Four stories in the news today, Dec. 23

Four stories in the news for Friday, Dec. 23

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N.B. HEALTH DEAL SPLINTERS PROVINCIAL FRONT

New Brunswick’s decision to strike a separate health funding deal with the Trudeau government has weakened the premiers’ bargaining position and hardened Ottawa’s resolve to rebuff attempts to extract billions more from federal coffers. Provincial and territorial governments had adopted a united front on Monday when they walked away from a federal offer to increase health transfer payments.

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FUNERAL TODAY FOR ONTARIO FIRE VICTIMS

A funeral will be held today for a mother and her children who died in a house fire last week in Port Colborne, Ont. Tammy Burd, 37, and her children, Samantha Zuvic, 15 and Joshua Zuvic, 2, all died of smoke inhalation. The woman’s grandmother, Eva Burd, 83, also perished in the fire. Her funeral was held on Monday.

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U.S. ‘GODFATHER OF GRASS’ ARRESTED IN MONTREAL

An American man known as the “Godfather of Grass” is awaiting extradition to the U.S. after he was arrested in Montreal after eight years on the run. U.S. authorities say John Robert “Johnny” Boone, 73, had spent more than a decade in prison after being convicted in the 1980s in what prosecutors called the “largest domestic marijuana syndicate in American history.”

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SO LONG, EDWIN. IT’S BEEN FUN.

There is no official confirmation yet, but one of baseball’s most feared power hitters is leaving the Toronto Blue Jays. Free agent Edwin Encarnacion has reportedly agreed to a US$60 million, three-year deal with the Cleveland Indians. Sources tell The Associated Press the deal — which is contingent on Encarnacion passing a physical — includes a club option for 2020 that would make it worth $80 million over four years.

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