Andrew Bell

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“I did…   put a stop to the proceedings of the Court and they are now stopt till their Majesties pleasure be known” —  William Phips

On this day in 1692, Massachusetts Governor Phips ordered an end to the Salem witch trials, in which 20 people were executed. The infamous trials began in spring of that year after young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, said they were possessed by the devil. Hysteria gripped colonial Massachusetts and the first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hanged in June.

Samsung's recall

Our Top Line on BNN this morning is the punishment inflicted on Samsung stock as the South Korean electronics giant prepares to scrap all of its Note 7 phones after a bungled recall.

“A 13-year-old girl was at school when her just-replaced Note 7 started burning in her hand,” the Wall St. Journal reported. “Her father, Andrew Zuis, told us that her principal kicked the flaming device into a puddle to extinguish it.”

Of course, cellphones are only part of Samsung’s business. Apple, heavily dependent on the iPhone, might have been in far worse trouble if its portable devices had run into a similar problem.

Clarity on Alberta's carbon pricing plan

Tune in to Commodities at 11:10 a.m. ET today for more clarity on Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s warning to the federal government: She won’t back a federal carbon price rising to $50 per tonne unless Alberta gets a pipeline to take oil to international waters. We’ll hear from the province’s Energy Minister, Margaret McCuaig-Boyd.

Alberta is imposing its own carbon tax, so it’s in a different situation from provinces such as Saskatchewan that have rejected carbon pricing so far. “The federal carbon price starts at $10 per tonne in 2018 and increases by $10 each year until it hits $50 in 2022,” the Edmonton Journal says. “It won’t overtake the $30 per tonne provincial price and affect Albertans until it reaches $40 per tonne in 2021.

What Ottawa's new mortgage rules mean for cottage owners 

Of course, we’re not passing up on real estate as Ottawa shakes the market with efforts to restrain housing price inflation. At 10:20 a.m. ET, we'll be joined by Heather Scott, sales representative at Re/Max Hallmark Realty, to analyze what the move to tighten a tax exemption on capital gains means for cottage owners.

Finally, it seems leaked  Democratic National Committee emails contain what epicurious.com is calling “solid risotto tips from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.” He explains why broth should be added gradually, not all at once, to the Italian rice dish.

At last, a real issue has come up in the campaign.

Every morning Commodities host Andrew Bell writes a ‘chase note’ to BNN's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day. Have it delivered to your inbox before the trading day begins by heading to www.bnn.ca/subscribe