It says right now there is only one pitch in the entire city and the association argues that’s not enough.

In the past five years, the number of cricket teams in the city has grown significantly.

And that’s put a major strain on the only place to play in town.

“People can drive from all over the city to come to this one facility,” said association President Iftekhar Kalyar. “And again, we have to share with the other groups and we’re also paying rent for the field too.”

Kalyar says many immigrant families live in west-side neighbourhoods, far away from the current pitch at Saskatoon’s Forestry Farm, making access difficult.

Despite those troubles, people are finding places to play, though they aren’t ideal.

“People are playing in basketball courts or baseball grounds, and there isn’t a definite cricket pitch there,” says cricket player Raza Naqvi. “We definitely need something like that there. Another ground, at least, in Saskatoon.”

Saskatoon city council is paying attention to the issue. Ward Seven councillor Mairin Loewen says many people have contacted her, asking for help in building new facilities.

Loewen says the growing interest in the sport is driven by a growing number of immigrants from countries where people love cricket.

“The city’s changing and becoming more diverse,” Loewen said. “And, as people move to Saskatoon from other parts of the country or other parts of the world, people’s interests change and we have new activities happening.”

City council has asked administration to look into the issue and report back.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/06/18/sk-saskatoon-cricket-players-want-more-space.html?cmp=rss

The teens have shown a remarkable capacity to contribute to their community and be high achievers in academics, sports and more.

The four were invited to a ceremony in Regina Tuesday where they were presented with Junior Citizenship honours by Saskatchewan’s Lieutenant-Governor.

“Everyone in my life has been positive influence,” Nolan Benesh, 18, one of the honour recipients, told CBC News. “They’ve encouraged positive behaviour [and] put me in volunteer positions when I was very young.”

Benesh was noted for, among other things, his skill at baseball and his contribution as a musician to the Best Buddies Blues Band, a group of intellectually challenged adults.

Like Benesh, Jae Won Hur, also 18, is a high-achieving student athlete. He swims with the Regina Dolphins and also plays music and excels in academics.

“Ever since I was little, [folks] put me in a lot of activities for me to be well rounded person,” he said.

Also honoured on Tuesday were Kalee Wedhorn, 15, from Moose Jaw and Stacie Poirier, 17, from Antler, Saskatchewan.

Each of the award winners receives $3,000 to further their education.

With files from CBC’s Dean Gutheil

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/06/18/sk-youths-honoured-130618.html?cmp=rss

The woman had been spotted in the St. Paul’s Hospital area around 11:20 a.m. CST. Police issued a news release asking for help to find the woman, around 5 p.m. They reported she was back with her caregivers around 7:45 p.m.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/06/18/sk-missing-elderly-woman-130618.html?cmp=rss

Saskatoon band The Sheepdogs is up for Rock Album of the Year for their album titled The Sheepdogs. It’ll be going head to head against Regina’s Rah Rah, which is also nominated in the same category.

As well, Rah Rah picked up a nod for Independent Album of the Year.

Donny Parenteau and George Leach will be competing against one other for Aboriginal Recording of the Year.

Jason Cullimor picked up two nominations in the classical music category, for Calsical Recording of the Year and Classical Composition of the Year.

In addition, Saskatchewan earned several nominations in the WCMA industry category, among them Andy Shauf’s nomination for Producer of the Year.

The 2013 Western Canadian Music Awards will take place on October 6 in Calgary.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/06/18/sk-western-music-awards.html?cmp=rss

“It’s kind of overwhelming, but at the same time you get like a sense of accomplishment and happiness,” Kiara Epp, one of the 18 students in this year’s graduating class at Stobart Community School, told CBC News.

A 100 per cent graduation rate is something everyone at the school can celebrate, the principal said.

“I think it’s the atmosphere in this building,” Reg Nicolas said. “We provide a caring, nurturing, family-like environment for all the kids and that’s the biggest success.”

Among those providing the supports are teachers like Charmain Cameron who regularly spends extra time with the students. Cameron is Métis and from the community, something she believes helps her in her job.

“We can understand their situations, maybe at home, their homelife and have more compassion for what they go through sometimes,” Cameron told CBC News. “Even before 9 o’clock before they get to school.”

Also noteworthy are the school’s full-day pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten programs as well as support services such as a daycare for teen parents.

“Without the daycare I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it,” Epp said. “They’re a really huge help and a big support.”

Epp is hoping to pursue a career as a youth care worker.

The school has a significant First Nations and Métis student body and is hoping to continue its success with graduation rates.

According to the most recent statistics, Stobart is graduating First Nations and Métis students at more than two times the provincial average. Provincially the graduation rate is 32 per cent. At Stobart, it’s 72 per cent.

Duck Lake is about 90 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.

With files from CBC’s Steve Pasqualotto

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/06/18/sk-duck-lake-stobart-community-school-130618.html?cmp=rss

In a newly tabled report, the senators said Tuesday that spelling out the prohibition in direct language would avoid ambiguity.

“Prohibiting harassment in a regulation conveys the seriousness accorded to this issue by the RCMP’s senior leadership,” said the report of the Senate committee on national security and defence.

Currently the behaviour is dealt with in the code under the umbrella of disgraceful conduct.

Several RCMP officers have complained of abusive behaviour, bullying and intimidation since Cpl. Catherine Galliford went public in 2011 with allegations of harassment.

• 282 join RCMP sexual harassment class-action lawsuit
• RCMP has ‘no interest’ in discussing harassment suit settlement

While there is no concrete statistical proof of a systemic or rampant problem of harassment in the RCMP, even a few cases of harassment can “poison any work environment,” said the report.

“In the end, one of the most important issues facing the RCMP is trust. Immediate, meaningful steps must be taken to enhance the public’s trust in the force, and bolster members’ trust in the disciplinary systems designed to protect them.”

In many ways, the report echoed the findings of an earlier study by the independent watchdog over the RCMP.

• RCMP has a bullying problem, watchdog says

The Senate committee recommended a zero tolerance policy against harassment within the national police force.

“Sanctions for contraventions of the Code of Conduct must be timely, proportionate, predictable and applied consistently throughout the RCMP regardless of rank and insignia,” said the report.

The senators said promotion within the Mounties must take into consideration violations of the code, including past incidents of harassment.

The report noted there have been instances where a member “found to have engaged in repeated instances of sexual misconduct” was transferred to an unsuspecting division. Senators also heard stories of victims of harassment being removed from their units to protect them from recrimination.

“Neither of these scenarios is acceptable because neither addresses the underlying issues effectively.”

The committee encouraged leaders to look to the experience of the Canadian military in grappling with similar problems in the recent past.

Legislation awaiting royal assent gives the RCMP commissioner authority to establish a new process for the investigation and resolution of harassment complaints.

The sections of the bill that apply to harassment must be implemented as soon as possible, the Senate committee report said.

It also called on the government to consider creating a position of RCMP ombudsman.

© The Canadian Press, 2013

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/06/18/rcmp-senate.html?cmp=rss

Jim Holmes, from Regina Water Watch, continues to collect names for a petition on the city’s new wastewaster plant. (CBC)

Regina Water Watch, the group pushing for a referendum on the city’s new wastewater treatment plant, may have enough signatures to require a referendum, although they are still collecting names.

The group learned Tuesday that the province will not change the threshold, as requested by Regina city officials – and that would force a vote.

According to the rules, the group needs 19,310 valid signatures to ensure a referendum. That is based on census data. The City of Regina wanted a higher threshold based on health card holders, but the provincial minister refused to change the number.

Even though the threshold question is settled, petition organizers are still collecting names just in case some signatures are rejected.

“We want to make sure that we have a buffer,” Jim Holmes, a spokesman for Regina Water Watch said Tuesday. “We think we owe that to the people that have already signed that we do everything we can to make sure that the whole petition doesn’t get thrown out.”

The deadline for submitting the petition is Thursday.

That is followed by a verification process.

The Water Watch group wants citizens to have a say in how Regina’s new waste water treatment facility is built, financed and operated.

The city wants to involve the private sector in what is known as a P3 model.

Civic officials say that approach will save money. The Water Watch group disputes that and argues public infrastructure should be publicly managed.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/06/18/sk-water-petition-130618.html?cmp=rss

The drug, known for now as CFI-400945, is a new class of cancer agent that targets an enzyme involved in some malignancies, among them some types of breast cancer and ovarian, colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers.

In tests on specially bred lab mice with human breast and ovarian cancers, CFI-400945 “responded spectacularly,” significantly shrinking the tumours, said co-principal investigator Dr. Tak Mak of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

But the world-renowned researcher cautioned these results occurred in mice — and human cancers can be far more complex.

“To find a cure is our shared dream; our nightmare is that it is not yet within our reach,” Mak told a packed news conference at the Toronto hospital Tuesday. “Cure is not a word we like to use lightly and we refuse to use it recklessly or promise you something we cannot deliver.”

Still, he and principal collaborator Dr. Dennis Slamon of the University of California at Los Angeles, who developed the blockbuster breast cancer medication Herceptin, are excited about the promise of the new drug that’s taken a decade to develop.

The scientists have applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada to begin testing the drug in a small group of patients to see if it is safe and appears to have some effect in killing cancer cells.

CFI-400945 is a new-generation drug that takes a different approach to eradicating tumours than long-standing cancer treatments.

Traditional chemotherapy works by attacking fast-dividing cancer cells. But these drugs also end up destroying other quickly dividing — and perfectly healthy — cells in the body, leading to often severe side-effects. And often, the effects of chemo wear off over time, allowing some cancers to recur.

With certain types of cancer, “one-size-fits-all therapy isn’t going to work,” said Slamon, explaining that cancer researchers have been working to create different classes of drugs that home in on cancer cells only, leaving healthy cells alone.

“We began to look for specific therapies designed to fix what is broken instead of throwing in a bomb hoping to kill more bad than good cells,” he said. “So we would target what’s broken in the malignant cells. And since the normal cells don’t have what’s broken, they would be spared.

“And that is the whole idea of designer therapy or sharp-shooter drugs.”

CFI-400945 is a new class among these designer drugs, designed to take aim at an enzyme called PLK4, which plays a critical role in cell division, especially in cancer cells.

Cells in some “genomically unstable” cancers can have scores more chromosomes than the 46 present in normal cells, and these malignant cells rely on PLK4 to be able to continue to proliferate out of control.

“So we target (the enzyme) to make sure that those cancer cells that have many chromosomes and aren’t genomically stable cannot survive,” said Mak.

If given FDA go-ahead for a patient trial, researchers will begin by administering the drug in about 30 volunteers with breast or ovarian cancer to see how strong a dose they can tolerate without it becoming dangerously toxic.

“We need to know that at the level below toxicity that it has signals that cancer cells will respond, and we will take it one day at a time,” Mak said.

The researchers hope to have FDA approval by the fall, and would start their patient trial by the end of the year.

It’s taken about 100 researchers in Toronto, L.A. and China to develop CFI-400945 at a cost so far of about $40 million, said Mak. That money all came from non-government sources, raised through 10 years of fundraising walks to end women’s cancers, and private and corporate donations.

“Without the donors, this wouldn’t be a reality,” said Mak, who along with Slamon lauded the volunteer fundraisers attending the announcement, among them some who have had family members or friends with cancer or been diagnosed with the diseases themselves.

“I cannot promise you that it will work,” he said of the experimental drug, “because in advanced human cancer there are many other questions that we have not got answers to.

“But we promise you this is the beginning,” Mak said, his voice breaking with emotion. “There will be another drug that we will be filing for (approval) next year — and next year and next year — until we get this done.”

http://www.leaderpost.com/health/CanadaU+team+develops+promising+sharpshooter+drug+aimed+several/8542354/story.html

A lower court had sentenced Cory Bitternose to 20 years in jail following a vicious assault on two women in Banff in 2008.

On Tuesday, the Alberta Court of Appeal agreed to overturn that sentence and send Bitternose to prison for an indeterminate period.

“[Bitternose] has committed many very nasty and dangerous crimes against randomly select innocent people, and it appears to be happenstance that one or more of his victims has not died,” wrote Justice Jean Côté. “At present, he is a loaded gun with a hair trigger.”

Pawel Milczarek, Bitternose’s lawyer, wouldn’t say whether he will appeal the sentence to the Supreme Court.

“We are very disappointed with the Court of Appeal decision,” he said.

Lawyer Susan Hughson, director of the Alberta Justice Appeals Unit, said the new sentence was appropriate.

“We are very satisfied with the decision. Mr. Bitternose has a brutal violent history and the offences he committed were, as the court noted ‘prolonged and terrifying in the extreme,’” she said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the extreme risk [Bitternose] presents to the public can be managed by any form of reasonable, available community supervision.”

Long criminal history

Bitternose has a long history of break-ins at homes and offices, with a criminal record dating back to 1987.

In 1990, he broke into a Calgary office building washroom and beat a woman so badly that he left the imprint of his shoe on the victim’s face. Bitternose pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to more than five years in prison.

In 2004, Bitternose pleaded guilty to a string of assaults in Regina. According to transcripts from his sentencing hearing, he beat a man so badly at a party that the victim needed facial surgery.

Bitternose then went to the man’s house and raped his girlfriend several times.

Months later, Bitternose offered a ride to a woman walking in a Regina alley. She got into his car, but when she tried to back out of an agreement to trade sex for money, Bitternose kicked, punched and choked her.

Bitternose also pleaded guilty to a string of Calgary break-ins in the summer of 2008. The court heard that Bitternose shaved, showered and dressed in the homeowner’s clothes at one residence, while making an elaborate meal at another home he broke in to. The robberies helped support his crack addiction.

In 2008, two women walking home from a pub in Banff accepted a ride from Bitternose, who was driving a stolen truck.

He admitted kidnapping both of them and taking them to a deserted parking lot. According to an agreed statement of facts, Bitternose told them he was a murderer and they would both die. He then punched and kicked them several times.

One woman managed to escape, but Bitternose sexually assaulted the other woman repeatedly, the court heard.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/06/18/calgary-bitternose-dangerous-offender-crt.html?cmp=rss

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