What you need to know about Ontario school trustees before casting your vote

As millions of voters prepare to cast ballots for their school board trustees, the Ford government is implementing a last-minute change that would continue to sideline elected officials in boards that have been operating under provincial supervision and potentially prevent them from being sworn in. Eight school boards, representing nearly 40 per cent of Ontario’s elementary and high school population, are currently under the province’s control, with critical decision-making handed over to a single supervisor appointed by the Ford government. Trustees, meanwhile, have been effectively stripped of all responsibilities, including access to their board emails, the ability to call and attend board meetings, or officially engage with parents. Ahead of municipal and trustee elections on Oct. 26, the Ministry of Education introduced a new regulation asserting the Ford government’s control over supervised school boards: that only Education Minister Paul Calandra or the school board supervisor can call the first meeting of the newly elected board. Story continues below advertisement

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know! The William Penn School District on Monday afternoon reinstated a number of fall sports  following last week’s abrupt decision to suspend all middle and high school athletics in response to an unspecified incident involving an unnamed Penn Wood sports team.

Mississippi's attorney general says a Senatobia police officer was justified in the use of force in the June shooting death of a 1-year-old boy while responding to a shoplifting call.

The government's tree removal justification centers on a 2019 landscape report.

The government's tree removal justification centers on a 2019 landscape report.

A contentious hearing is underway in Washington, D. C., where lawyers for the Trump administration are facing off with a federal judge pushing for answers over whether she was deliberately misled by the government over why it removed hundreds of trees from a local public golf course. D. C. District Judge Ana Reyes has ordered testimony from Interior Department official Gregory Wischer and acting Director of the National Park Service Jessica Bowron over why the government moved abruptly on Columbus Day weekend to remove more than 500 trees from East Potomac golf course without giving her proper advance notice. Last week, Reyes erupted at attorneys for the government after the trees were removed despite her demanding the administration alert her in advance if it planned any significant alterations to the course given ongoing litigation. The golf course has been the subject of litigation brought by the D. C. Preservation League in response to President Donald Trump's efforts to turn it into a course that could host professional tournaments. A golfer walks near log sections cut from trees at the East Potomac Golf Links, in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. AP Photo/J.