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As residents of western North Carolina piece together their lives following Hurricane Helene, few will be able to rely on federal flood insurance to help them rebuild.

Roughly 1 in 200 single-family homes in the region is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), according to a Reuters analysis of federal government data – a far lower level of coverage than can be found in the coastal and riverside neighborhoods the program was designed to serve.

That is because the federal program is focused on the flood risks posed only by rising seas and swelling rivers, not the threat posed by the sort of extreme rainfall brought on by Helene.

The storm dumped more than 35 centimeters (14 inches) of rain over three days onto western North Carolina, transforming mountainsides into mudslides and creeks into torrents.

U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped last year and the proportion of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted Wednesday.

The share of kids exempted from vaccine requirements rose to 3.3%, up from 3% the year before. Meanwhile, 92.7% of kindergartners got their required shots, which is a little lower than the previous two years. Before the COVID-19 pandemic the vaccination rate was 95%, the coverage level that makes it unlikely that a single infection will spark a disease cluster or outbreak.

The changes may seem slight but are significant, translating to about 80,000 kids not getting vaccinated, health officials say.

The rates help explain a worrisome creep in cases of whooping cough, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, said Dr. Raynard Washington, chair of the Big Cities Health Coalition, which represents 35 large metropolitan public health departments.

A former Colorado county clerk and one-time hero to election conspiracists is set to be sentenced Thursday for leading a data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that voting fraud altered the result of the 2020 presidential race.

A jury found Tina Peters guilty of most charges against her in August for orchestrating the security breach of her elections computer system.

Peters was convicted for allowing a county security card to be misused to give a man affiliated with My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell access to the Mesa County election system and for deceiving other officials about that person’s identity.

Anti-abortion leaders said Wednesday that they’re undeterred after Donald Trump said he would veto a federal abortion ban, the first time he has explicitly said so after previously refusing to answer questions on the subject.

During Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, the Republican presidential nominee posted on his social media platform Truth Social that “everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it.”

He then said that abortion rights should be left up to the states — his most common response to questions about the issue since Roe v. Wade was overturned by a conservative majority that included three of Trump’s own appointees to the Supreme Court. In the two years since the ruling, abortion rights have emerged as a major vulnerability for the GOP, which has struggled to find a consistent message on the path forward, while driving turnout for Democrats.

It was just a month ago that Brooke Hiers left the state-issued emergency trailer where her family had lived since Hurricane Idalia slammed into her Gulf Coast fishing village of Horseshoe Beach in August 2023.

Hiers and her husband Clint were still finishing the electrical work in the home they painstakingly rebuilt themselves, wiping out Clint’s savings to do so. They never will finish that wiring job.

Hurricane Helene blew their newly renovated home off its four foot-high pilings, sending it floating into the neighbor’s yard next door.

For the third time in 13 months, this windswept stretch of Florida’s Big Bend took a direct hit from a hurricane — a one-two-three punch to a 50-mile (80-kilometer) sliver of the state’s more than 8,400 miles (13,500 kilometers) of coastline, first by Idalia, then Category 1 Hurricane Debby in August 2024 and now Helene.

Const. Boris Borissov, a Toronto police officer found guilty of misusing police resources, falsifying police reports and stealing from dead people, will serve seven years in prison, an Ontario judge ruled Tuesday.

"Mr. Borissov's conduct in stealing from the very persons he was duty-bound to protect and exploiting the investigative powers with which he was entrusted must be met with a stern denunciatory and deterrent response," said Justice Mary Ellen Misener, who found Borissov guilty of all 15 charges for which he was tried in May.

"Otherwise, public confidence in the police and in the justice system will be eroded."

Premier Wab Kinew says he won't disclose how much the Province of Manitoba has agreed to pay to lease 265,000 square feet of space in a new medical tower slated to rise above Winnipeg's Portage Place.

True North Real Estate Development, the real-estate wing of the company that owns the Winnipeg Jets, exercised its options on Monday to purchase the beleaguered downtown mall. This paves the way for a $650-million redevelopment that includes a new medical tower over the east side of the property and a new residential tower over the west side.

The premier said Tuesday he will not reveal the financial terms of Manitoba's support for the project, which primarily comes in the form of Shared Health and Winnipeg Regional Health Authority leases for a primary-care clinic, mental health and addictions services, an expanded Pan Am Clinic and spaces for surgery, diagnostics and renal dialysis, among other medical services.

Government House leader Karina Gould says the Liberal government will today vote against a key Bloc Québécois motion that the opposition party has presented as a condition of its support in future confidence votes.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet put forward a motion Tuesday calling on the government to support Bill C-319, a Bloc private member's bill that would hike Old Age Security (OAS) payouts for seniors between the ages of 65 and 74 by 10 per cent.

For the Bloc's pension legislation to become law, the Liberal government would have to grant a "royal recommendation" because a private member's bill can't force Ottawa to spend more money without cabinet approval.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has said the Bloc's proposed OAS increase would cost $16 billion over the next five years — spending that would add to a national debt that is now over $1.2 trillion. The cost of financing all that debt comes to about $54 billion this year.

Three more women have come forward to allege historical sex offences against embattled billionaire Frank Stronach, CBC News has learned.

Stronach is facing four new charges, including rape and indecent assault. The charges stem from alleged incidents in Toronto in 1981 and 1983 and in the nearby hamlet of Gormley, Ont., in 1993, according to information shared by a clerk at a Brampton courthouse on Wednesday.

In all, 13 women have told police that Stronach, now 92, assaulted them. He faces a total of 17 criminal charges, including sexual assault and forcible confinement.

The earliest allegations against the Magna International founder date back to 1977, while the most recent assault is alleged to have occurred this past February.

Private equity firm Altor said on Wednesday it has agreed to buy a majority stake in Canada's iconic 125-year-old brand CCM Hockey, which specializes in manufacturing sports equipment and apparel.

Private equity firms are increasingly looking toward the booming sports sector, where companies partner with popular leagues that attract large crowds and foster a loyal customer base.

In August, NFL owners allowed some private equity firms to buy up to a 10 per cent stake in any team, joining other major leagues such as the NBA and MLB, among others, in allowing limited investment from funds.

A violent attack on a teenage girl that was caught on video by multiple people in Kelowna, B.C., has prompted her father to come forward, demanding answers and justice.

Kelowna RCMP say the attack happened on Friday evening, and that the video has been circulating "widely" online in the southern Interior community, around 270 kilometres east of Vancouver in B.C.'s Okanagan.

RCMP say the attack happened in the area of Boyce-Gyro Beach Park and was one of several incidents of youth committing criminal offences, including assault and mischief, in the area.

Two years before CBC News revealed that dozens of people had allegedly abused a B.C. Housing affordable homeownership program in Victoria, the agency's leaders were warned there was a "high risk" the situation could become public.

According to documents obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request, B.C. Housing's executive committee was warned in April 2022 the public might take a "negative" view of the revelations as "a possible failing by B.C. Housing to prevent program abuse or, in the worst case, fraud."

The documents say the agency's communications team had a plan to demonstrate a "swift and fulsome approach" to dealing with purchasers accused of gaming a program that was designed to get middle-income British Columbians into the housing market — but kept quiet.