Saskatoon News
Motorcyclist killed in collision with moose on Saskatchewan highway
A 54-year-old man from Edmonton is dead after the motorcycle he was driving hit a moose on Saturday.
According to the RCMP, Mounties from the Warman detachment got a call at around 10:30 p.m. about a single-vehicle collision on Highway 16 near Fielding.
The investigation determined the motorcyclist had struck a moose. The driver — the only person on the motorcycle — was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Fielding is about 75 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon on the Yellowhead Highway.
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Third suspect charged with murder in February Saskatoon shooting
A third person faces a first-degree murder charge for a fatal Saskatoon shooting in February.
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B.C. to add 240 complex-care housing units in communities throughout the province
KELOWNA, B.C. — British Columbia is planning to add 240 new units to its complex-care housing program, providing homes for people with mental-health and addictions challenges that overlap with other serious conditions.
The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions says in a statement 200 of the units will be located in Abbotsford, Burnaby, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Prince George, Sechelt, Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria.
The remaining 40 units will be Indigenous-led and the statement says officials are working with Indigenous groups to identify partners and "priority communities."
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside says the complex needs of people dealing with overlapping health challenges, such as brain injuries or developmental disabilities, can lead to "a cycle of evictions, stays in shelters and repeated visits to emergency rooms."
Whiteside's statement says the housing units will provide people the co-ordinated care they need in their own home.
In Kelowna, where Monday's announcement took place, the latest project will include 20 newly built complex-care units and at least 20 more supportive housing units.
The development will soon enter the design phase along with community engagement, while projects in other communities are expected to proceed in the coming months, the government says.
The City of Kelowna contributed municipal land for the project, Mayor Tom Dyas adds in the statement.
B.C. launched complex-care housing services in 2022 and supports are in place for more than 400 people.
The program is designed for people whose mental-health and addictions challenges overlap with "significant functional needs or other serious health conditions," the government says.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2024.
The Canadian Press
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Inside Soccer: Saskatoon's Green & White captures national futsal title
History was made Sunday afternoon: Saskatoon Green & White women went into Calgary and won the national futsal title. Read More
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Parole revoked for former Saskatoon massage therapist serving federal sex assault sentence
A former Saskatoon massage therapist serving an almost 10-year sentence for sexually assaulting massage clients and women he met on dating websites is back in custody after breaching a condition of his day parole requiring him to report all romantic relationships to his parole officer. Read More
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Woman found dead in basement of house in Dundonald neighbourhood
Saskatoon police are investigating the death of a woman.
The Saskatoon Police Service said officers were called to the 3200 block of 33rd Street West around 11:20 a.m. on Monday for a report of an insecure property.
When police arrived, they found a woman dead in the basement. Major Crimes is investigating the suspicious death.
No other information was provided in the police release, including the woman’s name or the cause of her death.
Anyone with information was asked to contact Saskatoon police at 306-975-8300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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Saskatchewan communities request fire training as province’s wildfire season begins
Some wildfires are popping up in Saskatchewan and communities are requesting fire training.
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Police seeking information four years after Saskatoon murder
Four years after Tanya Alcrow‘s death, the Saskatoon Police Service is again asking for the public’s help as it tries to solve the 19-year-old woman’s murder.
On April 13, 2020 at around 3:40 a.m., police got a call about an injured woman near the intersection of Avenue T and 21st Street. The woman — later identified as Alcrow — was taken to hospital, where she died.
“Through investigation, a dark-coloured truck was identified in surveillance footage as being involved,” police said in a media release. “The truck was parked on Avenue T facing north at the time of the homicide.
“Witnesses reported that the victim approached the truck when she sustained the gunshot wound. The truck stayed parked for almost one minute after the shooting and then travelled north toward 22nd Street.”
Police are continuing to investigate the murder, and have yet to arrest any suspects. Police believe members of the public could have information that can help investigators with the case.
Anyone with information was asked to call police at 306-975-8300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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Maine joins compact to elect the president by popular vote but it won’t come into play this November
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine will become the latest to join a multistate effort to elect the president by popular vote with the Democratic governor's announcement Monday that she's letting the proposal become law without her signature.
Under the proposed compact, each state would allocate all its electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote for president, regardless of how individual states voted in an election.
But the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is on hold for now — and won’t play a role in the upcoming November election.
Gov. Janet Mills said she understands that there are different facets to the debate. Opponents point out that the role of small states like Maine could be diminished if the electoral college ends, while proponents point out that two of the last four presidents have been elected through the electoral college system despite losing the national popular vote.
Without a ranked voting system, Mills said she believes “the person who wins the most votes should become the president. To do otherwise seemingly runs counter to the democratic foundations of our country.”
“Still, recognizing that there is merit to both sides of the argument, and recognizing that this measure has been the subject of public discussion several times before in Maine, I would like this important nationwide debate to continue and so I will allow this bill to become law without my signature,” the governor said in a statement.
The compact would take effect only if supporters secure pledges of states with at least 270 electoral votes. Sixteen states and Washington, D.C. have joined the compact and Maine’s addition would bring the total to 209, the governor said. Other hurdles include questions of whether congressional approval is necessary to implement the compact.
In Maine, one of only two states to split their electoral votes under the current system, the debate in the Maine Legislature fell along partisan lines with Republican united in opposition.
Maine awards two of its four electoral votes to the statewide presidential winner along with one apiece for the winner of each congressional district. In 2016, the state split its electoral votes for the first time when Republican Donald Trump won a single electoral vote in the northern, conservative 2nd Congressional District. Trump collected an electoral vote again in his failed presidential bid in 2020.
David Sharp, The Associated Press
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Third person charged with murder in February homicide in Saskatoon
Police have charged a 36-year-old man with first-degree murder in connection with a February death. Read More
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House Speaker Mike Johnson leaves uncertain his plan to advance aid for Israel and Ukraine
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson left uncertain his plan for advancing aid for Israel and Ukraine on Monday, keeping the future of the funding in doubt as lawmakers returned to Washington for a crucial week of foreign policy work.
Iran's missile and drone strike against Israel over the weekend put renewed pressure on House Republicans to act on a national security package that would send military support to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. But after mulling for two months how to advance such a package through the political divides in the House, Johnson has revealed little of his strategy, including whether he will try to push the funding for Israel separately or keep it packaged with the aid for the other U.S. allies.
As the House has struggled to act, conflicts around the globe have escalated. Israel’s military chief said Monday that Israel will respond to Iran’s weekend missile strike. And Ukraine’s military head over the weekend warned that the battlefield situation in the country’s east has “significantly worsened in recent days,” as warming weather has allowed Russian forces to launch a fresh offensive.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, hosting Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala at the White House, called on the House to take up the funding package immediately. “They have to do it now,” he said.
Senior Republicans were also growing impatient after Johnson had offered them assurances that he would bring Ukraine aid to the floor. Many have expected him to make that move before the House takes a recess next week. But with no plan set, time was running short for Johnson, who is learning the job of speaker as he goes.
The speaker planned to huddle with his fellow House Republicans on Monday evening. But the meeting will be filled with lawmakers strongly opposed on Ukraine: Republican defense hawks, including the top lawmakers on national security committees, who want Johnson to finally take up the national security supplemental package as a bundle, are pitted against populist conservatives who are fiercely opposed to continued support for Kyiv’s fight at all.
Ahead of the meeting on Monday, Johnson revealed little on his decision after saying over the weekend that he would bring Israel aid to the floor this week. Johnson has expressed support for aiding Ukraine, but ignored questions from reporters on Monday about whether he would bundle funding for the two nations together. The House was also preparing this week to take up a series of bills aimed at sanctioning Iran.
“The House must rush to Israel's aid as quickly as humanly possible, and the only way to do that is passing the Senate's supplemental ASAP," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Meanwhile, the White House would “oppose” a standalone bill that only addresses aid for Israel, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday. Democratic leaders are pressuring Johnson to take up a Senate-passed bill that would provide a total of $95 billion for the U.S. allies, as well as humanitarian support for civilians in Gaza and Ukraine.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries pledged in a letter to lawmakers to do “everything in our legislative power to confront aggression" around the globe, and he cast the situation as similar to the lead-up to World War II.
“The gravely serious events of this past weekend in the Middle East and Eastern Europe underscore the need for Congress to act immediately,” Jeffries said. “We must take up the bipartisan and comprehensive national security bill passed by the Senate forthwith. This is a Churchill or Chamberlain moment.”
During a private meeting last week, two senior Democrats, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker emerita, and Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former No. 2 leader, encouraged their Democratic colleagues to sign on to a discharge petition that could force the House to vote on the Senate aid package.
Pelosi and Hoyer told the Democratic lawmakers that even if they oppose the bill, they could still sign the discharge petition to at least push the package to the floor -- and then vote against it later. The leaders’ message was confirmed by two people familiar with the private meeting and granted anonymity to discuss it.
So far, 195 lawmakers have signed on to the discharge petition, about a dozen shy of the majority needed to force action on the floor. Many of the progressive Democrats holding out from signing the petition are against U.S. aid to Israel due to the Netanyahu government’s assault on Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians.
On the right, the House Freedom Caucus said Monday that it opposed "using the emergency situation in Israel as a bogus justification to ram through Ukraine aid with no offset and no security for our own wide-open borders.”
The political divides on foreign aid have so far flummoxed Johnson, who rose from the lower ranks of House leadership to become speaker after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was abruptly ousted late last year.
Now Johnson is facing the same threat. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a right-wing Republican from Georgia, has ratcheted up the political pressure on Johnson by threatening to oust him from the speaker's office if he puts aid to Ukraine on the floor.
Stephen Groves And Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press
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Meadow Lake, Sask. man trains for Ironman event after incurable cancer diagnosis
Robert Kirschman is raising funding and awareness through an Ironman event after receiving a rare cancer diagnosis.
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