Red Deer Advocate, April 26, 2023

RedDeerRebelsfallinGame7

BY IAN GUSTAFSON ADVOCATE STAFF

In sports, there are very few words that are sweeter than Game 7.

In the biggest game of the year, the Red Deer Rebels and Saskatoon Blades went head-to-head for the final time.

And on Tuesday night in

Saskatoon in front of 9,489 fans at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades beat the visiting Rebels 5-2.

The Saskatoon Blades became the third team in Western Hockey League history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit. They’re the first since 2013 when the Kelowna Rockets accomplished that feat and before that in 1996 by the Spokane Chiefs.

Saskatoon will now ad-

vance to the WHL Eastern Conference Finals to go up against the Winnipeg Ice beginning this weekend.

Ontheotherendoftheice, the Rebels are left in disbelief.

A week ago they led the series 3-0 and are now left to ponderwhatcouldhavebeen and what went wrong.

Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk said it was a tough loss. Everyone gave

their best effort but they just came up short.

“We didn’t win the last four games that’s what went wrong,” he said.

“We had chances every game but we didn’t score on our chances and they scored on theirs. That’s hockey but the bottom line is I’m proud of every guy who played hard here tonight.

Red Deer Rebels goaltender Kyle Kelsey shakes hands with Blades goaltender Austin Elliott following a Game 7 loss at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. (Photo by Steve Hiscock/ Saskatoon Blades)

INSIDE

NEWS: 3-9, 12, 21-23, 27-28

COMMENT: 10

PERSPECTIVES: 11

BUSINESS: 13, 20

SPORTS: 14-19

LIFE: 24

ENTERTAINMENT: 25

CLASSIFIED: 26

COMICS: 29-30

ADVICE: 31

‘Mojave Max’ tortoise emerges in Vegas; latest since 2000

LAS VEGAS — A desert tortoise that is the focus of schoolchild predictions and local lore about the start of spring has emerged from its winter burrow at a nature preserve in Las Vegas, officials said Tuesday.

Mojave Max’s appearance above ground with a burrow-mate at 3:40 p.m. Monday at the Springs Preserve marked the latest date since an annual watch contest began in 2000 for the critter compared locally with Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania. Phil’s handlers said Feb. 2 that their groundhog predicted their spring wouldn’t arrive until April. In Las Vegas, where the threatened species’ reptilian

winter rest is called brumation, the earliest a Mojave Max has emerged since 2000 was a little before noon on Feb. 14, 2005. The latest had been April 17, 2012.

Three male tortoises have borne the moniker Mojave Max. Today’s Max is marked with a radio transmitting device attached to his shell. The tortoise seen with Mojave Max on Monday does not have a name.

Biologists at the Springs Preserve think this year’s exceptionally cold winter that brought frequent rain and abundant snow to mountains in the West also kept the desert surface cool later into the spring, preserve spokesman Tom Bradley Jr. said Tuesday.

“It’s taken longer for the soil in the burrow to warm,” Bradley said. “Once it finally warmed up, Max came out.”

The desert tortoise is considered a keystone species and an indicator of the health of a fragile desert ecosystem.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

APRIL 26

1625 – The first Roman Catholic Jesuits arrived in Canada at Quebec.

1865 – John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, was surrounded by federal troops near Bowling Green, Va., and killed.

1918 – Women in Nova Scotia were granted the right to vote.

1920 – Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring seven goals in Canada’s 12-1 drubbing of Sweden in the gold medal match.

1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established by Hermann Göring.

1956 – The first Godzilla

movie, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, premiered in New York.

1962 – NASA’s Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.

1962 – The British space program launches its first satellite, the Ariel 1. 1986 – The Chernobyl disaster occurs in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

2003 – Rosemary Brown, the first black woman to be elected to a major political office in Canada, died at age 72.

2018 – Bill Cosby was convicted of drugging and molesting Toronto native and Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

NDPcommitstobuildingtwonewschoolsinRedDeer

BY ADVOCATE STAFF

Ahead of a provincial election next month, the Alberta NDP has committed to building two new schools in Red Deer.

In an announcement on Tuesday, with Annie L. Gaetz Elementary School in the background, Alberta’s official opposition said they will build a junior high school in Timberstone as well as a K-5 catholic elementary school in the city.

“We will get to work on construction as soon as possible because we know how fast the population in northeast Red Deer is growing,” said Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley.

“This junior high school, when completed, will provide quality education to 600 students.”

Notley also highlighted the need for a new K-5 Catholic elementary school with a capacity for 500 students.

“Every Catholic elementary in the city is currently at capacity,” she said. “We need more space as we anticipate a surge of new students in the coming years.”

The Alberta NDP said they will work with Red Deer Catholic Schools to identify the best location for the new school.

Jaelene Tweedle, Alberta NDP candidate for Red Deer-North, said during the announcement that she hears time and time again from the community that more schools are needed to better serve students in the city.

“I can say for many years the Red Deer Public Schools district has advo-

cated for this,” Tweedle said.

“This was a top need for them. My own child has just left the elementary system in the area and has gone to a different middle school. We had hoped by the time he had needed a middle school we would actually see this site built and it hasn’t been yet.

“This has been a need for a long time and we have brand new schools that have been built and then with a couple of years, portables are being added because we’ve run out of room.

“I hear every day from people that they want a school and they want a school close to home for their kids.”

Red Deer-North UCP candidate Adriana LaGrange, current MLA and Education Minister, said in a statement Tuesday that the NDP is committing to the projects without a plan.

“The NDP are campaigning on building new schools with no planning work done, no design work done, no official engagement with school authorities, and in many cases no physical sites selected,” she said.

“Alberta’s government has announced 106 school projects since 2019 – this includes 58 projects this year. Some of those projects are still in the pre-planning, planning, or design phase. That’s because we’re being prudent with taxpayer dollars and responsible in our approach.”

LaGrange added that Red Deer Public and Red Deer Catholic have received their top priorities over the past four years, including funding for St. Lorenzo Ruiz middle school for Red Deer Catholic and Hunting Hills major modernization for Red Deer

Public, as well as funding for a new K-5 school in Blackfalds for Red Deer Catholic.

“While the NDP may be making campaign announcements in a lastditch effort to win seats in this election – we’ve made actual commitments through Budget 2023 and the School Capital Plan to move projects forward including a new northeast middle school for Red Deer Public,” LaGrange said.

Michelle Baer, Alberta NDP candidate for Red Deer-South, noted that she’s also heard from the community that teachers are struggling with large class sizes.

“I hear from parents all the time about education and we hear from teachers that they are really, really struggling,” she said.

“It’s not just a new school that’s important, it’s the cuts that they have sustained to the support in the classroom and the kids are suffering. These are really important measures that we are committed to bringing forward.”

Earlier this year, two new schools and the modernization of four current schoolswereidentifiedasprioritiesin Red Deer Public School’s three-year capital plan. The division’s board of directors approved the 2024-26 Capital Plan on March 9. Three-year plans were required to be submitted to Alberta Education by March 31.

Capital Plans submitted by Alberta school divisions are a list of capital priorities that school boards would like the provincial government to fund. The plans are essentially wish lists submitted for consideration in the government’s infrastructure planning process.

Alberta NDP candidate for Red Deer-North Jaelene Tweedle (left), Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley (centre), and Michelle Baer, candidate for Red Deer-South (right), announced Tuesday that if elected, the party will build two new schools in Red Deer. (Photo by Advocate staff)

NewPenholdmiddleschoollikelytoopenin2025

BY ADVOCATE STAFF

Penhold is set to get a new middle school over the coming years, with plans to open in the fall of 2025.

At an announcement at the old Penhold Elementary School Tuesday, government officials as well as representatives from the Chinook’s Edge School division showed off plans for the new school to a few prospective students. Construction is expected to begin in late summer or early fall.

The new school, named Penhold Wasaksoo Middle School will accommodate 560 grades 4 to 8 students and replace Penhold Elementary School. It will be built south of Penhold Crossing Secondary School.

“Chinook’s Edge is extremely happy with the announcement of construction funding for the new school for Penhold,” said Holly Bilton, board chair, Chinook’s Edge School Division.

“Not only will it address the capacity issue for the community, but it will replace a facility that is at the end of its life cycle. The new facility will be located south of the current Penhold Crossing School giving it access to wonderful amenities – truly an ideal

location for the growing community of Penhold.

“We are very excited about the project and its positive impact on our students and their learning.”

There was a note of nostalgia for

Penhold Mayor Mike Yargeau at Tuesday’s announcement. He attended Penhold Elementary, as did his sisters. Despite the family history, he will be happy to see the new school come to fruition.

“There’s a lot of Yargeau history

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“We certainly could have had a better fate that’s the frustrating part. You’re playing a team that doesn’t need a lot of chances. They play well in their own end clogging up things you don’t get a lot of clean looks. That was the difference in the game here tonight.”

The game began with plenty of scoring chances but with 7:50 to go in the first period Rebels defenceman Hunter Mayo blasted one past Blades goaltender Austin Elliott.

Mayo’s second of the playoffs came moments after Frantisek Formanek rang a shot off the crossbar. In his return to the lineup, Kalan Lind assisted on the play along with captain Jayden Grubbe to make it 1-0.

The Blades responded over two minutes later when Connor Roulette walked into the slot and fired a shot past netminder Kyle Kelsey on the backhand.

The Blades took their first lead of the game just 5:51 into the frame off the stick of Spencer Shugrue to make it 2-1.

However, it didn’t take long for Red Deer to get the equalizer. Forward Ryker Singer, who entered the lineup for Jhett Larson serving a onegame suspension, notched his first of the postseason.

While he propelled himself into the offensive zone at the 7:35 mark the puck bounced off the end boards and came out on the left side of the

in these walls, it will be sad when it’s no longer here but at the same time, I’m probably happy that my youngest kids won’t be going to the same school I went to,” he said.

“It’s been important for our community. Any time a community can get a new school — the impact it has on your growth and your ability to keep younger people in your community, can’t be overstated.”

In March of 2022, the new school got design funding from the provincial government for the replacement school. Architect designs were finished in January of this year and on March 1, funding for the new school was officially announced.

The Penhold school project was approved for construction funding as part of Budget 2023’s province-wide school capital announcement in March.

“I am absolutely thrilled that the Penhold replacement school was approved for full construction funding and will be moving forward soon,” added Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors and MLA for Innisfail– Sylvan Lake.

“I have been a strong advocate for this project, as Penhold students deserve to learn in a world-class facility.”

net. Singer fired it past the goalie from a sharp angle.

Four and a half minutes into the final frame Shugrue put the Blades on top scoring his second of the game and just 40 seconds later Roulette put Saskatoon up 4-2. After Lind shattered his stick in the offensive zone, the Blades were sprung on the offensive rush and Roulette made no mistake.

The Rebels didn’t go away quietly and beat the goaltender multiple times but couldn’t beat the post. In the final minutes, the Blades fired in the empty netter to complete the historic comeback.

In Game 7 there was no shortage of nerves but Konowalchuk said he thought his team handled the pressure well.

“We made a lot of mistakes around their net but they made a lot of mistakes. They weren’t a perfect team over there and we forced mistakes,” he said.

“I thought our guys prepared in their approach to the game and they came out like they deserved to win the game. They just didn’t win.”

Despite the loss, Konowalchuk is focused on improving the team and still plans to bring a championship to Red Deer.

“The goal of this organization is to win a championship and we have a real good team but I guess not a great team. You need to be a great team to win a championship and that’s where we’ve got to get to.”

Penhold Waskasoo Middle School will likely open in the fall of 2025, it was announced Tuesday at the old Penhold Elementary School. (Photo by Advocate Staff)

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ROSA BAROCCA

JunoAward-winninggrouptoperforminRedDeer

BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF

Local music lovers can hear Juno Award-winning chamber group Rosa Barocca perform live at the next Red Deer Symphony Orchestra concert.

The Baroque Delights show on Saturday, April 29, at the Red Deer Polytechnic Arts Centre will feature the Alberta chamber group founded by RDSO music director Claude Lapalme and featuring musicians from the Red Deer area and across the prov-

Rosa Barocca won a best classical recording (small ensemble) Juno last month for the Early Italian Cello CD. The recording project features Montreal cellist Elinor Frey. But as Frey was on a flight and couldn’t accept the Juno, Lapalme was left to say a few words of thanks at the podium.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Alberta forming sheriffs team to arrest fugitives

CALGARY — The Alberta government says it will create a team of sheriffs to track down and arrest offenders accused or convicted of serious crimes.

The government says the Fugitive Apprehension Sheriffs Support Team will help police services throughout the province apprehend high-priority suspects and offenders.

Twenty positions are to be created by next March, with roughly half in Edmonton and the other half in the Calgary area.

Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said Tuesday that there were 4,200 prolific violent offenders with out-

Rosa Barocca, with its mission to present historically informed Baroque music on period instruments, will launch into some antique favorites at the Red Deer concert this month — including the Canon and Gigue by Johann Pachelbel and Antonio Vivaldi’s La Follia

The exuberant Canon has provided the soundtrack to many a matrimonial ceremony over the last four centuries.

Its layered melody has an underlying three-part theme with a repeated bass line that goes through 28 canonic variations, as Lapalme explains in the program notes for the concert.

He compared it to the less glorious — but equally repetitive — Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Although the Canon has assured Pachelbel’s musical immortality, Lapalme believes his sprightly, albeit less known Gigue, is also “masterly and attractive.”

Vivaldi, whose name is mostly associated with The Four Seasons, composed La Follia as his version of an

standing warrants in Alberta as of February.

“Alberta is establishing this team to take away a threat that can affect any Albertan, regardless of the community they call home,” Ellis said at a news conference in Calgary.

“The success is going to come when we start to reduce those numbers from 4,200 to obviously a lower number.”

The province is spending $2 million on the program. Recruiting and training are to begin this fall.

Ellis said the team will free up police to focus on other priorities, such as ongoing criminal investigations and community policing.

He said when he was a police officer in Calgary, the priority was responding toa high volume of calls, and that hasn’t changed.

“They’ve actually increased and more and more is asked of our front-

unbridled Mediterranean dance of Portuguese origin that was later adopted by the Italians and all of Europe.

Lapalme stated, “It’s linked to the world of shepherds and peasants,” but gained theatricality in various interpretations.

For the second half of the concert, Rosa Barocca will perform Jean-Fery Rebel’s Suite from Les Elemens. This music was inspired by an opera-ballet from 1721 about air, water, fire and earth.

Thedissonantopeningisdescribed by Lapalme as a “Big Bang moment” that must have shocked audiences at the time.

Bass instruments will portray earth, as various sized flutes imitate the course of water and the flow of air, and “bright and brilliant” violin strokes represent fire in this epic 23-minute work.

For more information about the show, please visit rdso.ca.

line officers each day. So we’re just trying to alleviate some of the pressures again of our folks, no matter where you are ... to start to reduce some of these numbers.”

Alberta Sheriffs Chief Farooq Sheikh said recruits for the team will receive advanced training, including in surveillance, investigations and drafting search warrants. He said the officers will also be able to make arrests.

“We’re going to ensure that all of our staff, before they’re out there actively hunting for people, they’re trained and suitably equipped to handle what comes their way.”.

“We can go out there and target our most serious offenders ... if we can take some of these people off the street and put them through the justice (system) and keep people safe, it’s going to be a positive step.”

Juno Award-winning group Rosa Barocca will perform at the RDSO’s Baroque Delights concert on April 29 at the Red Deer Polytechnic Arts Centre. (Contributed photo)

Womanhopingtofindmissing51-year-oldson

BY EMILY JAYCOX BLACK PRESS NEWS SERVICES

ACentral Alberta woman battling lung cancer is searching for her son who was last seen in Victoria, B.C., on July 15, 2022.

Wanda Anderson of Pigeon Lake says her son Jayson Anderson, 51, who deals with addiction and has been homeless for over 10 years, went missing after a procedure at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria.

He was having something removed from his hand. Wanda said he spoke about feeling afraid of being in the hospital. He had been in constant communication with his mother before that.

Wanda was diagnosed with lung cancer in October, 2022, and while she is currently in stable condition, her own health lends more urgency to her search to find Jayson.

Always a charismatic personality, Jayson held high-end jobs in Vancouver before relapsing, she said.

When he moved to Victoria, she noticed a change in him; he seemed paranoid.

Although he was living on the streets, Wanda said he always had good hygiene, with neat hair and clothes.

She said in a photo that was taken shortly before he disappeared, he looked like any other 50-year-old man.

“I don’t know how he managed, but he did.”

He was well-known to people in the community, and well-liked, she said.

Jayson grew up in the Homeglen area and went to school in Rimbey.

According to Wanda, Jayson has had issues with drugs since he was 18 years old.

“He struggled all his life,” she said. “He was never able to get a grip on his life again.”

Shannon Boyce-Campbell of Ponoka County, and a couple of her

NEWS IN BRIEF

Feds working toward ‘clear, consistent’ definition of prohibited assault-style guns

OTTAWA — The federal government is eyeing a “clear, consistent” definition of assault-style firearms to be prohibited through legislation, as recently suggested by the Nova Scotia mass shooting commission, says Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.

The Liberals will abandon their approach of spelling out each make and variety of banned firearm in lengthy lists appended to the federal gun-control bill, Mendicino said after appearing at the House of Commons public safety committee Tuesday.

friends who were also classmates of Jayson, recently spent a day in Victoria putting up posters, speaking to locals and trying to find any lead on Jayson.

“It means a lot,” said Wanda. “She’s been a rock.”

On March 19, lifelong friends Boyce-Campbell, Darla Hohn, and Dodi Farnham canvassed shelters, local charities and parks Jayson was known to frequent, hoping to find a trace of him.

The friends had been planning a getaway, and because Victoria was chosen, it only made sense to help out in the search for Jayson, said Boyce-Campbell.

The trio went to the Rock Bay Landing Shelter where he was known to stay at and Boyce-Camp-

Mendicino told MPs the government is committed to “getting this right.”

His appearance came more than two months after the Liberals withdrew an amendment to the federal bill that would have spelled out in law the various models covered by a ban on assault-style guns.

The Liberals had touted the definition as an evergreen measure that would cement in legislation a May 2020 regulatory ban of some 1,500 firearm models and variants, as well as several others flagged since then.

MPs spent hours last winter scrutinizing lists of firearms that would fall under the definition.

There was debate over exactly what was included and what was not, because the definition applied only to some variations of certain models that met the criteria — guns the government considered inappropriate for civilian use.

The government pulled the mea-

bell was able to speak to a friend of Jayson’s who said he still looks for Jayson everywhere he goes.

The man spoke about Jayson’s skills as a gardener and how he was a big help at the shelter with their green spaces.

Boyce-Campbell said the shelters are not permitted to comment on who stayed, or is staying at the shelter, but the patrons were keen to help and let the trio know where else they might want to put posters.

The ladies also went to Beacon Hill Park and The Mustard Seed.

Boyce-Campbell, who was a neighbour and friend of Jayson’s and remains connected to the family, explained that as a young person growing up in Ponoka County, Jayson was a “charismatic, warm and caring fellow.”

“His charm, contagious laugh and zest for life was sure to put you in a good mood,” said Boyce-Campbell.

“Neighbours, friends and classmates could easily attest to statements as he was a popular guy,” she said.

“Life gets complicated and time marches on, but he is loved and missed by many. If anyone is travelling that way this summer, has family in that area or can help share information via social media, please be sure to do so and keep Jayson and his family in mind.”

There is an open missing person’s file for Jayson in Victoria.

He is described as six feet tall, with a medium build, short brown hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information about Jayson should contact the Victoria Police Department at 250-995-7654. To report anonymously, call Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-2228477.

- With files from Hollie Ferguson, Black Press

sures from consideration after weeks of criticism from Conservative MPs and some firearm advocates who said the definition would ban many commonly used hunting rifles and shotguns.

The public safety committee started over, hearing from various groups and individuals including Indigenous leaders on the proposed ban.

“We’re not bringing back the lists,” Mendicino said after the committee Tuesday. “We think that the best way forward is to focus on an objective definition that will look at physical characteristics so that we can be clear, consistent, upfront with Canadians and gun owners.”

He noted that is the approach recommended by the recent final report of an inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia. It said Ottawa should reform the classification system for firearms and develop a standardized schedule of prohibited guns in the Criminal Code.

The Magic is the Mix

Special programs for local businesses

Jayson Anderson of Victoria, B.C., has been missing since July 15, 2022. (Photo courtesy of VicPD)

SylvanLaketogetnewtwo-laneroundabout

BY ADVOCATE STAFF

There will be a new two-lane roundabout at the intersection of Highway 20 and Memorial Trail in Sylvan Lake to accommodate increased traffic and development in the area.

Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, made the announcement on Tuesday along with Sylvan Lake Mayor Megan Hanson.

The aim of the project is to improve safety and increase capacity to accommodate more volume and larger vehicles.

“As our economy continues to grow, Alberta’s government remains committed to ensuring our provincial highways are safe and efficient,” Dreeshen said.

“This new roundabout near Sylvan Lake will improve the driving experience in this area and relieve pressure on the highway by keeping traffic moving. It will also make it possible for farmers to move their equipment along this section of the highway.”

The full project includes removing the existing intersection, relocating utilities, constructing a detour road and building the two-lane round-

Striking public servants block access to government buildings, infrastructure

OTTAWA — Federal ministers say they are monitoring for blockades of critical roads and infrastructure Tuesday as striking federal workers make good on a promise to ramp up

about. Design is underway with construction expected to begin and end in 2024.

Alberta’s government is funding the project and the Town of Sylvan Lake will build it.

their picket efforts by disrupting traffic and limiting access to office buildings in downtown Ottawa.

More than 150,000 federal public servants with the Public Service Alliance of Canada are on strike for the seventh straight day as their union representatives continue to negotiate with the government for a bigger wage increase and more flexibility to work remotely.

Around the National Capital Region, hundreds of picketers are mak-

“We are thrilled about the improvements at the Memorial Trail and Highway 20 intersection,” Hanson said.

“The new roundabout brings improved traffic flow and safety. A cus-

ing their presence felt and heard, circling buildings, chanting through megaphones and blasting music.

Hundreds of public servants marched across the Portage Bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., where some of the biggest federal buildings are located, holding up traffic for a short period Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, outside the Prime Minister’s Office building and the Treasury Board headquarters a few blocks away, strikers limited entry to just one person every five minutes.

The escalation in the strike activity comes after a promise by union

tomized design addresses both the difficult location at the crest of the hill and the poor sight lines. The changes will result in fewer collisions for all highway users.

“Future plans include a pedestrian crossing that connects a multi-use trail between the town and Red Deer County. I look forward to seeing the positive impact the roundabout has on Sylvan Lake and the surrounding communities.”

The Town of Sylvan Lake completed an intersection assessment in 2019, which recommended a roundabout over traffic lights.

Tendering, land acquisition, a detour road and various utility works are expected to begin in 2023.

Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors has invested more than $15 million in the Highway 11 twinning project south of Sylvan Lake that included two roundabouts – one at the intersection of Highway 11 and Highway 781, and one at the intersection of Highway 11 and Range Road 15.

Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors also recently invested more than $4.5 million in reconstructing sections of Highway 11 that had been affected by frost heave issues east of Sylvan Lake.

president Chris Aylward that picket lines would move to more “strategic locations,” including ports of entry where the strike would have a greater economic impact.

The workers set up at the Port of Montreal Monday, delaying the arrival of trucks and causing minor slowdowns.

“On one hand, they have the right to strike and demonstrate,” Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters Tuesday.

“On the other hand, we need to make sure that the economy can continue functioning around the country.”

Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen announced Tuesday a new two-lane roundabout at the intersection of Highway 20 and Memorial Trail in Sylvan Lake. (Screenshot via Facebook)

Dealreachedon$1.2BCalgaryFlamesarenaproject

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

CALGARY — A deal has been reached to replace Calgary’s aging Saddledome with a new event centre and make improvements to the surrounding area east of downtown.

The City of Calgary, Alberta government, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. and Calgary Stampede said Tuesday they have reached agreements in principle.

The total cost is projected to be more than $1.2 billion, with $800 million on a new arena that is to be home to the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames. The overall cost also includes parking, transit improvements, a new community rink and an enclosed plaza.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said city council unanimously voted in favour of the deal Tuesday afternoon.

“This is a generational investment in placemaking, creating space for community to gather,” she told a news conference near the nearly four-decade-old Saddledome.

The Alberta government is not contributing to the arena but said it plans to fund up to $300 million on public transit and road improvements, site

NEWS IN BRIEF

Parties need detailed info to drop election candidates on security grounds

OTTAWA — Directors from past Liberal and Conservative campaigns told a House of Commons committee Tuesday that concerns raised by national security officials would not necessarily be reason enough for them to drop a candidate from their rosters.

They testified Tuesday at a meeting of the procedure and House affairs committee, which is probing the issue of foreign interference in Canadian affairs.

Pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government has steadily ramped up amid a string of media reports that alleged, citing anonymous sources, that Beijing tried to influence the outcome of the past two federal elections.

One such report, published by Global News, alleged that Toronto MP Han Dong benefited from Chinese foreign interference in his successful bid to become the Liberal candidate for his riding in 2019. The report is cited in a lawsuit he has launched against the company, which stands by its reporting.

Jeremy Broadhurst, who serves as a senior adviser to Trudeau and managed the Liberal party’s 2019

utilities, site reclamation and other supportive infrastructure.

The province is also contributing $30 million to cover half the cost of the 1,000-seat community rink.

The announcement comes less

campaign, poured cold water Tuesday on the allegation reported by Global that national security officials had warned Trudeau about Dong and recommended that he be dropped as a candidate.

Broadhurst said that based on his experience working in government and with those in security, they would have “never” made such a recommendation.

“It’s not the role of intelligence to dictate to parties about how they conduct their affairs,” he said. “The determinations of candidates are the bailiwick of parties.”

The committee heard about how the realities of partisan politics collide with intelligence sharing multiple times Tuesday, as two campaign directors for the Conservative Party of Canada testified about receiving vague information — if any at all — from a task force of security officials and federal public servants set up to monitor interference attempts in the past two federal votes.

Fred DeLorey, who ran the Tories’ 2021 campaign, said “it felt like a one-way street” when it came to working with the group.

He said that while the party heard “the odd rumbling” during the race that something was amiss, concerns about foreign interference attempts grew louder once the results came in and the party saw surprising losses in Greater Toronto Area and Metro Vancouver ridings that have large Chinese-Canadian communities.

than a week before the writ is expected to drop for the May 29 provincial election.

“After the election, the province’s contribution to this arena deal must be approved by provincial cabinet

and the Treasury Board before the end of summer,” Premier Danielle Smith told the news conference.

“That’s why, on May 29, I’m hoping Calgarians give our (United Conservative Party) government a clear mandate to proceed with this arena deal.

“Calgary isn’t Calgary without the Flames, and Alberta isn’t Alberta without the Battle of Alberta.”

Smith said last October that the Saddledome has served the community well but can no longer compete with new buildings across North America for events, concerts and sports.

The Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation and the city restarted talks last year on a new event centre after a previous agreement collapsed a year earlier.

The latest agreement also includes a $537.3-million contribution from the city and a land-transfer deal with the neighbouring Calgary Stampede.

‘THIS IS A GENERATIONAL INVESTMENT IN PLACEMAKING, CREATING SPACE FOR COMMUNITY TO GATHER.’

— CALGARY MAYOR JYOTI GONDEK

The City of Calgary, Alberta government, Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. and Calgary Stampede said Tuesday they have reached agreements in principle for a new arena. (File photo by The Canadian Press)

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MENTAL HEALTH

Whentocontrolandwhentoletgo

BY GWEN RANDALL-YOUNG SPECIAL TO THE ADVOCATE

It has been said, (by a Buddhist thinker, no doubt), that life is very simple for those who have no preferences. If we accept that change is inevitable and do not become attached to specified outcomes, then there is less struggle. To do this, we must release any notions we have about being in control.

But wait, don’t we also hear a lot about creating our own destiny and the importance of setting goals? Aren’t we taught to create our vision, visualize it clearly, and to keep working towards it? How can both be true? It has also been said that truth lies at the heart of the paradox. Where is the heart in this paradox?

Well, it might be that we need difference perspectives at different times.Ifyouaregoingtobuildahouse, you need a plan, you need goals and you must keep to them, especially if

you are scheduling sub-trades. If you want to change careers and continue to support your family you need to schedule when you will do upgrading and when you will leave your old job.

If you are planning a theme birthday party for your child, you can pick exactly the type of cake you want. These are all things over which we have some measure of control. You cannot, however, choose how the weather will be that day, if all of the invited guests will show up, or how they will behave.

The Buddhist perspective serves us very well when it comes to those things over which we do not have control. We cannot control whether or for how long anyone will love us. We cannot stop our children from growing up, or the years from slipping by. We cannot control the stock market or interest rates. Nor can we control when others will die, or the outlook of our teenagers. If we try to exert control over these things, or become attached to certain outcomes, we will most definitely create stress, strain

and struggle.

Similarly, if we take an attitude of non-attachment to the timing and quality of the construction of our home, we will also create headaches. If we simply accept changes that lead to the destruction of the ecosystem and are unattached to the long-term implications for the planet, we are not acting in accordance with the highest good for all. The wisdom is in knowing when to hold on and when to let go, when to dig in and when to surrender.

As in all things, neither side of a polarity holds the whole truth. We must expand our perspective to reach a level that encompasses all of the parts in a complete whole. Wisdom arises not when we embrace one side of the paradox or the other, but rather when the fulcrum of the paradox rests right in the center of our own consciousness.

Gwen Randall-Young is an author and award-winning psychologist.

Dr.DeLongandtheearlydays

One of the most interesting individuals from Red Deer’s early days, but a man who unfortunately is not well remembered anymore, is one of Red Deer’s pioneer physicians, Dr. Ernest W. DeLong.

Ernest William DeLong was born on May 24th, 1877 in Gananoque, Ontario, the son of Rev. Albert Morice DeLong, a Methodist minister. After completing his schooling in Gananoque, he went to Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where he obtained a medical degree. He completed his internship at the Kingston General Hospital.

While in Kingston, he met Maud Philp and a romance blossomed. In the spring of 1904, she moved to High River, Alberta, where her sister and brother-in-lawwereliving.Ernestfollowedshortlythereafter. Ernest and Maud were married on January 17, 1905 in High River.

Dr. DeLong commenced a medical practice at Cayley, Alberta, but soon moved to Calgary to practice medicine there. In March 1906, Ernest and Maud’s only son, Albert was born.

Unfortunately, Albert had poor health. Consequently, Dr. DeLong sold his practice in 1910 and the family moved briefly to Vancouver.

In 1912, the DeLongs moved once again, this time to Red Deer. They built an attractive bungalow in the Fairview subdivision, overlooking what is now the Red Deer Golf Course. In addition to practicing medicine, Dr. DeLong dabbled in real estate, selling lots in Fairview. He also had dreams of helping to bring a meat packing plant to Red Deer, but this venture was unsuccessful.

When the First World War broke out, Dr. Delong tried to enlist but was turned down because he was severely asthmatic. In January 1916, he went into partnership with Dr. Richard Parsons. When Dr. Parsons enlisted in the spring of that year and went overseas, Dr. DeLong took over the practice and the family moved into the Parsons house on Mann

(49th) Street.

When Dr. Parsons returned at the end of the War, the DeLongs moved to a new house on Douglas (55th) Street, across from the current site of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church.

The terrible Spanish ‘flu epidemic struck in the late fall of 1918. Dr. DeLong, like all other physicians, found himself swamped with urgent calls. In order to get around the snowy country roads better, he teamed up with a local mechanic, Jack Archer, and turned a small Ford car into an early form of snowmobile. Dr. Delong dubbed the invention, the “Go Devil”.

The auto sleigh, as it was often described, attracted a great deal of attention. It was written up in the Ford magazine in 1919.

Dr. DeLong’s sense of invention and innovation was not just limited to mechanics. He also was quite daring in his medical practice. In one instance, he operated on a young sixteen-year-old boy, with cancer of the jaw. Dr. DeLong had a butcher in the basement of the Red Deer Hospital kill a lamb and quickly send a portion of its jaw to the operating theatre. An attempt was then made to use the lamb’s jaw as a replacement for the diseased portion of the young man’s jaw. Unfortunately, the experiment was a failure.

Dr. DeLong was known for his wit and sense of fun. He particularly liked to dress up for Halloween. It is not recorded what his patients thought when they saw him in one of his costumes.

In 1925, Dr. DeLong decided to sell his medical practice to Dr. Percy Backus. He moved briefly to Vancouver and then to Los Angeles, California. Dr. DeLong later returned to Alberta and started a new practice in Wetaskiwin. However, his health was failing by this time and he was soon back in California.

Dr. DeLong passed away on November 20, 1936 at Pasadena, California. His wife Maud passed away in 1956 and their son Albert passed away in 1960. Michael Dawe is a Red Deer historian. His column appears on Wednesdays.

LETTERS POLICY

The Advocate welcomes letters on public issues from readers. Letters must give the writer’s first and last name, phone number, and the community the writer resides in. Pen names may not be used. Letters will be published with the writer’s name, and community only. Letters should be brief and deal with a single topic. The Advocate reserves the right to edit letters, which can be a maximum of 300 words.

Please send letters to newsroom@ reddeeradvocate.com, or see our website reddeeradvocate.com under Contact us.

Letters may also be mailed to the Red Deer Advocate, 2950 Bremner Ave., T4R 1M9.

ADVOCATE POLL

VOTE NOW AT reddeeradvocate.com/web-poll

Have you been tuned in to the NHL Playoffs this year?

•Yes

• No

• Couldn’t care less

What is the most important issue for you in the upcoming Alberta provincial election?

• Health Care– 54.2%

• Affordability– 21%

• Crime– 11.8%

• Other– 13%

*Between April 19 and April 25, 472 votes were cast in this poll.

What’s on your mind

Send your letters to: newsroom@reddeeradvocate.com

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Michael Dawe

Dr. E.W. DeLong with his snow devil snow machine. (Photo by Red Deer Archives)

Moon mission could boost Canadian health-care, climate efforts

OTTAWA — Four astronauts selected to orbit the moon say the Artemis II mission can help inform how Canada responds to food insecurity, health-care needs and climate adaptation in the Arctic.

“How do we actually get eight billion people to row in the same direction and work on these problems? Because these are global problems,” said Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian colonel who will join three Americans in space. “We can do great things together. We can do better as a human race. And here’s one small example,” he said alongside his crewmates in a Tuesday interview with The Canadian Press.

The mission planned for November 2024 is part of an ambitious plan to establish a long-term presence on the moon, and has NASA hoping Ottawa further boosts its spending on outer space. The 10-day mission involves slingshotting into deep space for a figure-8 manoeuvre around the dark side of the moon.

If it is successful, Artemis II will mark the first time any human has ventured so far from Earth.

It will also set the stage for another mission planned for 2025 that will include driving a vehicle on the moon’s surface and seeking materials that could be converted into fuel and building supplies.

Mission pilot Victor Glover said the diversity of the small but highly specialized crew, which includes people of two nationalities, a woman and a person of colour, is a deliberate message to the planet.

NASA’s audit branch estimates the Artemis program, which successfully sent an unmanned spacecraft around the moon last November and plans to have astronauts stay a week on the moon, will cost US$93 billion through fall 2025.

Pushforsmallreactorswillbecostly,someMPswarn

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists Canada is “very serious” about developing nuclear technology across the country to meet growing power needs, but some members of Parliament, including one from his own caucus, are warning the technology could be costly and ineffective.

The federal government started actively exploring small modular reactor technology in 2018 and two years later published an action plan which described them as a strategic Canadian asset that could leverage significant economic, geopolitical, social and environmental benefits.

Small modular reactors, often referred to as SMRs, use similar technology to traditional nuclear power plants, but they are much smaller and can be built in one location and then moved to where they will operate. They produce enough power for a maximum of around 300,000 homes, while a traditional plant has more than double that output.

The government sees them as a critical part of its ability to fulfil future electricity demands, and meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

“Nuclear is on the table, absolutely,” Trudeau said, during a post-budget announcement in British Columbia earlier this month.

He doubled down on that position during a visit to the University of Ottawa Monday, telling the crowd a return to nuclear is something the government is “very, very serious in and investing in some of the small module reactors.”

“We’re going to have to be doing much more nuclear over the coming decades,” he said.

But Green Leader Elizabeth May said other renewable energy sources are getting cheaper, so there’s not much of a case for Canada to expand

its capacity on that technology, which she said is being pushed by powerful lobbyists.

“There’d be no interest in small modular reactors if it wasn’t for the pro nuclear lobby,” she said. “It’s not based on evidence.”

Liberal MP Jenica Atwin, who was first elected in 2019 under the Green banner and crossed the floor to the Liberals in 2021, agreed with May. She is at odds with her new party over the small nuclear reactors but said it is her personal opinion and she is responsible for bringing the voices of her constituents forward to Ottawa.

“I’m used to being an outlier, oftentimes, so I think people can see that by now,” she said. “I’ve had conversations with my colleagues and you know, they’re certainly open to pursuing research and understanding more about the process.”

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, a former environmental activist acknowledged Tuesday he was opposed to nuclear energy but now

believes it is needed to keep global warming to as close as possible to 1.5 C above pre-industrial temperatures.

“In the past I haven’t been the person who supported the most the development of nuclear energy,” he said Tuesday. “But when you look at what international experts like the International Energy Agency or the (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is saying, they’re saying, to prevent global temperatures from reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius, to achieve our carbon neutrality targets, we need this technology.”

The International Energy Agency says renewable energy like wind and solar will “lead the push to replace fossil fuels” but nuclear can help in countries where it is accepted.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report on climate change said nuclear power costs have grown because of construction costs and project delays but agreed it is a strategic option for some countries trying to reduce emissions.

Physicist Ginette Charbonneau, NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice, Liberal MP Jenica Atwin, Bloc Quebecois MP Mario Simard and Green Party MP Elizabeth May listen to Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick’s Susan O’Donnell speak during a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday. (Photo by The Canadian Press)

that

fear is making it hard for some

Petitioncallsfortaxdeadlineextension

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

There are calls to extend this year’s tax deadline amid a federal public service strike that some say is making it hard to file on time, but experts are still urging Canadians to make every effort to file by May 1.

An online petition by Ottawa accountant Eric Saumure calls on Ottawa to push the filing deadline to June 15, from May 1. The Change.org site had collected more than 25,000 signatures by early afternoon Tuesday.

Saumure said the job action has reduced staff for a Canada Revenue Agency help line, forcing some callers to wait hours for advice and possibly jeopardizing their ability to file on time.

He said lower-income taxpayers who need help but don’t have an accountant would be most vulnerable.

“I kind of see this as if you’re writing an exam in school but the professor just doesn’t let you ask questions,” Saumure said.

“And if you make a mistake, there’s a penalty. There’s a financial penalty. And so that’s just not fair for Canadians.”

About 159,000 federal public servants with the Public Service Alliance of Canada are on strike, including 39,000 CRA employees, as union representatives negotiate with the

government over wages and work flexibility.

The CRA says on its website that tax returns filed digitally will largely be processed automatically “without delay.” So far, it says about 95 per cent of the 17 million people who have filed did so using self-service digital options.

It adds that the tax filing deadline has not changed and that Canadians should ensure their returns are filed by May 1, along with any owed payments.

Given the vast majority of digital tax filers, Vivian Leung of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada doubted the strike would delay assessments so much that a later deadline is needed.

“I would say 90 per cent of the basic services that Canadians will need to file their return is available online,” she said.

“So I don’t really see a strong, strong need (to extend the deadline) at this point for the massive majority of Canadians.”

A media rep for the CRA said by email that if “circumstances beyond the control of a Canadian or business” cause them to file late “the CRA may provide relief from penalties or interest” on a case-by-case basis.

Still, the agency says on its website that many services “are expected to be delayed or unavailable,” particu-

larly in processing some income tax and benefit returns filed by paper.

Saumure said Canadians who cannot file electronically – for instance because they don’t have access to a computer or are not computer literate – risk a delayed refund by mail if they are entitled to money back. Those who owe but can’t file on time because they’re waiting for CRA advice risk late fees and interest.

“It’s really impacting the people who don’t have the money to hire a knowledgeable accountant. They’re the targeted people here. Oftentimes, those are lower-income Canadians or in many cases, the average Canadian,” he said.

Kirstin Beardsley, CEO of Food Banks Canada, said Canadians who don’t have access to a computer or need tax advice can find help at free tax clinics run by hundreds of community organizations across the country.

She said Food Banks Canada is increasing its involvement with the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program this year to encourage more people to file on time.

She said some food bank users are hesitant to file taxes because of government skepticism or the fear that doing so means they would owe money. But she said Food Banks Canada helped users submit 4,500 tax returns last year, resulting in a little more than $18 million in refunds.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Questions raised for summer travel

MONTREAL — Canadian airports and airlines logged a large number of flight delays last month, raising questions about their readiness for the summer travel rush. Big airports and carriers had a much weaker on-time record in March than comparable U.S. outfits — and their own performance in 2019 — according to figures from aviation data firm OAG.

Toronto’s Pearson airport saw 61.2 per cent of flights leave on time — within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure — versus 73 per cent four years earlier. By comparison, New York’s JFK airport and Chicago’s O’Hare airport had on-time performances of about 73 per cent and 79 per cent, respectively — within a couple percentage points of O’Hare’s 2019 rate, indicative of American airports’ quicker earlier recovery.

Air Canada’s on-time arrival rate was 57.3 per cent in March versus 69.6 per cent in March 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic upended the air travel industry. The latest number also contrasts to the 77-to-79 per cent range for three of the biggest U.S. carriers, though they generally face smoother weather conditions.

WestJet and Porter Airlines managed to land about 63 per cent and 65 per cent of their flights on time in March, respectively, compared with 80 per cent and 82 per cent four years earlier. The higher volume of flight delays could bode poorly for travellers in the coming months and comes after chaotic travel seasons during the summer and winter holidays. The situation reflects systemic issues across the Canadian aviation sector, said former Air Canada chief operating officer Duncan Dee

“What is shocking to me from these numbers is that all three major national Canadian airlines face very similar on-time performance challenges,” Dee said.

“The only conclusion is either Canadian airlines are operationally challenged or that operating in Canada involves common structural issues which all three Canadian carriers face, which makes their on-time performance markedly poorer versus their U.S. peers,” he said.

Severe staffing shortages and high worker attrition rates were among the factors conspiring to snarl air travel as the sector began recovering from COVID-19-related travel restrictions in 2022. A lack of employees continues to plague positions including ground handlers, air navigators and pilots.

There are calls to extend this year’s tax deadline amid a federal public service strike

some

people to file on time. (Photo by The Canadian Press)

FEDERAL WORKER STRIKE

BASEBALL

SylvanLakeGullsstarpitcherreturningforsecondyear

BY IAN GUSTAFSON ADVOCATE STAFF

Sylvan Lake Gulls ace Josh Tucker will be back on the mound this summer.

After it was originally reported in January that Tucker would not return to the Gulls due to a pitching limit set by his university club, the cap on pitches thrown has been extended.

The Southpaw emerged as one of the Western Canadian Baseball League’s top pitchers and won the Most Outstanding Pitcher award earlier this year.

The 21-year-old from Spokane, Wash. was as dominant as they come and broke the WCBL strikeout record with 91.

President and Chief Operating Officer Aqil Samuel said Tucker always wanted to come back but didn’t seem feasible at first.

“That limit has been extended so it gave him some more opportunity to pitch this summer at a high level,” he said.

“We had a great experience with him last year and Jason was saving a spot just in case. I’m glad it worked out.”

Head coach and General Manager

BASEBALL

Jason Chatwood said they’ll manage Tucker’s workload but explained he won’t be on a strict limit as originally anticipated.

“It was huge news for us when he reached out. Obviously, we’re extremely excited to have him back,” Chatwood said.

“The guys like playing behind him and whenever he was on the mound you felt he was going to give you a really good chance to win the ball game.”

In the meantime Tucker is playing for his university club in Missouri, the Central Methodist University Ea-

gles in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. He will join the Gulls once his collegiate season wraps up.

In 10 games, nine of them starts, Tucker finished 6-0 on the season with a 2.23 earned run average (ERA) and struck out 91 batters.

In the playoffs, Tucker went 1-1. However, he didn’t lose a step on the mound throwing a 3.37 ERA while striking out 16 batters.

“To get that arm back is huge for us,” Samuel added. “We know what he can bring on a game-to-game basis. Looking at our roster on paper, we were pretty happy with our pitching staff before the news, and adding him at this point is a nice bonus for us,” Samuel said.

Also returning to the mound is Tyler Boudreau, who completed the first no-hitter in franchise history and was second in strikeouts. Also coming back for his third year is Kyle Froehlich.

“Just to have some experienced guys who know what it’s like to pitch in front of 1,500 fans per night is going to be huge for us,” Samuel said.

“On paper, it looks like pitching is going to be our strong point… and we’re going to be able to pitch with any team in the league this year.”

U18 female Central Alberta Fire will host jamboree to begin season

BY IAN GUSTAFSON ADVOCATE STAFF

Red Deer’s new U18 female football team, the Central Alberta Fire will begin their inaugural season this weekend.

OnSundaythey’llhosttheU18jamboree at Setters Place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to kick off the season.

They’ll host teams from Airdrie, Calgary, and Okotoks to play a series of exhibition games. The three teams from southern Alberta play each other in an all-female league throughout the summer and this season have added the Fire to the group.

Vice president of Red Deer Minor Football Lori McGowan said the event is meant to be a learning experience for the players brand new to the game.

“It’s more about getting used to what goes on and how the game runs,” she said.

“The coaches are on the field with them at the same time helping them learn where they’re supposed to be

and what they’re supposed to be doing.”

On Sunday the four teams will all play each other once in jamboree-style games. Two games will be played at the same time where each team will begin on the 45-year line facing their own endzone. Each squad will get seven offensive plays to reach the endzone before switching to offence.

McGowan explained they’re excit-

ed to begin their first-ever season.

“We were really pleased to get 15 girls signed up from central Alberta this year. Hopefully, next year we’ll word will spread a little bit more and we’ll get even bigger for next year,” she said.

This year’s team features players from Stettler, Sylvan Lake, Red Deer, Springbrook, Innisfail, and Lacombe. Throughout the lineup experience levels playing football varies from

player to player. Some are new to the game while others wanted to play during the summer before they begin the high school football season.

“Once they finish minor football at the peewee age the only place for them to play is in the high schools. They play bantam and then they go into high school,” she said.

“This is a spring option for them to play just female football whereas in the fall they’ll have to go through the high school stream where they have to play with males. Once you hit that high school age the size, speed, and all of that becomes a bit of a challenge for them.”

The roster includes Oenna Bradford, Jayden Galati, Kate Haldorson, Kiley Kerr, Kara Litzenberger, Rowan Macleod, Kierra Russell, Peyton Wiggins, Caydence Rawlins, Etta DrydenBrown, Grace Watkinson, Lillian Watkinson, Olive Buchanan, Sawyer Shimek, and Chloe Brown.

The coaching staff is led by head coach Martin Rheaume followed by assistant coaches Dallas Haldorson, Leanne Coleman, Kimi Shackelton, Vic Sloboda, and Devon Mappin.

The U18 all-female Central Alberta Fire will begin their season this weekend at Setters Place in Red Deer. Earlier this month they were practicing at the Dome in preparation for the season. (Contributed photo)

Josh Tucker pitched seven innings for the Sylvan Lake Gulls striking out 11 in a 4-2 win in the semi-finals at Gulls Stadium last season. (Photo by Ian Gustafson/ Advocate staff)

BjugstadscorestwiceinOilersGame5win

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

Oilers 6 Kings 3 (Edmonton leads series 3-2)

EDMONTON — Nick Bjugstad scored a pair of goals for the Oilers in Tuesday’s 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings as Edmonton took a 3-2 lead in their playoff series.

The Oilers are a win away from advancing to the second round. Game 6 is Saturday in Los Angeles. A Game 7, if necessary, would be Monday in Edmonton.

Leon Draisaitl, Evander Kane, Zach Hyman and Brett Kulak also scored for Edmonton.

Captain Connor McDavid had a pair of assists, as did defencemen Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse.

Stuart Skinner returned to Edmonton’s net after he was swapped out for Jack Campbell a period into Edmonton’s Game 4 overtime win Sunday.

The 24-year-old Edmontonian made 25 saves for the win.

His Los Angeles counterpart Joonas Korpisalo was pulled for Phoenix Copley in Tuesday’s second period after Edmonton’s fourth goal.

Korpisalo, who has faced more rubber than any other goalie this post-season, stopped 15 of 19 shots before giving way to Copley and his six saves.

Quinton Byfield, Adrian Kempe and Alex Iafallo scored for the Kings.

When the two clubs clashed in the first round last year, the Kings

SPORTS IN BRIEF

Flames’ Mangiapane undergoes shoulder surgery

CALGARY — The Calgary Flames announced Tuesday that forward Andrew Mangiapane underwent shoulder surgery.

The Flames say Mangiapane will be ready for training camp before next season begins.

Mangiapane, 27, had 17 goals and 26 assists in 82 games this season, his sixth in Calgary.

Last season, Mangiapane posted career highs of 35 goals and 55 points

The five-foot-10, 184-pound winger from Toronto hasn’t missed a game

claimed Game 5 to take the series lead to Los Angeles, where the Oilers won back-to-back.

Edmonton now has the chance in this series to close it out on the road.

The Oilers killed off their one penalty and scored on two of three power-play chances Tuesday to be 8-for-14 with a man-advantage in the series.

Bjugstad scored his second of the game at 4:26 of the third period.

His floating backhand toward the net went off the skate of Kings defenceman Mikey Anderson and across the goal line.

Byfield scored the Kings’ third goal

since the 2019-20 season.

Calgary missed the playoffs this season after finishing two points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the final wild-card spot.

Colorado’s Makar suspended one game

Colorado Avalanche star defenseman Cale Makar was suspended one game by the NHL on Tuesday for his hit on Seattle’s Jared McCann in the first period of a Game 4 loss to the Kraken.

Makar, last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP, will be a spectator for Game 5 on Wednes-

at 6:33 shooting upstairs on Skinner from the Edmonton goalie’s doorstep.

Game 4 overtime hero Hyman scored Edmonton’s fifth goal with his face.

The puck flying end over end on an Evan Bouchard slapshot deflected off Hyman’s cheek and under Copley at 15:47 of the second period, when just 10 seconds remained in Kevin Fiala’s tripping penalty.

Hyman shook off the discomfort and continued to play.

But a turning point for Edmonton was sustained offensive pressure midway through the second period.

day night with the series tied 2-2. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced the suspension after a hearing with Makar.

Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said after the Kraken’s 3-2 overtime win Monday night that McCann would miss Game 5 and likely be out longer. He did not specify McCann’s injury.

The hit happened midway through the first period as McCann had a short-handed breakaway attempt. His shot was saved by Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev with the puck going over the glass into the netting.

McCann appeared unprepared for the hit from Makar, which left Seattle’s leading scorer from the regular season on the ice for several minutes and needed help to get to the bench.

Unit after unit cycled the puck and worked hard to keep it onside.

Their reward for that effort was Bjugstad tipping in Cody Ceci’s shot from the blue line at 11:49 for a 4-2 lead.

As they did in the first two games of this series at Rogers Place, the Oilers took an early 2-0 lead. But Edmonton led 3-2 after the opening period.

Kempe chipped the puck over Skinner at 17:35 to draw the visitors within a goal.

Ryan McLeod in the corner whipped the puck cross-ice in front of Korpisalo for Kulak to sneak by Byfield and beat Korpisalo at 14:12.

A minute earlier, Iafallo scored L.A.’s second of the game chopping a rebound off a Kempe spinaround attempt past Skinner.

Draisaitl made it 2-0 for the hosts at 10:40 on McDavid’s feed from behind the goal line.

Draisaitl was going down as he was shoved by Byfield, but got a shot away to beat Korpisalo for his NHL-leading sixth playoff goal.

With Carl Grundstrom in the box for hooking McDavid, Kane strode to the faceoff circle and put a shot off the far post and into the net at 8:08 with just four seconds left in the penalty.

The Kings were minus forward Blake Lizotte (lower-body) for a third straight game. Edmonton was without forward Mattias Janmark a fourth game after he blocked a shot with his foot in Game 1.

Makar said he was unaware where the puck was when he made the hit. Makar was originally given a 5-minute major penalty but it was reduce to a 2-minute minor for interference after a review.

“It’s unfortunate. I never want to injure guys. Hopefully he’s all right,” Makar said after the game. “I didn’t feel like I tried to finish him that hard, but I feel like if I was in that scenario they would have done the exact same thing. I’m not trying to hurt anybody.”

The loss of Makar is another blow for the Avalanche, who played the past two games without forward Valeri Nichushkin for personal reasons and have been beset by key injuries for much of the season.

Edmonton Oilers’ Zach Hyman (18) and teammates celebrate a goal against the Los Angeles Kings during third period NHL Stanley Cup first round playoff action in Edmonton on Tuesday. (Photo by The Canadian Press)

Jansen powers Blue Jays past White Sox

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

Blue Jays 7 White Sox 0

TORONTO — Danny Jansen hit two home runs as the Toronto Blue Jays routed the Chicago White Sox 7-0 on Tuesday.

Jansen opened the scoring with a three-run homer in the second inning and added a solo shot in the sixth as Toronto (15-9) won its third straight.

Kevin Kiermaier had a two-run triple and George Springer hit an RBI single, while Whit Merrifield stretched his on-base streak to 18 games with a walk.

José Berríos (2-3) had the best outing of his year, going seven scoreless innings and striking out a season-high nine. He allowed four hits and a walk.

Relievers Nate Pearson — making his first appearance for the Blue Jays since October 2021 — and Anthony Bass held the White Sox scoreless.

Mike Clevinger (2-2) gave up six runs on seven hits and three walks, striking out three over five innings as Chicago (7-17) lost its sixth consecutive game. Tanner Banks allowed a run in his three innings of relief.

Berríos took the loss in his last outing, an 8-1 defeat in Houston on April 19, but he only gave up two runs over

seven innings and struck out three in that decision.

He carried that momentum into Tuesday’s game, striking out the first three White Sox he faced on just 16 pitches.

Clevinger was almost as efficient in the bottom of the first, giving up a single to Springer before retiring three straight Toronto hitters, including striking out Bo Bichette and Daulton Varsho.

Berríos kept humming in the second, quickly dismissing three straight batters but Clevinger ran into trouble.

The White Sox starter walked Matt Chapman and Brandon Belt to start the inning and induced a pop-fly by Merrifield, bringing Jansen to the plate.

Facing a 1-1 count, Jansen sent an 81 m.p.h. slider 359 feet into the Blue Jays’ bullpen for a 3-0 Toronto lead. It was Jansen’s second homer of the season but took his RBI count up to 11.

Kiermaier added more runs in the fourth, with his triple to centre field driving in Merrifield and Jansen. It was the second triple of Kiermaier’s season and 53rd of his career.

Springer then brought home Kiermaier with a single to left field for a 6-0 lead.

Berríos got into the most trouble of his night in the sixth when he gave up a leadoff single to Elvis Andrus, struck out Romy Gonzalez and Luis Robert Jr., and then gave up a base hit to Andrew Bennitendi. But Berríos punched out Eloy Jimenez for his seventh K of the night to strand Andrus on third.

Jansen hit his second homer in the bottom of the inning, launching a Banks change-up 393 feet into left-centre field. It was the fifth multihomer game of his six years in Major League Baseball.

Berríos evening ended with backto-back strikeouts of Yasmani Grandal and Jake Burger in the top of the seventh. The superb outing lowered his earned-run average from 6.23 to 4.71.

ON DECK — Yusei Kikuchi (3-0) gets the start as Toronto closes out its three-game set against Chicago with a rare weekday matinee. The White Sox counter with Michael Kopech (3-0).

PGA Tour Americas to replace Canadian, Latin American men’s pro golf circuits

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PONTE

VEDRA BEACH,

Fla. — The PGA Tour is merging two of its third-tier circuits.

PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamérica will combine to become the PGA Tour Americas in February. The new tour will consist of 16 events held across Latin America, Canada and the United States from February through September.

The top 10 finishers on the season-long points list will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the following season.

“As we build on the rich golf history across Latin America and Canada, we are thrilled about PGA Tour Americas and the role this tour will play in preparing players for the next step in their professional golf journey,” said Alex Baldwin, who oversees PGA Tour Americas, the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Q-School presented by Korn Ferry and PGA Tour University.

“PGA Tour Americas will be an extremely competitive tour aimed at identifying, developing and transitioning top-performing players to the next level as they ascend through the ranks and strive to reach the highest

level of professional golf, the PGA Tour.”

The PGA TOUR Americas season will begin in February with the Latin America Swing, which will conclude in May.

The top 60 players from the Latin America Swing will then qualify for the North America Swing.

Members will compete in Canada and the United States from June through September in an effort to finish in the top 10 on the season-long points list and earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the following season.

There will also be numerous performance benefits available on PGA Tour Americas. Five conditional Korn Ferry Tour cards are available to the top two finishers in the Latin America Swing and the top three performers from the North America Swing, in the event those individuals do not finish in the top 10 on the final PGA Tour Americas Points List.

The 2024 PGA Tour Americas schedule will be announced in September.

Finalized details regarding eligibility — including the priority ranking — as well as purses and points distribution, will be announced closer to the 2024 PGA TOUR Americas season beginning in February 2024.

Toronto Blue Jays’ Danny Jansen (right) celebrates with Brandon Belt after hitting a three-run home run during second-inning American League MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday. (Photo by The Canadian Press)

JasondeVosnamedCanadaSoccer’sinterimgeneralsecretary

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO — Jason deVos led Canada to one of its greatest men’s soccer triumphs, lifting the CONCACAF Gold Cup after a fairy-tale run in 2000.

Now the former Canada captain has been tasked, as interim general secretary, with helping Canada Soccer regain its footing after a period of missteps.

The Canada Soccer Hall of Famer, who is currently the governing body’s director of development, steps in for Earl Cochrane whose departure as Canada Soccer’s top staffer was announced Thursday. Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis resigned in late February, acknowledging change is needed to conclude the ongoing labour dispute with the Canadian men’s and women’s national teams.

Canada Soccer says deVos, who takes on the new role May 12, “will become the operational leader of the organization, working closely with the board of directors, in consultation with the Canada Soccer membership and key stakeholders.”

DeVos, who was part of John Herdman’s coaching staff at last year’s World Cup in Qatar, said he didn’t ask for the interim top job but didn’t hesitate when approached.

“I think there’s definitely a period of discovery for me,” he said of his new role. “I’m obviously aware of the labour talks with the players. As a former player and very recent coach, I’m very familiar with what the players are looking for and I’ve experienced that myself.

SPORTS IN BRIEF

Canada’s Marino advances to second round of Madrid Open

MADRID — Canada’s Rebecca Marino defeated China’s Zhu Lin 7-6 (1), 6-4 to advance to the second round of the Madrid Open on Tuesday.

Marino fired 11 aces to just two double faults in the win.

The Vancouver native also broke on three of her eight opportunities and won 73.1 per cent of first-serve points.

Zhu went without an ace and committed five double faults. She also went just 2-of-7 on break-point chances and won 62.3 per cent of first-serve points.

Fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard made it into the main draw with a 6-3, 6-2 win over American Elizabeth Mandlik.

Bouchard had four aces without committing a double fault and won 63.9 per cent of first-serve points, compared to just 47.5 from Mandlik.

“So the player negotiations are absolutely a priority for us, as an organization, and we need to have those conversations and will do that as quickly as possible … I’m looking forward to sitting down with the players.”

DeVos said he has already sent both the Canadian men and women a note to say he is “looking forward very to working with them and supporting them in every thing that they need to perform at the highest level and to continue to grow and develop the game.”

There is plenty at stake for Canadian soccer this summer.

The Olympic champion women are preparing for the July 20 kickoff of the FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The Canadian men are in the CONCACAF Nations League

Denmark’s Holger Rune joining Team Europe for Laver Cup in Vancouver

VANCOUVER — Denmark’s Holger Rune is joining Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Andrey Rublev of Russia on captain Bjorn Borg’s Team Europe for this year’s Laver Cup in Vancouver.

Rune, a 19-year-old who’s ranked seventh in the world, will be making his Laver Cup debut.

Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, Americans Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, and Australia’s Nick Kyrgyos will play on John McEnroe’s Team World.

Team World beat Team Europe in Roger Federer’s final appearance to win the annual tournament at last year’s Laver Cup in London.

This year’s Laver Cup will be held Sept. 22-24 at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena and will see six of the top men’s players from across Europe battle six of the top players from around the world.

semifinals in June, looking to lift a trophy before opening their Gold Cup campaign later that month.

Other members of Canada Soccer’s “transition leadership team” are interim vice-president Kelly Brown, chief operating officer Mathieu Chamberland, chief financial officer Sean Heffernan and Paulo Senra, head of public relations and communications.

DeVos sees positives in what has been a landscape of organizational uncertainty in recent days.

The 49-year-old DeVos, who joined Canada Soccer in 2016, credits Cochrane for being a “great resource” over the years, especially during his “eye-opening” early months with the organization.

“One thing that kept coming back to me was just how good we are at cer-

tain things. And we don’t trumpet that enough. And we don’t celebrate how well we do certain things,” said deVos. “I would say we organize grassroots soccer probably better than any other country in the world.

“And there’s a wide range of people, from volunteers to technical staff to coaches, administrators, board members who give up their time to create this soccer ecosystem that we have in Canada which is really quite remarkable. So it’s very easy to get bogged down in the negativity and to gloss over the positive things that we are doing.”

DeVos cited the women’s team’s Olympic gold in Tokyo — “an amazing accomplishment that should be lauded and celebrated” — and the men qualifying for the World Cup as the top team in CONCACAF.

“And while we didn’t get the results that we maybe wanted in Qatar, or maybe deserved, we showed the world that we belong at that level and on that stage,” he said. “So I think we should be celebrating our players, we should be celebrating the game and get back to focusing on football.

“But there’s a lot of other things that need to get done to be able to make that happen. The hope and the objective is to try and refocus our attention on the sport and on supporting our athletes and everyone who’s involved in the game at every level so that we’re pulling in the same direction.”

With deVos taking a new role, Dave Nutt becomes interim director of development. DeVos says he also will put his coaching job with the men’s team on hold.

Jason deVos (right) has been named Canada’s Soccer’s interim general secretary. (File photo by The Canadian Press)

WHL PLAYOFFS Second Round

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS (Best-of-7)

EASTERN CONFERENCE Winnipeg (1) vs. Moose Jaw (4) (Winnipegwinsseries4-2)

Monday’sresult

Winnipeg8MooseJaw2

Saturday’sresult

Winnipeg5MooseJaw2

Red Deer (2) vs. Saskatoon (3) (Saskatoonwinsseries4-3)

Tuesday’sresult

Saskatoon5RedDeer2

Sunday’sresult Saskatoon5RedDeer3

WESTERN CONFERENCE Seattle (1) vs. Prince George (4) (Seattlewinsseries4-0)

Kamloops (2) vs. Portland (3) (Kamloopswinsseries4-0)

Third Round CONFERENCE FINALS (Best-of-7)

EASTERN CONFERENCE Winnipeg (1) vs. Saskatoon (3) ScheduleTBA

WESTERN CONFERENCE Seattle (1) vs. Kamloops (2)

Saturday, Apr. 29 KamloopsatSeattle,7:05p.m.

Sunday, Apr. 30

KamloopsatSeattle,6:05p.m.

Tuesday, May 2 SeattleatKamloops,8p.m.

Thursday, May 4 SeattleatKamloops,8p.m.

Saturday, May 6 x-KamloopsatSeattle,7:05p.m.

Monday, May 8 x-SeattleatKamloops,8p.m.

Tuesday, May 9 x-KamloopsatSeattle,8:05p.m. x _playedonlyifnecessary.

WHL SUMMARIES Blades 5, Rebels 2

First Period

1.RedDeer,Mayo2(Lind,Grubbe)12:10.

2.Saskatoon,Roulette2(unassisted)14:45.

Penalties —JosephsonRd(highsticking)4:58.

Second Period

3.Saskatoon,Shugrue2(Roulette)5:41.

4.RedDeer,Singer1(Uchacz,Weir)7:35.

Penalties —DeLaGorgendiereSas(hooking)9:47.

Third Period

5.Saskatoon,Shugrue3(Wiens)4:29.

6.Saskatoon,Roulette3(Sidorov)5:09.

7. Saskatoon, Watterodt 4 (De La Gorgendiere)

19:32(en). Penalties — Saskatoon bench (too many men, served by Sidorov) 8:10; Isley Rd (hooking) 13:42; De La Gorgendiere Sas (misconduct, 10-minute misconduct) 19:43; Armstrong Rd (cross checking)

19:43. Shots on goal by RedDeer 11 8 6 _ 25 Saskatoon 11 5 12 _ 28

Goal — Red Deer: Kelsey (L, ). Saskatoon: Elliott (W,). Power plays (goals-chances) — Red Deer: 0-2; Saskatoon:0-3. WHL Scoring Leaders G A Pts L.Stankoven,KAM 10 11 21

10 11 21

7 14 21

10 10 20

NHL Playoffs FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7; x-if necessary) EASTERN CONFERENCE Boston 3, Florida 1

Monday,April17:Boston3,Florida1

Wednesday,April19:Florida6,Boston3

Friday,April21:Boston4,Florida2

Sunday,April23:Boston6,Florida2

Wednesday,April26:FloridaatBoston,5p.m.

x-Friday,April28:BostonatFlorida,TBA

x-Sunday,April30:FloridaatBoston,TBA Carolina 3, N.Y. Islanders 2

Monday,April17:Carolina2,N.Y.Islanders1

Wednesday,April19:Carolina4,N.Y.Islanders3,OT

Friday,April21:N.Y.Islanders5,Carolina1

Sunday,April23:Carolina5,N.Y.Islanders2

Tuesday,April25:N.Y.Islanders3,Carolina2

Friday,April28:CarolinaatN.Y.Islanders,TBA

x-Sunday,April30:N.Y.IslandersatCarolina,TBA New Jersey 2, N.Y. Rangers 2

Tuesday,April18:N.Y.Rangers5,NewJersey1

Thursday,April20:N.Y.Rangers5,NewJersey1

Saturday,April22:NewJersey2,N.Y.Rangers1,OT

Monday,April24:NewJersey3,N.Y.Rangers1

Thursday, April 27: N.Y. Rangers at New Jersey, 5:30p.m.

Saturday,April29:NewJerseyatN.Y.Rangers,TBA

x-Monday,May1:N.Y.RangersatNewJersey,TBA Toronto 3, Tampa Bay 1

Tuesday,April18:TampaBay7,Toronto3

Thursday,April20:Toronto7,TampaBay2

Saturday,April22:Toronto4,TampaBay3,OT

Monday,April24:Toronto5,TampaBay4,OT

Thursday,April27:TampaBayatToronto,5p.m.

x-Saturday,April29:TorontoatTampaBay,TBA

x-Monday,May1:TampaBayatToronto,TBA

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Edmonton 3, Los Angeles 2

Monday,April17:LosAngeles4,Edmonton3,OT

Wednesday,April19:Edmonton4,LosAngeles2

Friday,April21:LosAngeles3,Edmonton2,OT

Sunday,April23:Edmonton5,LosAngeles4,OT

Tuesday,April25:Edmonton6,LosAngeles3

Saturday,April29:EdmontonatLosAngeles,TBA

x-Monday,May1:LosAngelesatEdmonton,TBA

Dallas 3, Minnesota 2

Monday,April17:Minnesota3,Dallas2,2OT

Wednesday,April19:Dallas7,Minnesota3

Friday,April21:Minnesota5,Dallas1

Sunday,April23:Dallas3,Minnesota2

Tuesday,April25:Dallas4,Minnesota0

Friday,April28:DallasatMinnesota,TBA

x-Sunday,April30:MinnesotaatDallas,TBA

Colorado 2, Seattle 2

Tuesday,April18:Seattle3,Colorado1

Thursday,April20:Colorado3,Seattle2

Saturday,April22:Colorado6,Seattle4

Monday,April24:Seattle3,Colorado2,OT

Wednesday,April26:SeattleatColorado,7:30p.m.

Friday,April28:ColoradoatSeattle,TBA

x-Sunday,April30:SeattleatColorado,TBA Vegas 3, Winnipeg 1

Tuesday,April18:Winnipeg5,Vegas1

Thursday,April20:Vegas5,Winnipeg2

Saturday,April22:Vegas5,Winnipeg4,2OT

Monday,April24:Vegas4,Winnipeg2

Thursday,April27:WinnipegatVegas,8p.m.

x-Saturday,April29:VegasatWinnipeg,TBA

x-Monday,May1:WinnipegatVegas,TBA

NHL SUMMARIES Edmonton 6, Los Angeles 3

First Period

1.Edmonton,Kane3(Nurse,Ekholm)8:08(pp).

2.Edmonton,Draisaitl6(McDavid,Ekholm)10:40.

3.LosAngeles,Iafallo3(Kempe,Kopitar)13:12.

4.Edmonton,Kulak1(McLeod,Foegele)14:12.

5. Los Angeles, Kempe 4 (Grundstrom, Doughty) 17:35. Penalties —GrundstromLA(hooking)6:12. Second Period

6.Edmonton,Bjugstad1(Ceci,Nurse)11:49.

7. Edmonton, Hyman 2 (Bouchard, McDavid) 15:47 (pp). Penalties —FialaLA(tripping)13:56.

Third Period

8.Edmonton,Bjugstad2(Nugent-Hopkins)4:26.

9.LosAngeles,Byfield1(Vilardi,Fiala)6:33. Penalties —NurseEdm(cross-checking)0:29;Durzi LA(cross-checking)14:36;DanaultLA,FoegeleEdm (misconduct)18:13.

Shots on goal by LosAngeles 12 7 9 _ 28

Edmonton 13 8 6 _ 27

Goal — Los Angeles: Copley (8 shots, 6 saves), Korpisalo(L,2-3-0).Edmonton:Skinner(W,2-2-0). Power plays (goals-chances) — Los Angeles: 0-1; Edmonton:2-3.

Dallas 4, Minnesota 0

First Period

1.Dallas,Seguin4(Robertson,Hintz)2:22(pp).

2.Dallas,Robertson2(Heiskanen,Hintz)11:04(pp).

Penalties — Foligno Minn (game misconduct) 2:14; Foligno Minn (kneeing major, served by Reaves)

2:14; Heiskanen Dal (interference) 4:56; Middleton Minn(cross-checking)10:47.

Second Period

3.Dallas,Marchment1(Seguin,Hintz)1:19.

Penalties — Zuccarello Minn (tripping) 2:06; Domi Dal (cross-checking) 4:38; Suter Dal (holding) 7:57; Dumba Minn, Harley Dal (roughing) 10:38; Lindell Dal(interference)14:52.

Third Period

4.Dallas,Dellandrea1(Domi,Suter)16:03(en).

Penalties — Nyquist Minn (tripping) 2:12; Hartman Minn (roughing) 4:38; Dellandrea Dal (embellishment) 4:38; Kiviranta Dal (embellishment) 18:41; BoldyMinn(cross-checking)18:41.

Shots on goal by

Minnesota 5 13 9 _ 27

Dallas 11 7 7 _ 25

Goal — Minnesota: Gustavsson (L, 2-2-0). Dallas: Oettinger(W,3-2-0). Power plays (goals-chances) — Minnesota: 0-3; Dallas:2-6. NY Islanders 3, Carolina 2

First Period

1.NYIslanders,Engvall1(Nelson)10:27.

Penalties — MacEachern Car (slashing) 2:19; RomanovNYI(interference)17:32.

Second Period

2.NYIslanders,Nelson2(Engvall,Palmieri)3:16.

3.Carolina,Stastny2(Chatfield,Puljujarvi)13:10.

4.NYIslanders,Barzal2(Horvat)18:05.

Penalties — Clutterbuck NYI (kneeing) 5:45; Staal Car (tripping) 16:47; Dobson NYI (interference) 17:07.

Third Period

5.Carolina,Aho3(Jarvis,Kotkaniemi)10:28.

Penalties — Aho NYI (holding) 11:51; Aho Car (high-sticking)13:09.

— NY Islanders: Sorokin (W, 2-3-0). Carolina:

plays (goals-chances)

New York: 0-3; Carolina:0-4.

SPORTS IN BRIEF

Stars beat Wild

(Stars 4 Wild 0)

DALLAS — Tyler Seguin and Jason Robertson each had a power-play goal and an assist, Roope Hintz had three assists for the second straight game and the Dallas Stars took the series lead over the Minnesota Wild for the first time with a 4-0 win in Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Jake Oettinger had 27 saves in his second career playoff shutout. That included the 24-year-old goalie stopping nine shots when the Wild had back-to-back power plays in quick succession in the second period.

Seguin’s fourth power-play goal of the series came only 2:22 into the game, eight seconds after Wild forward Marcus Foligno’s five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for a kneeon-knee hit on Radek Faksa.

JoaquinNiemann,$177,50070-68-70_208

BerndWiesberger,$177,50067-70-71_208

JamesPiot,$162,50069-74-66_209

ThomasPieters,$162,50071-68-70_209

DavidPuig,$162,50070-67-72_209

RichardBland,$162,50066-71-72_209

LeeWestwood,$147,50071-69-70_210

CarlosOrtiz,$147,50073-66-71_210

GraemeMcDowell,$147,50067-69-74_210

PaulCasey,$142,50071-70-71_212

ScottVincent,$138,75068-74-71_213

BrandenGrace,$138,75074-65-74_213

MattJones,$135,00072-73-69_214

TalorGooch,$4,000,00062-62-73_197

AnirbanLahiri,$2,250,00069-66-65_200

PatrickReed,$1,000,00071-65-65_201

CameronSmith,$1,000,00069-66-66_201

CameronTringale,$1,000,00069-65-67_201

PatPerez,$1,000,00067-67-67_201

PeterUihlein,$533,33368-68-66_202

DeanBurmester,$533,33366-69-67_202

CharlSchwartzel,$533,33368-66-68_202

DustinJohnson,$415,00071-65-67_203

JasonKokrak,$310,00068-71-65_204

BubbaWatson,$310,00070-67-67_204

KevinNa,$310,00068-69-67_204

SergioGarcia,$310,00068-68-68_204

HenrikStenson,$310,00068-68-68_204

PhilMickelson,$310,00070-65-69_204

HaroldVarnerIII,$310,00071-64-69_204

LouisOosthuizen,$310,00068-66-70_204

BrooksKoepka,$310,00069-65-70_204

AbrahamAncer,$310,00069-65-70_204

MarcLeishman,$230,00071-69-65_205

CharlesHowellIII,$230,00069-69-67_205

SebastianMunoz,$230,00073-65-67_205

ChaseKoepka,$207,50070-70-66_206

DannyLee,$207,50067-71-68_206

IanPoulter,$192,50072-69-66_207

MitoPereira,$192,50072-66-69_207

BrysonDeChambeau,$192,50073-65-69_207

BrendanSteele,$192,50067-71-69_207

JediahMorgan,$132,50076-71-68_215

MatthewWolff,$128,75072-72-72_216

EugenioChacarra,$128,75074-70-72_216

MartinKaymer$,125,00075-77-71_223

SihwanKim,$122,50084-71-75_230

SamHorsfield,$80,000WD

The Chevron Championship At Nicklaus Course

The Woodlands, Texas Purse: $5.1 million Yardage: 6,824; Par: 72 Final Round (x-won on first playoff hole)

x-LiliaVu,$765,000 68-69-73-68—278 AngelYin,$479,680 69-70-67-72—278 NellyKorda,$347,974 68-70-70-71—279

Eun-HeeJi,$50,214 70-71-70-77—288

MarinaAlex,$38,933 68-73-72-76—289

MatildaCastren,$38,933 71-72-73-

73—289

EilaGalitsky,$0 70-75-74-70—289

DanielleKang,$38,933 73-69-75-72—289

NannaKoerstzMadsen,$38,933 72-68-75-

74—289

JessicaKorda,$38,93373-69-75-72—289

GabyLopez,$38,933 75-68-72-74—289

HinakoShibuno,$38,933

Thursday,April20:Philadelphia102,Brooklyn97

Saturday,April22:Philadelphia96,Brooklyn88

Miami 3, Milwaukee 1

Sunday,April16:Miami130,Milwaukee117

Wednesday,April19:Milwaukee138,Miami122

Saturday,April22:Miami121,Milwaukee99

Monday,April24:Miami119,Milwaukee114

Wednesday,April26:MiamiatMilwaukee,7:30p.m.

x-Friday,April28:MilwaukeeatMiami,TBA

x-Sunday,April30:MiamiatMilwaukee,TBA

New York 3, Cleveland 1

Saturday,April15:NewYork101,Cleveland97

Tuesday,April18:Cleveland107,NewYork90

Friday,April21:NewYork99,Cleveland79

Sunday,April23:NewYork102,Cleveland93

Wednesday,April26:NewYorkatCleveland,5p.m.

x-Friday,April28:ClevelandatNewYork,TBA

x-Sunday,April30:NewYorkatCleveland,TBA

Western Conference Sacramento 2, Golden State 2

Saturday, April 15: Sacramento 126,

Monday,April24:L.A.Lakers117,Memphis111,OT

Wednesday, April 26: L.A. Lakers at Memphis, 5:30 p.m. x-Friday,April28:MemphisatL.A.Lakers,TBA

x-Sunday,April30:L.A.LakersatMemphis,TBA

Denver 4, Minnesota 1

Sunday,April16:Denver109,Minnesota80

Wednesday,April19:Denver122,Minnesota113

Friday,April21:Denver120,Minnesota111 Sunday,April23:Minnesota114,Denver108,OT

Tuesday,April25:Denver112,Minnesota109

MARKETS CLOSE

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points Tuesday with broad-based losses led by energy, while U.S. markets also fell.

“We’re now entering the heart of earnings season,” said Angelo Kourkafas, an investment strategist at Edward Jones, adding that Canadian earnings also start ramping up this week.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 236.87pointsat20,439.87,

MEDIA

with the TSX energy index down more than two per cent.

InNewYork,theDow Jonesindustrialaverage was down 344.57 points at 33,530.83.The S&P 500 index was down 65.41 points at 4,071.63,while the Nasdaq composite was down 238.04 points, or almost two per cent, at 11,799.16.

Tuesday’s swing comes after a long stretch of unusually low volatility as investors anticipated an avalanche of earnings, said Kourkafas.

Results have been mixed so far, he said.

“I think the theme of a slowdown is emerging.”

Investors were more defensive Tuesday, said Kourkafas, with bond yields moving lower.

“I think we are seeing a clear rotation out of cyclicals, whether it’s energy, industrials, materials and some tech, into the defensive sectors,” he said.

While the bar had been lowered for banks, making it easier for them to exceed expec-

tations, tech companies are under more pressure, with some of the biggest names including Alphabet and Microsoft reporting this week, said Kourkafas.

“A lot of these names … have led the gains this year, so the bar is high,” he said.

“It’s all about the earnings now,” said Kourkafas, but also about companies’ guidance for the rest of the year.

On Tuesday, UPS missed on its first-quarter earnings, while

shares in First Republic Bank dropped almost 50 per cent after its earnings report revealed the extent of the banking crisis’ damage on its deposits. Meanwhile, General Motors saw its profit increase thanks to strong U.S. sales.

Investors are also gearing up for the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision next week, said Kourkafas. The central bank is widely expected to hike and then pause, echoing the Bank of Canada’s earlier move, he said.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.41 cents UScompared with 73.84 cents US on Monday.

The June crude contract was down US$1.69 at US$77.07 per barrel and the June natural gas contract was down three cents at US$2.44 per mmBTU.

The June gold contract was up US$4.70 at US$2,004.50 an ounceand the July copper contract was down 10 cents at US$3.87 a pound.

Professionals see less credibility, value on Twitter after Musk takeover

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO — Canada was plunging into the H1N1 crisis, when Anne Marie Aikins first encountered Twitter.

The media relations maven was working for Toronto Public Health, which saw the new platform as an inexpensive way of quickly sharing vital information that could potentially save lives.

The rationale was similar when she later worked at the Toronto Public Library and 2,300 workers went on strike in 2012, pushing branches to temporarily close, and then at GO Transit-operator Metrolinx, where Twitterwasago-toforcommunicating service disruptions.

But these days, professionals and organizations are pulling back from tweeting. Aikins, who left Metrolinx after almost 11 years in January, and others feel it’s because changes made by new owner Elon Musk have made Twitter “far less credible than it ever was before and less reliable.”

That belief is spreading among professionals who once saw the platform as a way to build networks, discover news, connect with others and disseminate trustworthy information in a hurry. They now feel inundated with misinformation and new policies that rattle them every time they log on but have yet to find an alternative offering the same immediacy or connections.

“It’s clear that this is no longer

the platform it was,” said Courtney Radsch, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

“It has been an important platform during crisis or emerging news and it’s a shame … there isn’t a good replacement.”

Twitter’s descent has come at the hands of Musk, the unpredictable billionaire behind rocket builder SpaceX and automaker Tesla, who bought the platform for US$44 billion last October.

He’s since orchestrated a dizzying arrayofchanges,themosthighprofile being his November plan to strip notable users of their blue verification

check marks unless they pay for Twitter’s premium service.

When accounts impersonating Tesla, gaming giant Nintendo and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly sprang up and paid for verification, Musk dumped his check mark removal plans, but revived them earlier this month.

Everyone from Beyoncé to Pope Francis to Kim Kardashian lost their check mark last week, but then many returned in a haphazard fashion. Some had no idea why they had regained the stamp, despite not paying for Twitter’s premium service. Musk later conceded he paid for many like basketball star LeBron James, author

Stephen King and actor William Shatner to retain the mark.

“Now I can’t tell who’s paid for it and who’s real,” Aikins said, noting Musk is even allowing anonymous accounts to be verified so long as they pay and provide a confirmed phone number.

Musk made changes to media accounts, including NPR’s and the BBC’s, too. He labelled CBC’s “government-funded.”

The public broadcaster objected to the label, saying it receives public funding through a parliamentary appropriation voted upon by all MPs, and its editorial independence is enshrinedintheBroadcastingAct.Musk laterchangedCBC’slabelto“69%government-funded” before he dropped such tags entirely over the weekend.

In the wake of these moves, Aikins is seeing public organizations tweet less and suspects it’s because of how easy it’s become to target brands with misinformation that could tarnish their image.

“It’s tiresome and hard for staff to manage that,” she said.

The developments have also diminished Twitter’s reach.

“The immediacy of Twitter and the number of eyes that you’d see on a tweet quickly during an emergency is just not what it used to be,” Aikins said.

Radsch similarly sees “a lot less activity” from journalists, media outlets and academics and attributes it to “whiplash” from policy changes and Musk’s relaxed moderation and harassment stance.

Some professionals are seeing less credibility and value on Twitter. (File photo by The Associated Press)

TrudeausaysCanadatoconductairliftsoutofSudan

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — A Canadian effort is underway to conduct airlifts out of Sudan and two military vessels have arrived off its coast, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday, as the government looked for a fragile ceasefire to help evacuation efforts in the embattled East African country.

Trudeau said the federal government is co-ordinating with its allies to get Canadian citizens out of Sudan, where fighting between the military and a rival paramilitary group erupted earlier this month, with hundreds killed and thousands more injured.

“It’s an extremely difficult situation,” Trudeau said. “There’s very limited places where those airlifts can happen from.”

One Canadian in Sudan, 29-yearold Waddaha Medani, said she made the trip to an airbase on the outskirts of the battle-torn capital of Khartoum Tuesday morning after she learned of an apparent evacuation flight.

She told The Canadian Press in messages exchanged Tuesday that she boarded a German plane set to depart for Jordan, where she was told she would then be able to get on a flight home to Ottawa.

Trudeau had said on Monday that 58 Canadians departed the country on a German flight and that a C-17 transport plane was in the region.

A spokesperson for the Defence Department said the frigate HMCS Montreal and the supply ship MV Asterix were re-tasked to the Red Sea to support the effort in Sudan, adding that the region was part of its sail plan.

A press release from March 26, when the vessels were deployed, says they were headed to the Indo-Pacific region as part of Operation Projection. It was heralded as the first deployment of an East Coast crew to the

Indo-Pacific, part of Canada’s plan to boost its presence there from two frigates to three.

A CH-148 Cyclone helicopter is part of the deployment on the frigate.

On Tuesday morning, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said that 100 Canadians had by then made it out of Sudan.

She thanked Germany, France, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for “helping evacuate” the Canadians.

Joly said they were among 1,700 Canadians registered with the government and being contacted by federal authorities. Of that number, 550 people have asked for assistance, she said.

The federal government is also providing information to people who are attempting to leave the country on their own, Joly said, and safe passage for Canadians has already been negotiated with several other countries in the region, including Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt.

While she said the situation was “still fragile,” Joly said a three-day ceasefire announced Monday night was helping evacuation efforts.

“We are working on making sure that we do our own civilian evacuation, but we’re not losing time. And we’re making sure that this is happening as we speak,” she said.

But fighting continued, despite the generals heading the Sudanese military and the rival Rapid Support Forces pledging Tuesday to observe the truce.

Explosions, gunfire and the roar of warplanes were heard around the capital region on Tuesday.

Residents reported escalating clashes in West Darfur province, where the RSF has its roots, born from the Janjaweed militias accused of widespread atrocities in putting down a rebellion in the early 2000s.

A number of short ceasefires over

Azerbaijan escalates Nagorno-Karabakh dispute with Armenia

OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says she’s “deeply concerned” about Azerbaijan escalating a long-running dispute with Armenia over a breakaway province by blocking its main access road.

Tensions between the two have spiralled in recent months since the Azerbaijan restricted access to the road that connects Armenia with the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The area is mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, but is internationally recognized as being part of Azerbaijan.

In January, the House foreign-affairs committee heard that Azerbaijan had limited access along the only road into the territory, known as the Lachin corridor, although medical services were still granted access.

the past week have failed or brought only small breaks in the battles raging since April 15 between rival forces led by the country’s two top generals.

While the lulls have led to evacuations of hundreds of foreigners, they have brought little relief to millions of Sudanese people who are struggling to find food, shelter and medical care in a country where a third of the population of 46 million already needed humanitarian aid.

Civilians are among the at least 459 people killed and 4,070 wounded since fighting began, the UN World Health Organization said, citing Sudan’s health ministry.

Trudeau said he spoke with the chairperson of the African Union to offer Canada’s support.

Defence Minister Anita Anand said Canada is trying to help anyone who is requesting assistance but called the situation “extremely volatile and extremely intense.”

In her first statement this year about the conflict, Joly says a new checkpoint Azerbaijan installed along the road “clearly undermines the peace process and stability throughout the region.”

Canada says both countries need to keep talking and stick with the peace process, which aims to stop recurring clashes that have emerged in recent years.

“We call on Azerbaijan authorities to reopen the Lachin corridor. It must remain open and unimpeded to allow for the freedom of movement of people and goods,” reads Joly’s Tuesday morning statement.

Both countries are accusing each other of violating a pact that ended fierce fighting between the two in 2020. Armenia’s defence ministry said Sunday that one of its soldiers was killed by an Azerbaijani sniper near the border, but Azerbaijan denied the claim and separately reported that its soldiers had come under fire from Armenia in another part of the border area.

Supportcommunication

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a Canadian effort is underway to conduct airlifts out of Sudan and two military vessels have arrived off the coast of the Red Sea as violence in the region continues for a second week. (Photo by The Canadian Press)

UNITED STATES

2024electioncampaignlookslike2020rematch

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

WASHINGTON — Onehalf of a potential presidential rematch formally joined the 2024 fray Tuesday as Joe Biden finally launched his re-election campaign, setting the stage for a sequel to 2020 that a majority of Americans do not want.

After months of hinting broadly he’d be running again despite mounting Democratic concerns about his age, the 80-year-old sitting U.S. president made it official by way of a three-minute video on social media.

And it appears his strategy is to pick up where he left off.

“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we’re in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are,” Biden says in the video.

“The question we’re facing is whether in the years ahead, we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer. I know what I want the answer to be, and I think you do too.”

It’s a message that presumes Donald Trump, Biden’s predecessor and chief 2020 antagonist, will be the Republican nominee — a prediction that’s difficult to make at the moment given the former president’s legal troubles.

Trump has already been indicted in New York on 34 charges of falsifying business records as part of what prosecutors allege was a scheme to cover up embarrassing hush-money payments prior to the 2016 election.

On Monday, Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis announced she’ll decide this July whether or not to in-

dict the former president following her investigation of allegations that he interfered with the 2020 election in Georgia.

And then there’s the fact that special counsel Jack Smith is actively investigating Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss and his handling of classified documents recovered last year from his Florida country-club sanctuary.

But assuming Trump does become the Republican nominee, a Biden win in 2024 would clearly be the best possible outcome for Canada, said Matthew Lebo, a political science professor at Western University in London, Ont.

“Canada has to live next to a democracy — a peaceful one,” Lebo said.

“You have one political party that

has endorsed violence, that has refused to accept the results of a democratic election and has gone further and further away from democratic norms. It is best for Canada to not have that party in power.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made clear Tuesday where his allegiances lie.

“I think it’s great news,” Trudeau said of Biden’s announcement.

“He is a leader that is needed not just by the United States, but by the world, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with him for many years.”

That’s a striking sentiment, considering how emphatic Biden has been both in office and on the campaign trail about protectionist policies like Buy American, a talking point he repeated Tuesday in his first public re-

Yukon government starts funding 40 hours of paid sick leave

WHITEHORSE — Yukon is the first jurisdiction in Canada to provide government-funded paid sick leave with a program targeting workers who are most likely to suffer from taking unpaid time off, Premier Ranj Pillai says.

Retroactive to April 1, those without paid sick leave through their employer and who are making less than or equal to $33.94 per hour, will qualify for 40 hours of pay over 12 months covered by the government.

Pillai said in an interview on Tuesday that the government-funded program supports the private sector in a tight labour market where the territory has among the lowest unemployment rates in the country.

“We just felt, as a government, that it was important for us to show that commitment to the private sector,

marks since the launch.

“You might notice I’ve been criticized by other countries, by our partners and even by our Republican friends for buying American,” Biden told a gathering of tradespeople and union members in Washington, D.C.

“We’re going to spend American tax dollars. Americans are paying the money, and we’re gonna buy American when we do it.”

That said, a second-term Biden could be good for Canada because he’d be free to focus on his legacy and place in history, said John Aldrich, a politics professor at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

“One way many do that is by paying more attention to foreign affairs, and given his own history, I expect Biden to do exactly that,” Aldrich said.

“Hopefully that means a steady hand on the tiller combined with caring about America’s position in the world.”

Americans, however, appear unenthusiastic about the campaign taking shape. An NBC News poll released Monday found that a majority of respondents would far rather that neither Biden nor Trump were on their respective tickets.

Seventy per cent of respondents — and 51 per cent of those who identified as Democrats — said they would rather not see Biden running for president again, while 60 per cent said they feel the same way about Trump, including one-third of Republicans.

As rematches go, “this one carries real risks,” given how deeply unpopular the two front-runners are in the other’s party, Aldrich said.

understanding that the private sector in Canada is going to be where the growth is as we see federal government spending start to slow,” he said.

The threshold to qualify represents the average Yukon private-sector wage. Pillai said people who make lower wages tend to be the most vulnerable.

“Those are the folks that really, they can’t miss a paycheque and so they’re going back to work, in some cases when they shouldn’t be, when they’re sick, and then their co-workers are getting sick,” he said.

“And in the end that, of course, also drives things like hospital visits.”

The program also applies to self-employed Yukoners and covers sick leave taken from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2025. It’s estimated it will cover about 7,000 people and cost the government about $11.8 million over those two years.

Pillai said the two-year period will give the government a chance to review the program and see if any changes need to be made. The next territorial election has to happen by the fall of 2025.

President Joe Biden has formally launched his bid for re-election with a three-minute video that conjures memories of his 2020 battle. (Photo by The Associated Press)

TalibankillmastermindofsuicidebombingatKabulairport

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — A ground assault by the Taliban killed the Islamic State militant who spearheaded the August 2021 suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that left 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghans dead during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Initially, neither the U.S. — nor apparently the Taliban — were aware that the mastermind was dead. He was killed during a series of battles early this month in southern Afghanistan between the Taliban and the Islamic State group’s affiliate, according to several officials.

But in the past few days, U.S. intelligence confirmed “with high confidence” that the Islamic State leader had been killed, a senior administration official said.

Over the weekend, the U.S. military began to inform families of the 11 Marines, the sailor and the soldier who were killed in the blast at Abbey Gate, and they shared the information in a private group messaging chat. The father of one of the Marines said the death brings little comfort.

“Whatever happens, it’s not going to bring Taylor back and I understand that,” Darin Hoover, the father of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, said in a phone call with The Associated Press. “About the only thing his mom and I can do now is be an advocate for him. All we want is the truth. And we’re not getting it. That’s the frustrating part.”

Hoover said he and his son’s mother, Kelly Henson, have spent the past year and a half grieving his death and praying for accountability from the Biden administration for the handling of the withdrawal. The killing of the Islamic State group leader, Hoover said, does nothing to help them.

Hoover said the Marines provided only limited information to him and did not identify the Islamic State leader or give the circumstances of his death. U.S. officials declined to provide many details because of sen-

sitivities in the intelligence gathering.

The administration official said it was their “moral responsibility” to let the victims’ families know that the “mastermind” and “person most responsible for the airport attack” had been take off the battlefield. The official added that intelligence officials determined that the leader had “remained a key plotter and overseer” for the group.

Several officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the U.S. played no role in the killing and did not coordinate at all with the Taliban. The administration official called the Taliban action “significant” and said the U.S. only learned of the operation through its “over the horizon” intelligence capabilities.

Hoover is among a group of 12 Gold Star families that have kept in touch since the bombing, supporting one another and sharing information through the messaging chat. The chat was created by Cheryl Rex, the mother of Marine Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, who died in the blast.

Rex, who has been a vocal critic of

the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal, told the AP it was through the chat group that they were informed late Monday about the killing as they awaited official confirmation from U.S. military officials.

The fallen service members were among those screening the thousands of Afghans frantically trying on Aug. 26, 2021, to get onto one of the crowded flights out of the country after the brutal Taliban takeover. The scene of desperation quickly turned into one of horror when a suicide bomber attacked. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

The blast at Abbey Gate came hours after Western officials warned of a major attack, urging people to leave the airport. But that advice went largely unheeded by Afghans desperate to escape the country in the last few days of an American-led evacuation before the U.S. officially ended its 20-year presence.

The Afghanistan-based offshoot of the Islamic State — called Islamic State-Khorasan — has up to 4,000 members and is the Taliban’s most bitter enemy and top military threat. The group has continued to carry out

attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, especially against the country’s minority groups.

After the Trump administration reached a 2020 deal with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the Biden administration followed through on that agreement in 2021, there had been hope in Washington that the Taliban’s desire for international recognition and assistance for the country’s impoverished population might moderate their behavior.

But relations between the U.S. and the Taliban have continued to deteriorate since they imposed draconian new measures banning girls from school and excluding women from working for international aid and health agencies.

However, a line of communication still exists between the two sides, led by the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Tom West. West’s contacts are primarily with Taliban officials in Kabul and not with the group’s more ideological wing based in Kandahar.

The U.S. decision to withdraw all troops fueled the swift collapse of the Afghan government and military, which the U.S. had supported for nearly two decades, and the return to power of the Taliban. In the aftermath, President Joe Biden directed that a broad review examine “every aspect of this from top to bottom” and it was released earlier this month.

The Biden administration in the publicly released version of the review largely laid blame on President Donald Trump for the deadly and chaotic 2021 withdrawal, which was punctuated by the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate.

News of the killing came on the same day that Biden formally announced he will seek a second term as president, offering a reminder of one of the most difficult chapters of his presidency. The disastrous drawdown was, at the time, the biggest crisis that the relatively new administration had faced. It left sharp questions about Biden and his team’s competence and experience — the twin pillars central to his campaign for the White House.

The Taliban have killed the senior Islamic State group leader behind the August 2021 bombing outside the Kabul airport that killed 13 United States service members and about 170 Afghans. (File photo by The Associated Press)

HE DIDN’T ANSWER WHEN HE LEFT TO SEE HIS FRIENDS. BUT HE HEARD YOUR “I LOVE YOU.”

‘GIVE YOURSELF TIME AND SPACE’

Howtomanageyourfinancesduringtimesofgrief

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

In 2013, Ti Zhang received news of their mother’s sudden passing.

At the time, they were in their mid-20s and living in Paris with their one-year-old child and then-partner, while their mother was living in Vancouver.

“It came as a really big surprise. It was very sudden,” the 35-year-old recalled.

“I think I woke up one morning and I got the news and the rest is kind of a blur. I flew back and it was one of the hardest flights I’ve ever taken.”

The grief that Zhang dealt with was overwhelming, they said.

And it was compounded by the financial decisions they were forced to make — from funeral costs and handling a monetary gift that their grandmother left behind for their mother, to paying rent in both Vancouver and Paris while deciding their next steps.

“(It) was really confusing to navigate as a young adult and also juggling a young baby and without much of a network in Vancouver,” said Zhang.

Decision-making of any sort can be difficult to do in a period of grief, let alone decisions related to money, ex-

perts say. That’s why they recommend taking time before making any big financial decisions while grieving.

“Griefcanbeoverwhelming;you’re tired, you’re not sleeping well, you’re not eating well. None of us make good decisions in that state,” said Sara McCullough, a certified financial planner at WD Development in Kitchener, Ont.

“One of the things I find really gets overlooked is, it’s OK to take time to make decisions.”

Once you’ve given yourself the time to process the immediate shock associated with grief, McCullough recommends finding out how long you’ll be able to manage your basic expenses. She calls this a “hard deadline.”

If your money is going to run out sooner than later, McCullough said you should figure out how you’re going to make ends meet. Taking bereavement leave could be an option available to you.

On the other hand, if you have a financial cushion that could last you at least a few months, she suggests reassessing your priorities since they tend to change when you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, a job or a relationship. This step, she said, can also take time.

If you’ve received an inheritance,

it can be especially difficult managing it if you don’t have experience handling large sums of money. In that case, McCullough encourages people to thoroughly think through their options or to speak to advice-only financial planners.

Beware of anyone who may try to sell you products or services when you’re in a vulnerable state, she added.

“Slow down and say, ‘Whatever is being recommended, how is that good for me?’” said McCullough.

Sandra Fry, a credit counsellor with the non-profit Credit Counselling Society, agreed that you shouldn’t jump into any financial decisions when you’re experiencing grief.

“Make sure that you give yourself time and space and the grace to recover,” she said.

If you find yourself unable to handle urgent tasks like paying rent or mortgage payments, don’t be afraid to lean on someone you trust, said Fry.

In addition to using a non-profit credit counselling service for free financial advice, Fry recommends turning to therapists and support groups like GriefShare for mental health support.

For funeral planning, Fry said it’s beneficial to have someone there

with you who isn’t as affected by the tragedy to be your “sounding board” and ensure that you aren’t making any rash and costly decisions.

“As soon as it becomes overwhelming, don’t be afraid to reach out for help,” she said.

Mattel introduces first Barbie with Down syndrome

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Toy company Mattel revealed its first Barbie doll representing a person with Down syndrome on Tuesday.

Mattel collaborated with the National Down Syndrome Society to create the Barbie and “ensure the doll accurately represents a person with Down syndrome,” the company said.

Design features of the new Barbie were made under guidance from NDSS, Mattel said. In addition to portraying some physical characteristics of a person with Down syndrome, the Barbie’s clothing and accessories carry special meaning.

The blue and yellow on the doll’s dress, accompanied by butterflies, represent symbols and colors associated with Down syndrome awareness. And the three chevrons on the Barbie’s necklace represent how people with Down syndrome have three copies of their 21st chromosome, Mattel said.

In addition, the Barbie wears ankle foot orthotics, which some children with Down syndrome use.

“This means so much for our com-

munity, who for the first time, can play with a Barbie doll that looks like them,” NDSS President and CEO Kandi Pickard said in a statement. “This Barbie serves as a reminder that we should never underestimate the power of representation.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Down syndrome is the “most common chromosomal condition” diagnosed in the U.S. today. About 6,000 babies are born across the country each year with Down syndrome, the CDC said.

Barbie’s new doll representing a person with Down syndrome is part of Mattel’s 2023 Fashionistas line, which is aimed at increasing diversity and inclusivity. Previous dolls that have been introduced to the Fashionistas line include a Ken doll with a prosthetic leg, a Barbie with hearing aids and dolls with a skin condition called vitiligo.

“We are proud to introduce a Barbie doll with Down syndrome to better reflect the world around us and further our commitment to celebrating inclusion through play,” Lisa McKnight, executive vice rresident and global head of Barbie and Dolls at Mattel, said in a statement.

After her mother passed away, Ti Zhang learned decision making of any sort can be difficult to do in a period of grief.

(Photo by The Canadian Press)

Newfootagefrom‘Dune2,’‘Barbie’unveiled

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS — In a starry presentation that included Timothée Chalamet, Oprah Winfrey, Zendaya and a first look at Dune: Part Two, Barbie was no doubt the brightest star of Warner Bros.’ CinemaCon showcase. In fairness, the neon pink might have given her the advantage.

It was a splashy presentation for anxious theatre owners in Las Vegas from a studio in transition, with new leadership teams in place to oversee films and create a 10-year plan for iconic DC Comics characters like Superman. Within the past year, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy were selected to lead the studio’s film group while JamesGunnandPeterSafranstepped in to head DC Studios.

Tuesday evening, CinemaCon attendees will be among the first to see The Flash (out June 16) — a film that has been the source of extra scrutiny because of star Ezra Miller’s series of arrests and reports of erratic behaviour. Miller, who goes by they/ them pronouns, said last year that they were pursuing treatment for “complex mental health issues.”

Miller did not appear on stage in Las Vegas alongside director Andy Muschietti, though Muschietti spoke about his lead.

“They are an incredible actor,” he said. “Probably one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with. … They wanted to do all the stunts and I let them.”

Safran also previewed the upcoming Aquaman and Blue Beetle movies, but did not have much to say about their plans beyond 2023.

The audience cheered for a pulsating first look at Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, which hits theatres on Nov. 3.

“Part One was a more contemplative movie,” Villeneuve said. “Part Two is more action packed, an epic war movie.”

Not only is it “more dense” but it was also filmed entirely in IMAX, he said. The first movie was about “40% IMAX.”

‘The Last of Us’ star Pedro Pascal has matching outfits with Vancouver libraries

VANCOUVER — Actor Pedro Pascal hasn’t started filming in Vancouver yet on the second season of his smash HBO hit The Last of Us, but the city library is already matching him up with its branches.

A social media thread, posted by the Vancouver Public Library on Monday, linked photos of the star in outfits that co-ordinate with the colours at various library branches and had nearly 100,000 views on Twitter in 24 hours.

Dune: Part Two picks up with Chalamet’s young hero Paul Atreides and Zendaya’s Chani right were he left them. Chani, Zendaya promised, is “not just in dreams this time.”

The two characters, she added, are trying to balance just being young people in the world with the weight of having to also be warriors for their people.

Dune 2 adds actors like Austin Butler, Christopher Walken and Florence Pugh to the already big ensemble.

The pitch to Butler, Villeuneuve said, was to play an “Olympic sword master mixed with a psychotic serial killer.” The Elvis star said yes.

Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and writer-director Greta Gerwig unveiled a new trailer for the candy-coloured extravaganza. The promotional spot revealed more about the film’s mysterious plot, including the fact that Robbie’s Barbie experiences some “imperfect” things like burnt toast and flat feet and goes searching for the truth about the universe.

Robbie, who produced and stars, was the engine behind the project. She was the one who asked Greta Gerwig to help make the film.

Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach co-wrote the script and, Gerwig said, when they finished she got the sense that he liked it so much that he wanted to direct it.

“I said, ‘Step aside,’” Gerwig laughed. “I was so in love with it I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it.”

While writing, she said she jotted down the name “Ryan Gosling” for Ken, though she had neither met him nor had any idea if he’d be interested.

Gosling,mostknowbynow,was.On stage at Caesars Palace, Gosling wore a T-shirt with Gerwig’s name on it in the Barbie font.

“I have to be honest, up until this point I only knew Ken from afar,” Gosling said. “I didn’t know Ken from within.”

“I doubted my Kenergy,” Gosling continued. “Greta and Margot, I feel like they conjured this out of me. … I was living my life and then one day I was bleaching my hair, shaving my legs and wearing bespoke neon outfits and roller blading down Venice Beach.”

Barbie, which counts disco, The Wizard of Oz and Technicolor musicals as inspiration, opens in theatres on July 21.

Oprah Winfrey made her CinemaCon debut to talk about the big screen adaptation of The Color Purple stage musical. Winfrey, who produced the new film, starred in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Alice Walker novel in 1985 and received an Oscar nomination for her performance.

It was digital content marketing lead Maia Sampson who spent hours finding photos of Pascal in a multicolored sweater matching the colourful wall on the South Hill branch, or in a beige trench coat corresponding with the entrance to the Firehall branch.

She says the idea came from someone else on staff after similar threads, such as Taylor Swift as book covers or Pascal with matching Easter eggs, gained popularity online.

Sampson says the goal is to reinforce the idea that libraries are energetic places for all ages that are full of community and life.

She says it has been fun to watch the positive reactions to the posts so far.

Melissa McCarthy fronts People magazine’s ‘Beautiful Issue’

LOS ANGELES — Melissa McCarthy is out front on this year’s People magazine “Beautiful Issue.”

The Bridesmaids star says being on the cover “felt like it was saying something really lovely to my younger self, to my 20-year-old self. Maybe to other people, too.”

People on Tuesday revealed McCarthy’s selection and the cover for the issue that hits magazine racks on Friday.

America Ferrera, Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie, cast members in ‘Barbie,’ discuss the film during the Warner Bros. Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2023 on Tuesday. (Photo by The Associated Press)

In loving memory of Norma Adeline Martin

September1,1924-April14,2023

Norma died peacefully on April 14 surrounded by family. Norma and her six lively siblings were raised by loving parents Henry and Inga Levang on the family farm near Edberg, AB. This formed the foundation that held her in good stead throughout her life. She left home and followed her dream of becoming a teacher. Many family members received an early education round the kitchen table as she practised her skill. Her teaching career began in Red Willow, where she met Don and they started their married life together in Carbon, followed by a move to Red Deer as the children appeared regularly. Her career, put on hold for children, resumed till her retirement. Shewasalife-longlearner.

A source of joy for her were her grandchildren John and Jennifer; Jesse, Mark and Jenna; Mahalia; Erik; Alex and Colin; and thirteen great-grandchildren. Norma felt blessed to be part of all their lives. She enjoyed all her nieces, nephewsandcousinsandlovednothingbetter thanalargefamilygathering.

She was a devoted citizen of Red Deer and a proud Canadian. She loved her church community and was involved in many volunteer projects, forming close friendships and cultivating a life of service based on her Christian faith. She made many good friends

in neighbours, colleagues and choir mates. Her sisters remained best of friends and they wrote letters until the end. She said she liked agoodlettersometimesbetter thanavisit.

Mum was able to live in her home until her 97th year and was grateful for the community who supported her with this. Even as she aged, her openness to new ideas and new people meant that she moved with the times. Her last year spent in a wheelchair presented significant challenges and she met this challenge with courage and God’s grace; always with expressionsofgratitudeand“GodBlessYou”.

She is survived by her four children: Darryl (Leith), Marilyn (David), Monica (Larry), and Craig (Kathy); three brothers Brian (Maxine), Ronnie (Coral) and Gordy (Donna). She was predeceased by her son David; ex-husband Don; her parents; as well as her brother Gerald (Velna) and sisters Helen (Walter) and Loreen (Henry).

A memorial service to celebrate Norma’s life willbeheldonSaturday,April29,2023at11:00 am at Gaetz United Church in Red Deer. Lunch to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Gaetz United Church Memorial Fund gratefully accepted.

MontanaHousecancelssessionafterrallyfortranslawmaker

ELENA, Mont. — Montana’s House speaker canceled a Tuesday floor session a day after seven protesters were arrested for disrupting proceedings with demands that Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender Democrat silenced by lawmakers for comments against a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care, be allowed to speak.

The cancellation is the latest development in a standoff over whether Montana Republicans will let the lawmakerfromMissoulaspeakunless she apologizes for her remarks last week on a gender-affirming care ban proposal.

Speaker Matt Regier did not take questions on Tuesday or explain why lawmakers were not returning to the floor, but in a brief statement called the disruptions a “dark day for Montana.”

“Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debates while following the House rules,” Regier told reporters. “The choice to not follow the House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will not be bullied.”

Under Regier’s leadership, the House has not allowed Zephyr to speak since last week when she said that those who voted to ban gender-affirming care for young people would have “blood on their hands.” He and other Republicans said the remark was far outside the boundaries of appropriate civil discourse and demanded she apologize before being

allowed to participate in legislative discussions.

Zephyr’s remarks, and the Republican response, set off a chain of events that culminated in a rally outside the Capitol at noon Monday and seven arrests later that afternoon when protesters interrupted House proceedings after Zephyr was denied the right to speak on a bill. The scene at the Statehouse galvanized both those demanding she be allowed to speak and those saying her actions constitute an unacceptable attack on civil discourse.

Much like developments in the Tennessee Statehouse weeks ago — where two lawmakers were expelled after participating in a post-school shooting gun control protest that interrupted proceedings — Zephyr’s

punishment has ignited a firestorm of debate about governance and democracy in politically polarizing times.

It has showcased the growing power of the Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of right-wing lawmakers that has spearheaded the charge to discipline Zephyr. The caucus re-upped its demands and rhetoric Monday. In a statement they said that Zephyr’s decision to hoist a microphone toward the gallery’s protesters amounted to “encouraging an insurrection.”

It’s unclear if Regier and House leaders will follow the Freedom Caucus’s demand. Republican Rep. Casey Knudsen, the chair of the House Rules committee, said Monday’s cancellation gave leadership time to respond to Monday’s events. House Democratic Leader Kim Abbott said

she saw leadership’s decision to cancel as giving lawmakers “some time to regroup.”

The House is scheduled to meet again on Wednesday afternoon, the chamber’s Republicans announced Tuesday.

Although several protesters resisted law enforcement officers trying to arrest them on Monday, Abbott pushed back at characterizing the activity as violent. She acknowledged it was disruptive, but called the demonstration peaceful. She said public protests were a predictable response to a lawmaker representing more than 10,000 constituents not being allowed to speak and questioned bringing in officers in riot gear to handle the chanting protesters.

“It was chanting, but it absolutely was not violent,” she said. “Sometimes extreme measures have a response like this.”

There were no reports of damage to the building and lawmakers were not threatened.

On Monday, Zephyr said the seven arrested were “defending democracy” and in an earlier speech said that the sequence of events that followed her remarks illustrated how they had struck a chord with those in power.

“They picked me in this moment because I said a thing that got through their shield for a second,” she told a crowd of supporters gathered on the Capitol steps near a banner that read “Democracy dies here.”

She said she does not intend to apologize and argued that her “blood on your hands” remark accurately reflected the stakes of such bans for transgender kids.

Arizona county’s new elections head shared voter fraud memes

PHOENIX—AruralArizona county where leaders have embraced voting machine conspiracies on Tuesday hired an elections director who has promoted the false claims that voter fraud cost former President Donald Trump reelection in 2020.

The two Republicans on the three-member Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted to hire Bob Bartelsmeyer, who shared memes on his personal Facebook page supporting Trump’s claims of fraud and promoting the lie that Dominion voting machines manipulated the outcome.

Fox News last week agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 milliontosettleadefamationcase,after the network repeatedly aired the bogus voting machine claims after the 2020 election.

The hiring of Bartelsmeyer is the latest controversial decision by the conservative majority in the southeasternArizonacountyof125,000people, which voted for Trump over Joe Biden in 2020 by nearly 20 percentage points. The two Republicans on the board, Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, tried to have the ballots hand-counted in last year’s midterm election, which a judge said was illegal. They then refused to certify the election results, forcing a judge to step in again.

Bartelsmeyer, who was previously the elections director in the smaller Arizona county, replaces Lisa Marra, a respected elections director before she recently resigned from the nonpartisan position after five years. Marra had refused to conduct the hand count because it was illegal.

After Marra quit, the Republicans on the board voted to give her duties to Recorder David Stevens, an elected Republican, prompting a lawsuit

from the attorney general.

Stevens said Bartelsmeyer was the only person among three applicants with experience running elections.

Arizona, a presidential swing state where 11 electoral votes and a U.S. Senate seat could be decided by a fraction of a percentage point, has been at the center of election conspiracies since 2020. Trump and his allies focused many of their efforts to overturn his loss on Arizona. A partisan ballot review on behalf of legislative Republicans the next year confirmed Biden’s victory but raised other baseless claims of irregularities. Meanwhile, Republican Kari Lake is continuing to fight her loss in last year’s race for governor in the court system.

Bartelsmeyer has served for the past year as the elections director and deputy clerk in La Paz County on Arizona’s western border. The job is preceded by an unexplained 12-year gap on his resume. Before that, his

resume shows he bounced between elections jobs in Arizona, New Mexico and Florida, and was the elected clerk in Lawrence County, Missouri, for 23 years.

He posted prolifically on his Facebook page about conspiracies in the months after Trump’s loss, sharing memes and writeups of his lawyers’ longshot legal claims. Some were marked as misleading by Facebook.

“Please join me by posting: ‘Trump legally won by a landslide,’” said one post he shared on Dec. 20, 2020.

“We must demand election integrity and transparency in the 2020 election for America to survive as a democracy and for the America we know and love!!” Bartelsmeyer wrote on Dec. 6, 2020.

He said he was not working in elections at the time.

“As a private citizen between 2016 and2021,Iamatthelibertytoexpress my opinion,” he told the board.

Law enforcement forcibly clear the Montana House of Representatives gallery during a protest after the Speaker of the House refused again to acknowledge Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, on Monday in the State Capitol in Helena, Mont. (Photo by The Associated Press)

NeighbourhoodfightsHaitigangsaftervigilantekillings

ed.”

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —

Armed with machetes, bottles, and rocks, residents in the hilly suburbs of Haiti’s capital fought back against encroaching gangs Tuesday, a day after a crowd burned 13 suspected gangsters to death in a gruesome outburst of vigilante violence.

Tired of relying on an understaffed police department, scores of men in the Canape Vert neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince spent the night on roofs and patrolled entrances of their community blocked with big trucks spray-painted with the words, “Down with gangs.”

“We are planning to fight and keep our neighbourhood clean of these savages,” Jeff Ezequiel, a 37-year-old mechanic, told The Associated Press. “The population is tired and frustrat-

The makeshift brigade is the latest example of growing attempts by Haitians to fight gangs on their own. Earlier this year, people elsewhere in Port-au-Prince and in the central Artibonite region, which has been hit by heavy gang violence, have lynched several suspected gang members.

Until now, Canape Vert and nearby Turgeau — the site of a major hotel chain and a local university — had largely avoided the fuelled violence that has been consuming the capital and surrounding areas since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The United Nations estimates that gangs now control up to 80% of Port-au-Prince.

“Gang expansion into areas previously considered safe…has been alarming,” according to a U.N. Security Council report released on Tuesday.

NEWS VIOLENCE

Reported killings from January to March 31 have risen by more than 20% compared with the last quarter of 2022, and 637 kidnappings have been reported so far this year, an increase of 63% compared with the last three months of 2022, the report stated.

Meanwhile, Haiti’s National Police has 1.2 officers per 1,000 inhabitants in this country of more than 11 million people.

“The police remain under resourced and face overwhelming odds in their struggle to keep gangs from tightening their grip on the country,” the U.N. report said.

On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres urged the immediate deployment of an international armed force to Haiti — a request Haiti’s prime minister first made in October last year — and warned in a report that violence in Port-au-Prince “has reached levels comparable to countries in armed conflict.”

More than 130,000 Haitians have fled their neighbourhoods as gangs break into homes, kill and rape residents in a fight to control more territory, and nearly 40% of them are now living in makeshift shelters lacking basic services, according to the U.N.

But on Tuesday, many in Canape Vert returned to their homes after temporarily fleeing the area on Mon-

Minnesota Legislature considering pair of gun control proposals

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota House was considering a “red flag law” on Tuesday to allow the temporary confiscation of guns from people judged to be an immediate threat to themselves or others, as well as a proposal for expanded background checks for firearms transfers.

The two gun measures are part of a wide-ranging public safety bill that lawmakers were expected to debate late into the night before ultimately passing it.

‘Every other industrialized nation in the world can find a way to keep their freedoms and not kill their children and their citizens,” Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said during a rally on the Capitol steps. “We can have both.”

day when the 13 suspected gang members were killed.

“There’s nowhere to run,” said Samuel, 25, who declined to give his last name out of fear of being killed. “We have to stand and fight back. If there has to be a war, I will be part of it, because authorities are not taking responsibility and are letting everyone die under their eyes.”

He was walking back to his home Tuesday along with other residents, including Sandra Jenty, 26, who took shelter under her bed with her 4-yearold son on Monday night, losing control of her bladder as gunshots rang out in her neighbourhood before she fled around dawn.

“It felt like they were shooting inside of my house,” she said. “I’m not hurt by the grace of God.”

She cradled her son as they walked back to their house, with Jenty confident that the makeshift neighbourhood brigade would protect them. Meanwhile, authorities dragged one body of a suspected gang member along the pavement and into a van for removal. It was one of 13 suspected gang members who had been killed with rocks and sticks and burned to death with gasoline-soaked tires.

At one checkpoint in Turgeau, more than a dozen masked men with machetes stood guard.

“We tackle gun violence head-on in this bill,” Democratic Rep. Kelly Moller, of Shoreview, chair of the House Public Safety Committee, told reporters. “These are common-sense measures that our constituents for years have been telling us that they want.”

The proposals have gained traction in Minnesota this year now that Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office, even as the national debate over preventing gun violence becomes increasingly polarized.

In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a background check bill earlier this month and said she would sign a red flag law that is still being negotiated if it reaches her desk. But in Colorado, Democratic lawmakers killed a bill Thursday that would have banned the sale and transfer of semiautomatic firearms, illustrating that even Democratic-controlled statehouses don’t have free rein when it comes to overhauling gun laws.

heartandstroke.ca/FAST

First on the House agenda for the day, however, was the completion of work that started Monday night on a contentious bill to legalize recreational marijuana. It passed 71-59. The Senate is scheduled to vote Friday on its own cannabis bill.

The public safety bill was last on the day’s agenda. Republicans prefiled over 30 amendments to various provisions of the public safety bill, portending a long debate.

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

BLONDIE

GARFIELD PICKLES

PEANUTS

LUANN

BETTY

TUNDRA

HAGAR

SHERmAN’S LAGOON

ARGYLE SWEATER

ANNIE’S MAILBOX

Facing obstacles when making friends

Dear Annie: How can my husband, “Steven,” make new friends in retirement?

He is medically retired (blind) from work. He is a non-smoker and non-drinker. We are spiritual yet not religious. We don’t have children, and our extended families live on the other side of the state.

So, the usual recommendations are not working for him: No. 1: Meet people at work. He has

NEWS IN BRIEF

Swiss indict 2 managers of Saudi oil company in scandal

GENEVA — Swiss prosecutors said Tuesday they have indicted two managers of a Saudi oil exploration company as part of a yearslong international investigation of a scandal linked to a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund that the FBI once described as the “biggest kleptocracy case” ever.

The office of Switzerland’s attorney general said the two PetroSaudi managers were accused of trying to enrich themselves and others by misappropriating at least $1.8 billion transferred to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund. Swiss officials did not name the pair, citing privacy reasons.

HOROSCOPES

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2023

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Jemima Kirke, 38; Channing Tatum, 43; Kevin James, 58; Giancarlo Esposito, 65.

Happy Birthday: Speak the truth, clear the air and target what’s important to you. Adjusting to your surroundings will make your goals easier to acquire. Patience will be challenging to maintain, but necessary to avoid conflict. Pay attention to what’s going on at home and with the ones you love. Offer solutions, not criticism, and the outcome will enrich your life. Your numbers are 9, 16, 21, 27, 30, 32, 46.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t let things get to you. Concentrate on how to make things better. A lifestyle change may be the answer, but putting a short-term plan in place will ease stress and point you in a better direction. 2 stars

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Push forward with enthusiasm, trust and belief in yourself. Dedicate time to something that matters to you. The information you share and the help you offer will start a movement that encourages others to pitch in and help. 4 stars

been retired for more than six years and does not have much in common with his old co-workers.

No. 2: Join a club. He is a non-smoking, non-drinking blind guy.

No. 3: Join a church. He tried multiple churches of different denominations. Our beliefs don’t match.

No. 4: Volunteer. Nobody wants a blind volunteer. He can’t drive, and our town is too small for public transportation. Taxis are expensive.

I am not a great resource because my work requires me to be gone for months at a time. He tries to come with me, but my graveyard shift requires him to be quiet during the day, when I am trying to sleep. He doesn’t

The indictments are the first of their kind in Switzerland, where some financial institutions were ensnared in the far-reaching scandal involving the state-owned investment fund known as 1MDB.

Malaysian investigators allege that more than $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund established in 2009 and laundered by associates of former Prime Minister Najib Razak through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries.

Some of the looted money allegedly paid for jewelry, hotels, art and a luxury yacht, and helped finance Hollywood films such as “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

More than $700 million landed in Najib’s bank accounts. He was sent to prison in Maylasia in August to serve a 12-year sentence for graft.

Swiss prosecutors said the PetroSaudi managers were indicted on charges of commercial fraud, aggravated criminal mismanagement and

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Be careful who you trust. Offering too much information can be just as harmful as not offering enough. Balance and integrity will make a difference in the way situations unfold. Be mindful of others, but remain true to yourself. Self-improvement is favored. 3 stars

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A realistic attitude will help you conquer your long-term goals. Be open to suggestions and join forces with people heading in a similar direction. Use your imagination, and it will give you the competitive edge required to stand out in a crowd. 3 stars

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Think twice before you make an unnecessary move. Listen, but don’t commit too quickly. Pay more attention to the long-term effects your decisions have on your life. Take time to reinvent the person you want to become and start working on yourself. 3 stars

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Pick a lane and proceed. Learn all you can, connect with those who can help and let the labor of love show in everything you pursue. Having a positive attitude is up to you. Don’t miss out because you neglect to participate. 4 stars

know the areas that I’m assigned to, and sightseeing doesn’t quite work out for him.

He bakes for fun and shares the goodies with the hotel and housing staff and some of the other guests. He is on the spectrum, and by the time people get to know him, my assignment is over, and it’s time to leave.

He is in his 60s, and I am at a loss on what to do to help. I’m wracked with guilt about not being enough.

He needs someone to talk with, not just talk to. To paraphrase a wise woman, “Help me, Obi-Wan, you’re my only hope.” — Friends in Retirement

Dear Friends in Retirement: Your husband sounds like a wonderful

aggravated money laundering. The charges were based on events that took place from 2009 until at least 2015, the prosecutors said.

Over the nearly six-year span, the indicted individuals allegedly arranged for the opening of bank accounts in Switzerland and beyond to mask the origin of misappropriated funds and to impede any possible confiscation of them, according to the attorney general’s office. PetroSaudi’s media office did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Swiss prosecutors contend the accused established a sham joint venture — purported to be between the Saudi and Malaysian governments — that would allow them to funnel $700 million to a Swiss company bank account controlled by Low Taek Jho, a fugitive financier who is accused of masterminding the 1MDB scheme.

Low, who was once known for his business and social ties to American celebrities like Kim Kardashian and

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Paint an image in your mind and turn it into a reality. Engage in a conversation with someone you find interesting and see what happens. Stay alert, and you’ll ward off being fooled by pretenses. Awareness and verification are your best weapons. 2 stars

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Do your best to expand your mind, close a deal or partner with someone who brings out the best in you. Build a home base that adds to your strengths and protects you from weaknesses. Use your intuition to stay on course.

5 stars

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Mix business with pleasure. Mingling with people who offer something special will result in ideas that lead to financial gain through part-time endeavors. Invest your time in preparing a space that is conducive to following your dream. 3 stars

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Spend more time at home, nurture meaningful relationships and put more thought into what makes you happy. Set priorities that align with where you see yourself heading, and meet up with someone you feel shares your

man. You spent the first half of your letter listing all the reasons that he can’t find friends. What about listing all the reasons that he can?

He sounds like he has a wonderful talent: baking. He could always volunteer at a bakery or, even better, start his own and sell them. With an online presence, he could do really well, especially when buyers find out he is overcoming such a handicap. It will be all the more reason to buy his treats.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.

Leonardo DiCaprio, then allegedly transferred $85 million to the Saudi company managers.

Prosecutors also accused the two of convincing 1MDB’s board to transfer a further $830 million as part of a purported loan. The funds were then misappropriated, the Swiss investigators said.

As part of efforts to depict a joint venture of 1MDB and PetroSaudi as a “government-to-government transaction,” Low allegedly “manipulated” a 2009 meeting that involved Najib and Saudi Prince Turki Bin Abdullah Bin Abulaziz Al Saud on a yacht ‘Alfa Nero’ near the French Riviera resort town of Cannes, the Swiss attorney general’s office said. The indicted managers allegedly used misappropriated funds to buy assets as diverse as real estate in Switzerland and London, jewelry, and private equity holdings

expectations and concerns. 3 stars

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Keep your thoughts to yourself and your actions anonymous. Protect what you have and be willing to let go of what you no longer need or use. It’s up to you to find balance in your life and make changes that encourage success. 3 stars

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Self-improvement will bring the highest reward. Take a step in a direction that challenges you to set goals and master whatever it will take to make your dreams come true. Embrace an adventure that encourages growth and prosperity. 5 stars

Birthday Baby: You are sage, focused and motivated. You are friendly and compassionate.

1 star: Avoid conflicts; work behind the scenes. 2 stars: You can accomplish, but don’t rely on others. 3 stars: Focus and you’ll reach your goals. 4 stars: Aim high; start new projects. 5 stars: Nothing can stop you; go for gold.

Visit Eugenialast.com, or join Eugenia on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.

Annie Lane