Columbus Zoo welcomes 2nd Asian elephant calf this year

Columbus Zoo welcomes 2nd Asian elephant calf this year

POWELL, Ohio (AP) — The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has welcomed its second baby elephant in a single calendar year for the first time in its nearly 100-year history, a milestone that the Ohio attraction is touting as a win for conservation.

Thirty-eight-year-old Phoebe gave birth to the male Asian elephant calf at 10:41 p.m. Tuesday. The 222-pound (100-kilogram) offspring is not yet on view to the public. That is so the pair gets uninterrupted bonding time and the zoo's animal care and conservation medicine team can provide round-the-clock monitoring as the baby begins to stand, nurse and explore his surroundings.

The calf’s father, Sabu, lives at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. They were paired through a national zoo initiative that aims to support healthy, genetically diverse populations of threatened and endangered species in professional care.

Although there have been recent signs of hope for Asian elephants in the wild, habitat degradation and the challenges of maintaining genetic diversity are among reasons they remain endangered.

Executive exodus continues at Shared Health with three recent departures

Manitoba’s provincial health authority is looking for its fourth chief financial officer since 2023 and additional replacements after the recent departures of three executives.

Free Press literary editor picks noteworthy Canadian fiction and non-fiction titles to watch for this fall

For many book lovers, summer means relaxing at the beach, in the backyard or at the cottage with fun, warm-weather page-turners — easy-going romance novels, gripping thrillers or even a dishy biography.

And some may long for the summer months to slow down, fall books season always offers up some of the most compelling reads for bookworms.

Here are 10 works of fiction and 10 non-fiction titles from Canadian authors slated to be published in the coming months — from Olympians to separatists, draft dodgers, plutocrats, prime ministers, bird-men and beyond, the characters in these forthcoming titles run the gamut.

FICTIONEliza Sunshine

ER wait times have hit all-time highs in Winnipeg and are impacting nearly all aspects of hospital operations

On most days at Health Sciences Centre’s adult emergency department, all 58 treatment beds are filled with sick patients. Another dozen or so brought in by ambulance line the hallways on stretchers, with only one nurse to look after them.

Out in the waiting room, about 30 or 40 people — sometimes more — are slouched in chairs in pain or discomfort, waiting hours to see a doctor. Most have been assessed by a triage nurse, but many will have to wait 10 to 20 hours to be examined by a physician because there’s no room for them in the treatment area.

Some patients leave because they can no longer tolerate the excruciating wait, only to return days later, sicker than they were before.

Welcome to the emergency department at Manitoba’s largest hospital, where some of the highest-acuity patients seek medical care but now face delays that were unimaginable a few years ago.