← The Headlines
The Headlines
A Deadly Mass Shooting in Canada, and the Latest on the Search for Nancy Guthrie
00:11:11
Plus, how extremist groups are using video games to recruit children online.
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- [00:01]
A
Day or night. VRBoCare is here 247 to help make every part of your stay seamless. If anything comes up or you simply need a little guidance, support is ready whenever you reach out. From the moment you book to the moment you head home. We're here to help things run smoothly because a great trip starts with the right support. And hey, a good playlist doesn't hurt either.
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B
From the New York Times, it's the Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, February 11th. Here's what we're covering.
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C
Like you, I am just learning about the horror of the tragedy that unfolded in Tumblr Ridge this evening.
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B
In a small town in western Canada, A shooter killed nine people and injured 25 yesterday. Most of those killed and wounded were at the town's high school. Two others were found dead at a home nearby.
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C
An individual we understand is the suspected shooter is believed to have died of a self inflicted gunshot wound.
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B
The top government official in British Columbia said there's still limited information available about what happened. The suspect was described in a police alert as a female in a dress with brown hair. Authorities declined to provide an age and said they haven't determined a motive. Tumbler Ridge, which is surrounded by wilderness in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, was under a shelter in place order for hours until officials said the threat to the community was over. The town only has about 2,500 residents and it's so remote that one woman who lives there told the Times cell service drops out about 30 seconds outside of town.
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C
We take it for granted you go to school, you come home safe, and events like this give us pause about.
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B
That safety, that mass homicides in Canada are rare. After the country's deadliest mass shooting in 2020, where 23 people were killed, the country launched major gun reforms, including banning many types of assault style weapons. In the years since Canada froze handgun sales and expanded the list of banned firearms, those efforts have proved politically divisive in the country. So you have no idea what led them to you? Nothing. They didn't. They didn't say car, make, license, nothing. A few hours ago, authorities in Arizona released the person they detained for questioning in the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. The 84 year old, whose daughter Savannah is one of the most watched morning news anchors in the country, vanished from her home near Tucson 10 days ago in the middle of the night. Reporters caught up with the man after he was released. He said he hadn't even heard about the case and you don't even know who the lady is. Do you know who Savannah Gunther is?
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D
No, I don't follow the news.
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B
Right.
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D
I don't watch.
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B
You don't watch the Today show? No. Investigators have spent days analyzing notes from people claiming to be the kidnappers, including one that demanded millions of dollars in bitcoin. Yesterday, authorities released footage they were able to recover from Guthrie's doorbell camera that gave the first glimpse of a suspect. The silent black and white clips show a masked armed person approaching her front door shortly before she was abducted. The person's wearing a ski mask and appears to have a handgun holstered at the waist. When the person notices the camera, they raise a gloved hand to block it. The camera was later disconnected entirely. Initially, the local sheriff had said there was no footage because Guthrie didn't have the kind of subscription that would have stored the video. But they were eventually able to access what they called residual data. The case has drawn a storm of attention from the media, amateur sleuths and true crime obsessives, some of whom have gone to the scene. Yesterday, a pizza was delivered to Nancy Guthrie's home for a YouTuber live streaming from there. It was not the only delivery, leading the local sheriff's office to put out a statement saying please do not order food to a crime scene. Now three quick updates on the Trump administration In Washington yesterday, an effort by federal prosecutors to indict Democratic lawmakers for posting a video that enraged President Trump collapsed in court. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution. In the video posted in November, the six Democrats reminded active duty troops and intelligence officers that that they are obligated to refuse illegal orders. Trump called the message seditious behavior and even suggested the Democrats should be executed in court on Wednesday. Jurors refused to indict them over it. That kind of pushback from grand juries is becoming increasingly common as Trump appointees push forward with legally questionable cases in an effort to appease the president. Also, the Department of Homeland Security has hired a new social media manager, despite the fact that his former colleagues raised alarms about the content he was posting. 21 year old Peyton Rollins has spent most of the past year overhauling the Labor Department's social media pages, which started promoting an anti Semitic trope and Confederate imagery and used the typeface from the original cover of Hitler's Mein Kampf. According to internal messages and emails obtained by the Times. Rollins co workers repeatedly objected to the content, saying it made them uncomfortable and that it was getting engagement online from far right extremists. Rollins did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The DHS social media accounts he'll now be helping run had already been under scrutiny for promoting white supremacist messaging and Last update the drugmaker Moderna says that the Food and Drug Administration has refused to review its cutting edge flu vaccine. The unusual rejection, which came after the company spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars testing its shot, is the latest sign that Federal Health Policy under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Has become hostile to vaccine development. Moderna's vaccine uses MRNA technology, which was successfully used in Covid vaccines. And according to a peer reviewed study published by company scientists, the new MRNA flu shot is safe and effective. Kennedy, however, has repeatedly criticized MRNA vaccines and canceled funding into their research and development. The FDA told Moderna it refused to review the drug because it hadn't run a quote, adequate and well controlled study, though it didn't cite any specific concerns about the product's safety or effectiveness.
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D
So I've recently been reporting on fringe movements online and researchers are seeing some shocking stuff. Hate groups from across the ideological spectrum are taking advantage of the Internet to recruit younger and younger children to extremism.
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My colleague Pranav Bhaskar has been looking into some alarming new statistics across North America and Europe. The UN estimates that children now account for 42% of terrorism related investigations. That's three times what it was just five years ago. And in Europe in particular, as much as a third of counterterrorism work now involves minors as young as 12 or 13 years old, according to a research group in the Hague. Pranav says that in recent years there have been a few high profile cases, like a 15 year old British girl who was groomed online by a neo Nazi in Texas. She later downloaded a bomb making guide and posted about blowing up a synagogue.
- [07:48]
D
I spoke to dozens of radicalization experts, counter recruiters, parents and young people who have recently left extremist groups. And what they're seeing is that extremists are not just able to recruit and lure children on social media, but increasingly they're turning to video games like Minecraft and Roblox. And in doing so they can meet children with very little barrier to entry and move to chat rooms where they can continue to indoctrinate those children. At the same time as these groups are shifting their recruitment tactics to conscript kids, the kids themselves may be particularly vulnerable right now. In many cases, minors swing between competing belief systems from white power to jihadism, which experts say indicates that the crisis may stem more from loneliness and wanting connection than any particular ideology.
- [08:37]
B
According to some of the experts Pranav talked to, the growing number of kids radicalized online won't necessarily translate to real world violence in the near term, but they worry that extremist ideologies could simmer in kids for years to come. In statements to the Times, Microsoft, which owns Minecraft, said it uses multiple technologies to ensure safety on its platform. And Roblox says it uses AI detection and monitoring teams, adding that no system is perfect, so parents should talk to their kids about online risks. And finally, on the sidelines of the Olympics, beyond the skiing, skating, shooting, luging, the Times has been covering a few stories about the athletes themselves that have nothing to do with their performance or medal count or race times. A few that have caught our eye for different reasons. Yesterday, right after a Norwegian biathlete clinched bronze in his race, he got super emotional on camera as he admitted on live TV that he'd cheated on his girlfriend a few months ago and just really wanted her back. Despite his win, he said it was the worst week of his life in terms of why he chose to share this. He later said he thought the only way he could win her back was to, quote, put everything on the table and hope that she can still love me. Another remarkable story to watch for different reasons. This week, a mother and son representing Team Mexico will compete in Alpine skiing, becoming the first mother son pair to ever appear at the same Winter Games. The 46 year old mom, Sarah Schlepper, is in her seventh Olympics. Her 18 year old son Lasse is competing in his first. She told the we were training together and we were trying to beat each other. So that was pretty fun. It feels iconic. And last one, an athlete from Ukraine, a skeleton racer, says he's going to defy Olympic organizers who told him he couldn't wear a helmet decorated with pictures of Ukrainians killed in the war with Russia. Olympic officials say the helmet violates the game's ban on political speech and suggested he wear a solid black armband instead. The athlete dismissed that and said there are not enough black armbands in all of Cortina to honor the dead. He said he's willing to risk being disqualified and that he will wear the helmet during training today and in races later this week. Those are the headlines today on the Daily A deeper look at the TrumpRx site, which went up last week with the promise of saving Americans money on their prescriptions. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.