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  • Central Alberta man pleads guilty to manslaughter in wife's death, fought over money

    RED DEER, Alta. — A central Alberta man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of his wife. Satnam Singh Sandhu of Sylvan Lake was originally charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty Tuesday to the lesser charge. The 43-year-old is to be sentenced in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench on Friday. Court heard that he got into a physical fight with his wife, Kulvinder Sandhu, on Sept. 11, 2019, over money. According to the agreed statement of facts, during the struggle they were choking each other and she hit her head on a heater while falling to the floor. The 36-year-old was taken to hospital but was taken off life-support a few days later. Crown prosecutor Bruce Ritter is seeking a sentence in the range of seven to 12 years, while defence lawyer Dan Murphy is asking for a sentence of four years, less time served. When given the chance to speak on Tuesday, Sandhu declined through an interpreter. (rdnewsNOW) This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2021 The Canadian Press

  • U of W team to document search for life on red planet

    Stephanie Connell never grew out of her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. While the 29-year-old student has a long way to go before venturing into outer space, she came one step closer last week — when the Perseverance rover landed on Mars. “I was watching it from my living room, on my laptop … sweating,” she recalls of the moments Thursday, leading up to the successful spacecraft parachute. Connell, a fourth-year environmental sciences student, is part of the University of Winnipeg team at the Centre for Terrestrial and Planetary Exploration involved with NASA’s latest probe. “If you would’ve told eight-year-old Steph I’d be doing this, I would be ecstatic,” she said. Led by centre director Ed Cloutis, the Winnipeg team is working with international scientists who are scanning the Red Planet’s surface geology for signs of life to record findings during the expedition. Last week’s landing was eight years in the making for Cloutis, who has been supporting the development of the rover’s cameras since 2013. He recruited students to take part in the latest project in the summertime, at which point, Connell and Nathalie Turenne began to train for Mars exploration through shadowing experts in pre-mission operations. “This is a very high-profile mission and I’m proud of the fact we can contribute,” said Cloutis, a geography professor at U of W. Throughout his quarter-century of doing planetary exploration work, Cloutis has been a part of five missions, including Curiosity, in which a rover landed on Mars in 2012. He got involved with Perseverance after NASA scientists inquired about his interest in the project, given U of W’s unique facilities and expertise to support missions to Mars. The Centre for Terrestrial and Planetary Exploration is home to a chamber that can mimic the surface of Mars, in terms of atmospheric pressure, temperature and its carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. Before Perseverance launched, Cloutis’ team used the dishwasher-sized device to test calibration targets — equipment that was mounted onto the rover to help cameras collect images and scientific data — to ensure the pictures taken on Mars are in true colour. Two rock samples from the Winnipeg lab’s collection were also installed on the rover as part of its SuperCam instrument’s calibration pane, Cloutis said. Now that Perseverance has landed, the team is supporting the search for signs of life by taking part in “rover shifts.” Turenne, a recent U of W graduate who wants to pursue a thesis involving planetary science, had her second shift as a documentarian late Monday night, when it was daytime on Mars. The 25-year-old observed a panorama taken by cameras aboard the rover and took notes about what the mission’s science support team learned from the imagery. “It’s incredible seeing images,” she said. “It’s a great feeling to just be in awe.” When asked whether he suspects there were once living creatures on Mars, Cloutis said his answer to the question changes daily. “But if we’re going to find signs of life on Mars, they will be signs of past, microbial life.” NASA plans to explore the rover’s landing site in the Jezero Crater region for at least one Mars year, which is the equivalent of two years on Earth. Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

  • Fort Chipewyan renews calls for all-weather road as winter road season shortens

    Resupplying Fort Chipewyan with enough fuel and supplies for the next year has quickened. This past Sunday, drivers were told the winter road linking the community to Fort McMurray could now support up to 27,500 kilograms, allowing more fuel and cargo shipments to travel more than 220 kilometres north. But the window of safe travel on the winter road, which includes four ice crossings, has become increasingly short. After seeing late starts and temporary closures this winter and last, community leaders are again arguing for a permanent road. “It’s time to talk about road options and what these transportation problems are causing,” said Chief Peter Powder of the Mikisew Cree First Nation (MCFN). “We’ve had shorter and shorter times of the road being open to heavy loads that we need for transporting materials to build schools or homes.” Usually, the winter road opens shortly before Christmas and trucks full of enough gasoline, diesel and non-perishable food to make it until next winter journey north. The impacts of this can be seen at Fort Chipewyan's grocery stores. Before the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) opened a community grocery store, the K’ai Tailé Market, in 2018, the Northern was the community's only grocery store. A four-litre jug of milk cost up to $16 until the new store opened, where food costs roughly halved thanks to subsidies and support from the First Nation. But getting fresh food into the community is still expensive. People complain that the food quality is questionable at the Northern, which is not subsidized. “It’s really hard to transport goods,” said Powder. “If you can’t get things in on the winter road, you have to wait for summer for the barge because it’s expensive to fly things in.” Until recently, the winter road opens when river ice is thick enough to support a small truck or car. As winter gets colder, this limit increases to 45,000 kilograms. At around 15,000 kilograms, small trucks carry up to five million litres of fuel to Fort Chipewyan's power plant. Another 400 truckloads of supplies and food keep the hamlet stocked. But the past 20 years has seen this timeline shrink, particularly during the last five years. The road has been open for fewer than 100 days since the 2016-17 season. Warm weather has caused the road to temporarily close in 2005-06, 2006-07 and in 2008-09. In 1998, ice crossings were too weak to support any traffic. Adjusted for inflation, the province spent $1.5 million for cargo planes to deliver food, oil and gasoline. Another airlift would have been needed last year if a crew was unable to strengthen an ice road crossing at the Des Rochers River. "It's always a concern when the winter road goes out in Fort Chip," said Chief Allan Adam of ACFN. Adam said warm weather is just one hurdle facing the community. The release of water from the Bennett Dam in northeastern B.C. floods the Peace-Athabasca Delta and makes it harder to build the winter road. “That was the cause of what happened here last winter. It was because of high water,” said Adam. “The warm weather didn’t help either, but we had a hell of a time to get our winter road in and the same thing happened this year.” Adam has discussed an all-season road with the municipality, which has been supportive in the past. As recently as 2018, council asked the provincial government to study the idea. Talks quickly die down after engineering and building costs are raised, but Fort Chipewyan's leadership are still pressing for its construction. “Those are the factors that plague us and if we don’t do anything about them, they will continue to happen,” said Adam. Kendrick Cardinal, president of the Fort Chipewyan Métis Local #125, believes relationships with industry will keep the hamlet sustained through future winter road problems, but a permanent road would help with living costs. “I really think that if the road was to stay closed forever, our people will still live their daily lives,” said Cardinal. “Of course, the winter road does bring in fresh foods and fuel but we’re turning to solar power and soon we wouldn’t have to really worry about fuel.” Some people active in trapping, hunting and foraging would prefer Fort Chipewyan limit outside travellers, said Powder. There are also environmental concerns about building a permanent road through the delta south of the community. “I see both sides. Protecting the land is one of the biggest things, but I also see the part where the younger generation wants to build houses and a new band office," said Powder. “All these things require us to maneuver around the winter road schedule.” -With files from Laura Beamish and Vincent McDermott swilliscraft@postmedia.com Sarah Williscraft, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Fort McMurray Today

  • South African variant of COVID-19 detected in North Central zone

    The province reported on Tuesday that a resident of the North Central zone, which includes Prince Albert, has had the B1.351 SA (South Africa) COVID-19 variant detected in their test, the individual was tested at the end of January and Public Health’s investigation is ongoing. According to Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab in a press conference on Tuesday the experience with the variants is not different from what other provinces have seen. “What it means for us is basically the variants of concern respond exactly the same as the previous COVID-19 strains,” Shahab said. He reminded people to take all of the common steps such as social distancing and other steps to reduce transmission as well as minimizing interprovincial and international travel. He explained that six per cent of all samples are screened for all variants by referring them to the National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg including travel related cases, outbreaks, cases of people under 50-years-old in ICY and random samples. “That will also help us increase the portion that we can screen, it will also shorten the time it takes to get the results from one to two weeks to a few days,” Shahab said. “All of that must start once the initial test comes back positive. We shouldn’t wait for it to be diagnosed for the variants of concern for us to take further action,” he added. According to Premier Scott Moe work in under way to receive certification for the Roy Romanow Laboratory in Regina to expand to testing for variants of COVID-19. “That process does take a period of time, working with the lab in Winnipeg. That process is underway and I would expect that we would be able to identify the variants at the Roy Romanow Lab within the province of Saskatchewan sometime in early March,” Moe said. Shahab and Moe both said that the province expected to see the variant in the province. The B1.1.7 UK (United Kingdom) variant has been detected in two residents in the Regina zone. These individuals were tested at the end of January. Based on the contact investigation to date, there is no link to travel at this time but public health's investigation is ongoing. There is also a presumptive case of B1.1.7 UK in one individual in the Saskatoon zone. The individual was transferred from out of province to Saskatoon for acute care. Whole genome sequencing will need to be completed to confirm the results and health's contact investigation is ongoing. “All residents with a confirmed COVID-19 test are required to isolate to reduce the risk of transmission. If required, public health will issue a public service announcement to alert the general public to any risk due to any confirmed case of a variant of concern. The Government of Saskatchewan continues to plan for the impact of variants on COVID-19 including any required increase to public health measures and surge capacity planning,” the province’s release explained. This brings the provincial total of confirmed variant of concern cases to seven. Meanwhile, there were four deaths related to COVID-19 reported in the province on Tuesday. There were three deaths reported in the Regina zone with two in the 80 plus age group and one in the 70 to 79 age group. There was also a death reported in the 80 plus age group in the Saskatoon zone. The number of deaths in the province currently sits at 376. There were 122 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the province on Tuesday. The North Central zone, which includes Prince Albert, reported four new cases. One additional case was added to North Central that had tested positive out of province. North Central 2, which is Prince Albert, has 36 active cases. According to Shahab the province is in the 12th consecutive week of a consistent slow decline in numbers with a slight uptick last weekend. The overall seven day average has dropped from 16.6 on Feb. 9 to 12.7 on Feb. 23. “And our test positivity is also gradually trending down to around seven per cent right now. Similar to many other provinces we are seeing a decline but some provinces are also seeing a bit of a plateauing,” he said. North Central 1, which includes communities such as Christopher Lake, Candle Lake and Meath Park, has 47 active cases and North Central 3 has 19 active cases. There are currently 174 people in hospital overall in the province. Of the 158 reported as receiving in patient care there are 17 in North Central. Of the 16 people reported as being in intensive care there is one in North Central. The current seven-day average 156, or 12.7 cases per 100,000 population. Of the 27,923 reported COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan, 1,530 are considered active. The recovered number now sits at 26,017 after 244 more recoveries were reported. The total numbers of cases since the beginning of the pandemic is 27,923 of those 77,238 cases are from the North area (2,917 North West, 3,192 North Central and1,129 North East). There were 549 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered yesterday in Saskatchewan bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 62,342. There were no doses administered in the North Central yesterday. Doses were administered in the adjacent North East zone, North West, Far North Central, Central East, Regina and Saskatoon zones. An additional 21 doses were administered in the Central East zone on Feb.17 and an additional 52 doses were administered in the South Central zone on Feb. 19. There were 1,872 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on Feb. 21. As of today there have been 563,055 COVID-19 tests performed in Saskatchewan. Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Albert Daily Herald

  • Biden administration withdraws from transgender athlete case

    The Biden administration has withdrawn its support for a federal lawsuit in Connecticut that seeks to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' high school sports. Connecticut allows high school athletes to compete in sports according to their gender identity. The lawsuit was filed a year ago by several cisgender runners who argue they have been deprived of wins, state titles and athletic opportunities by being forced to compete against two transgender sprinters. The Justice Department and the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights withdrew their support for the case ahead of a hearing scheduled for Friday on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The Trump administration’s intervention in the case last year came as state legislatures around the country debated restricting transgender athletes’ participation to their gender assigned at birth. Seventeen states considered such legislation, and Idaho passed a law. The Republican-controlled Mississippi legislature overwhelmingly approved a similar bill earlier this month. Supporters of restrictions on transgender athletes argue that transgender girls, because they were born male, are naturally stronger, faster and bigger than those born female. Last March, then-Attorney General William Barr signed what is known as a statement of interest in the Connecticut lawsuit, arguing the state's policy runs afoul of Title IX, the federal law that allows girls equal educational opportunities, including in athletics. In a filing Tuesday, Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham and other department officials withdrew Barr's statement, saying, “The government has reconsidered the matter.” Attorneys for the plaintiffs declined to comment. The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has said it is following a state law that requires all high school students be treated according to their gender identity. The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights last spring and summer sent letters threatening to cut off some federal funding to Connecticut school districts that followed the policy. On Tuesday, the office notified those involved that it was withdrawing those letters “as well as the underlying findings and determinations,” and does not wish to become a party in the lawsuit. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in school sports and elsewhere. Former president Donald Trump had rolled back protections for transgender people while in office. Dan Barrett, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, which represents the two transgender athletes in the lawsuit, said Tuesday's action represents “a hint that the government, the Department of Education, may now have a different view of Title IX.” CIAC executive director Glenn Lungarini has said the organization’s transgender policy was formed with federal and state guidance and that multiple courts and federal agencies, including the Justice Department, had previously acknowledged that the term “sex” in Title IX is ambiguous. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said Tuesday he was pleased with the Justice Department's decision to withdraw Barr's statement. “Transgender girls are girls and every woman and girl deserves protection against discrimination. Period,” he said in a statement. Pat Eaton-Robb, The Associated Press

  • South Dakota House moves to impeach AG after fatal crash

    PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota House lawmakers on Tuesday began impeachment proceedings against the state’s attorney general, who is facing misdemeanour charges for striking and killing a man with his car and is already under pressure to resign. A bipartisan group of lawmakers filed a resolution in the House to impeach the state’s top law enforcement officer, Jason Ravnsborg, after he indicated Monday he would not heed calls for his resignation. The Republican attorney general faces three misdemeanour charges but no felonies in the September death of 55-year-old Joseph Boever. Lawmakers argued in the impeachment resolution that Ravnsborg should be removed from office for “his crimes or misdemeanours in office causing the death" of Boever. The resolution also stated that Ravnsborg’s conduct following the crash was “unbecoming” and his “statements and actions failed to meet the standard” of his office. “When we started looking through and thinking about the duties that the attorney general owes to the people of South Dakota, and I think he owes a special duty to protect the people and uphold the laws. And I think that the actions in these incidents fell short of that duty,” said Rep. Will Mortensen, who represents the area where the crash occurred and who sponsored the impeachment resolution. Shortly before the impeachment resolution was filed, Gov. Kristi Noem called for him to step down. The governor's spokesman Ian Fury said she also supports the impeachment resolution. “Now that the investigation has closed and charges have been filed, I believe the Attorney General should resign,” Noem said in a statement. But Ravnsborg's will not be stepping down, according to spokesman Mike Deaver. “As an attorney and a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserves, AG Ravnsborg has fought for the rule of law and personal liberties and would hope that he is afforded the same right and courtesy,” Deaver said in a statement. While Ravnsborg has not been convicted of any crimes, Mortensen said he felt it was the "right time” to begin impeachment after looking through the publicly available evidence and prosecutors announced their charging decision. It would take a simple majority in the House to advance the impeachment charges to the Senate. There, it would require two-thirds of senators to convict and remove him from office. State law requires senators to wait 20 days from when the attorney general receives a copy of the impeachment charges before beginning the trial. Noem would get to appoint a replacement if Ravnsborg leaves or is removed from office. The attorney general, who was elected to his first term in 2018, was driving home to Pierre from a Republican fundraiser late on Sept. 12 when he struck and killed Boever, who was walking on the shoulder of the highway. Ravnsborg initially told authorities that he thought he had struck a deer or another large animal and said he searched the unlit area with a cellphone flashlight. He said he didn’t realize he had killed a man until the next day when he returned to the accident scene. After an investigation that stretched over five months, prosecutors said they still had questions about the crash but were unable to file more serious criminal charges against Ravnsborg. They charged him with careless driving, driving out of his lane and operating a motor vehicle while on his phone. Prosecutors found he was not using his phone at the time of the crash, but had been using it while driving about one minute before. The attorney general could face up to 30 days in jail and up to a $500 fine on each charge, if convicted. Michael Moore, the Beadle County State’s Attorney who is assisting in the case, said Monday that when Ravnsborg was interviewed by law enforcement following the crash, he was not clear about what had caused him to swerve on to the shoulder of the highway and gave “varying examples of possibly what could have happened.” Noem released videos of Ravnsborg's two interviews with law enforcement late Tuesday. In the videos, investigators confront the attorney general with the gruesome details of the crash, at one point telling him, "His face was in your windshield, Jason, think about that.” Ravnsborg appeared unsure of many details in the crash, but investigators told him Boever's glasses had been found in the attorney general's Ford Taurus and bone scrapings were found on the highway shoulder. As investigators described how his car swerved onto the shoulder and struck Boever, causing major damage to the car hood and windshield, Ravnsborg appears distressed. “I never saw him,” he told the investigators. “I never saw him.” __ This story has been corrected to show that the resolution to impeach the attorney general has been filed in the House, but not formally introduced. Stephen Groves, The Associated Press

  • Australia's antitrust chief claims victory after Facebook standoff

    The architect of Australia's laws forcing Google and Facebook to pay media companies for content claimed victory on Wednesday, though critics said last-minute changes to appease Facebook favoured Big Tech over smaller news outlets. After tense negotiations prompted Facebook to cut off news in the country last week, Australia offered a host of technical concessions and the social media giant said it would restore news as the revamped bill looked set to become law this week. While Facebook said its concerns had been met and opposition lawmakers warned that smaller media players may be overlooked, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chair Rod Sims said the bargaining power imbalance had been righted.

  • Weltz earns NCAA scholarship

    A lifelong passion has earned Timmins basketball sensation Jadyn Weltz a full scholarship with Binghamton University, a Division-1 NCAA program in upstate New York. The former O'Gorman Knight point guard, like all amateur athletes, has been unable to play any competitive games for over a year now due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions. For the past two years, and after two standout years with the Knights, Weltz has attended St. Mary's Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton to play for the highly regarded Lincoln Prep program which operates out of the school, and is a member club of the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association (OSBA). “I came here in Grade 11, and got to play my first full season here. We ended up falling short in the playoffs, which was unfortunate, but everything happened season-wise. Then our off-season was cut short, and we didn't get to build off our previous season,” said Weltz. The frustration and disappointment of the lack of game action has been sweetened considerably with the scholarship offer, which has been a lifelong dream of hers. The shutdown has forced her to revamp her training regiment. “It's been a lot of trying to be creative, and trying to come up with ways that I could still get effective training in, with everything going on. So it's been a lot of individual work, rather than team work and competition.” Weltz and her teammates are still holding out hope that some of the OSBA season can be salvaged. “It's been pushed back multiple times. They're looking to start it again somehow. Not sure what that's going to look like or if that's going to happen, but they've been talking out a way that we could get maybe a couple of games in, because the whole season has been altered,” she said. Weltz will bring a very solid resume to the Binghamton Bearcats program. She is a two-time OFSAA 'A' gold medallist with the Knights, and was invited to two Canletes Provincial High School All-Star Showcases in Toronto, which includes Ontario's best players. She represented Team Ontario's Under-15 team at the 2018 Canada Basketball National Championships in New Brunswick winning a silver medal, and was later awarded the Hazel Miner Award by Ontario Basketball, which goes to players “who uphold the finest qualities of sport in their pursuit of athletic excellence.” Weltz has also played summer ball in the Kia Nurse Elite program, and has been invited to tryouts for Team Canada. Her former coach with O'Gorman, Marcy McCarty, was ecstatic with the news of Weltz's achievement. “Pretty big. It's been a dream of hers, and we've worked behind the scenes to see that come true, so it's been nice being part of that process a little bit too. To finally see that happen for her is absolutely awesome. I can't even put into words how proud I am of her.” From her first day of high school, Weltz had a big role to fill on the Knights, as her big sister Emma had been recruited to play for Southwest Academy in London, which left the highly important starting point guard position available. “I was in Grade 9 when I got that experience of playing on the senior team. That in itself was a challenge, having to adapt to a new environment, going from Grade 8 to Grade 12 right away kind of. It was a great experience all around because we hosted OFSAA that year, and we had a lot of support from people in town,” she said. “Basketball wise, I would say it pushed me to be a leader early on in my playing career, because I was this Grade 9 playing on the Grade 12 team and I was expected to do things that maybe I didn't think I was ready for. But it taught me how to push through those uncertainties, and be a leader when I had to be, and what I had to do, and how hard I had to work in order to prove that I belonged there.” She proved much more than that, leading the Knights to the provincial championship, including a dominant performance in the finals. Although that kind of responsibility being placed on a Grade 9 is rare, particularly for a program as successful as the Knights, McCarty was more than comfortable with it. “To have her basically walk in to a starting point guard position on a senior team in Grade 9 was an easy fit for me and Cathy (Beard) as coaches. But it was big pressure, it was a big year for her.” She wasn't completely new to the coaches, as Weltz's days down the street at O'Gorman Intermediate provided her with some early experience. McCarty and Beard have been tireless promoters of the talent of local girls. “When she was in Grade 8, we really started to push these girls down south, and to travel and to really say 'hey we've got a great group of girls here who really have a passion, and that want to go places.' So we started to travel, and we brought her up to a couple of big tournaments when she was in Grade 8. So she had some experience playing for Cathy and I at that level, and we knew she could.” Weltz appreciated the responsibility. “She put a lot of trust in me early on, which really helped push me to be the vision she had of me. She put a lot of faith in me and helped me become the player that I am.” According to Weltz, McCarty deserves a tonne of credit for her development. “She knew how competitive I was, and knew how hard I wanted to work. She really influenced how I developed as a player early on, and how I play today as well.” Weltz is also a product of the Timmins Selects youth basketball program, which she played for six years, starting when was just eight years old. “I would say that definitely helped as well. I was coached by my dad, so that was obviously very motivating. A couple of my other coaches, like Jamie Lamothe, played a huge part in my success as well. They taught me the early basics of the sport, and what I needed to do in order to get to where I am today,” she said. “They guided me, and helped me a lot with decisions like coming to Lincoln Prep, and preparing me for this experience.” Considering all of the complications surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Weltz said she feels fortunate to have earned the NCAA scholarship. “It's been a different recruiting process for everyone I'd say, because normally you'd play tournaments and games, then coaches would come see you play, or you'd send game film of yourself. But right now, everything you're sending is from a year ago, and you're a completely different player usually. “It's a completely different process, having to send video of yourself just training instead of playing. I got lucky.” Her father Ted, a former Ottawa University baller himself, is proud of the achievement, especially with the challenges of recruiting over the past year. “For sure, but over the years, she's played for Team Ontario, and she's had tryouts with Team Canada, and is in the Team Canada training regimen. So between Team Ontario, Team Canada, Lincoln Prep, and her summer teams with Kia Nurse, she's been exposed over the last three or four years, and she's had a number of schools approach her, and she finally made the decision to go with Binghamton,” he said. She will officially sign in April, and is leaning towards studying business, one of Binghamton's most reputable programs. At this point, she's still uncertain of when exactly she'll be joining her new team. “Normally I would go down in early July for a month, and train with the team, and get set up at school and stuff like that, but they're not really sure how that's looking. So we'll wait and see on that, but I'm still going to be doing some individual training, and hopefully get to have my season a little bit. I really want to take this time to prepare because like everyone says, once you get to university, the level just exceeds even more. Everyone is faster, and stronger, and smarter.” McCarty is very confident that Weltz will be more than ready for the next level, like she was just a few years ago as a Grade 9 playing senior ball. “To see her develop from then, to where she is now, has been wonderful. She attacks everything head-on. She has a huge passion for the sport which just drives her to take not only herself but her team with her, and she usually does that flawlessly.” Over the next few months, Weltz is planning on putting in plenty of hours in the gym to prepare for the new atmosphere she'll be entering. With sister Emma in her second year on the varsity team at Queen's University in Kingston, she has a bit of inside information on what to expect the jump to be like. “She's told me the same thing. You think you're ready to go, and then you get there, and it's just completely different from what you're used to. You're pushed beyond your comfort zone. But she said if you work hard in the summer and you put the necessary work in, you'll succeed.” Andrew Autio is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for The Daily Press. LJI is a federally funded program. Andrew Autio, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Daily Press

  • Kelowna RCMP pause Safe Place program after LGBT community complains it wasn't consulted

    (Kelowna RCMP - image credit) Kelowna RCMP has put its Safe Place program on hold just one day after launch, following complaints from local LGBT communities they weren't properly consulted. In a news conference Tuesday, Supt. Kara Triance apologized for what she says was the "poor rollout" of an initiative where businesses, schools and other organizations in the central Okanagan city could sign up to be designated safe havens for LGBT people. "We deeply regret a misstep and a failure in that process," said Triance. "We moved ahead too quickly with the release of this program within Kelowna." In a news release Monday, the Mounties said it would provide decals and posters for institutions to display on the front of their premises, showing they can provide shelters for LGBTQ people who need to call the police for help. Supt. Kara Triance of Kelowna RCMP says she has apologized to the Kelowna Pride Society and will have a meeting with the organization on Thursday. Participating venues were to fill out a request form for the decals and posters. Dustyn Baulkham, the general manager of the Kelowna Pride Society, says he was shocked by what he called the Mounties' "shotgun approach" in launching the program overnight without engaging his organization. And he questioned whether the RCMP had a vetting process in place for businesses applying to be safe havens. "Someone can apply for a sticker, get [it] put on the window, and then the next day they're on social media being extremely transphobic in the way that they're talking," Baulkham said. "You need to see a proper application and vetting process, as well as the ongoing accountability side of it, to make sure businesses are actually upholding what they've committed to," he said. Kelowna's Safe Place program is part of a B.C. RCMP campaign that is based on a similar initiative first developed by the Seattle Police Department in 2015. Three years ago, Prince Rupert became the first community in the province to kickstart the RCMP-led program. The Vancouver Police Department established a similar initiative in July 2016. Triance says the Kelowna Pride Society has accepted her apology and will meet Thursday to discuss how the Safe Place program should move forward. "I need to re-engage in discussions, and we need to have a new way forward, because where we're at right now is not where I want to be," she said. Tap the link below to hear Dustyn Baulkham's interview on Radio West:

  • Modernisation de la Loi sur les langues officielles: l’Alberta espère transformer l’essai

    Le livre blanc de Mélanie Joly: passer de la modernité à la réalité. La ministre des Langues officielles, Mélanie Joly, a dévoilé le 19 février dernier son projet de modernisation de la Loi sur les langues officielles, une loi qui n’a pas été révisée depuis 1988. Pour les francophones de l’Alberta, ce libre blanc est un bon début, mais ils espèrent un vrai projet de loi. Ce regain d’intérêt du gouvernement fédéral pour ce dossier a été accueilli favorablement par l’organisme porte-parole de la province, l’Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta. « Le gouvernement fédéral réitère dans ce document son engagement à renforcer le continuum en éducation de la petite enfance à l’éducation postsecondaire dans la langue de la minorité linguistique », a déclaré sa présidente, Sheila Risbud. Depuis le 17 août, l’organisme a engagé un recours juridique contre la province et l’Université de l’Alberta concernant le sous-financement que connaît le campus Saint-Jean depuis des années. Cette nouvelle tombe à pic pour renforcer les droits des francophones en milieu minoritaire et donne beaucoup d’espoir à l’association. Rémi Léger, professeur de sciences politiques à l’Université Simon Fraser, en Colombie-Britannique, et ancien étudiant du campus Saint-Jean, de 2005 à 2007, n’hésite pas pour sa part à interpeller la ministre sur Twitter. « Mme Joly lance des hameçons pour voir si ça mord. Je m’explique mal que ce gouvernement continue à tâtonner ; ça fait 3 ans qu’on nous parle de moderniser la loi », dit-il. Il reconnaît y voir de bonnes intentions de la part de la ministre par un nombre décuplé de propositions. « Certaines sont axées sur le Québec, d’autres enjeux concernent des enjeux plus locaux en Ontario, d’autres dans l’Ouest canadien. On lance plusieurs hameçons dans le sens où on reconnaît qu’il y a plusieurs publics et on voit comment les gens réagissent aux propositions qui sont faites », explique-t-il. Ce projet de loi est ambitieux et recouvre beaucoup de points différents pouvant entraîner une amélioration des services en français. Du côté des juristes francophones de la province, Justin Kingston, avocat bilingue et président de l’Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Alberta, reconnaît qu’il était nécessaire de moderniser cette loi. Mais il précise que « la Loi sur les langues officielles s’applique aux champs de compétences fédérales sous l’article 91 de la Constitution ». Cet article explique quel champ de compétence est attribué au parlement canadien, tandis que l’article 92 de la constitution attribue les champs de compétence pour les provinces. «C’est bien qu’ils avancent, mais pour monsieur ou madame Tout-le-Monde, pour les services en français en Alberta, la répercussion se fera seulement ressentir au niveau du droit criminel et du divorce. En revanche, la loi ne pourra s’appliquer concernant un litige sur un testament », donne-t-il en exemple. « Les modifications qu’ils apportent vont concerner seulement un pourcentage de ce que nous visons en tant qu’association », poursuit-il. En effet, en Alberta, des difficultés demeurent. Il est encore difficile, aujourd’hui, d’obtenir un procès équitable dans la langue de son choix, car les délais sont trop longs. Dans ce cas ci, la réalité ne relèvera pas de la juridiction fédérale mais bien du gouvernement provincial pour apporter des améliorations à la loi. Cependant, dans son livre blanc, la ministre Joly a mentionné un progrès de taille soit, la nomination de juges bilingues à la Cour suprême et le renforcement du rôle du commissaire aux langues officielles, Raymond Théberge. Politique d’immigration à affiner Enfin, pour enrayer le recul du français au Canada, Mélanie Joly compte s’appuyer sur l’immigration francophone hors Québec, en maintenant le poids démographie des francophones à l’extérieur de la province et « en établissant une stratégie nationale pour soutenir l’immigration», a-t-elle déclaré. Alphonse Ahola, directeur de Francophonie albertaine plurielle (FRAP), à Edmonton, perçoit une réelle volonté de soutenir les communautés francophones, mais souhaite que le gouvernement affine son approche en matière d’immigration. Selon lui, une forte proportion d’immigrants francophones en Alberta vient de l’Afrique subsaharienne. « La minorité dans la minorité connaît des défis spécifiques. Si le gouvernement n’y prête pas attention, son avenir au Canada pourrait être hypothéqué », avertit le directeur de la FRAP. La présentation de cette modernisation amène pléthore de propositions sur la table. « On connaît les intentions du Parti libéral, mais est-ce que ces intentions seront traduites dans une loi ? Car nous n’avons pas un libellé de loi devant nous, mais un document d’intention », conclut Rémi Léger. Hélène Lequitte, Initiative de journalisme local, Le Devoir

  • Province announces funding to support pandemic research

    Vaccine and pandemic research in the province will be receiving a boost after the province announced that they are committing $15 million of new funding to the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at the University of Saskatchewan. In a press conference with VIDO Director Dr. Volker Gerdts on Tuesday, Premier Scott Moe announced the funding, which is contingent on the federal government providing $45 million in funding that the province has requested. Moe explained that vaccine scarcity in the world shows the need for projects of this type adding that Canada can lead in research and development through facilities like VIDO’s proposed Centre for Pandemic Research. “This will not only serve Saskatchewan residents but it will serve all Canadians through research, development and ultimately the production of new vaccines. This would be a level 4 containment facility,” Moe said. The provincial funding commitment is contingent on the Government of Canada committing and flowing funds to the project, which has already received committed funding committed by the City of Saskatoon and significant contributions from several private donors. Moe explained that the funding would greatly enhance the facilities research and development capabilities. Currently the only level 4 facility in Canada is the National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg and they have expressed support for the idea. Moe and Minister for Innovation Saskatchewan Jeremy Harrison have written and have had conversations with senior federal ministers about the proposal. “We are hopeful and quite confident that we will be able to obtain the necessary federal support for this project to go ahead,” VIDO has already begun to expand their vaccine manufacturing capabilities with a project that began in October 2020 and expected to be completed in October 2021. “Production of vaccines could then begin sometime in 2022 with the capability to produce up to 40 million vaccines per year,” Moe said. He added that the development of that project would not make a change to the current COVID-19 vaccination drive in the province where they expect Saskatchewan residents to be vaccinated by the end of 2021. “However we should be ready to produce millions of doses of vaccines to respond to any new viruses that may present or variance of the COVID-19 virus that may present in the future and respond as required,” Moe expects the province to be a leader in producing and developing vaccines for all Canadians. “We are asking the federal government and the Prime Minister to support this proposal to insure that Canada always has the ability to develop and produce our own lifesaving vaccines and to insure that the vaccine shortage that we are experiencing now at the most critical moment in our lifetime never happens again,” Moe said. Gerdts thanked the province for the commitment and called it fantastic news for VIDO and will allow them to establish their Canadian Centre for Pandemic Research. He explained that it would benefit both humans and livestock. “It will help us to prepare and be better prepared for future emerging diseases both affecting humans and animals and it will build on existing infrastructure that we already have at the University of Saskatchewan,” Gerdts said. VIDO is already home to the countries largest high containment laboratory and soon will have vaccine manufacturing capabilities. Gerdts explained that the existing elements are critical to rapidly responding to new and emerging diseases. “What today’s announcement and hopefully the commitment from the federal government will allow us to do is to now build on that existing infrastructure and leverage those previous investments to upgrade our containment abilities to the highest level,” Gerdts said. They will also allow the organization to build a new animal facility to work with animals that new diseases emerge from. Gerdts explained VIDO’s track record as the first to isolate the COVID-19 virus and an animal model to test vaccines. “We are now also the first university lab to actually have a vaccine in clinical trials, our trials are ongoing right now, we are in phase one and phase two trials and we are looking forward to taking our vaccine into development as that is possible,” Gerdts said. The province’s commitment will support VIDO’s Centre for Pandemic Research, which will include an upgrade to Level 4 containment facilities. Containment Level 4 laboratories provide the capability to work safely with the most serious and deadly human and animal diseases “Today’s announcement is really a great honour for us and great for the organization and we are looking forward to the federal government to come up with the $45 million that we have asked for plus some operating funding,” Gerdts said. According to Gerdts, VIDO is already doing research on emerging variants with the UK variant already being worked on in their facility. He explained that they are testing if their vaccine and other Canadian vaccines are effective against the variants and have adjusted their own vaccine to the variant so in the future it will be more effective. VIDO was originally designed and built to accommodate the possible future enhancement to Level 4 containment capability. This includes 2000 square feet of existing lab space that can be readily upgraded to meet Level 4 containment requirements The Centre will also provide critical animal housing for multiple species and significantly reduce the time required to advance vaccine development to human clinical trials. In addition, this Centre for Pandemic Research gives VIDO the capacity to develop the workforce and train the talent needed for a strong vaccine and therapeutic ecosystem in Canada. Since the beginning of the pandemic the province has provided VIDO-InterVac with additional funding of $4.2 million to support the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and construct a new small-scale manufacturing facility to be completed later this year. This funding is in addition to annual operations funding of $3.8 million in 2019-20 and $4.1 million in 2020-21. Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Albert Daily Herald

  • Proposed WSD therapy cuts draw fire

    If Manitoba’s largest school division stops funding occupational therapy and physiotherapy services, some parents say their children will no longer have reason to attend class. Students with disabilities can access specialists through the Winnipeg School Division, free of charge — but that may not be the case next year, should the WSD board of trustees approve its 2021-22 draft budget. The board has proposed cuts to its police-in-schools program and therapy services, among other line items, to find $5 million in savings, after its provincial funding was reduced. As far as Carrie Costello is concerned, an end to in-school therapy, which costs the division approximately $667,000 per year, would make the classroom a lot less welcoming for her fourth grader. Costello’s middle child, Alejandra, who has a seizure disorder and a profound intellectual disability, receives both occupational therapy and physiotherapy, as well as speech pathology support, at school. Specialists work in teams with her teachers, educational assistants and parents to draw up her individual education plan, help with everything from goal-setting to stretching exercises, and provide updates to the family. “Math and reading aren’t on her radar yet. Trying to get a jacket on and shoes on, by herself, is. That involves lots of little steps,” said Costello, a mother of three and member of WSD’s inclusion support committee. “If nobody knows these little steps… then why would she go to school?” Teachers are not experts in educating students with diverse needs to climb stairs independently, handling tantrums, or adapting phys-ed equipment so all students can participate, she added. Chris Broughton, chairman of the board finance committee, has said proposed reductions should be funded by other areas of government. Therapy services are valuable, Broughton said in a news release published earlier this month, but they should be funded by Manitoba Health — and WSD will be “pursuing that option.” A spokesperson for the education minister said in a statement Monday the province hopes the division will adjust its draft budget to “find efficiencies in a bloated bureaucracy.” WSD has yet to bring forward discussions with Manitoba Health about the therapy programs, the spokesperson added. “They’re playing cat-and-mouse with the province and my vulnerable kid gets to be a pawn,” said David Lobson, whose daughter attends a special education program at Grant Park High School. Lobson said the primary reason his 18-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, goes to school is to access physiotherapy to help ease constant pain. He was unable to sign up to speak in opposition to axing the services at the Monday board meeting, since all delegation spots were full, with eight of 10 people registered to discuss therapy cuts. Division spokeswoman Radean Carter said WSD has also received numerous written submissions on the subject, which will be reviewed before trustees finalize next year’s budget. Sarah Kelso, who signed up as a delegation, said she wants trustees to understand these services are not about health care but rather, inclusion support for students — her child included. “(These specialists) work closely with a classroom teacher and EA to assess physical safety, identify adaptations, and modify learning activities to ensure inclusion,” she said. Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

  • Joey Anderson scores twice, Marlies beat Heat for second time in three days

    CALGARY — Joey Anderson scored twice as the Toronto Marlies beat the Stockton Heat 5-1 on Tuesday in American Hockey League play.Andrew D'Agostini stopped 30-of-31 shots to lead Toronto over Stockton for the second time in three days following a 7-1 victory Sunday.Tyler Gaudet, Joseph Duszak and Richard Clune also scored for the Marlies (4-2-0), AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs.Alex Gallant replied for the Heat (0-2-0), the Flames' AHL affiliate who are playing out of Calgary's Scotiabank Saddledome.Garret Sparks made 20 saves for Stockton.---This report by The Canadian Press was first published February 23, 2021. The Canadian Press

  • Badgers prepare for Pink Shirt Day

    In an effort to Lift Each Other Up, the preschool students and after school program participants at Little Badgers Early Learning Program and Nature School (LBELP) have been focused on learning about the Superheroes of Kindness curriculum. LBELP has spent a few weeks teaching about the importance of caring for yourself and for others in support of Pink Shirt Day (PSD). “Children have great empathy for their friends and loved ones,” said Evy Walker, LBELP early childhood educator (ECE). “While they are still learning to have gentle hands and kind words, they do understand the importance of helping their friends feel happy. Children tend to understand more than we give them credit for.” PSD is a Canadian movement that began in Nova Scotia when the charity CKNW Kid’s Fund began a partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs and 980 CKNW to raise funds to support anti-bullying programs. Their team’s goal is to focus on raising awareness about bullying and creating programming that supports a health self-esteem in children. The CKNW’s PPSD website says representing hope, opportunities and the pride of LGBTQ2+ youth is especially important to the cause so that bullying in the community can be mitigated. According to CKNW Kid’s Fund, 59,000 youth were impacted by PSD funded programs in 2020. However, one in five children are affected by bullying. Annually on Feb. 24, 2021, Canadians are urged to wear a pink shirt to raise awareness about bullying or to purchase official PSD merchandise to support anti-bullying initiatives in B.C. through www.PinkShirtDay.ca or at London Drugs stores this month across Canada. However, the PSD’s official pink shirt launched for 2021 is actually not pink - it’s a white t-shirt with a pink graphic — a decision that was made with the hopes that all anti-bullying advocates could wear their shirt all year long as opposed to only on Feb. 24. “We have been learning about the importance of kindness and how small acts can make someone's day,” said Walker. “ We also have been learning about Bucket Filling and the importance of filling our friends' buckets. At the preschool level, we try to focus on the Golden rule of treating others how you like to be treated year round.” Walker anticipates ECEs at LBELP, along with all program participants, will be demonstrating the importance of caring for their neighbours on PSD this week. With PSD in mind, use the #LiftEachOtherUp all year long and continually advocate for vulnerable populations in your communities. Breanne Massey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Columbia Valley Pioneer

  • Tiger Woods in hospital after single-vehicle collision

    Tiger Woods is in hospital after he was involved in a single-vehicle collision in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning. Erica Vella reports.

  • Is there a way out of N.L.'s election pickle?

    If and when a new slate of legislators is elected in Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the first orders of business might be to ensure the chaos of the past two weeks never happens again. That’s going to require changes to the Elections Act. The outbreak of the COVID-19 variant caused an emergency that no legislation was equipped to handle. No one, it seemed, had the authority to do anything substantial about the election, other than to delay the vote for a day or two. For a couple of days, the chief officers of health and elections — Dr. Janice Fitzgerald and Bruce Chaulk, respectively — tossed responsibility back and forth like a hot potato. Fitzgerald finally put her foot down after getting legal advice that her sweeping public health emergency powers did not extend to the core mechanisms of democracy itself. Chaulk, finally, pulled the plug himself. There was no precedent, no clause that gave him the authority. With poll clerks quitting all over the province and a total pandemic lockdown imminent, he just did it, indefinitely postponing the election in the St. John’s region, and then later calling it all off in favour of mail-in ballots. “Some provinces have the ability — like Nova Scotia or Ontario — if there’s an emergency or some unforeseen event, to outright cancel the election in a particular district or riding,” says Ottawa lawyer Lyle Skinner. In provinces like New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, that ability doesn’t exist. Skinner, whose specialization in parliamentary and emergency management law has made him a popular reference on Newfoundland’s current dilemma, says the lack of a sitting legislature during the election created a classic Catch-22. “The tricky part in Newfoundland right now is that there is no House of Assembly. There’s no MHAs, so they can’t fix the legislation,” he said “What’s happening right now is what could have happened in New Brunswick.” In fact, anyone who followed the New Brunswick election campaign last August would have seen there was a potential time bomb. Like Newfoundland, New Brunswick’s law gives its chief elections officer the ability to take some actions in unforeseen circumstances, but then throws a monkey wrench in the works by exempting the ability to change the hours or timing of the election. That fact was even brought up during the campaign. New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and Chief Electoral Officer Kim Poffenroth publicly proclaimed neither of them had the authority to halt or postpone an election. Poffenroth went so far to say she didn’t want to have that power. “As the chief electoral officer, I did not want the authority to determine whether an election should be paused or put on hold," she told a committee hearing. Higgs said later he had received a legal opinion informing him that he did, in fact, have the power, though the legal process was not clearly spelled out. The election went ahead in September as planned, and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey has often cited it as an example of how an election can be held during a pandemic. The potential legal pitfalls were not cited. On Jan. 21, a week after the writ was dropped in Newfoundland, Kim Poffenroth filed her report on the New Brunswick election with a series of recommendations. No. 3 on the list was, “The chief electoral officer recommends that the Elections Act be amended to provide the chief electoral officer with the authority to adapt the provisions of the act to the execution of its intent and to protect public safety in the event of a declared state of emergency, including a public health emergency.” The recommendation goes on to say the call during a pandemic, combined with a short campaign period, “created a perfect storm” for election administrators. It describes how Poffenroth had appeared before a committee to explain the hole in legislative authority during an emergency. However, she stuck with her original belief that postponing an election should not be in her purview. “The chief electoral officer should not be permitted to extend the time for filing nominations papers nor to postpone ordinary polling day,” the recommendation read. “It is the opinion of the chief electoral officer that this is not an appropriate discretionary authority to be granted to the chief electoral officer and that this authority should rest with either the Legislative Assembly or the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.” The lieutenant-governor in council is another term for cabinet. Skinner says no one is questioning whether the Newfoundland and Labrador election should have been put on ice. “The issue right now is not whether it’s the correct thing to do to postpone the election,” he said. “I think anybody can point to that now as probably being the best course of action. The issue is, with respect to the rule of law and the fact that this touches on an issue that’s so close — the democratic rights of citizens — is it appropriate for somebody to claim powers that they may not actually have.” The latter part of Poffenroth’s recommendation points to a procedure already spelled out in some jurisdictions, Skinner says. The two best examples are Manitoba and the Government of Canada. Section 52 of the Manitoba act states, “If the chief electoral officer certifies that it is impossible for any reason to close nominations on the day specified in Subsection 56(1) or to hold an election in an electoral division on the day set in the order for election, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may order that a new writ be issued and may, despite any other provision of this act, specify in that order a new closing day for nominations, or a new election day, or both.” That, says Skinner, is a two-party process. “The person who says there’s a problem is the chief electoral officer, and then it’s cabinet that says, yup, we agree with that. So the decision is coming from somebody that is appointed for their impartiality.” In the meantime, Skinner says, there are numerous avenues for anyone to challenge the Newfoundland and Labrador election as it exists now, as the legislation clearly gives no leeway to substantially extend the timeline for counting votes, as Chaulk has done. And that could be a whole new can of worms. Peter Jackson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Telegram

  • Southern Baptists oust 2 churches over LGBTQ inclusion

    The Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee voted Tuesday to oust four of its churches, two over policies deemed to be too inclusive of LGBTQ people and two more for employing pastors convicted of sex offences. The actions were announced at a meeting marked by warnings from two top leaders that the SBC, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, was damaging itself with divisions over several critical issues including race. “We should mourn when closet racists and neo-Confederates feel more at home in our churches than do many of our people of colour,” said the SBC’s president, J.D. Greear, in his opening speech. The two churches expelled for LGBTQ inclusion were St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and Towne View Baptist Church, in Kennesaw, Georgia. Towne View’s pastor, the Rev. Jim Conrad, told The Associated Press last week that he would not appeal the ouster and plans to affiliate his church, at least temporarily, with The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which lets churches set their own LGBTQ policies. Towne View began admitting LGBTQ worshippers as members in October 2019 after a same-sex couple with three adopted children asked Conrad if they could attend, a decision he defends as the right thing to do. “The alternative would have been to say, ‘We’re probably not ready for this,’ but I couldn’t do that,” said Conrad, pastor there since 1994. St. Matthews Baptist was among more than 12 churches that lost their affiliation with the Kentucky Baptist Convention in 2018 because they made financial contributions to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which had recently lifted a ban on hiring LGBTQ employees. In a statement Tuesday, St. Matthews said the SBC's decision to oust it was based on its LGBTQ-inclusive membership policy — which asserts that “a belief in Jesus as personal Savior is the sole criterion for membership in our Church.” “Nothing in the Southern Baptist Convention’s decision changes St. Matthews Baptist Church’s deep commitment to carrying out what God calls us to do in our worship and spiritual growth,” the church said. SBC officials said West Side Baptist Church in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, was ousted because it “knowingly employs as pastor a registered sex offender,” while Antioch Baptist Church in Sevierville, Tennessee, has a pastor who was convicted of statutory rape. Baptist Press, the SBC's official news agency, identified the Antioch Baptist pastor as John Randy Leming Jr., and said he had pleaded guilty in 1998 to two counts of statutory rape for oral sex with a 16-year-old congregant when he pastored at nearby Shiloh Baptist Church in Sevier County in 1994. The Associated Press was unable to find a working phone number for Leming’s church and there was no immediate reply to a message sent via its Facebook page. West Side Baptist had made clear on its website that its pastor, David Pearson, has a troubled past. “Over 29 years ago Pastor David lived as a great sinner and rebel,” the site says. “But Christ Jesus is a great Savior! Today Pastor David has gone from disgrace to amazing grace and now has served the Lord Jesus Christ at West Side for 18 years.” Pearson is listed on Florida's sex-offender registry as having been convicted of sexual assault of a child in Texas in 1993. Also on Tuesday's agenda was a report by an executive committee task force about the SBC's public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and its president, the Rev. Russell Moore. Moore has dismayed some SBC conservatives with various stances — including criticism of former President Donald Trump and support for a more welcoming immigration policy. But the executive committee took no action on the report, declining to embrace some recommendations aimed at reining in Moore's outspokenness. The two-day meeting opened Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, with a schedule featuring speeches by Greear and executive committee president Ronnie Floyd bemoaning the multiple acrimonious divisions within the denomination. “This sound of war in the camp of Southern Baptists is concerning to me, and I know it is also concerning to many of you,” Floyd said. “While we hear and see how the American culture is so out of control, my friends, our own culture within the Southern Baptist family is also out of control.” Floyd noted that the divisions mirror ideological, political and racial differences nationwide. “In this fever-pitch environment, each of us needs to be very careful with the words we write, speak, tweet or post,” he said. “As SBC leaders and followers of Jesus, our public behaviour matters.” Greear addressed racial tensions in the SBC, a longstanding problem that has recently been rekindled. Some Black pastors have left the SBC and others are voicing dismay over pronouncements by the SBC’s six seminary presidents — all of them white — restricting how the subject of systemic racism can be taught at their schools. Going forward, Greear said, Black Southern Baptists should be included in discussions on this topic, including the SBC’s stance toward the concept of Critical Race Theory, which the seminary presidents repudiated. “The reality is that if we in the SBC had shown as much sorrow for the painful legacy that racism and discrimination has left in our country as we have passion to decry CRT, we probably wouldn’t be in this mess,” Greear said “Do we want to be a Gospel people, or a Southern culture people? Which is the more important part of our name — Southern or Baptist?” After the two speeches, the executive committee unanimously adopted an expansion plan called Vision 2025. It would increase full-time Southern Baptist international missionaries from 3,700 to 4,200, boost the number of congregations by 5,000 and seek to reverse the decline in baptizing 12- to 17-year-olds. Floyd said SBC churches are baptizing 38% fewer teenagers than in 2000. ___ Associated Press reporter Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that the Pennsylvania church's name is West Side, not Westside. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content. David Crary, The Associated Press

  • Accused Texas school shooter to remain at state hospital

    HOUSTON — A student accused of fatally shooting 10 people at a Texas high school in 2018 will spend up to another 12 months at a state mental health facility as doctors say he remains incompetent to stand trial, his attorney said Tuesday. Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 20, has been receiving mental health treatment at the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon since early December 2019. He was initially committed for 120 days. But doctors in March 2020 determined he was still incompetent and he was ordered to stay another 12 months, said Nick Poehl, one of Pagourtzis’ attorneys. “We’re nearing the expiration of that and so that’s why the hospital sent us a report indicating he still is not restored to competency. So, we just reupped for up to another 12 months,” Poehl said. An order continuing Pagourtzis’ hospitalization was signed by Judge John Ellisor on Tuesday. Poehl said he could not discuss specific details of Pagourtzis’ treatment due to privacy issues. But he said his client’s treatment has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. “In terms of the normal resources and tools that the hospital can bring to bear for the last year or thereabouts, some of that has been curtailed. That just doesn’t affect him but affects every patient there,” Poehl said. “The hope is as we head back toward normal, some of that will improve.” The issue of Pagourtzis’ competency relates to his current state of mind and not his state of mind at the time of the shooting, Poehl has said. “The Galveston County Criminal District Attorney remains committed to prosecuting the defendant to the fullest extent of the law once he is found competent to stand trial,” Assistant Criminal District Attorney Brent Haynes said in an email. Pagourtzis is charged with capital murder for the May 18, 2018, attack at Santa Fe High School, which is about 50 miles (80 kilometres) southeast of Houston. Because he was 17 at the time of the attack, he is not eligible for the death penalty. His trial had been set to start in February 2020. Pagourtzis also faces federal charges in a sealed criminal case. ___ Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70 Juan A. Lozano, The Associated Press

  • Field Goals: NFL's Sam Rapoport promotes women in football

    Did you notice anything different about the Super Bowl this year? Not Tom Brady winning – that is nothing new – but the record number of women involved in the big game, from coaches to trainers to officials to operations staff. Turns out there is a quarterback behind that drive: Sam Rapoport.

  • Anyone 75 and older can get COVID-19 vaccine; 34 active cases in Fort McMurray

    All Albertans who are 75 and older can book an appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting tomorrow. In her Tuesday update, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Alberta Health has increased staffing at Health Link to prepare for the large wave of expected appointment bookings. “This is a massive expansion for our province and big step forward,” said Hinshaw. “However, unlike our yearly influenza campaigns, we do not have large stockpiles of the vaccines ready to go province-wide.” Anyone at least 75 and living in a licensed supportive living facility do not need to book a vaccine appointment as Alberta Health Services (AHS) is already arranging appointments. All immunizations are being administered through appointment only. There will be no walk-in opportunities. Vaccine appointments will be booked daily between 8:20 a.m. and 3:40 p.m. Hours will be extended as more vaccines arrive in Alberta. “For many folks, I know it will feel like you have been waiting a very long time for the vaccine and you are keen to get a first dose as soon as possible,” said Hinshaw. “For those who try to book after all initial appointments have been filled up, remember that new appointments will be made available as more vaccine arrives.” With the doses the province is expected to receive, Hinshaw said all seniors who want a vaccine can receive their first dose by the end of March. Each vaccine site is operated by trained medical professionals with appropriate personal protective equipment. Physical distancing and other measures are in place to limit exposure. For seniors with no transportation to vaccine sites, Hinshaw asked family and friends to help. Seniors can also call 211 for help. “It will take time to immunize all our eligible seniors and there will likely be a few hiccups along the way as we continue expanding,” said Hinshaw. “By continuing to vaccinate those at greatest risk of severe outcomes, we are protecting thousands of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, neighbours, friends and community members who are most vulnerable to this virus.” Information on how to book a vaccine can be found here. swilliscraft@postmedia.com Sarah Williscraft, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Fort McMurray Today