In today’s Big Story Podcast, conspiracy theories used to be weird, and kind of fun. Now they’re everywhere, and pretty dangerous. Last year marked a significant evolution in the mainstreaming of fringe beliefs — and we’re not talking about “The moon landing was faked.” These conspiracy theories are often hateful, and frequently cited as a call to arms.

Amarnath Amarasingam is an assistant professor in the School of Religion as well as Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University. His research

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who defeated twice in Republican-leaning Kentucky, announced the formation of a federal political action committee on Monday to support candidates across the country as he seeks to broaden his influence beyond the Bluegrass State.

Beshear launched a PAC called In This Together with a focus on helping elect more Democrats in swing states and Republican strongholds. The move comes barely two months since Beshear secured a second term with a convincing victory over GOP challenger and then-state Attorney General

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu is leaving his post after two years and is expected to help push publicly for .

The Democratic president tasked the former New Orleans mayor with setting up a system to over the coming years on roads, bridges, sewer systems, fiberoptic cable, ports and an array of other projects tied to .

Landrieu, departing his post with more than 40,000 projects announced, would have been limited in his ability to advocate for Biden as a federal employee.

Days after getting the first significant snow of the season, Toronto was hit with a messy winter storm Tuesday that impacted the drive home on the first week back to work or school for many.

A winter travel advisory was in place for Toronto for much of the day as snow began falling in the late morning. A rainfall warning is now in effect, with Environment Canada calling for heavy rain that will persist overnight.

Environment Canada says the City of Toronto and areas closer to the lake received roughly 5 to 10 cm

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in 2011, launched his second attempt at suing the state on Monday, accusing the Justice Ministry of breaching his human rights.

Breivik, who has changed his name to Fjotolf Hansen, claims that the isolation he’s been placed under since he started serving his prison sentence in 2012 amounts to inhumane punishment under the European Convention on Human Rights. He

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenia’s rescuers on Monday successfully extracted five people who had been for more than two days because of high water levels.

“It is a day of happiness, it’s a day of life,” said Sandi Curk with the Slovenian civil protection service after water levels receded inside the Krizna Jama cave in southwestern Slovenia, making the rescue possible.

Those rescued are in good spirits, said Igor Benko, head of the Speleological Association of Slovenia.

None needed medical help and all

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Just days into the admission process for Soldiers of Christ, Sehee Cho was faint and feeble.

The 33-year-old had come to the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville from South Korea in July to heal from a traumatic experience. Instead, police say, the Soldiers group led by two Korean American brothers held her captive for weeks, torturing and starving her until she died.

Officers discovered her decaying body, weighing just 70 pounds (32 kilograms), in the

BERLIN (AP) — The number of people applying for asylum in Germany last year rose to 351,915, an increase of 51.1% compared with the year before.

The largest number of asylum-seekers came from Syria, with 104,561 applications, followed by Turkish citizens with 62,624 asylum pleas and 53,582 Afghans, Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said Monday.

Migration has become a huge