Britain’s Queen Camilla returns to public duties after chest infection

Accused used fuel-filled bottle to set blaze that killed two, court hears

Alex Courchene failed once to set a North End church ablaze, then returned a day later and tried again, starting a fire that killed two people living in an upstairs apartment suite, a jury was told Monday.

Waters remain murky in uncharted Hellebuyck trade request territory

ST. LOUIS — The thing about being in uncharted waters is that the answer to the next question isn’t always readily apparent either above or below the surface.

Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel has been doing his best to ensure the upcoming two-game road trip against Central Division opponents doesn’t include a three-ring circus. But with news coming over the weekend that the suspension for goalie Connor Hellebuyck is set to expire on Friday, the club has to prepare for the next step in that process.

The problem, as Arniel conceded during his session on Monday afternoon before the team departed for Missouri, is that some of the hypotheticals need to be eliminated from the equation before the proper response can be determined.

“When it comes to Helly’s scenario, honestly I don’t really have a lot of information,” said Arniel. “I know everybody knows (about) Friday. That’s all we know.”

Feds hold back on stable health funding

The federal government wants provinces to improve health care, expand treatment services and find better ways to deliver care. But it’s refusing to provide provincial governments with the one thing they need most to plan for the future: stable, predictable funding.

Empty desks: Advocates talk chronic school absenteeism

Concerned that school and government leaders are downplaying the state of student absenteeism, community organizers are strategizing to create urgency around who’s regularly missing class — and why — in Winnipeg.

The inaugural Youth at Risk in Winnipeg Symposium, held over the weekend at the Canadian Mennonite University, drew roughly 100 people to discuss barriers to attendance and brainstorm ways to remove them.

Nearly 20 years after he began calling attention to the issue, first as a volunteer with the Point Douglas Residents Committee, Sel Burrows gave an impassioned speech about the lack of political will to take meaningful action to help students from “dysfunctional homes.”

“I’ve dealt with nine cabinet ministers, Conservative and NDP, and five deputy ministers, and the issue has not gotten any better,” Burrows told teachers, reseachers and community support workers gathered Saturday on CMU’s Shaftesbury campus.

Separation is dead, now Canada must unite

The overwhelming majority of Albertans sent a message that should put any serious campaign to break up the country on the back burner for a very long time.

Monday’s referendum was a resounding endorsement of Confederation, with roughly 75 per cent of voters rejecting the call for a second, binding referendum on separation. Only about 25 per cent supported taking the next step toward leaving Canada.

That’s not a close call. It’s a thumping of the separatist movement in Alberta.

There will always be a small minority of Albertans who want out of Canada, just as there will always be a minority of Quebecers who want to separate.