Morning Update: Kavanaugh faces new sex-misconduct allegation; advocates urge Nova Scotia to speed up abortion access

Good morning,

These are the top stories:

A second woman has accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct

With his Senate hearing set for Thursday, a second woman has emerged to accuse the U.S. Supreme Court nominee of sexual misconduct. Deborah Ramirez went public with the allegation in the New Yorker, describing an incident she says happened at a Yale University dormitory party during the 1983-84 academic year. Kavanaugh said the alleged event, which dates back to his first year of university, “did not happen.”

Meanwhile, Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school, agreed to testify at a public hearing on Thursday. The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Blasey Ford’s desire to have additional witnesses testify, but did agree to a smaller hearing room with less press as well as letting her speak without Kavanaugh in the room. It’s not yet clear who will ask questions, as Republicans are exploring the option of hiring an outside female counsel to avoid the image of 11 male GOP senators grilling Blasey Ford.

David Shribman argues that the Kavanaugh confirmation fight is “a stark symbol of a social and cultural issue that roiled the country and created the #MeToo movement long before the nominee’s name was known outside legal circles.”

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Women’s health advocates are urging Nova Scotia to speed up abortion access

Advocates are urging the province to abandon a policy of only allowing hospitals to perform ultrasounds on women seeking an abortion. Instead, they are urging the province’s sole health authority to allow ultrasounds at an abortion clinic, as is the case in several other provinces. The existing policy is increasing waiting times for the procedure, advocates contend. Abortion access has long been an issue in the Atlantic provinces, and until this year, women in Nova Scotia needed a referral from a doctor to receive an abortion.

In an essay published over the weekend, The Globe’s Atlantic Bureau chief Jessica Leeder described the barriers she faced when trying to get an abortion in Nova Scotia: “Technically, it is the best time in history to try to get an abortion if you live here. And yet, if you are less than eight weeks pregnant – in other words, the optimal time, when having an abortion is medically low risk, physical recovery time is minimal and you are eligible to take the abortion pill, a non-invasive method used up to nine weeks of pregnancy – getting an abortion in Nova Scotia is still basically impossible.”

At least a dozen U.S. cannabis firms are preparing to go public on Canadian stock exchanges

The companies have turned to local investment banks for backing and law firms have been hired to help them tap the market (for subscribers). The move to look at deals in Canada can in large part be attributed to the classification of marijuana as an illegal substance under U.S. federal law. The first entrant in the new round of Canadian stock listings is expected to be Massachusetts-based Curaleaf, which operates 28 dispensaries and 12 cultivation sites. While recreational cannabis is legal in that state, it is difficult for most U.S.-based companies to list on federally regulated U.S. exchanges. Americans are expected to spend US$6-billion on cannabis this year, a figure Canada likely won’t reach until 2022.

If you’re interested in keeping up with the latest developments in the industry, read more about Cannabis Professional, The Globe’s new business-to-business product dedicated to cannabis legalization in Canada.

Ottawa is slowly recovering after two tornadoes barrelled through the city on Friday

Tens of thousands are still without power after two twisters brought speeds reaching 265 kilometres an hour, destroying hundreds of homes in the process. On Sunday, four people were still in hospital with storm-related injuries. The storm wreaked its worst havoc on the west end of Ottawa, with 60 buildings damaged in the community of Dunrobin. Areas of eastern Ottawa and across the Quebec border in Gatineau also saw extensive damage. The City of Ottawa opened up recreation centres to assist those in devastated areas. Some people whose homes sustained major damage won’t be able to go back to retrieve essentials for more than a week.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Tiger Woods secured his first PGA title in five years with a victory at the Tour Championship

The drought is over: Golf legend Tiger Woods completed a remarkable turnaround from four back surgeries to earn the 80th win of his PGA Tour career. Woods, now 42 years old, notched a two-shot victory over Billy Horschel on Sunday to pick up a win at the Tour Championship. “Just to be able to compete and play again this year, that’s a hell of a comeback,” Woods said after receiving the trophy. “I can’t believe I pulled this off.”

Here’s Cathal Kelly’s take: “Finally winning again is the headline, but it’s more than that. This victory means that even the most committed doubters will have to concede Woods is still capable of winning another major. The theme of the 2018 PGA Tour season was The Year Tiger Came Back. For Real This Time. He played well, and occasionally very well, but the most notable thing was that he played consistently. He seems fully healthy, or as close to that as he will be again. With that in mind, 2019 promises to be dominated by the same comeback story, but after bingeing on energy drinks all winter. The hype will be frenzied.”

MORNING MARKETS

Trade fears weigh

European stock markets traded in negative territory on Monday as fears of an escalating trade row between the United States and China spread from Asian markets, while oil rallied as U.S. sanctions restricted Iranian crude exports. Japanese and Chinese markets are closed, but others are down. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.6 per cent while, in Europe, London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were down by between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent by about 6:25 a.m. ET. New York futures were also down. The Canadian dollar was above 77 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

When damning Myanmar, start and stop with the generals

“It is wrong to see the current horror as an indictment of Myanmar’s progress. The military has persecuted ethnic groups for decades, including two previous campaigns of brutal violence against the Rohingya in the late 1970s and early 1990s. Myanmar’s democratic transition is incomplete, after all: The military still controls the ministries responsible for security and has a quarter of the seats in parliament. It’s true that politicians such as Aung San Suu Kyi have been shamefully quiet about the genocide happening under their noses – but they did not initiate it and have little power to rein it in. As the international community reflects on how to stop the violence in Myanmar and usher the country onto a more peaceful path, it should keep in mind who bears the responsibility for the Rohingya genocide. Hint: They wear epaulets.” – Globe editorial

How cannabis equity can help make up for the racism of the War on Drugs

“As Canada legs it toward Legalization Day, calls for cannabis amnesty have gotten progressively louder as people wonder why a half-million Canadians should continue being punished with criminal records for something that’s no longer a crime. But pardons alone can’t make things right because they don’t address the racially biased enforcement of pot prohibition. And yes, when it comes to bias, we are as bad on this front as our American cousins. … So what can we do to really correct past wrongs? Enter cannabis equity, a progressive policy spreading across the United States to ameliorate the unequal damage caused by the drug war. Through preferential licensing and financial support, it helps communities most affected by anti-pot laws access a level playing field in the now-legal industry.” – Joshua Ostroff, Toronto-based journalist

The big cultural baggage of The Big Bang Theory

“The Big Bang Theory (Monday, CBS, CTV, 8 p.m. ET) returns for what is likely its final season as the top old-school sitcom of the past decade. Since its arrival, with a woefully maladroit pilot in 2007, it has morphed and evolved while remaining a traditional sitcom that plays on stereotypes and tropes. It’s a remarkable feat. What is also notable is that Big Bang is so remarked-upon. It is studied closely and not just by persons who want to find the secret to its success and copy it. It is studied in academia and by an awful lot of people, especially men, looking for insults aimed at the male nerd, by women looking for evidence of misogyny and yet other women looking for a feminist message. For a show created to make the audience laugh and to help broadcasters sell adverts, Big Bang has a lot of cultural baggage. A lot.” – John Doyle

LIVING BETTER

One love, two homes: How some couples find happiness in living separately

In a growing phenomenon, one in 13 Canadians are in a living apart together (LAT) relationship. In other words, some 1.9 million unmarried adults were in an intimate relationship with someone living elsewhere, according to 2011 Statistics Canada data; an additional 240,000 married people live separately in “commuter marriages” thanks to work locations. “We’re committed, we care for and take care of each other but we’ve maintained our individuality. That keeps a relationship alive,” says Sharon Hyman, who’s been with her partner – but living apart – for 20 years.

MOMENT IN TIME

Festival of Canadian fashion, 1987

For more than 100 years, photographers, photo editors and photo librarians working for The Globe and Mail have amassed and preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography. Every Monday, The Globe will feature one of these images, and throughout September we’re working with the theme of “fashion."

This bride walked down the runway at the 1987 Festival of Canadian Fashion in good company. The event featured 26 other shows, but this one, Globe fashion writer David Livingstone noted, “was colourful, lithe and funny and described variously by those who had seen it as ‘show-stopping’ and ‘stunning.'” It was produced by MAC Cosmetics, directed by artist Rafaell Cabrera and featured the work of choreographer and dancer Robert Desrosiers and his company. Makeup was applied from head to toe on some of the dancers. This fantastical image, shot by Globe photojournalist Tim McKenna, ran alongside several others from the fest – although none of the other subjects wore chandelier headdresses. The models showed off more familiar pieces for the era: an oversized coat, a striped mid-length skirt and a puffy-sleeved number worn with pearls. – Carine Abouseif

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