Province to reimburse Brandon school division for evacuee costs

BRANDON — The Brandon School Division will receive financial support from the province to cover the cost of hosting wildfire evacuees in its schools, Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said Thursday.

“We encourage divisions to track… expenses and to be in touch with our department — many of them already have — and we will work with them to make sure that those expenses are covered,” Schmidt said.

In Brandon, 64 students from evacuated communities were enrolled in local schools on Thursday.

As a result, the division is paying for 8.5 additional substitute teachers, a bus driver and gas for a new route, and is buying extra equipment to take on the students, totalling a “rough estimate” of $100,000, the division said.

City non-profit inks deal with subsidiary of leader in phosphate-based fertilizers

A Winnipeg non-profit committed to advancing digital agriculture has inked a deal with the North American subsidiary of a global leader in phosphate-based fertilizers.

Leaders from Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative and OCP North America signed a collaboration agreement last week. They said the collaboration will focus on advancing agricultural innovation through field-based research that will take place through EMILI’s Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert.

Innovation Farms spans more than 14,000 acres across two Manitoba farms to provide demonstrations, testing and validation of agriculture technology and production practices in commercial farm settings.

The partnership will allow EMILI to give Manitoba farmers a first-hand look at new innovations, said Jacqueline Keena, managing director.

Manitobans raise more than $81,000 for cancer research at Terry Fox Run

Hundreds of runners, walkers and cyclists flooded Assiniboine Park Sunday to remember Terry Fox’s legacy and honour their own loved ones affected by cancer.

The 45th annual Terry Fox Run kicked off by the park pavilion at 10 a.m. Sunday. Manitoba donors raised more than $81,000 for cancer research this year.

Families old and young took to the 2.5-kilometre route all morning, some with shirts bearing Fox’s iconic visage, others carrying signs and mementos of the people they were running for.

Some came in recognition of someone currently battling cancer, like Jason Wells, who ran for his father.

Premier, chiefs question lack of Manitoba First Nation voice on major project council

Premier Wab Kinew and chiefs across the province have raised concerns that no Manitoba First Nation representative was appointed to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Indigenous advisory council for major projects.

“I think it is a missed opportunity,” Kinew said after the list of advisers was announced Thursday.

“The First Nations have to be given that opportunity to engage,” the premier said.

On Thursday, Carney unveiled the first five major projects of national importance that his government plans to fast-track through the approvals process, as well as the Indigenous council he appointed to offer advice.

Steinbach, nearby communities flooded in massive overnight deluge

Some residents of Steinbach were mopping up and assessing damage Friday after the southeastern Manitoba city was swamped by two months’ worth of rain in about four hours.

An animal rescue charity was hit by catastrophe again when basements and streets flooded almost a year to the day a deluge inundated buildings.

“Last year, they told us it was a one-in-1oo-year event, and here we are 11 months later with the same event,” said Graham Pollock, vice-president of Steinbach and Area Animal Rescue.

He said the organization moved almost two dozen cats and kittens to foster homes after nearly 2.1 metres (seven feet) of floodwater filled the shelter’s basement overnight Thursday.

Road through popular dog park proving divisive

Users of a large and popular city dog park fear renovations that will cut a road through the expansive property will transform the serene space into a busy traffic route.

By contrast, the city expects the updated park would serve more people and make better use of its entire property.

Frequent visitors to the 48-hectare off-leash dog area in Kilcona Park, adjacent to Highway 59 in the northeast quadrant of the city, say it’s a well-loved spot that the road would disrupt.

“Putting a big road through that… park, it just seems so intrusive. It’s beautiful just the way it is, there’s prairie wildflowers, there’s wildlife,” said Tom Moody.

Great potential in Churchill port project — but…

Prime Minister Mark Carney, seeking to bolster Canadian economic power at a time when its closest ally and trading partner is becoming increasingly hostile, wants to get started on some nation-building projects. Among them, he has indicated, is one to make some serious upgrades to Churchill’s port, funding for which is expected to be announced soon.

Gaza as a twisted real estate opportunity

A motley band of greedy fantasists got together at the White House a week ago (Aug. 27) and came up with a cunning plan to bring peace to the Middle East while lining their own pockets at the same time. It was “leaked” within days, as it was clearly meant to be, and since then the sound of outraged clucking has been loud in the land.

It is “a Trumpian get-rich-quick scheme reliant on war crimes, AI and tourism,” wrote the Israeli daily Ha’aretz.

“It’s a textbook case of international crimes on an unimaginable scale: forcible population transfer, demographic engineering and collective punishment,” said Duncan Grant, head of Swiss-based human rights group Trial International.

“It’s insane,” said H.A. Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute. They are right, so far as they go — but they only know the half of it. The other half is that this is an insane crime that could actually happen.

First Nations call on Ottawa to crack down on drug traffickers in their communities

OTTAWA - First Nations chiefs voted Friday to call on Ottawa to crack down on the people selling drugs that are claiming lives in their communities.

They're also calling for the Assembly of First Nations to declare a state of emergency spanning all First Nations, and to call for more support from the federal government for treatment and prevention.

Chief Angela Levasseur of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation said she brought the resolution forward for a vote at the Assembly of First Nations annual general meeting in Winnipeg because the opioid epidemic is killing members of her community.

"In Manitoba and across Canada, fentanyl poisonings are taking lives daily. Our front-line workers and families are doing all they can, but support from federal and provincial governments remains fragmented, underfunded and reactive," Levasseur said.

Eight docs recruited to work in western Manitoba

Eight doctors from around the world have signed on to work in clinics across the Prairie Mountain Health region through a provincial program.

Six doctors have set up practice in Swan River, Neepawa, Roblin and Virden, while two physicians are scheduled to begin in Souris and Swan River in mid-September. All were recruited by the Medical Licensure Program for International Medical Graduates, which helps physicians gain Canadian citizenship or permanent residency in exchange for working in communities in desperate need of doctors.

The physicians are from Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, the Philippines and Bangladesh. In exchange for assisting foreign-trained doctors to become fully licensed to practise in Manitoba, they’ve agreed to practise in those communities for at least four years.

While the program has been used since 2001 to recruit doctors to the underserved Westman area , the local health authority has ramped up efforts in the past two years to improve the chance that internationally trained doctors establish roots in rural Manitoba. The hope is that they’ll stay more than four years.

Swastikas still linger on some flags in Finland’s air force, but are on the way out

GENEVA (AP) — Finland’s Air Force, now part of NATO, still flies swastikas on a handful of unit flags — but is preparing to phase them out, largely to avoid awkwardness with its Western allies.

The history of the Finnish air force’s use of the swastika, which since the 20th century has largely been associated with Nazi tyranny and hate groups, is more complex than at first appearance. It is an ancient symbol and Finland's air force began using it many years before the birth of Nazi Germany.

Change has been underway for years. A swastika logo was quietly pulled off the Air Force Command’s unit emblem a few years ago. But swastikas have remained on some Finnish air force flags, raising eyebrows among NATO allies, tourists and other foreigners who spot them at military events.

“We could have continued with this flag, but sometimes awkward situations can arise with foreign visitors. It may be wise to live with the times, Col. Tomi Böhm, the new head of Karelia Air Wing air defense force, was quoted as saying in a report Thursday by the public broadcaster YLE.

A roadtrip through Scotland’s rolling hills, ancient history and the zany spectacle of Fringe

Caravanners, backpackers and daredevil cyclists.

Roadtripping in Scotland is a chance to explore the country’s awe-inspiring landscape on your own schedule, while dodging droves of eclectic travellers doing the exact same.

My partner and I spent eight days in July navigating the Scottish countryside in a rented campervan.

We picked up our home on wheels — a well-appointed Volkswagen van — near Edinburgh and headed north for the highlands. Rolling farmland quickly gave way to rolling hills and tall evergreens. A wee taste of what was to come.

Native American radio stations at risk as Congress looks to cut $1B in public broadcasting funding

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dozens of Native American radio stations across the country vital to tribal communities will be at risk of going off the air if Congress cuts more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to industry leaders.

The U.S. Senate is set to vote this week on whether to approve the Department of Government Efficiency's plan to rescind previously approved public broadcasting funding for 2026 and 2027. Fear is growing that most of the 59 tribal radio stations that receive the funding will go dark, depriving isolated populations of news, local events and critical weather alerts. The House already approved the cuts last month.

“For Indian Country in general, 80% of the communities are rural, and their only access to national news, native story sharing, community news, whatever it is, is through PBS stations or public radio,” said Francene Blythe-Lewis, CEO of the Lincoln, Nebraska-based Native American video programming producer Vision Maker Media. “If the claw back happens, I would say a good 90% of those stations will cease to exist.”

Native American communities rely on local radio stations

Smith, Alberta Next panel’s first town hall hears support, calls for separation vote

RED DEER - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her hand-picked panel heard from several Albertans Tuesday who argued the only way to get the province a fair deal from Ottawa is to leave confederation.

The event in Red Deer was the first in a series of town halls to address public concerns with the federal government.

Some 450 people showed up to put questions to Smith and the 15 other members of her Alberta Next panel about the grievances inspiring separatist sentiment in the province.

Most of the attendees lauded Smith and the panel's strategies to wrest more control from the federal government, including pulling out of the Canada Pension Plan and creating a provincial police force to replace the RCMP.

BBC Gaza documentary narrated by Hamas official’s son breached editorial guidelines, review says

LONDON (AP) — Britain's media regulator said Monday it will investigate a BBC documentary about children's lives in Gaza, after a review concluded that the narrator's father has Hamas links and the program therefore breached editorial guidelines on accuracy.

The broadcaster removed the program, “Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone,” from its streaming service in February after it emerged that the 13-year-old narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.

Ofcom, the media regulator, said that it was launching an investigation under rules that state factual programs must not materially mislead the audience.

That came after a review by the broadcaster found that the independent production company that made the program didn't share the background information regarding the narrator's father with the BBC. It said that the production company, Hoyo Films, bears most responsibility for the failure, though it didn't “intentionally” mislead the BBC.

Commuter traffic stops for whales on Australia’s humpback highway

PORT STEPHENS, Australia (AP) — The ferry was late, but not because of the usual traffic. Sydney commuters watched from an idling boat this month as humpback whales the size of buses surfaced nearby, halting the vessel’s passage across the harbor. The curious mammals seemed to be watching them back.

In June and July, it’s not uncommon for whales to stop water traffic in Sydney. Winter heralds the opening of the so-called humpback highway, a migratory corridor along Australia's east coast used by about 40,000 of the massive creatures as they travel from feeding grounds in freezing Antarctica to tropical breeding areas off Queensland state.

“It’s blubber to blubber,” said Dr. Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist at Macquarie University in Sydney and author of the book “Humpback Highway.” During peak traffic periods the bustling coastal city of 5.5 million people becomes one of the world’s few urban centers where you might see a breaching whale on your morning walk, while buying a coffee, or waiting at a bus stop – anyplace you can see the ocean.

Whales cruise close to shore

Flin Flon’s school year comes to disappointing end for graduating evacuees

Homesick evacuees from the Flin Flon area were dealt another blow Monday when they learned an out-of-control forest fire had cancelled the rest of the school year in northwestern Manitoba.

Graduates far from home ‘grateful’ for honour at school powwow

Grade 12 Tataskweyak Cree Nation student Jonah Wavey was among several wildfire evacuees honoured Monday during a special celebration of Indigenous graduates at the University of Winnipeg’s Duckworth Centre.

How the humble water gun became the symbol of Barcelona’s anti-tourism movement

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of tourists were sitting at an outdoor table in the Spanish city of Barcelona, trying to enjoy their drinks, when a woman raised a cheap plastic water gun and shot an arc of water at them.

Her weapon of choice — the cheap, squirt-squirt variety — is an increasingly common fixture at anti-tourism protests in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods.

How did the humble water gun become a symbol of discontent?

From refreshing to revolutionary

Pray for rain — and plant more trees

As I write this, Saskatchewan is under another air-quality alert as smoke from Alberta and B.C. drift over to cast a shadow on what would typically be a sunny June day.

Like mother, like daughter: Sunshine Fund camp experience runs in the family

Peyton Toth is weeks away from graduating from Grade 3 and heading to summer camp for the first time.

And the bubbly outgoing eight-year-old will soon be on her way to Camp Arnes, on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg north of Gimli, thanks to the Sunshine Fund.

Peyton’s mom, Lindsay, said she knows firsthand the type of experience her daughter will get. Three decades ago, when she was eight years old, she went to camp for the first time — at Camp Arnes.

“I wanted her to go to camp so I began looking at the camps out there,” she said. “But I didn’t realize (camping fees) would be that much. It costs $800 for the week.