Na cites travel restrictions in pulling out of British Open

Debut adult novel proves a twisty, satisfying cozy mystery

The Mystic and the Missing Girl by Toronto author Vikki VanSickle is a metaphysical mystery with identity and self-acceptance at its core. It leans into the “cosy” category, despite a spatter of salty language.

VanSickle is a writing instructor and TV commentator, and is best-known for her books for children and teens, including the award-winning The Winnowing.

The 1998 disappearance of 17-year-old Ginny Evans haunts the Ontario town of Stanfield. The girl’s mother clings to hope that Ginny ran away to escape her abusive father, and is living a safe and happy life elsewhere.

Others believe she was murdered — but not dumped in a nearby lake, as the recently deceased and long-maligned “Hannah the Mystic” once suggested.

A life's story: ‘Ivor the Driver’ found his calling in the ranching life

Ivor Asham’s family couldn’t have picked a better image to accompany his obituary. There he is, riding Flash, his beloved brown and white quarter horse, a black cowboy hat on his head and a drink in his hand.

Asham owned and operated Birds Hill Park Ranch for nearly 35 years, where he shared his lifelong passion for horses with thousands of visitors. He moved hay, harnessed horses and drove the wagons, introducing himself as “Ivor the Driver.”

Over the years, Asham built a reputation as the quintessential cowboy.

There’s a restaurant at the ranch filled with memorabilia that he collected over the years. Calgary Stampede posters, cowboy boot-shaped shot glasses, a child’s rocking horse, a wagon wheel and numerous photos of legendary actor John Wayne are just some of the items that line the walls.

Canadians loving Carney’s decision to stand tall against floundering U.S. bully

It’s hard to imagine a more dramatic political contrast than the one unfolding on opposite sides of the Canada-U.S. border.

Mark Carney is fighting a trade war with Donald Trump, taking the occasional verbal punch from the American president and imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products.

And the prime minister is being rewarded for it politically.

Trump, meanwhile, is fighting pretty much everyone he can find — including some of America’s closest allies — and his own voters are increasingly giving him the political equivalent of a raised middle finger. That’s quite a tale of two leaders.

Education minister’s reasons for revoking teacher’s licence ‘not good enough,’ judge decides

A Manitoba judge has rejected the education minister’s decision to end a teacher’s career because he repeatedly messaged with a 13-year-old girl on social media.

Retired sportscaster Scott Oake determined as fundraising for women's addictions treatment facility enters home stretch

For now, the patch of land just east of the Victoria Hospital doesn’t look like much: just a field of rocks, mounded dirt, and concrete piles driven into the earth. Yet when Scott Oake looks over the site, he can already imagine how it will look in just over a year’s time, when the new Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre is expected to open.

It’s easier to picture this time around. In 2020, when the recently-retired CBC sportscaster and his late wife, Anne, were building their first labour of intermingled grief and love, the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre for men, it was hard for him to wrap his mind around how a raw construction site could transform into a welcoming addictions treatment facility.

When that centre opened in 2021, Oake found it looked “almost identical” to the architect’s renderings. So it’s easy to hope the Anne Oake Centre will be the same. It will be the first facility of its kind, its founders believe, not only in Canada but in North America: a place where 50 to 70 women can pursue sobriety while staying with their children.

“At Bruce Oake there’s a culture of love, and most of all a culture of hope,” Oake said, speaking at the site Thursday after a media conference to announce the final push of the centre’s fundraising campaign. “I can feel it every time I walk into that building. And I know it will be the same here.”

Pokemon thieves clear out collectibles shop

Terri Settle loved watching children walk into her collectibles shop to hunt for their favourite Pokemon cards.

After the latest break in stripped her shelves of much of the inventory, she’s not sure she’ll get to see it again.

Thieves broke into Terri’s Trinkets and Toys on Tuesday evening, punching through a grate and then the store’s bathroom wall to reach the storefront.

They made off with about $6,000 worth of merchandise, including all of the store’s Pokemon cards — about 7,000 of them — along with toys, Lego, jewelry, video games, a debit machine and personal laptop. They even took her vacuum cleaner.