Latest news with #Vestergaard
The Province
a day ago
- General
- The Province
Man who had Lions Bay reservoir built files counter suit, cites no responsibility for deadly landslide
David and Barbara Enns were killed on Dec. 14 when a slide swept away their Lions Bay home. The builder of a reservoir says he is not responsible for claims made by victims' family and neighbours. Damage left after a slide in Lions Bay that killed two people. Photo by Gordon Hoekstra / PNG Lions Bay property owner Steven Vestergaard filed a response this week to a lawsuit launched by family and neighbours of the victims of a landslide, arguing there is no evidence he contributed to, or was responsible for, the slide. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors The lawsuit by the family and neighbours claims a debris flow was 'caused, or alternatively contributed to,' by the alleged illegal construction of roads and a small reservoir by Vestergaard on provincial land above Lions Bay. In his response filed in B.C. Supreme Court on June 5, Vestergaard said the roads and reservoir were not illegal and had been 'authorized' and 'affirmed' by provincial permits. David and Barbara Enns were killed on Dec. 14 when a debris flow carrying mud, rocks and trees cascaded down the Battani Creek ravine and swept away their house. The debris also hit the busy Sea to Sky Highway. In addition to the suit against Vestergaard, the Enns' children and the couple's two neighbours are suing the B.C. government for negligence, claiming damages for wrongful death, general and special damages, including damage and destruction to property, decreased property value, expenses, loss of use and enjoyment, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I deny that there is any reasonable or credible evidence that I caused, contributed to, or otherwise had responsibly for the debris flow,' says the response filed by Vestergaard himself. Vestergaard added that if the court finds that he somehow played a role, he had obtained every required government permit and approval, and engaged and relied on qualified professional engineers to design, inspect and certify the roads and reservoir. He said all activities were carried out in 'strict compliance' with their directives. 'Accordingly, even in the alternate hypothesis, I did not breach any duty of care owed to the claimant and cannot properly be held negligent,' Vestergaard wrote. Vestergaard cited several geotechnical and other reports he said were for work carried out on roads and the reservoir, and added that in 10 years none of his works had failed, including during the debris-flow incident. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The B.C. government has not responded to the suit from the family and neighbours, whose allegations have not been proven in court. The plaintiffs are also suing the Village of Lions Bay, which has filed a response denying the claimants suffered harm and saying the municipality did not know where the slide started. The lawsuit against the province, village and Vestergaard was filed on April 16 by Enns' children Barbara (Jody) Dyer and Michael Enns, the executors of their parents' estate. The plaintiffs also include Michelle Medland and Sean Barry, and Fiona and Raymond Fourie, the Enns's neighbours whose properties are also beside Battani Creek. The claimant's suit alleged that since at least 2013, the province knew or ought to have known of the 'illegal works' on provincial land and that these illegal works posed a serious risk to the residents, their properties and members of the public, including users of the Sea to Sky Highway. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Vestergaard has also filed a counter claim in B.C. Supreme Court against the claimants, accusing them of 'harassment, threats and false allegations.' In that case, which he also filed himself on June 5, he is seeking damages for economic loss, reputational harm and personal injury, and special damages. There has been no response to the counter claim, whose allegations have not been proven in court. Previously, Vestergaard provided documentation to Postmedia News showing work to reduce slope failure risks at the reservoir was signed off by a professional geoscientist as 'satisfactorily completed' in 2015. Vestergaard said he spent $400,000 on slide prevention, engineering and remediation on the reservoir and an access road about a decade ago. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The reservoir was meant to provide water to Vestergaard's private property that covers the equivalent of about 4½ city blocks. No home has been built and the property is now in foreclosure, according to B.C. Supreme Court records. In a previous response to Postmedia, not related to this court case, the province said following an inspection in 2014 of the reservoir by one of its senior geotechnical engineers, Vestergaard procured the services of qualified professionals to address concerns. ghoekstra@ Read More Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Canucks Sports Local News Vancouver Whitecaps
Global News
24-04-2025
- Global News
Lions Bay landslide sparks lawsuit from deceased couple's children, neighbours
A lawsuit has now been launched against the B.C. government and other defendants following the deadly landslide in Lions Bay last year. The Dec. 14 slide crashed through the home of David and Barbara Enns, killing them. Now, their children and two neighbours allege that illegal construction of roads and a reservoir on provincial land above the Enns' home caused or contributed to the slide. The lawsuit also names the Village of Lions Bay and Steven Vestergaard, the man who built the roads and reservoir. Vestergaard told Global News that a provincial official told him nothing he did caused the slide. The provincial government has yet to respond to Global News' request for comment. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'The province failed to address, or adequately address, the risks posed by the illegal works to the residents, their properties and users of the Sea-to-Sky Highway,' according to the court documents. Story continues below advertisement It states that the B.C. government and Vestergaard each failed to adequately complete or ensure the completion of any or some of the actions set out in 2014 or ensure that the known risks associated with the illegal works were resolved or mitigated. 'At no time did the province communicate to the residents that the steps it promised to take in the 2014 Representations had not been completed, nor did the province correct its representations to all or some of the residents that the risks had been addressed,' the filing reads. 2:07 Lions Bay landowner speaks out about deadly slide The lawsuit claims that the two neighbours homes suffered loss and damages due to the debris flow including personal possessions, utilities, access routes and loss of income or rental income. 'The plaintiffs Jody Dyer and Michael Enns claim damages under the Family Compensation Act due to the wrongful death of their parents, including funeral costs and other out-of-pocket expenses, loss of the Enns' family home and all or most personal possessions on the Enns' property and loss of inheritance,' it states in the document.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Scientist Says That ChatGPT Has a "Staggering" Gender Problem
As popular as ChatGPT has become, it apparently has a major gender problem. In an interview with PsyPost, University of Chicago economist Anders Humlum explained that in his research, he's encountered a "staggering gender gap in the adoption of ChatGPT." At the end of last year, Humlum and his colleague Emilie Vestergaard of the University of Copenhagen revealed in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that women were 16 percentage points behind men in ChatGPT adoption. This trend was evident, the economist told PsyPost, "even among workers in the same jobs handling similar job tasks." Among the eleven "exposed" occupations they assessed — from software developers to teachers and legal professionals to customer service reps — journalists and marketing professionals were the most likely to use OpenAI's flagship chatbot, with roughly 64 percent attesting that they use it for work. Curiously, financial advisors and accountants had the lowest share of ChatGPT use, weighing in at just 18 percent of workers in those fields who said they use it for work. That could be because, as the paper notes, they "handle sensitive information" as part of their daily duties. Across the occupations surveyed, however, women were always behind men on adoption rates. Only about 62 percent of female journalists and marketers reported that they use ChatGPT for work — and the disparity was greater for women who work in financial advising, with fewer than 10 percent saying they had used it on the job. So what's behind the gender gap in ChatGPT adoption? To put it frankly, the researchers haven't quite figured that bit out. As Humlum and Vestergaard noted in their paper, women are "about as optimistic as men about the time savings from ChatGPT," and seem to even save a bit more time than their male counterparts in the workplace when they do use it. There's some evidence that women have more "adoption friction" — aversion, basically — to AI due to a lack of training with the tech, and women were more likely than men to say they "do not know how" to use ChatGPT. The researchers pointed to another 2024 survey that looked into student ChatGPT usage in Norway for potential answers. In the first half of that study, researchers at Norway's Institute of Economics found that of the more than 500 students they surveyed, men were between 10 and 25 percentage points more likely than women to use ChatGPT regularly. Overall, that Norwegian study found that "female students use ChatGPT much less, are less proficient at writing ChatGPT prompts, and are more sensitive to bans on using ChatGPT," Humlum and Vestergaard wrote. While their Nordic counterparts didn't have any hard-and-fast explanations for that gender gap, both studies documenting the trend make it seem pretty legit. As he told PsyPost, Humlum is most interested in figuring out "how generative AI is reshaping labor markets" — but this finding was, nevertheless, "a big surprise for us." More on AI and work: People With This Level of Education Use AI the Most at Work
Telegraph
01-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Inside shambles at Leicester City – where a defender brought his dog to training
Ruud van Nistelrooy's 11th Premier League defeat as Leicester City manager on Thursday night was a humiliating capitulation at the hands of West Ham United, and as relegation looms so the sense of drift has become acute. A Premier League great as a striker, Van Nistelrooy's first long-term managerial appointment in the English game has seen players dropped and reinstated, staff changed, but performances and results in inexorable decline. It has been the dismal performance of certain players, once again in the first half on Thursday, that has prompted pundits to wonder aloud whether the team are simply resigned to their fate. 'Zero quality, zero belief in what they were doing,' said the former Leicester player Neil Lennon, for TNT Sports, 'the game seemed to pass them by'. His fellow pundit Joe Cole highlighted a lacklustre recovery run by the midfielder Harry Winks, who had only come on as a substitute at West Ham. Winks is one of three senior players, along with Conor Coady and Jannik Vestergaard, who commute from their homes in other parts of the country to the training ground in north Leicestershire, and the King Power Stadium. Having identified a less-than-ideal spirit among the group, with Vestergaard in particular leaving the training ground soon after the end of sessions, Van Nistelrooy said to those players that they had to spend more time in proximity to the club's Seagrave base. Vestergaard, who clashed with both Brendan Rodgers and Van Nistelrooy's predecessor Steve Cooper, was rewarded with a new contract in the summer. The Danish defender commutes from London. It was agreed that he could stay occasionally at the five-star standard accommodation on the first floor of the training ground, which players, staff and the guests of the owners, the Srivaddhanaprabha family, have used in the past. Subsequently, some members of staff were surprised to learn that Vestergaard had brought his dog with him to stay at the training ground. He was spotted walking the dog around the training ground pitches in the morning as team-mates arrived. Vestergaard also asked one of the club's player liaison officers to take care of the dog while he was training. In football, player liaison officers, in general, are those most often subject to unusual requests. Nevertheless, the appearance of Vestergaard's dog at a high-performance training centre – Seagrave is among the most advanced in the country – caused surprise among some and was regarded as indicative of a culture where certain players feel they can do what they want. Telegraph Sport has been told that Vestergaard was given permission to bring his dog by the club on this one occasion because his family in London were away and there was no one to care for it. It is understood that it was considered a 'one-off' and solely as a means to help him prepare. In a separate incident, having been substituted against West Ham, Vestergaard appeared to ignore Van Nistelrooy's offer of a touchline handshake. Formation changed on day of game Ahead of their previous game, a 4-0 defeat by Brentford last Friday, Van Nistelrooy eventually decided on a 4-3-3 formation for which the players had not prepared during the week and that was announced on the day of the game. The team collapsed in the first half, prompting Van Nistelrooy to lament that the gap between his side and their visitors that day had been too great. Behind the scenes there had been disquiet. Telegraph Sport has been told that, although there was a change to the formation communicated late on, it was nothing more than what was described as a 'tweak' and the kind that would often be made in-game by a manager. The nature of the personnel did not change and it was more about the roles being asked of certain midfielders. On Monday, Leicester announced the departure of two staff members whom Van Nistelrooy had inherited, the first team coach Ben Dawson and Danny Alcock. The pair were called into meetings that morning with Van Nistelrooy and told that their services were no longer required. As Telegraph Sport has reported, Dawson was doing most of the on-field coaching. Before Christmas, Van Nistelrooy had appointed Brian Barry-Murphy to his staff. The 46-year-old had a long playing career as a midfielder, and latterly was Rochdale manager and also coach of the development team at Manchester City. The pair had not worked together previously. In the lead-up to the Brentford game it is understood that Barry-Murphy clashed with the first-team players over a session he had personally overseen. The row between the players and the coach continued inside the building at Seagrave. It is understood that Barry-Murphy accused the players of not following his instructions. The players responded by saying that the guidance had been unclear. The next day Barry-Murphy apologised to the players and the squad continued preparation. Telegraph Sport has been told that it was a standard dispute on a Premier League training pitch and nothing more than, sources said, 'a couple of cross words'. Players and staff were said to have moved on from it the following day. Major decision looms on Vardy future The nature of the most recent defeats has been particularly damaging for Van Nistelrooy, who now faces a daunting run of fixtures starting with a visit to Chelsea and former Leicester manager Enzo Maresca a week on Sunday. After that it is his former club Manchester United at home, then Manchester City (away), Newcastle United (home), Brighton (away) and leaders Liverpool at the King Power on April 20. Those 11 league defeats have come in their last 12 games under Van Nistelrooy. Equally troubling for their manager is that they have gone six straight home games without scoring a goal, breaking the Premier League record. There were more chants in the home defeat by Brentford calling for the end of Jon Rudkin's 11 years as the day-to-day power at the club. He rose to become the director of football, first as the right-hand man of the late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who powered Leicester's 2014 promotion and Premier League title triumph two years later, and subsequently Vichai's son Aiyawatt, known as Top. Rudkin and Top make all the decisions – including the appointment of Van Nistelrooy. While Van Nistelrooy has been able to make changes to his staff, the same has not been the case with his squad. About £70 million was spent on fees late in the summer window, once it was clear Leicester had escaped a points deduction under Premier League profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). The only signing in January was French full-back Woyo Coulibaly for £3 million from Parma. Loan signing Odsonne Édouard has not featured since November 10 despite the cost of his £2.5 million fee and wages. The set-piece coach Andy Hughes, the third senior member of the staff Van Nistelrooy inherited, has had his role with the first team dramatically reduced in recent weeks. The staff around Van Nistelrooy now includes Jelle ten Rouwelaar, the goalkeeper coach. Like Van Nistelrooy, Ten Rouwelaar was appointed by United under then manager Erik ten Hag, and also later jettisoned by Ruben Amorim. Ten Rouwelaar is the most senior of the coaches. Van Nistelrooy has also promoted the former Leicester player Andy King, previously in the academy, to the first-team staff. The club also have a major decision to make over the career of Jamie Vardy, their greatest ever player, who is once again out of contract in the summer. The striker, who powered them to their 2016 Premier League title and has 198 goals for the club, was out of contract last summer and subsequently renewed. A huge figure at Leicester, Vardy was asked on the balcony at the Championship title celebrations in the summer whether he would play on. He responded, 'That's on Jon Rudkin.' That decision looms again for Leicester's director of football, as well as a second relegation in three years – if results continue in the same way. Whether Van Nistelrooy would survive that outcome to this season will depend on Rudkin and Top, and also the finances of the club, and their PSR compliancy.
The Independent
28-02-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Ruud van Nistelrooy vows to ‘keep fighting' as Leicester's losing streak continues
Ruud van Nistelrooy shrugged off any suggestion he could be sacked after Leicester slumped to another dismal defeat at West Ham. The Foxes looked like they were waving the white flag in the battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League during an abject first half. An early goal from Tomas Soucek and Jannik Vestergaard's own goal before half-time ultimately gave West Ham a 2-0 victory that was far more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. Van Nistelrooy's hapless side have now lost 11 of their last 12 matches, the last four by an aggregate score of 12-0. But, when asked if he expected to still be in charge for their next match, at Chelsea a week on Sunday, the Dutchman snapped: 'What do you want me to say? I keep working. I keep going.' Leicester could have been just two points from safety with a win, but never looked remotely like taking advantage of all the other protagonists in the relegation scrap losing this week. West Ham opened the scoring after 20 minutes with their first attack of the match, when Aaron Cresswell found himself on the edge of Leicester's penalty area. Vestergaard could have easily got a block on Cresswell's hopeful shot from 20 yards but instead he waved it through and Mohammed Kudus prodded the ball goalwards. Although Mads Hermansen made an instinctive save, Leicester's defenders stood and watched as Soucek accepted a gift of a goal on his 30th birthday by tucking in the rebound. The defending for the second was even worse as Leicester failed to clear a corner, Jarrod Bowen scurried along the byline and his shot was turned in by Vestergaard. Leicester improved after the break, undoubtedly, but West Ham had virtually declared by the hour. Van Nistelrooy added: 'I saw two different halves. A first half where we tried not to lose, and another half where we tried to win. 'That's the situation we're in, the confidence in the run of form is low and then you end up in a mindset of trying not to lose. 'Thank God in the second half they shrugged that off and tried to win but the damage was already done. They are giving me everything. The confidence, and the lack of it, showed. 'We know the situation, we know the table, we know how quick football can turn around. We are going to get up again. "We are still in this fight, mathematically we are there and we keep fighting as long as we can. It must be clear that the fight was only one half today and that is not enough." West Ham, who shocked Arsenal 1-0 on Saturday, made it back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since March, signs that new boss Graham Potter is starting to make his mark. 'Really pleased for the players,' said Potter. 'They've been working hard, so it's nice to get the reward of the points. 'The clean sheet was important as well. It's something we've tried to improve. It wasn't champagne football. But, overall, delighted for the players.'
