Leslie Phillips, ‘Carry On’ star, voice of Sorting Hat, dies

50 years of rare tall grass prairie celebrated

Kristin Bestvater is always glad when she heads to Winnipeg’s St. James neighbourhood and visits the Living Prairie Museum.

“It’s beautiful,” Bestvater said of the 13-hectare site, which is one of the last remaining tall grass prairies in North America. “I don’t know how many other cities would have something like this.”

The Island Lakes resident and her nine-year-old son were among the hundreds of people who gathered at the museum on Saturday to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Designated a park in 1974, it officially became the Living Prairie Museum in 1976 with the opening of an interpretive centre which houses a gallery of exhibits, a gift shop and an observation deck.

Letters, August 10

Horrors. Is Donald Trump correct? I think so. The bans on U.S. liquor are discriminatory. How could they be anything else? Provinces don’t ban alcohol from any other country.

Making sure no one has to face cancer alone

From Brenda Stamm’s perspective, every person has a higher calling.

“The way I look at it, you have a purpose in life. You have to give back and that’s what I try to do,” she says.

Stamm, 68, has been volunteering with the Canadian Cancer Society and other cancer-related charities for more than 20 years.

She is familiar face at fundraising events, community campaigns and the breast cancer fundraiser, CIBC Run for the Cure. She helps organize fundraising efforts, collects donations and recruits as well as “coaches” volunteers on how best to raise funds.

Football kept Bombers’ Jaworski going while recovering from car crash

Instead of gearing up for his first full season of CFL football, Matt Jaworski was in a hospital bed wondering if he’d ever get to play again.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive end was in a serious car crash in March and has several scars on his face — which he pointed out to reporters on Sunday — to prove it.

The 23-year-old from Buffalo, N.Y., was placed on the retirement list in May. Over the weekend, the Bombers signed him to the practice roster.

“I appreciate Winnipeg taking me back and I’m ready to go,” he said after practice.

Woman dead in B.C. wildfire as grim video reveals village in ruins

PENTICTON - The wildfire raging near Okanagan Lake in British Columbia's southern Interior claimed the life of an 80-year-old woman as she tried to escape the flames, police said on Sunday, as video footage and grim accounts emerged of nearby devastation.

A statement from Penticton RCMP said the resident of Meadow Valley, northwest of Summerland, B.C., had been trying to flee with a family member "when she died suddenly," believed to be a result of the fire.

Police said the death, reported early Saturday by a witness who was also evacuating, was the only known fatality in the blaze that has forced about 20,000 people out of their homes and left the community of Faulder a smouldering ruin.

The BC Coroners Service was investigating the nature of the woman's death, and police were not aware of any other fatalities in the fire, calling it "a deeply traumatic event," the statement said.

Main Street restaurant Boujee burns for the second time in one week

A former restaurant on Main Street is set to be demolished after a fire broke out for the second time in less than a week.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews responded to reports of a fire at Boujee Restaurant and Bar, a vacant, single-storey building on the 100 block of Main Street shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday. The same building was most recently damaged in a fire last Sunday.

At the scene, crews found heavy smoke coming from the building. After attacking the fire using aerial ladders that sprayed water from above, firefighters arranged an emergency demolition of the building. Demolition is expected to be completed today, the WFPS said in a news release.

No injuries were reported and the fire is under investigation.