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The AIH Transcript for March 1, 2019

Hosts: Helen Mann and Jeff Douglas

Prologue

HELEN MANN: Hello. I'm Helen Mann, sitting in for Carol Off.

JEFF DOUGLAS: Good evening. I'm Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight...

HM: A disservice to their service. Prime Minister Trudeau's latest cabinet shuffle introduces the first Veterans Affairs Minister in two years -- and some vets are furious over the revolving door.

JD: Fittingly, it was a show about nothing. A Nova Scotia family is charged with fraud after allegedly claiming to run multiple, extremely lucrative businesses -- and submitting documents from a company with the name straight out of "Seinfeld."

HM: From laissez-faire to cause celebre. For a while there, Quebec pundits played down the SNC-Lavalin controversy -- but after this week, things have changed in La Bella Province.

JD: Same difference. Scientists are astonished at the birth of Australian twins who are neither identical nor fraternal, but sesquizgotic -- which are as rare as the correct pronunciation of that word.

HM: Been there, done tats. In southeastern Utah, archaeologists discover evidence of ancient hipsters -- in the form of a 2,000-year-old tattooing needle.

JD: And...when a stranger crawls. An Edmonton crime reporter discovers a black widow spider hanging out in her apartment -- and since her new roommate was not welcome, she had to come down hard on it. As It Happens. The Friday Edition. Radio that guesses she told it she was in journalism -- not web-hosting.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Retired army major laments 'revolving door' of Veterans Affairs ministers

Veterans affairs

Guest: Mark Campbell

JD: Maybe it was just an attempt to "change the channel" as they say. But today, amid the controversy over SNC-Lavalin, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau changed his cabinet. Last month, you will recall, Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned as the Minister of Veterans Affairs. Now former Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay will take over that portfolio. Minister MacAulay enters the role with apparent enthusiasm. Veterans, however, do not feel the same. Minister MacAulay is the fifth Veteran's Affairs Minister in under two years. Here he is speaking to reporters earlier today.

SOUNDCLIP

LAWRENCE MACAULEY: To have the honour to represent the people who preserve peace and democracy for us worldwide -- that's a long piece from a demotion -- it's truly an honour for me. And I've always said being associated with Veterans Affairs, 22 years ago, was such an honour and a privilege because we all have to realize exactly what these people do. These people put their lives on the line just so that you and I can stand here and talk, debate, or give news, and feel free. That is why I am so extremely proud, and thank the prime minister for asking me to fulfill this task. And I can say to veterans, I will do my very best to represent you because that's exactly what you deserve.

JD: That was the new Minister of Veterans Affairs, Lawrence MacAulay. What veterans feel they do not deserve is a constantly changing minister. Retired Canadian Army Major Mark Campbell is one of those frustrated veterans. Mr. Campbell lost both his legs while serving in Afghanistan. We reached him in Edmonton.

HM: Mr. Campbell we just heard the new Veterans Affairs Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, saying he's excited to take over this file and get to work with veterans. How does seeing a brand new minister in this role make you feel?

MARK CAMPBELL: Well I think this is the fifth minister in as many years -- and no offense to Mr. MacAulay, but they all say pretty much the same thing. Now if we take what he has to say at face value then that's great news because he's already expressed a desire to work with veterans -- not just with the bureaucrats who make our lives miserable in veterans affairs. So you know it's positive. And I hope the new minister -- we can take his words at face value because he's moving into a real pressure situation. It is a bit of a pressure cooker at Veterans Affairs these days.

HM: Why do you keep saying face value? Have you had an experience of hearing a different story than what you're seeing actually happen?

MC: Well we've had different stories than what we've seen right from the prime minister on down, unfortunately. He promised us a return to the lifelong pension -- and what he's giving us with this so-called pension for life scheme, that the bureaucrats of Veterans Affairs have cooked up, bears no relation whatsoever to the former Pension Act. And you know the parliamentary budget officer has just confirmed what we've been saying for the last eight years or nine years -- that the former pension act was orders of magnitude -- more generous than the pension for life scheme that they're going to introduce on the 1st of April. So we've got right from the prime minister on down, they have said one thing and done another. So unfortunately I have to couch all of my observations about the new minister in those terms. It's very much a wait and see.

HM: Now Mr. MacAulay has been an MP since 1988. He's very senior in this cabinet. Is that a difference from what you have seen thus far?

MC: Yeah it's a change. I don't know if it's going to be a refreshing change or not. I mean that remains to be seen. You know Mr. MacAulay's previous portfolio was agriculture -- which -- no offense to that portfolio or the people who work there, but I don't expect that that is much of a pressure job -- whereas he's moving into one where there's a lot of animosity going on between the Department of Veterans Affairs, which a lot perceived is run by the bureaucrats, and the veterans who they are supposed to be serving.

HM: Now the new minister stressed he didn't see this as a demotion from his previous cabinet position. And Jody Wilson-Raybould said the same thing. But you know it was characterized as that -- when she was moved from the Justice Ministry -- by an awful lot of pundits, and a lot of people out there expressing that opinion. How does that feel as a veteran, someone who works with other veterans, to hear that?

MC: It's very frustrating and disappointing. There's no question about it -- it's frustrating and disappointing because at the end of the day if there's a perception out there, a widespread perception, that Veterans Affairs is sort of the bottom of the line in terms of portfolios, then it doesn't bode well for veterans because it implies that our concerns aren't necessarily going to be heard or met. And we've seen that. We see that with pension for life. The revolving door of ministers really I think it's a fantastically accurate indicator of the attention that this government is willing to pay to the veteran portfolio or the veteran file which is not a whole lot.

HM: Beyond the pension issue then what are the biggest challenges that you think the new minister is facing in this job?

MC: Trust. Earning our trust -- that's going to be his biggest challenge in this job. After five ministers who have had varying degrees of success, but none have had absolute success in representing veteran concerns and needs to the government -- you know I think it's going to take him a while to earn our trust. And we will see if he drinks the bureaucrat kool-aid before he even talks to the veterans like Seamus O'Regan did. We'll see what his attitude is when he gets to the veterans. And you know I find his words refreshing. And I'm hopeful that he's able to live up to those words. And I'm hopeful that the Government of Canada, in the form of the prime minister of Canada, will allow him to live up to those words and do the right thing -- finally -- by veterans after 10 years of waiting since the new Veterans Charter was implemented and the Pension Act was eliminated.

HM: Given all the fires the Liberal government is trying to put out right now, do you think that this is going to be a priority for them?

MC: Of course not. It never has been. The only time veteran concerns are a priority for the Government of Canada is when they think it's going to cost them the veteran vote --which it is by the by. Or if there's such prolonged Canadian public outrage at the way veterans are being treated that the government is forced to take action. Those are the only sort of things -- that and the courts are the only things that will motivate the government to treat the veteran file with the attention and care that it actually deserves.

HM: Many veterans expressed publicly anger with the previous Harper government because of the pension issue and the fact they were unwilling to reinstate it. I don't know how many of them turned to the Liberals, but do you have a sense of the tide turning there?

MC: The political tide is definitely turning against the Liberal Party of Canada as far as the veteran community is concerned, I can tell you that. And that's based on the growing anger over pension for life as April 1st approaches and people are finally realizing what they are or aren't going to get out of it -- which is very little for the vast majority of disabled veterans. So it's a pittance. So yeah there's a turning tide all right. The problem is, where does the tide turn? Because as you inferred there, we didn't fare a whole lot better under the Conservative Party of Canada. So where do we turn as veterans? That's a really good question, and that's probably beyond the scope of this discussion. But I don't know. Because we've been maligned and abused, if you will, by all governments -- of all stripes equally. It seems everybody likes to talk a good game about veterans particularly around Remembrance week -- but once that comes and goes every year, we're just left on the back burner.

HM: Mr. Campbell it's good to talk with you. Thank you very much.

MC: It's been a pleasure. You have yourself a great day.

HM: You too sir. Bye bye.

MC: Bye bye.

JD: Mark Campbell is a former Canadian Army Major. We reached him in Edmonton. For more on this story visit the As It Happens website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

SNC-Lavalin

Guest: Francine Pelletier

JD: The SNC-Lavalin story has dominated headlines in Canadian media for weeks now -- and spawned all kinds of angry op-eds. But in Quebec, among the pundit classes, the story was playing out differently. To say the Montreal engineering giant is a pillar of Quebec Inc. would be an understatement. And despite allegations of pressure against the former Attorney General to intervene in a criminal case against SNC -- many in Quebec were defending the Liberal government and the engineering firm itself. This week however, things shifted in the province -- and Jody Wilson-Raybould's scorching testimony may have been a key turning point. Francine Pelletier is a columnist with Le Devoir. We reached her in Montreal.

HM: Francine what kinds of reaction are you hearing from Quebecers to this testimony from Jody Wilson-Raybould in the SNC-Lavalin affair?

FRANCINE PELLETIER: It's more or less divided straight down the middle. In fact that's what the Angus Reid poll says. You know before Jody Wilson-Raybould's testimony, I would say the majority of Quebecers, certainly the punditry, was solidly behind SNC-Lavalin and giving it a deferred prosecution agreement. Now it's 50-50. Half of Quebecers think (SNC) they still deserve that agreement, and half of Quebecers believe they don't.

HM: What is it about what Wilson-Raybould said that you think maybe has changed the opinion of those 50 percent of people?

FP: Well it's the same here as anywhere else. The whole question of political interference is not a small thing. It's a big thing. I think most people believe, as she herself said, what seems to have gone on between October and December 2018 was not illegal, but there was obviously a lot of pressure there. And that is a sticky wicket. It's a sticky wicket here.

HM: You know I'm reading a couple of accounts -- one of them was a Marie Dumas said on a television program I guess about the perspective on this from the rest of the country and whether it would be different if this was a company based in Toronto and not based in Quebec.

FP: Absolutely. I mean one of the big questions that are being asked here -- there's two big questions that are being asked here which I think are absolutely pertinent. The first question is: why did Kathleen Roussel not agree to this remediation agreement?

HM: This is the prosecutor.

FP: This is the prosecutor -- the independent prosecutor. Why did she say no to begin with? After all, there is a law in Canada now -- albeit pushed through a little hastily with the last budget, but it is there. It's precisely there for this kind of situation. So why wouldn't SNC-Lavalin benefit from it? So that's the first question. Second question: why didn't Trudeau go to bat squarely for SNC-Lavalin? Why did he have to sneak around in the back rooms of Parliament? Why was this pressure all sort of very hush-hush rather than making bold statements in front of Canadians, in front of the press, saying we really believe in SNC-Lavalin, we really need to save those jobs after all. And Trudeau did not go to bat for that. And of course the reason we think he doesn't -- the insinuation is that this would not wash well with the rest of Canada because of this ongoing negative stereotyping of Quebec and a company like SNC-Lavalin.

HM: The whole issue -- we've been discussing -- of the protection of jobs, but there also seems to be this question about whether the Prime Minister's Office was concerned that having a criminal trial for SNC-Lavalin itself would hurt the Liberal government's chances in Quebec. What is the evidence that a criminal trial would hurt the Liberal party's chances in Quebec?

FP: It's not the trial itself. It's the whole scandal. It's the fact that SNC-Lavalin lobbied hard. Some people would say too hard. But they lobbied hard for a law which they got -- they convinced the Liberal government to put in this law that allows for deferred prosecution agreements. And so why didn't it happen? I mean one would think that if the Justice Minister for example had been someone from Quebec, it would have gone through. I think he will gain some support for the fact that he did it. He was on the side of SNC-Lavalin -- but his efforts are seen as kind of not really what they should have been. And so that will cost them as well.

HM: Jody Wilson-Raybould is being portrayed this week by many in the country as a hero figure, someone who spoke truth to power, and did something unprecedented before this Justice Committee. How is she being viewed in Quebec?

FP: I personally that she is a bit of a heroine. I think she stood up to an incredible amount of power, and I think she underwent some very trying moments probably also because she was a woman. So she has become, I think certainly for the native population and much of Canada, a feminist heroine. I think here there's, too much, the perception that she didn't care enough about Quebec to be seen wholeheartedly as a heroine. Some people I think will applaud her and are applauding her. But that's not the main thing that's coming out here. I think the main thing is people are not understanding why this happened the way it happened. She's only half of a heroine in Quebec.

HM: Is there some irony here that all this pressure, which was supposed to be about protecting jobs and votes in Quebec, has the potential to backfire?

FP: In what way?

HM: Well on the Liberals.

FP: Oh for sure. I mean it's already happened because I think they've lost -- if we are to believe the latest poll -- they've lost. Trudeau, here as elsewhere -- it's not as dramatic here, but here as elsewhere in Canada -- the opinion of Justin Trudeau has gone way down in a very short time -- and it's all due to SNC-Lavalin and the controversy scandal around it. So there is hell to pay here. However, should the Trudeau government pull through in October, it will probably be because a good part of Quebec will have stood by him and have decided that they would rather you know go with the devil they know than the devil they don't know.

HM: Francine Pelletier it's a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you very much.

FP: Thank you.

JD: Francine Pelletier is a columnist with Le Devoir. We reached her in Montreal.

[Music]

Old tattoo needle

Guest: Andrew Gillreath-Brown

JD: 2,000-years-ago, at parties, people talked about a lot of the same things that we talk about today. Lousy government, presumably. The weather. And, at least in the American southwest two millennia ago, they also turned to each other and said a phrase that you will hear at bars and condos around the world on any given night: Nice tat. Archaeologists have found a 2,000-year-old tattooing needle in eastern Utah. A study about the rare find was published yesterday in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Andrew Gillreath-Brown is a Ph.D. student in archaeology at Washington State University. He discovered the needle. We reached Mr. Gillreath-Brown in Pullman, Washington.

HM: Andrew Gillreath-Brown how did you discover this ancient tattooing needle in the first place?

ANDREW GILLREATH-BROWN: I was working for the Museum of Anthropology here at Washington State University -- and the museum actually got a grant in the summer of 2017 from the Bureau of Land Management in Utah to work on this collection. And so I was one of the two graduate students that worked on that. And as I was going through one of the boxes -- there's about 64 boxes of museum materials from the excavation. So there's lots of materials. And I was going through one of the boxes when I found the artifact.

HM: Did you know immediately what it was?

AGB: I didn't immediately. I thought it was a really interesting artifact -- something that I had never seen, personally seen, before. And you know it was interesting because it's just a small wooden stem which turned out to be sumac and then also some yucca leaf strips kind of wrapped around the end of the handle. And then these kind of two spines which turned out to be prickly pear spines. And just looking at that part of it, I really wasn't sure what it was. But as I took it out of the bag and started to take a closer look at it with my gloves on, I noticed that there was black staining around the tips of the spines -- and that's what really caught my interest at first.

HM: Right. Did you start thinking then "aha! This is what it is?"

AGB: Yeah. I definitely started having inclinations where my mind immediately went towards tattooing.

HM: Right. So you were able to confirm that through research. How did you find out how old it is?

AGB: This excavation is actually really well dated. It's had numerous radiocarbon dates associated with it. So I relied on the previous radiocarbon dates to date the artifact.

HM: So this is 2,000-years-old essentially. How significant is that find?

AGB: It's very significant. It really adds a lot of information about past southwestern culture that we really could only have speculated before -- particularly on whether even people then were tattooing or whether they weren't.

HM: How similar or how different is this from the kind of tools that tattoo artists today use?

AGB: Well it's quite a bit different. I'm not entirely sure of the mechanics of modern ones, but I believe that they have you know several needles -- very very small needles together. And so in that instance you're using you know small needles -- and these cactus spines are pretty small, not as small as the modern instruments today, but they are puncturing around the same depth into the skin. But the artifact would have been used -- you would have held it like you would have a pen and done a series of hand poking. And I actually did some experimental tattooing with some replicas that I made on pigskin -- and it actually worked pretty well for creating these kind of simple lines. And it embedded the ink pretty quickly too.

HM: It sounds like it would have been pretty painful.

AGB: Yes, probably so. [Chuckles]

HM: Right. And do you know anything about the ink that would have been used?

AGB: Yes -- it's more than likely a carbon based ink, which was a fairly common way for tattoo ink as well as for body painting.

HM: Why would the people who lived in the region at that time have been tattooed?

AGB: So there are a few different possibilities. So during this time period of 'Basket maker II' you have what's kind of called the Neolithic Demographic Transition -- which really just means that people are kind of moving from being hunter-gatherers to becoming more sedentary. And they're starting to farm more. So during that time, as people would settle down more and begin farming, populations begin to kind of grow and explode and you get really high population densities. And so you end up with people -- different groups begin to run into one another a lot more. And so tattooing was a way to kind of manage those increasingly complicated cultural landscapes. So you could mark particular members of your group. And then it also allows not only across the landscape between groups, but it also allows for different cultural meanings to get signalled within a group. So particularly, a different series of lines tattooed on the face could represent a distinguished warrior, or an elderly person, a person that has lots of experience. And it could also be a variety of different social and spiritual statuses -- that kind of signal those different cultural meanings.

HM: How have scholars viewed tattooing in previous research of Indigenous peoples?

AGB: So there have been a couple of really good books that have come out on ancient tattooing that has really kind of brought it back to the forefront of research. So "Ancient Ink" that came out of the University of Washington Press by Lars Krutak and Aaron Deter-Wolf is an excellent book of talking about ancient tattooing. But it has kind of been a topic that was kind of long suppressed and looked down upon particularly by kind of post-European contact because it was seen as kind of quote, a more primitive type of thing. And so it was really kind of looked down upon. And there were a lot of groups that kind of post-European contact, stopped tattooing kind of as a result of that kind of suppression of culture.

HM: Do you have tattoos yourself?

AGB: I do. I actually have a large sleeve tattoo on my left arm.

HM: When you look at that tattoo, does it make you -- kind of -- feel a connection now to the people of this era and region?

AGB: It does. And I have thought that I might actually get a drawing of the artifact tattooed on my arm as well.

HM: Andrew it's a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks very much.

AGB: All right. Thank you.

JD: Andrew Gillreath-Brown is an archaeology Ph.D. student at Washington State University. We reached him in Pullman, Washington. And if you would like to see what that very very old tattoo needle looks like and imagine it perhaps doing its work on you, visit our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Part 2: Edmonton reporter becomes the story after finding black widow spider in house plant

Nova Scotia fraud

Guest: Richard Cuthbertson

JD: If you are a "Seinfeld" fan or obsessive, you will remember the episode when George wanted Jerry to pretend he operated an imaginary latex business called Vandelay Industries.

SOUNDCLIP

VOICE 1: Did anybody call here asking for Vandelay Industries?

VOICE 2: No. What happened to you?

VOICE 1: All right, listen closely. I was at the unemployment office, and I told him I was very close to getting a job with Vandelay Industries. And I gave them your phone number. So now when the phone rings you have to answer: Vandelay Industries.

VOICE 2: I am Vandelay Industries?

VOICE 1: Right.

VOICE 2: And what is that?

VOICE 1: You are in latex.

VOICE 2: And what do I do with latex?

VOICE 1: I don't know! You manufacture it.

VOICE 3: Right here? In this little apartment?

VOICE 2: And what do I say about you?

VOICE 1: You are considering hiring me for your latex salesman.

VOICE 2: I'm going to hire you as my latex salesman?

VOICE 1: Right.

VOICE 2: I don't think so. Why would I do that?

VOICE 1: Because I asked you to.

JD: Okay so keep Vandelay Industries -- that name -- in mind because you're going hear it again in this real life story about the real life cost of mimicking Costanza. Three sisters and their mom are going to court next week in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in a 3.6-million dollar fraud case. It involves children's fur coats, wigs, salad dressing, and yes -- Vandelay Industries. Richard Cuthbertson is the CBC reporter who dug into this unlikely story. We reached him in Halifax.

HM: Richard these three sisters: Georgette Young, Angela MacDonald, Nadia Saker, and their mother, Lydia Saker --- what were these businesses that they were claiming to run?

RICHARD CUTHBERTSON: Well they had registered a series of 10 businesses -- essentially kind of all sorts of different things. They had one business that sold wigs -- hairpieces -- it was called Artisan. They had a children's clothing company called Maddie and Bella's -- and it sold children’s fur coats. They had a catering company. They had Juliette and John -- which was sort of a salad dressing and cookbook company. So these various kinds of businesses I guess you call them.

HM: Now they sound like typically cottage industry -- how lucrative did they say these companies were?

RC: Well this is kind of where we really get to the nub of the case here. The allegations from the Canada Revenue Agency is that over the course of four years -- from January 2011 to January 2015 -- that they reported to the CRA that they had done sales of 56-million dollars. So huge amounts of sales.

HM: One would think a red flag would go up pretty quickly.

RC: I think that's what did happen -- I think a red flag did go up for the CRA.

HM: So what does the Canada Revenue Agency allege that was going on here?

RC: Well essentially what they're alleging is that it was what's called an HST-GST scheme. So what the Canada Revenue Agency is alleging in this case is that the tax credits being claimed by these companies were higher than the HST that was being collected. So essentially these companies were in a refund position. They were trying to get money back from the federal government. In fact they were seeking a total of 3.6-million dollars. And they actually got back, according to the court records, 276,000-dollars before the CRA started to investigate and look closer at it.

HM: Yeah because if you were claiming 56-million dollars in sales that would presumably mean you had a lot of expenses if indeed you were selling that much product.

RC: Well exactly. The allegations that they were doing two things -- you're right -- there was huge amounts of expenses, but they were also claiming that they weren't collecting GST-HST on some of these sales as well. So between the two of those they were saying that they were in a large refund position.

HM: So they managed to get 276,000-dollars before CRA decided to go investigate?

RC: Yeah that's right. And I think there was an earlier auditing process before it actually got turned over to a criminal investigation division -- which is sort of a separate division within the CRA. But yes, according to the court records, they got 276,000-dollars.

HM: When they went to investigate, what did the CRA investigators find?

RC: The companies and the sisters had submitted a whole series of records to try to back up their claims -- sales records, invoices, expense records, and so on. And the conclusion of the CRA is that almost all of those transactions were fake.

HM: Did anyone go out and visit them in person to see what their business operations were like?

RC: Yeah there was a couple of auditors that actually went to interview them over the course of two days -- particularly, Georgette Young who was the authorized representative of the 10 companies. And they went to their homes. And they also went to this sort of business location -- the former restaurant that they actually ran which is known as Spaghetti Benders -- it's just outside of Sydney (Nova Scotia) -- and it was actually quite a well-known restaurant in its day. And this is where they said they were running their businesses. And they went in there. And for instance the business Maddie and Bella's, it said they were selling all these fur coats. They basically just found a couple of pieces of children's clothing in a storage area. And another case -- the catering company -- they went out and visited the farm where the catering company was supposed to be running out of. And they said that they were told that there was no freezers, no equipment, that they'd just all been sent to the dump. There was nothing to apparently make the food with.

HM: Now at some point this Seinfeld reference comes in. Can you tell us what that is?

RC: Well sure. So along with these sorts of sales records they are also submitting expense reports. And one of the expense reports that was submitted from one of the businesses talked about a 117,000-dollars in expenses to Vandalee Industries. And so this is in the affidavit that the Canada Revenue investigator swore as part of the search warrant process. And I can tell you that -- I read that and I thought to myself, there's something in the back of my mind -- I know this company, what is this company. And then I read the next line of the search warrant -- and that's when it sort of all became clear to me. And the investigator -- I can just read to you what he said, he said based on an Internet search and from my personal knowledge -- I know that "Vandelay Industries" is often a pop culture reference to a fictional company created in a television sitcom Seinfeld. So essentially the conclusion this investigator is coming from, or at least the suggestion that he's making, is that they had submitted expense reports that included a pop culture reference to a fictional company.

HM: A pretty well-known pop culture reference.

RC: A pretty well-known one, yeah.

HM: So what is the family saying in their defense? Are they trying to explain this all?

RC: They haven't said anything in their defense. And I would love to know their explanation. I would love to hear their side of the story on all of this. I did spend a lot of time trying to contact them: email, phone, Facebook. My colleagues up in Cape Breton -- Gary Mansfield and Norma Jean MacPhee they knocked on all their doors, went to their houses, visited the business front and so on. But so far, we have not heard anything from them.

HM: When does this go to court?

RC: The sisters and their mother are due back in court on Monday.

HM: Wow. This is one I'm going to be following. Richard thank you so much.

RC: All right. Thank you.

JD: Richard Cuthbertson is a CBC Nova Scotia reporter. We reached in Halifax.

[Music]

Rebecca Henderson

JD: 24-year-old Rebecca Henderson never let her heart get too heavy -- even as she carried it around in a backpack. After being diagnosed with cancer in 2017, Ms. Henderson's heart had to be removed. Since that time she had depended on an artificial heart machine, while waiting for a heart transplant. On Wednesday, Ms. Henderson died from transplant complications. In January, Rebecca Henderson spoke with the BBC about life since her illness. We played that tape for you then -- and here it is once again. And that sound you hear in the background is once again the pumping of Rebecca Henderson's artificial heart.

SOUNDCLIP

REBECCA HENDERSON: Hi I'm Becca. I'm 24. And I no longer have a biological heart. If there was no machine, I'd be dead. There's no simple way around it. I've got all the usual kind of dreams that people my age have -- you know I want to get married, and have children, and have a house, and my own rescued greyhound. But equally there's always going to be the knowledge that things like falling in love and making best friends takes a really long time. And there are sometimes days that I wonder, do I have that much time left and do I have enough time to say to everybody who I love to say thank you to all of them and to say how much I loved them. I'm slightly crazily or perhaps slightly genius-ly -- I'm not sure which yet -- going back to university now. And I'm doing that. Taking my mom and dad as 24-hour carers so if anything goes wrong with the machine, they're the ones who can do the changeover in four minutes and save my life. Going back to uni -- it reminds me of what I've got to look forward to. It reminds me of how lucky I am to be alive.

JD: That was 24-year-old Rebecca Henderson speaking with the BBC in January. Ms. Henderson died on Wednesday.

[Music]

Black widow spider

Guest: Anna Junker

JD: Anna Junker reports on crime for the Edmonton Journal. So she has seen a few scary things in her time. None however was creepier than the small invader that made its way into her home this week. An invader she had to confront on her own. And Ms. Junker's only chance was to outsmart her -- and then, ideally squish her with something. Her article about the encounter is called "My not-so-amazing black widow spider adventure in [my] Edmonton apartment." We reached Anna Junker in Edmonton.

HM: Anna set the scene for us: It's Wednesday night. You're settling in for a cozy night at home. What happens next?

ANNA JUNKER: So I walk in to my place, and I'm putting some things away. And I noticed this shadow in front of one of my plants. And so I looked closer and I realized that it's a big black spider. So already, I start freaking out because I live alone and I'm in a new place and I have to deal with a spider.

HM: So did you move in closer to get a better inspection?

AJ: Yeah I did. So I decided to move in a little closer and take a picture with my phone of the spider. And when I did that I had the flash on -- so it lit the spider up. And I realized after I took the photo that it was a black spider with some red on it. And then my mind went to, oh no! This could be something very poisonous.

HM: Did you instantly take to the Google?

AJ: No. Actually what I did instead of Google -- I went to Twitter, and I was like freaking out on Twitter: how do I deal with this spider? I don't know what to do.

HM: What kind of responses did you get?

AJ: I got quite a good response. Actually some of my colleagues were responding to me and helping me to get up the courage to deal with the spider and providing tips about dealing with it.

HM: But you decided the spider had to die.

AJ: Yes. I decided the spider had to die. I did not want to take any chances.

HM: So what was the method you used?

AJ: Well I was walking around my apartment trying to find something heavy because I realized that it had to be squashed basically. So I remembered that I had a bunch of old yearbooks packed away. So I brought them out and I put them in a pile and I approached the spider. I hesitated trying to figure out how to A) drop the books onto the spiders -- squish it. And just without missing basically. If I missed then I was in a whole lot more trouble.

HM: Did you ever take your eyes off that spider?

AJ: No. No. I was always watching it. Because if I lost it I would be even more freaking out right. During the entire time I basically stayed in this one spot on the web that it built. So that was good for me. So I always knew where it was.

HM: Why not just squash it with like your shoe?

AJ: I couldn't do that. Like what if I missed? You know I wasn't very confident in my shoe squashing abilities. So I was like this needs a big surface area to make sure that this spider will die.

HM: All right well then take us through doing the dirty deed. What happened?

AJ: Okay. So like I said I approached the spider with a pile of books and I hesitated trying to find the right angle. And then, I just let the books loose. And they all fell. And squash. And then just for good measure, I threw a shoe on top. You know that extra piece -- a little extra weight will make sure it is dead.

HM: Then, did you lift up the yearbooks and look at the crime scene?

AJ: Oh no. No. I couldn't bring myself to do that until the next day because I was just too freaked out. I wanted to believe that I got it, and if I hadn't got it -- I just didn't want to deal with that whole situation again. So I just let myself believe for the night that the spider was squashed. And then the next morning, I lifted up the books and there it was.

HM: So how do you think this thing got in your house? It was sitting on this plant?

AJ: Yeah. I just recently purchased a plant on Sunday so it had its web built right near it. So I assumed it was probably from that plant because that was the most recent thing in my house. And I didn't notice it when I bought the plant. But I guess it was probably hiding amongst the leaves and came out.

HM: Yeah what kind of plant are we talking about?

AJ: Snake plant.

HM: Did you tell the store what happened?

AJ: Yeah I emailed the store and I was like, hi just by-the-way I have this situation and I emailed the photo of the spider to them and I was like I have my suspicion that it might be a black widow but I'm not sure and I just wanted to let you guys know. And so they got back to me the next morning and they said that they emailed it off to an expert at the Royal Alberta Museum who eventually was able to identify it -- he believes it was the juvenile widow. And then they left their supplier know as well about my situation. So hopefully it's just a little freak incident and no other creepy crawlers will come out of that plant.

HM: Have you found out how dangerous this juvenile might have been?

AJ: They are poisonous. They are venomous. But they're not that concerning if you are healthy individual. So I have that going for me. But if you do get bit, he said that it's a good idea to seek medical attention because you can get symptoms like muscle spasms and that sort of thing. So you definitely want to, if it were to happen, go see the doctor.

HM: Is it true you named this thing?

AJ: Yes. Yes. It was named Harry.

HM: Harry. Okay. And Harry was a boy?

AJ: Actually, Harry is a girl. I figured that out afterward because the female spiders actually have the black and the red, and the male spiders are more like a dull brownish colour.

HM: If it were in my house I'd be starting to worry if it had laid eggs.

AJ: Yes. Yeah I am concerned about that too. So I got a clear plastic bag to put around the plant so it's in quarantine right now. So I did search the plant for eggs carefully, and also kind of added [inaudible] so probably not very well. I haven't seen any, and I'm hoping that it stays that way because I don't all of the sudden want hundreds of little baby spiders emerge out of that.

HM: I guess not. How are you sleeping at night?

AJ: Well the first night was not that great. I plugged the crack underneath my door with a blanket because I was just too paranoid. But now I'm sleeping a little better now that I know for sure that at least that spider is dead and gone.

HM: I'm glad you're safe.

AJ: Thank you. Me too.

HM: All right. Thanks for telling us your story.

AJ: No problem. Thank you.

JD: Anna Junker is a crime reporter for the Edmonton Journal. Last week she found a black widow spider in her home in Edmonton. And to see a photograph of Anna's unwelcome house guest -- and a video of how she squashed it, visit: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Stevie Nicks

JD: Stevie Nicks is not like the rest of us. If I told you she lived in a castle carved in the side of a mountain, eats only mushrooms and berries gathered for her by woodland creatures, and drinks only morning dew from a chalice made of a unicorn horn -- you would just say, "is the unicorn okay?" And the answer would be yes, because Stevie Nicks' unicorn would produce horn-chalices like Dixie cups. But you take my point: Stevie Nicks is not ordinary. So when she says she has a shawl vault -- as in a vault full of shawls -- you're not just not surprised. You're almost relieved to get further proof that she is not like us regular mortals. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Ms. Nicks says as much, although not in those words. At one point, she says, "I don't do casual very well. Even in my normal life, I'm in cashmere pants and a cashmere sweater and cashmere thoughts." Now I don't know exactly what cashmere thoughts are, but I totally believe that Stevie Nicks has them. Just like I believe her when she's asked, "where do you keep all your shawls?" And she replies, "I have my shawl vault -- they're all in temperature-controlled storage." I assume she is referring to a subterranean ice cave and not, like, "Bill's Self-Storage" or something. Regardless, she may not have that vault forever. As she tells the interviewer, "I'm trying to give my shawls away -- but there's thousands of them. If I ever write my life story, maybe that should be the name of my book: There's Enough Shawls To Go Around." That shawl vault is the kind of revelation that just makes Stevie Nicks more of a mystery. But it's only fair really that she keeps so much of herself under wraps. She's got enough of them.

[Music]

Nathan Cullen

JD: The NDP has lost another one. This afternoon -- Nathan Cullen -- one of the party's most high profile members announced that he is not seeking re-election in 2019. This comes in the same week that Jagmeet Singh won his crucial by-election, and the NDP lost long-time Member of Parliament -- Murray Rankin. Nathan Cullen made the announcement today in Smithers, British Columbia.

SOUNDCLIP

NATHAN CULLEN: Today, I'm announcing that I will not be reoffering in the 2019 election. I can't really properly articulate how much being the Member of Parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley has meant to me and my family. It is one of the most incredible honours I've ever had. It's been humbling almost each and every day. The work has been challenging and it's truly been a vocation. I'm more than excited for the future. This has been a wild 15 years in federal politics. I've seen quite a few things and continue to be amazed by the strength and fortitude of the people of the northwest. And I look forward to serving and continuing to fight for them in a different way.

REPORTER: A number of current NDP MPs have announced that they are not continuing. Is there anything relating all of these events that you guys are deciding to not run again?

NATHAN CULLEN: No. I've talked to my colleagues and all of us that are not presenting again share a very similar story. It's about things going on in life. Some of my colleagues are you know at retirement age -- or similar to me, have served quite a few years either in federal or provincial politics -- and that now is the time. If I were only looking at the political environment right now and just judging that, I would run again because I think we have a real shot of this government coming down and us having a real opportunity. This is much more about where I'm at -- my boys are eight-years-old now, and I think to be a proper dad I've got to start spending more time with them.

JD: NDP MP Nathan Cullen announcing he will not be seeking re-election in 2019.

[Music]

Part 3: Scientists are astonished at the birth of Australian twins who are neither identical nor fraternal, but sesquizygotic

Semi-identical twins

Guest: Michael Gabbett

JD: For the first couple of months, the pregnancy seemed a normal one. But then the mother's doctors were faced with a very puzzling ultrasound. A previous scan suggested that she was expecting identical twins. However, an ultrasound at around 14 weeks showed one of the twins is male, and the other, clearly was female. That is not possible for identical twins clearly. So they called in the specialists. Dr. Michael Gabbett was one of them. He's a clinical geneticist with the Queensland University of Technology. We reached him in Brisbane, Australia.

HM: Dr. Gabbett at what point during this woman's pregnancy did doctors realize that something was really unusual?

MICHAEL GABBETT: Well we had an early ultrasound which demonstrated the twins unequivocally to be identical -- but we couldn't tell much more about them other than that. And then in about 15 weeks a routine obstetric ultrasound was undertaken -- and our identical twins turned out to show that one was a boy and one was a girl. And we thought, well they can't be identical. And we thought something unusual is happening here. And that's when we decided to undertake routine genetic testing.

HM: I mean you were puzzled obviously by this, what immediately occurred to you?

MG: Well my immediate reaction was that the ultrasound finding was wrong. But my colleagues took a bit of umbrage towards my theory. They said no, no, no, it is definitely identical twins pregnancy. Unequivocally. So they said there's something weird going on here.

HM: And so how did you determine what was happening?

MG: Well the initial routine -- genetic testing certainly confirmed that one was a boy and one was a girl. But they had a mixed chromosome complement -- each of them. And so that's when we took a more detailed genetic testing which demonstrated that the twins were 100 percent identical on the mother's side and only about 75 percent identical on the father's side.

HM: And what did this tell you when you started getting these results?

MG: Well most likely we thought they were a mixture of two chromosomes or two balls of cells that came together. But as the more detailed chromosome testing came, it looks like that there was an initial conception which split apart later on.

HM: So this is a situation where you're talking about something called sesquizygotic twins. What is that about? What's happening there?

MG: It's still a bit of speculation, but I guess we've come up with a theory which is based on some work that's been observed in cow embryos -- cow IVF -- and I guess some basic biology. And so what we think is that there's a single egg cell and it was fertilized by two separate sperm cells at exactly the same moment -- that would result in three sets of chromosomes in that egg. Now that's not typically compatible with [inaudible]. It usually develops into an abnormal pregnancy which doesn't develop any further. Instead that very first cell seems to have sorted out those chromosomes and eventually resulted in these two cell lines that I was talking about earlier. Those two cell lines then grow into a ball of cells and then splits in the regular twin fashion.

HM: Why is this such an unusual phenomenon?

MG: Well we're looking at a series of unusual events. So first of all having an egg cell having a double fertilization is unusual. Usually one sperm gets in and then the cell of the egg shuts out the possibility of any further sperm getting in. So that's the first unusual event. The second unusual event would be that the very first [inaudible] of conception has the ability to sort out the chromosomes into different cells usually -- as I said before it results in a pregnancy that's not viable. And then the third unusual thing that's happened is that it splits into twins. So the combination of all those three things happening means that this is a very unusual event.

HM: Do you have any idea what their circumstances are that allowed this to become a viable pregnancy?

MG: No. Not further to what I've just described. I think nature is pretty clever. It's designed to survive. And in this situation it managed to sort out this chromosomal situation which otherwise is not compatible with life. It's one that is compatible with life.

HM: Are there any other cases like this that you've uncovered?

MG: Not that I have uncovered. There was a report in the literature from 2007 -- I mean that's the only other one in the literature that we can find. Since this story was published I have had an email from an obstetrician in the United States outlining a case he has been involved with. And I think that sounds like it's probably another case of sesquizygosis. So as far as I'm aware there's two definite ones -- maybe in the entire world.

HM: What consequences does this genetic makeup have on the health of the twins?

MG: We know that individuals that have a mixed chromosome complement of the sex chromosome -- so that is the X and the Y -- from any cause it can affect their gonads, their ovaries, or their testes. The gonads may not form properly -- they might I guess stay in a primitive state of development which in itself can predispose to a nasty tumour called gonadoblastoma which can be fatal. So both twins are being monitored for gonadoblastoma. Unfortunately the girl had some early signs of the condition and so the difficult decision was made to remove her ovaries. The boy remains under surveillance.

HM: We're just hearing about this case now but the children are now four years old. How are they and their mother doing very well?

MG: Very well. Yes. They're a cheek pair of 4 year olds. I'll tell you what, they look very similar. Look far more similar than what you would expect of a regular boy and girl [inaudible]. Certainly if you dress them both up as girls or dress them both up as boys you would think they were identical twins. But they're doing very well.

HM: Have you had a lot of interest in this case given how absolutely unique it is?

MG: Oh yes. We've had lots of interest Helen. My email inbox is absolutely flooded with questions from both medical people, scientists, and patients themselves whether the people who are twins or parents with twins.

HM: Well it's absolutely fascinating. I appreciate you telling us about it. Thank you so much.

MG: Okay thanks Helen.

JD: Dr. Michael Gabbett is a clinical geneticist with the Queensland University of Technology, and a lead author on the newly published study on these sesquizygotic twins. We reached Dr. Gabbett in Brisbane, Australia.

[Music]

Glen Eugene Assoun

JD: "I am grateful for the outcome. I finally proved my innocence in a court of law." That is what 63-year-old Glen Eugene Assoun said today, after learning that a new trial into his 1999 murder conviction is not being pursued. Mr. Assoun spent more than 16 years in prison for the 1995 killing of his former girlfriend Brenda Way. He was released on bail in November of 2014, after the federal Justice Department ruled that he may have suffered a miscarriage of justice. When he was released from prison that month, Carol spoke with Mr. Assoun and his lawyer, Sean MacDonald. Mr. Assoun's case was under a publication ban and a sealing order at the time. So the two men were subject to limitations as to how much they could discuss. But from our archives here is an excerpt of their conversation with Carol.

SOUNDCLIP

CAROL OFF: Mr. Assoun I'll start with you. How are you feeling today on your first day out of prison in nearly 17 years?

GLEN EUGENE ASSOUN: I feel very overwhelmed. Extremely overwhelmed. Almost a 17 year journey to prove my innocence. It was a nightmare. That's all I can tell you at this point -- it was a terrible journey.

CAROL OFF: Mr. Assoun you're out on bail. You defended yourself in court back in 1995, didn't you?

GLEN EUGENE ASSOUN: Yes. Back in 1999 I defended myself for approximately five weeks at a murder trial.

CAROL OFF: And what was the evidence against you that the Crown presented?

SEAN MACDONALD: There was a lot of evidence. Carol I'm sorry to interrupt but that is probably jump or going across the line into the publication ban that the Supreme Court in Nova Scotia has imposed on us.

CAROL OFF: Okay. Mr. MacDonald can you tell us then what you can? Tell us about the case itself. This is the slaying of Brenda Way -- tell us what you can about that.

SEAN MACDONALD: Well I can tell you that the case involves an absolutely horrific tragedy. And you know there's really two tragedies here. One involves the wrongful conviction of Glen Assoun. But just as importantly, the other one involves the unsolved, in my view, unsolved murder of Brenda Way. And I think that at its roots it is sort of a dual tragedy. What I can tell you about it is that in 1995 Ms. Way was found passed away in the north end of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She was stabbed to death. And beaten to death. And left in a parking lot behind an apartment building in Dartmouth.

CAROL OFF: And Mr. Assoun was arrested later for her murder.

SEAN MACDONALD: That's right. Yeah he surrendered to the police later on.

CAROL OFF: Mr. Assoun -- you were arrested in British Columbia, is that right?

GLEN EUGENE ASSOUN: Yes ma'am I was. I turned myself in to the RCMP in British Columbia probably about two years after Brenda was killed.

JD: From our archives that was Glen Assoun and his lawyer Sean MacDonald speaking with Carol upon Mr. Assoun's release from prison -- after more than 16 years, on November 24th of 2014. Today, the Crown dropped the case against Mr. Assoun saying a realistic prospect of conviction was no longer likely.

[Music]

MSF clinics burned

Guest: Trish Newport

JD: Fighting an ebola outbreak is a monumental task under the best of circumstances. And the circumstances right now in a conflict zone in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo are about the worst. And that is where Doctors Without Borders -- or MSF -- has been working since August to treat the deadly virus. And in the past week, two of their clinics have been targeted by arsonists. Trish Newport is a Canadian nurse and a coordinator for MSF's ebola response on the ground in the DRC. We reached her in Geneva, Switzerland.

HM: Trish Newport what happened at these two ebola clinics?

TRISH NEWPORT: One of the big problems that we have right now is we don't know the whole story of what happened. We know that on Sunday night unknown assailants entered the ebola treatment centre in Katwa and set fire to a number of buildings quite late at night. And then on Wednesday, a similar thing happened. So we had again, unknown assailants that entered into the Butembo treatment centre -- it was at 6 p.m. so we had quite a few staff that were there because they were doing the medical handover -- and these unknown assailants set fire to many of the buildings and destroyed many of the buildings that were there.

HM: You have been in Geneva I understand it since last week, but what kinds of things are you hearing from the staff back on the ground?

TN: Well we evacuated our teams from the Butembo and Katwa area. And you can imagine that for medical staff and even for our non-medical stuff, they're extremely concerned as we are in Geneva about the patients, the family, and the local staff that they left behind. So some of those patients had ebola -- they were in the first centre in Katwa, and then after the attack they were removed in the middle of the night and transferred to the Butembo treatment centre. And then the second treatment centre got attacked. I can't even begin to imagine how traumatizing that is for the patients and for their family. So what I hear a lot from the field is really a concern for the community, for the patients, for the families, for our staff, as well as for the ebola outbreak.

HM: Were any of the patients injured or killed in the attacks themselves?

TN: Thankfully not. There were no patients that were injured. There were no staff that were injured. Very unfortunately on Sunday night many patients families fled during the attack. So later on they found one of the caretakers dead a little ways away from the treatment centre.

HM: Now as for these patients where are they now?

TN: They were all transferred to another ebola facility that was in the area.

HM: And are they getting the treatment they need at this other facility?

TN: It's a very good question -- at this moment I'm not sure if they're receiving the experimental treatments that were being done under the randomized controlled trial. The randomized controlled trial at this moment isn't functioning. But what we do know is that there's not as many beds. The two other facilities: one had 96 beds and one had 60 beds. So not having them open really limits the number of patients that can be managed.

HM: There have been ongoing concerns about the lack of trust in health agencies there and how that may be hampering the ebola response in the DRC. What's your sense of that?

TN: So the two things we take separately right now -- so the attack on the treatment centres and the lack of trust from the community because we don't know why the centres were attacked. But for sure we have seen since the beginning of this outbreak that there is a lack of trust within the community. If you don't have the trust of the community, you can't actually have functioning activities that are going to end the outbreak.

HM: So what causes that lack of trust?

TN: It's a number of different things. Where we are working is quite a complex area -- it's an area that has had years of active conflict. There's a lot of different access problems -- a lot of the different actors, MSF included, we have had problems going into the peripheries outside of the community, outside of the city, to really engage with the community, have dialogue with them, build their trust, be able to answer their questions, and talk with them how they want the outbreak to be managed. And I think that at this moment we have to review that and see how we're wanting to engage in the community to be able to build their trust so that all of the activities are able to function.

HM: What is the security situation for MSF and other agencies there? I mean do you travel with protection?

TN: So MSF does not travel with armed escorts. We do not use armed guards. And we believe that our security comes from building strong connections with the community.

HM: You have been working on the Ebola response for two years now. Have you dealt with a situation as complex as this one before?

TN: It's definitely complex right now. It's difficult for the teams but it's also really difficult for the population and for the patients. And it's really scary.

HM: This area of Congo -- North Kivu -- is on the border of Uganda and Rwanda. If health agencies can't control the outbreak, what are the risks it could spread to other countries?

TN: There's definitely a risk. We cannot predict what is going to happen in the outbreak. That's the nature of ebola outbreaks. But it's the threat of the disease spreading in other parts of the Congo as well as across the border.

HM: Ms. Newport I wish you the very best in getting that treatment back in place. And I appreciate you telling us what's happened.

TN: Thank you very much.

JD: Trish Newport is a Canadian nurse and a coordinator for MSF's ebola response on the ground in the DRC. We reached her in Geneva, Switzerland.

[Music]

Katherine Helmond

JD: We never knew for sure who the boss was. But with her quick wit and brilliant timing Katherine Helmond was clearly in charge when she was on-screen -- and she stole every scene she was in. The star of "Who's The Boss" and "Soap" died Saturday of complications from Alzheimer's. She was 89 years old. The Texas actor spent years in small dramatic parts on television and theater before she hit her stride in comedy. And then came the soap parody, "Soap." Suddenly she was being recognized for her talent and recognized everywhere she went. She would go on to shine as Mona Robinson in "Who's The Boss" and as a cosmetic surgery-addicted mother in "Brazil." In November of 1988, Ms. Helmond spoke with CBC Prime Time host Ralph Benmergui from London, England, about breaking into the world of television at the age of 40 -- and why the Brits loved her so. From our archives, here's part of that conversation.

SOUNDCLIP

KATHERINE HELMOND: I think it's the madness. I think that the English like silly. You know there's a genre of writing here too that is very appealing about the upper classes that are a bit ditsy. So it gives everybody a chance to laugh at old moneybags who can't get through the day. And I think that's enjoyable. I think also they rather enjoy women that look like nice respectable ladies who really are quite mad underneath the quaff and the painted nails.

RALPH BENMERGUI: Now with this 40 years plus -- I mean life is zooming into acceleration at 40, do you recommend this for all of us that we take off even higher?

KATHERINE HELMOND: Yes absolutely. I think life does begin at 40, and gets better at 50. And I would like to be like Ruth Gordon. I would like to work till the very last day. Do a film, go home, lie down, go to sleep, and that is the end of it.

RALPH BENMERGUI: Wouldn't it be glorious eh?

KATHERINE HELMOND: I think that it keeps you young. I think it keeps you part of your times. I think if you give up in life -- you know you don't stand still, you start shrinking, you go backwards.

RALPH BENMERGUI: Now USA Today -- they called you recently the top second banana on TV today -- that you the perfect foil for other characters on Who's The Boss. Do you see yourself as that perfect foil for these other characters?

KATHERINE HELMOND: I do indeed. And of course that's an expression that comes from vaudeville. The Banana was the whole thing you know the person that really made the thing kick. And I do think that I'm a good catalyst in a show. I think I come in with a kind of energy and a fine madness that throws the scene up for grabs and kind of challenges the other people.

RALPH BENMERGUI: Is this typecasting? Are you like this in real life?

KATHERINE HELMOND: I'm nothing like that at all. It is all acting. I think I'm rather conservative as a matter of fact -- very organized. Very dependable. Rather quiet and soft spoken. And maybe that's why I enjoy doing mad characters. It gives me an outlet to sort of leap in and act out what I don't do in real life.

JD: From 1988, that was Katherine Helmond in conversation with CBC Prime Time host Ralph Benmergui. The "Soap" and "Who's The Boss" star has died. She was 89 years old.

[Music]

Beers

JD: You're walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, you want a beer. A big beer. Actually, not just big. Gigantic. And then you see the sign: "Huge Ass Beers." There it is. Perfect. But as you walk toward the bar advertising "Huge Ass Beers" you see another place -- another sign, "Giant Ass Beer." Well now what are you going to do? Ass-wise, is Huge bigger than Giant, or vice versa? You wanted too much beer, but this is just too much. You sit down on the curb, and you weep until the tears run down into your beads. This is the nightmare scenario envisioned by the owners of the New Orleans businesses that invented and trademarked the brand "Huge Ass Beers." And it is why on Tuesday they filed a lawsuit in federal court against a different group of New Orleans businesses which market a rival product called "Giant Ass Beer." Apparently there's been bad blood between the two sets of businesses all of which occupy the same stretch of Bourbon Street. The Huge Ass Beer people say the Giant Ass Beer people are just trying to get back at them after what they call a quote, "soured business relationship." In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs helpfully, and indignantly, point out that quote, "'Giant' is synonymous with both 'Huge' and 'Big.'" They do not directly address the "ass" part, but I guess that literally goes without saying. The lawsuit was just filed three days ago. But the New Orleans Advocate reports that as of yesterday Giant Ass Beer has already vanished from the bars that used to serve it. I guess they figured they'd probably lose the case and did not want to be found guilty by ass-association.

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March 1, 2019 Episode Transcript

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