Two men dead after falling through ice on lake in B.C.’s Fraser Valley

Cool spots for more summer sweets

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream. Missed seeing your favourite ice cream joint in last month’s Chill Out feature? Cheer up: we’ve compiled our reader suggestions below.

Despite the cooler weather and slight drizzle, it’s still summer and there’s time to to grab a scoop or two of your favourite flavours. So what are you waiting for?

Living up to its name Not a Waffle (2-709 Corydon Avenue) serves ice creams not in traditional waffle cones but heaped into Japanese taiyaki, a fish-shaped sturdy cake. Ice cream flavours on offer include the ever-popular ube, sakura and matcha in soft serve and for hard scoops there are vanilla, chocolate brownie, cookie dough and something called heavenly heart, which is a chocolate and almond combo. The soft serves are on until October this year so there’s still time if you’d like to give this a try.

Our readers simply adore Dug & Betty’s (309 Rue Des Meurons) for their ice cream fix. Made in small batches, popular flavours include sour cherry and chocolate, strawberry balsamic honey and black pepper and lemon meringue pie. There are seven dairy-free options, including soy chocolate caramel cookie dough and oatmeal apple caramel crunch.

Residents fear mailbox crime sprees

Some North End residents are concerned new community mailboxes will become a target for vandalism and crime after the base of one was recently lit ablaze — before it was even installed.

The community mailboxes started to show up on Andrews Street within the last two weeks. Some have been installed, while at other locations, only the concrete foundation is in place.

“They just dumped them on the boulevard,” said Stephen Giesbrecht, who lives beside one of the boxes in the St. John’s neighbourhood. “They dumped them on the corner and then they were gone.”

One of the concrete slabs has already played host to a fire and some of the hardware needed to install the mailbox melted.

Senior’s family frustrated by Manitoba Housing’s response to apartment’s bedbug infestation

The family of a senior who left his Manitoba Housing apartment after two years of bedbug infestations is accusing the provincial body of being ineffectual and irresponsible in its treatment of the persistent pests.

The senior had lived at the Columbus Courts building at 253 Edgeland Blvd., since 2011, but when he began getting severe skin rashes all over his body about two years ago, his son began to worry.

They found out the 14-storey building was being sprayed for bedbugs after an infestation had impacted several units. After multiple rounds of pesticide treatments, the problem has not subsided, the son told the Free Press.

“They come in, they spray pesticides and then they leave. And it’s been completely ineffectual,” he said. “My dad keeps seeing the bedbugs even the day after the treatments and continuously, they’ve just gotten worse and worse.”

Frustration mounts as drug raids sweep problems out of downtown, into West End

West End business owners say their neighbourhood has been under siege for months, and some believe downtown police drug sweeps have made things worse by pushing more street disorder in their direction — and pushing customers away.

Two men dead after falling through ice on lake in B.C.’s Fraser Valley

AGASSIZ, B.C. - RCMP in Agassiz, B.C., say two men who went ice fishing at a small lake in the Fraser Valley died when they fell through the ice. 

Police were notified Tuesday that the men hadn't returned from their fishing trip on Grace Lake. 

They say a family member went to the lake and noticed a large hole in the ice along with their fishing gear. 

Search and rescue crews were deployed and the two bodies were spotted through the ice.