David Cronenberg guest stars in "Law & Order Toronto" season four as a psychiatrist who happens to be his co-star's on-screen father. New cast member Luke Kirby prepped for the role by watching "Videodrome" and "Crash," not knowing Cronenberg would actually show up on set.

— via Vancouver Is Awesome, author

Trump's order to swap "AI" for "SI" in government speak just triggered a 2,199% jump in .si domain purchases, Slovenia's registry says. Hostinger saw nearly 13,000 new registrations in a day, but only 3% actually mention AI.

— via TechCrunch, Dominic-Madori Davis

Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will both vanish as corporate names once their roughly $110 billion merger closes October 6: the combined giant will be called Skydance, after CEO David Ellison's original production company. CBS, CNN, HBO Max and the DC Universe all land under the new banner.

— via TechCrunch, Lauren Forristal

A single quadrumer meta-atom turns out to drive two separate light-control tricks at once, one boosting absorption in silicon metasurfaces, another sculpting reflection and transmission in gallium nitride. A free webinar walks through the simulation method behind both.

— via IEEE Spectrum, COMSOL

Diesel hit a record $6.52 a gallon in the U.S. this month. The G7 says it will release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel starting within 20 days, with Republicans rejecting a U.S. export ban that analysts warn could backfire on gasoline supplies.

— via Vancouver Is Awesome, author

$30 gets you into 13 wineries, three cideries and a distillery across Abbotsford, Surrey and Langley this October, no ferry or Okanagan road trip required. Half the ticket price goes straight to local food banks, and every stop pours a non-alcoholic option too.

— via Vancouver Is Awesome, author

A volunteer dive team pulled a sunken vehicle with human remains from the Kootenay River last week, near an old ferry landing in southeastern BC. Police believe it's George Davis, missing since 2004, and say the death doesn't look suspicious, pending forensic confirmation.

— via Vancouver Is Awesome, author

Hans Zimmer says if Canada and the U.S. faced off like a soccer match, he'd root for Canada. The Oscar-winning composer talks trade-war politics, his Trump outburst, and why his Next Level tour stops in Ottawa, Quebec, Hamilton and Vancouver matter to him.

— via Vancouver Is Awesome, author

Michael J. Fox is getting bumped up to companion of the Order of Canada, its highest rank, in a Rideau Hall ceremony this morning. Rideau Hall credits his "unflinching honesty" about Parkinson's and advocacy that has helped raise $2.5 billion for research.

— via Vancouver Is Awesome, author

k.d. lang says she's deliberately staying in the dark about tonight's Ottawa tribute concert in her honor, where Michael Bublé, Jann Arden and Allison Russell are among those set to perform. The National Arts Centre show runs alongside an exhibition of her stagewear.

— via Vancouver Is Awesome, author

A Fort Greene middle school named for trans activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is opening tuition-free in 2027, after its charter bid failed. It's threading a workaround instead: operating as a "public micro middle school" under NYC's homeschooling rules.

— via Hell Gate, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

With the CDC's vaccine advisory panel tied up in court, medical societies are issuing their own fall shot guidance. Flu vaccines cut hospitalizations in seniors by 31% last year, and a new mRNA option beat standard shots by 27% in one study of adults 50 to 64.

— via Vancouver Is Awesome, author

A Fairview man got 10 years after DEA agents found nearly half a kilogram of meth, hundreds of grams of fentanyl, and loaded handguns in his car and motel room. His criminal record made him a federal "career offender," a status that pushes sentences close to the statutory maximum.

— via Hoodline, Emily Nguyen

United is splitting first class into three fares this fall, and the cheapest one, "base," charges extra for seat selection and blocks refunds or flight changes entirely. The cash-strapped tier still gets the same cabin service, just fewer of the perks that used to come standard with a premium ticket.

— via NY Post, Aurielle Weiss

David Eby is promising to cut gas taxes by up to 30 cents a litre and let regulators cap retail prices outright, a pledge he says could save a two-car Surrey family $100 a month. The plan leans on a now-familiar target: Donald Trump, blamed here for both the trade war and an oil price spike costing B.C. drivers an estimated $865 million.

— via Daily Hive Vancouver, Amir Ali

Sacramento's 61-degree Friday morning won't last: a Heat Advisory kicks in Saturday at 11 a.m. and holds through Monday night, with highs hitting 94 to 100 and barely any overnight relief. Winds stay near calm, skies stay dry through Thursday, so mornings and evenings are the only break from the sun.

— via Hoodline, Sarah Hernandez

Broadway's Tony and Rizzo are bringing their three kids onstage at 54 Below this weekend, including a 6-year-old belting "Grease" numbers minus anything about sex, smoking or driving. Matt Cavenaugh and Jenny Powers built the family cabaret after watching their 11-year-old share a stage with dad in Arkansas.

— via NY Post, Andrea Palladino

RTD will cover the first mile of any Veo scooter or bike ride ending at two Denver stations, starting Oct. 1, no sign-up required. The two-year pilot, born from a grad student's class paper, aims to subsidize more than 40,000 trips.

— via Westword, Hannah Metzger

Carly Rae Jepsen brings her Day and Night Tour to the Orpheum on April 18, 2027, with tickets dropping Oct. 8. The Mission, B.C.-raised pop star also just revealed she once baked Vancouver's "number one best cheesecake" as a barista-turned-pastry-chef before "Call Me Maybe" took over the world.

— via Daily Hive Vancouver, Daniel Chai

San Bruno may let existing smoke shops keep operating for years while banning new ones downtown. Staff warn the phase-out process is legally murky, and Fresno's own crackdown offers a blueprint: 18 months to comply, with totals capped at 49 shops citywide.

— via Hoodline, Nina Singh-Hudson

Body-cam video captures the McDonald's takedown of accused CEO shooter Luigi Mangione, while new details surface in the Cornell gang rape case. Also: an AI-generated victim statement gets a road-rage sentence tossed, and a male escort allegedly bilks a tech widow out of $6 million before bolting to Dubai.

— via NY Post, New York Post Video

A Christian-only auto-repair franchisor turned down a Jewish applicant, and the Fifth Circuit just ruled that's not covered by federal race-bias law. Section 1981 bans racial discrimination in contracts, the court says, but not religious discrimination, even when the applicant is ethnically Jewish too.

— via Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), Eugene Volokh

A year-old Wash Park deli is ditching its name entirely after its original owners quietly sold out to a partner and manager. Also this week: a 40-year-old Chinese spot's replacement surfaces in state filings, and a Bear Valley bakery jumps to the Broadway space Azucar left behind.

— via Westword, Antony Bruno

Twelve upcoming titles from Kingsolver, Schwab, Chambers and more keep popping up across most-anticipated lists from NYT, Kirkus and others. A second batch of under-the-radar picks only hit two or three lists but still earned a spot worth knowing about.

— via Book Riot, S. Zainab Williams

A public appeal Thursday morning, a missing teen found safe hours later. Oakland's Missing Persons Unit handles about 1,500 such cases a year, and the numbers behind this one show most missing kids turn up fast.

— via Hoodline, Tony Ng