicken with four cars. Eventually one will hit another one and there will be wreckage. I'm not certain that this session will last a very long time and we will have to measure carefully but boldly at once what are the consequences of our decisions and votes. But what makes it easier for us if it's good for Quebec will be in favour of it. If it's bad for Quebec, we will be against it. And nobody says that something that is good for Quebec is bad for Canada. [Term in French], as they say, but this is the way we will behave because this is the way we have been behaving for five years now with a rather significant success.

REPORTER: What seems like an enthusiasm to work with the Liberals might drag down the Bloc. I mean, that was certainly a concern with the NDP and maybe we're seeing some polling numbers that they haven't benefited from. So, are you concerned that it might drag down your numbers? You might be you know...

YVES FRANCOIS BLANCHET: Of course, it's never a nice thing to be compared with the NDP because we are very different and we have had some hard moments in the past. However, some media tend to say, or analysts tend to say that we are in a strong position because we are willing to go against this government and I have it fall if necessary, and others see that we will be open to negotiate. The truth is very simple. If it's good, it's good. If it's not good, it's not good. You've heard that so many times in the last five years and it hasn't changed a bit. I'm not in the business of keeping this government in place. I am as hurried and impatient as anybody to go into election.

CH: Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet, speaking to reporters outside the House of Commons this morning.

[Music: Classical instrumental]

Springfield Pastor

CH: Almost a week after the U.S. presidential debate, the people of Springfield, Ohio, are still dealing with the fallout from Donald Trump's shocking comments about Haitian immigrants. Republican politicians, most notably Mr. Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, are continuing to defend claims that Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets, which are, of course, false. The former president put the city at the centre of an immigration debate, and since then, public events have been cancelled and government buildings, hospitals and schools have gone into lockdown because of daily bomb threats. Pastor Carl Ruby from Central Christian Church in Springfield told the CBC what he's hearing from members of the Haitian community.

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CARL RUBY: They are afraid. They are afraid to send their kids to school. It has been just horrible. They are very frightened and I think some are leaving town.

KATIE NICHOLSON: Is there something that the Trump-Vance campaign could do right now to allay some of these fears? I mean, what would you like them to do?

CR: I would like for them to retract their story about immigrants eating pets and issue an apology to our city and to the Haitian community here. That would go so far toward restoring peace here in Springfield.

KN: We're hearing news today that Springfield had to cancel a culture fest as well. I wonder what you make of that.

CR: Yeah, we've had almost non-stop bomb threats. It just really took off. So there had been tension in our community since last year. There was a school bus accident or a Haitian who was here legally but didn't have a license, hit a school bus and a child was killed. And that stirred up a lot of anger and anti-immigrant rhetoric. And then that had kind of died down. And then our city leaders reached out to J.D. Vance, who was our senator, seeking financial assistance, and instead he kind of politicized it and introduced the story of the Haitians eating pets, which has been completely unsubstantiated.

KN: As a man of faith. I wonder how you see this situation from a Christian perspective.

CR: That's a great question.

KN: Walk me through it.

CR: So, to me, the gospel is about joining Christ in his effort to fix things that are broken in the world, particularly those things that hit people who are poor and vulnerable. And he says, if you're truly righteous, you don't just greet people who are just like you, but you greet strangers. And the word stranger is the word in Greek for immigrants. So, I think this goes right to the core of the teaching of Jesus, is that we are to welcome people who are different than us and to love them.

CH: That was Pastor Carl Ruby in Springfield, Ohio, talking to the CBC's Katie Nicholson.

[Music: Funky instrumental]

Part 3: Murdoch Empire Fate, Tim Horton's Retirement, FOA: Bird Of The Year, Rural Mayors Return To Work, A'ja Wilson

Murdoch Empire Fate

Guest: Jim Rutenberg

CH: Today, The next chapter in the real life 'Succession' story of the Murdoch media empire began. In a closed door hearing in probate court a Reno commissioner began hearing testimony from Rupert Murdoch and his adult children. At stake is the future of holdings, including the Fox News Network and newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal and The Sun of London. The 93 year old patriarch Rupert hopes to ensure that his eldest son Lachlan, will take full control after his death. But that will mean breaking a 20 year old family trust agreement, which gives the four eldest Murdoch offspring equal shares. Jim Rutenberg has covered the media beat in the Murdoch empire for the New York Times for years. We reached him in Reno, Nevada.

NK: Jim, the Murdoch's are certainly not a new beat for you. You brought some details about this case in your last piece as well. Where does this case fit in terms of importance?

JIM RUTENBERG: Well, this really is the most important case involving this family at the centre of so much of Western politics. And this fight is over who among the patriarch, Rupert Murdoch's children, will lead them?

NK: Why is this hearing necessary, though? You know, our listeners may be wondering. He's in charge, Rupert Murdoch. Why can't he just say he changed his mind and hand it all over to whoever he wants to hand it over to?

JR: Well, many years ago, some two decades ago, Rupert Murdoch agreed with his ex-wife, his second wife, Anna Murdoch, that he would leave succession of his media empire up to his four adult children to figure it out amongst themselves. I say adult because he had two younger children with his third wife, Wendi Deng, who were going to now get a piece of the family fortune. But what Rupert's second wife, Anna, wanted was that those two younger children would never be allowed to control the company that would go to the four adult children. And she made Rupert put it in an irrevocable trust tied to their divorce, that he would never intervene, that the four children, the adults would figure it out amongst themselves. And Rupert soon, more recently decided he wanted to change that. But he set this down in an irrevocable trust. That means it can't be revoked.

NK: What do you think shifted? Why does he now want to make sure Lachlan Murdoch ends up on top?

JR: Well, over the years, the family splintered and in part it splintered along political lines where Rupert's eldest son, Lachlan, who now runs the company and who Rupert is trying to get control for. Lachlan shares the worldview that Rupert Murdoch shares. Lachlan is a hard Right Conservative. Some say he's become more conservative. His siblings are less conservative. They're more centrist. So, Rupert had developed this fear that the three children who are more liberal or at least less conservative, would wrest control of the empire away from Lachlan and reorient the various populist Right wing news voices to a more centrist position. And in fact, his second oldest son, who had for a long time been seen as a potential successor, James Murdoch, has been fairly public with his view that the Right wing populism at some of the major news outlets that Rupert Murdoch owns, that the family owns, have become irresponsible, have contributed to a sort of global rise of illiberalism and authoritarianism, in James's view this needed to be reined back in.

NK: Couldn't, though, any of these children change their positions again? I mean, Lachlan could say whatever he wants to say or needs to say now to get his father onside, no?

JR: Yes, the arguments kind of go back and forth on that very question in this case. Rupert Murdoch is arguing that if he were to leave the fate of the companies up to these four children, there will be constant fights and changes in allegiance. And that this would disrupt the business and ultimately harm the value of the family's holdings. So, he's actually arguing that in disenfranchising his other children, he's helping them. It's for their own good because he's protecting the value of the news companies that give their trust as well.

NK: What do you think the shareholders and others in positions of power might want to see after, you know, Rupert Murdoch steps down or after he passes away?

JR: How shareholders will view this really depends on where they sit. Rupert Murdoch's lawyers are arguing that the value of these companies is in their Right wing populism. That's what gives them their ratings and their revenue. And any potential change in that will harm the value of the trust. So many investors will be of that view. The argument that the children would make that James would make would be at times the position of the company has gotten it into trouble. For instance, in the 2020 election Fox News came under fire in a major defamation suit for surfacing conspiracies that voting machines in America were switching votes from Trump to Biden, therefore helping steal the election. Fox News, the Murdoch’s were sued by Dominion voting the company at the centre of all these conspiracies and the case settled out at nearly one billion dollars. So that would be the argument from a James' side that this is not good for shareholder value. But again, Rupert's making a compelling case that the ratings are the ratings and that's the revenues and this is where all the wealth comes from.

NK: What's your sense of how the probate commissioner there, Edmund J. Gorman Jr, how we might assess the testimony that will come?

JR: The interesting thing in this case is that it's falling to this mild mannered probate commissioner operating in Reno, Nevada, in a very quiet way, is now responsible for this jarring decision. But he doesn't have to per say litigate who's right or who's wrong about what's best for the future of the company. What he needs to determine is, was Rupert... and this is, there are legal reasons for this, there are contractual reasons for this. But what he needs to litigate is, is Rupert Murdoch making this change to the supposedly irrevocable trust because he truly and solely sees it as benefiting all of his children or is there an ulterior motive. And is this didn't being done in bad faith to advantage one child above the others, Lachlan. And that's all the judge needs to contemplate. So, he doesn't need to get into the weeds of whether Rupert's right or wrong. He has to determine whether Rupert truly believes it.

NK: You reference the HBO series that was loosely based on all of this 'Succession' in your last piece on the 13th. What do you make of that comparison? Do you think it actually ultimately helps people understand what's playing out in real life or are you over it?

JR: 'Succession' really does closely mirror things that happened with this family and vice versa, for obvious reasons. That said, what 'Succession' often doesn't capture... What happens in the family, this sort of Shakespearean drama made for television really does matter for Western politics. The news outlets that are at stake here are so influential. They're really, especially Fox News in the United States. No single media company is that influential over our politics. In its case, a giant percentage of Republicans in the United States only trust Fox News, almost nothing else. So, its future really will have effect on American and world politics for a long time to come.

NK: Jim, great to speak with you. Thank you.

JR: Thank you so much.

CH: Jim Rutenberg is a reporter with The New York Times. We reached him in Reno, Nevada.

[Music: Funky instrumental]

Tim Horton's Retirement

CH: I hope it goes without saying, but I really like this job. It's fantastic work. I have amazing colleagues, phenomenal listeners, of course, who are integral, even the ones who write to inform me that it's pronounced in-TEG-ral. It's the kind of job I imagine doing for a good long time. By which, though I will stress, I do not mean 45 years. That just seems way too long. And yet, David Rendell says that time has flown by Mr. Rendell, who goes by 'Jed' or 'Papa Jed' to his customers, is calling it quits after nearly a half century serving coffee to Tim Hortons patrons in St John's. And in that time, he says he's seen a lot of change and a lot stay the same.

SOUNDCLIP

DAVID RENDELL: It really don't seem like 45 years really, you know, like it's been a fun job for the most part. You know, like every jobs has their ups and downs and the trials and tribulations. But it seemed to be like a you know, it didn't seem to be that, you know, to be that long.

KRISSY HOLMES: When you started 45 years ago, where were you and what were you at?

DR: Well, I started off as a baker. Everything was fresh baked too. So, you know, we made everything from scratch cakes, muffins, cookies. You know, and when I started, all we made was doughnuts. That was it. Doughnuts and we sold coffee. And pop and that kind of stuff. But that's how Tim Hortons started it. There was cherry, there was black cherry, there was spiced apple. There was, I don't remember. Butterscotch, [inaudible] cream, you know, Boston cream, you know, all them were made from scratch. And now we had them a little while back. But you know, that's all factory made stuff now.

KH: My gosh it must have been so different. The workflow back then when you were making all that stuff by hand.

DR: Yeah, it was quite physical really. We used to do 40 pound batches of dough every time, so it was, that's how much flour it was. So, there was half that again and water plus there was yeast into it and you had to mix it like for so many minutes on one spend and so many minutes on another. Then it had to rise for an hour. Then you had to put it into what we would call heads, split it up into portions and headed up and kneed it and put it back on table and let it sit for another 15 minutes. You know, there was a lot of work to it and then you had to cut it by hand. So, you'd pin it out and it you'd cut it by hand. And you cut all that stuff up. It's by hand you know, your wrists will ache and your fingers hurt sometimes and it's quite a physical job.

KH: Well, what about your co-workers? What have they meant to you over your career?

DR: I've worked with some really wonderful people, like the ones in this store here. They're perfect. I mean, they're fantastic. I mean, speaking with people, there's a lady here. People call her Mama, so, yeah, Mama is pretty good. She knows everybody. Everybody here.

KH: And I hear they call you Papa.

DR: Papa Jed. Yeah. And that started when the foreign workers come, you know, a lot of them from India and stuff like that. And to, I was so much older than everybody else and, in their culture, to show respect. You know, you call your papa. That's pretty cool.

CH: David Rendell, a.k.a. Papa Jed, talking to the CBC's Krissy Holmes about retiring after 45 long years at a Tim Hortons in Saint John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

[Music: Percussion instrumental]

FOA: Bird Of The Year

CH: New Zealand has crowned a new winner of the hotly contested Bird of the Year contest. And I won't keep you in suspense. It is the Hoiho, also known as the Yellow Eyed Penguin. It is, paradoxically both notoriously shy and notoriously loud and screechy. It's also quite putrid. But more to the point, like all the contestants, it lives under constant threat of extinction, with only its shyness and screechiness and stinkiness to protect it. So, hurray for the hoiho! Now it will have its tiny crown to protect it as well. Plus, unlike in 2019, the last time the hoiho won, so far, no one has accused the Bird of the Year winner of succeeding due to Russian interference, which turned out to be just the genuine enthusiasm of Russian ornithologists who had every right to vote in a competition that welcomes participation from bird lovers around the world, even if they are, John Oliver. You might remember that last year the late night host went whole hog with a campaign for the pūteketeke, which he described as weird puking birds with colourful mullets before the votes were in. Nil spoke with Sam Taylor, who was the campaign manager for another bird in the competition from our archives. Here is part of their conversation.

SOUNDCLIP

SAM TAYLOR: I think some of the campaign managers are feeling a little bit despondent about it. You know, he's come in all guns blazing, and it's hard to compete with. But with a bit of time, I'm sure they'll see the fun in it.

NK: Yes, your, your bird -- the kōkako -- is quite lovely, which we will talk about in just a minute. But a little more of John Oliver's pitch. He says, quote, you want elegance, I'll give you some elegance. This is not a good John Oliver impression, but the words are still strong. [ST laughs] They have a mating dance where they both grab a clump of wet grass and chest bump each other before standing around, unsure what to do next. I have never identified with anything more in my effing life, end quote. That's John Oliver, not me.

ST: Yeah.

NK: What is your pitch?

ST: I think that the kōkako, while it is slightly more understated in looks than the pūteketeke, it is just as kind of quirky. It's a bit of an introvert. It's quite elusive. It has spent the last couple of decades clawing its way back from the brink of extinction. So maybe that's why. But it has got a sort of hauntingly beautiful song. They do things like stress eating. They find a mate pretty much just to look after their food source. [NK laughs] And you know what? I feel like that's something that we can all relate to after coming out of a pandemic and wanting to sort of avoid people and just stay in our own space and eat.

NK: Yeah. I feel, to take John Oliver's words, I've never identified with anything more in my life. [both chuckle] Most of the categories, not all of them. But they're beautiful. It's grey, and it has this sort of pocket of bright blue.

ST: Yeah. The blue waddle is sort of the distinctive feature of the kōkako.

NK: I mean, I, as a journalist, I shouldn't reveal my, my leanings, but I'm, I'm Team Kōkako, for sure.

ST: Yeah!

NK: You mentioned the calls -- the haunting call -- of the kōkako. But let's, let's hear them first. We'll start with the pūteketeke.

SOUNDCLIP

[a sort of droning warble]

NK: I think I understand why he identifies with it, no? How would you describe that call? [both laugh].

ST: I mean, it sort of sounds like a sick car engine revving, to me, [NK chuckles] is probably how I would describe the pūteketeke.

NK: Yeah. Or John Oliver in bird form.

ST: Yeah.

NK: Not to be --

ST: Yeah, or John Oliver in bird. But let's go with that. [both chuckle].

NK: Okay. And here's the kōkako.

SOUNDCLIP

[a song that sounds like a graceful kid learning to play staccato notes on the recorder].

NK: I mean, to me, it's no contest. It's soothing. It's lovely. How would you describe it?

ST: I mean, I know which one I'd want to listen to. [NK chuckles]

CH: From our archives. That was part of Nil's conversation last year with Sam Taylor, the campaign manager for the kōkako, which in the end lost the 2023 Bird of the Year competition in a landslide to John Oliver's pūteketeke.

[Music: Trumpet instrumental]

Rural Mayors Return To Work

Guest: Nancy Peckford

CH: For just over a week now, some 280 thousand federal public servants have become reacquainted with their old commutes. New rules have required them to return to the office at least three days a week. And it's safe to say that a lot of people are not happy about those new rules. Neither is their union. There have been protests, a boycott and labour and legal complaints. And it is not just public servants who are upset about the commute. Officials outside the capital are also critical, worried about the impact on the communities those workers leave behind. Nancy Peckford is the mayor of North Grenville, which is located south of Ottawa, and that's where we reached her.

NK: Mayor Peckford, how would you describe what it feels like in North Grenville today and really all of last week as federal public servants started going back to their offices in Ottawa?

NANCY PECKFORD: Well, certainly as a mayor and a mom of three school aged kids, I'm with the community a lot. And quite frankly, even before last week, there's been a lot of trepidation and anxiety and concern in our community on the part of federal public service employees. It's a long commute from Kemptville to Ottawa, only 60km, but certainly up to three hours a day. And then, you know, equally important, we have a lot of local businesses that certainly valued the presence of our public service employees when they were in a more balanced hybrid arrangement and they were watching closely as well.

NK: Does it feel and look quieter?

NP: Well, certainly what I'm hearing is that the clientele is changing. We had a lot of young families and midlife professionals move into the community during and after the pandemic, and rightly so. Some of our businesses are really trying to plan ahead for what could be a change in their clientele.

NK: For our listeners who don't know anything about North Grenville. Can you paint a picture? What is it like?

NP: Yeah, thanks. So, we're a high growth rural, urban community just south of Ottawa, so most people are driving in and that has meant that that daily commute has gotten very long for a lot of our public service employees. You know, we have a very involved community. We have people, you know, of all ages and stages of life. They're volunteering at our local rink with our hockey program or the figure skating program, or they're at our food bank. So, we know that a lot of our public service employees were among those who really wanted to contribute to the community. And the fact that they're going to be outside of the community for that many more hours and days a week, I think will translate into lower rates of volunteerism among that particular cohort.

NK: They might still do all of that volunteering and other contributing on the days that they're not going in, on weekends when people aren't working as well. But are you concerned as well, Mayor, that people might make the decision to move away?

NP: Yes, certainly. You know, we saw during the pandemic both in the public and private sectors that flexibility was being accorded. And as a consequence, you know, lots of families and midlife professionals, again, were choosing to locate a little further afield, you can appreciate, with the housing crisis and the spike in housing prices actually locating here, North Grenville was a little more affordable than maybe being in the city of Ottawa. So, people were making financial choices. They were making choices on behalf of their families to provide a quality of life and an affordability that we believe may now be compromised because in certain situations it's just not tenable to take one, if not two, parents out of the community for 3 or 4 days a week.

NK: I hear what you're saying, Mayor, about the kinds of decisions people were making before. You know, they decided to move to North Granville, kind of decisions people are making all over the province and across the country, particularly during the pandemic. But it was a choice ultimately for them to move there. The federal government has said this is not political. This is about productivity. Fair argument, no?

NP: I think there are many ways to regard productivity and what we saw during the pandemic and what I hear from public service employees is that they were able to optimize their productivity on those days where they weren't in the office, if you will, in a downtown office building, but also accommodate those needs for in-person gatherings and meetings. And certainly, that's why we proposed to the Treasury Board that they seriously consider establishing a co-working hub here in the town of Kemptville, where we have a 626 acre property that 18 buildings it's very well suited to providing another alternative that should be considered.

NK: What do you say, Mayor, to people who don't have the luxury of working from home in any capacity? Who might hear what you're talking about here and think that these public service employees are complaining and are entitled.

NP: Well, you know, certainly we acknowledge that there are jobs where operationally you simply can't do the work from home and that is true of certainly many in our community. But the reality is, is during the pandemic and subsequent to the pandemic, many different employees in many different sectors were able to strike a balance that was good for them, where they believed they were more productive, not less productive, and it was good for our communities overall. And I have many individuals who are in public service employees who say, way to go, Mayor Nancy, we really want to see those residents stay in our communities, support our local economy, and we want to benefit from their time and their energy and their capacity to support local. So obviously, it's not a solution that we can propose for anyone, but we do believe that the productivity gains that are being discussed by the Treasury Board and those who are advancing the policy really deny some of the other, I think, liabilities of going down this road. They need to consider the realities of where those public service employees reside and how they can be most productive no matter where they live in the region. Otherwise, I think you risk having, you know, a high concentration of public service employees in just one community when the reality is, is that the public service overall benefits from having, you know, their employees, some of whom live in more rural areas and some of whom live in urban areas. That diversity of experience, that diversity of location from our perspective can be very beneficial to the larger outcomes of the public service.

NK: There are legal complaints underway, as you know, challenging this hybrid policy. Have you heard any response to your letter to the Treasury Board?

NP: We have no formal engagement with them other than a recognition that certainly we've articulated some concerns. We believe we have a proposal that may be of interest to them, and we're very eager to be at the table.

NK: Mayor Peckford, thank you for your time.

NP: Thanks so much for your interest.

CH: Nancy Peckford is the mayor of North Grenville, Ontario. And that is where we reached her.

[Music: Jazzy instrumental]

A'ja Wilson

CH: The WNBA is having a record year, partly because its players keep breaking records. This season, Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reece broke the league's rebounding record. Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever has beaten the WNBA rookie scoring record and set the league's single season record for assists. But no one's doing it like A'ja Wilson. Last night, the two time MVP became the first player to score a thousand points in a single season.

SOUNDCLIP

ANNOUNCERS: Wilson, four away from a thousand make it two. [crowd cheering] Trying to get some history right now. Here's Wilson for 1000. Yes! [crowd gets louder].

CH: Sound of Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson becoming the first player in the WNBA to score a thousand points in a single season. Afterwards, she celebrated in the locker room with her team.

SOUNDCLIP

A'JA WILSON: When you talk about special, it's in this locker room. I love each and every last one of you. Queen, we just met a couple of weeks ago. But girl, you came in here and gelled with us like you've been with us in training camp. And those are the people that I love because we're very, I'm very particular about who we let in this locker room. So first off, thank you. When it comes to the rest, of y'all the ones that we've been through everything with. I am so appreciative. I don't get any of this without my guards feeding me the basketball. So, thank you, guys. But I hope you all know how much I love y'all each and every last one of y'all [gets choked up]. Y'all listen, I can go on. Y'all are just amazing people. And I love coming into work with y'all every single day because life is hard, we all know what it is. But when I come in to see y'all, it changes my whole outlook on life. So, I am so [voice breaks] appreciative. It's hard. We know it's hard. But I'm nothing without y'all. And I'm so grateful. And thank you so much. Never change y'all. Never change. [clapping].

CH: Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson celebrating in her team's locker room after becoming the first WNBA player to score a thousand points in a single season.

[Music: Theme]

CH: You've been listening to As It Happens on the CBC Listen App. Our show can be heard Monday to Friday on CBC Radio One after Your World Tonight.

NK: And you can always read more about the stories and conversations we feature on As It Happens on our website, cbc.ca/aih. I'm Nil Köksal.

CH: And I'm Chris Howden.

[Music: Theme]

The AIH Transcript For September 16, 2024

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