Internet sensation Grumpy Cat has died at age 7

Granite housing project passes final council hurdle after appeal rejected

Critics of the proposed 12-storey housing project set for the parking lot of the Granite Curling Club were shut down at a city meeting Thursday as councillors allowed the development to proceed.

The 110-unit building at 30 Granite Way originally meant the loss of 45 of the 80 parking spots, which the long-running club said would ruin its financial viability.

In June, the city produced a plan to add parking spots around the club by removing a boulevard and adjusting spots at another parking lot, but the club’s management called the plan inadequate.

City council’s property and development committee discussed a number of proposed variances to the building plan Thursday, including allowing the building height to reach 126 feet even though regulations stipulate a maximum 100 feet, and shifts in the width of some parking spots allotted to the residential building and the curling club. Appeals against those changes, including those by management at the Granite Curling Club, were unanimously denied by the committee.

Drug site open house called off after media tipped off

Local business owners are miffed an open house for the upcoming supervised consumption site was cancelled after the media found out about it and interest swelled.

Province orders mosquito fogging owing to increased risk of West Nile virus

Parts of Winnipeg and several rural communities will be sprayed for mosquitoes in the coming days as the heat wave across southern Manitoba has created a higher risk of exposure to West Nile virus.

The province has issued a fogging order under the Environment Act in response to a high number of Culex tarsalis mosquitoes — the primary transmitter of West Nile virus — in Manitoba.

Surveillance data from last week showed evidence of the West Nile virus.

“High temperatures across southern Manitoba have shortened the time required for West Nile virus to develop within infected Culex tarsalis mosquitoes and be transmitted to humans,” the province’s first bulletin on West Nile virus this summer, published Thursday afternoon, reads.

Internet sensation Grumpy Cat has died at age 7

MORRISTOWN, Ariz. - Her owners say Grumpy Cat, whose sourpuss demeanour became an internet sensation, has died at age 7.

Posting on social media Friday, Grumpy Cat's owners wrote that she experienced complications from a urinary tract infection and "passed away peacefully" Tuesday "in the arms of her mommy."

Her owners said "Grumpy Cat has helped millions of people smile all around the world — even when times were tough."

The cat's real name was Tardar Sauce, and she rose to fame after her photos were posted online in 2012. She had more than 2 million followers on Instagram and more than 1 million on Twitter.

Body of 11-year-old Calgary boy missing for two weeks found in water pipe

CALGARY - An 11-year-old Calgary boy who disappeared two weeks ago has been found dead in a labyrinth of pipes under the city, police announced Wednesday.

Chief Katie McLellan said the boy, named Parker, was discovered in a small water pipe underneath Deerfoot Trail, the city's major north-south expressway.

"For nearly two weeks, so many people woke up hoping it would be the day Parker came home," McLellan told reporters.

"Instead, we are here sharing news that is heartbreaking for his family and for everyone who has been carrying that hope."

Health Sciences Centre hit with 12-hour power outage

The cause of a power outage that affected several areas of Health Sciences Centre is under investigation.