A recent human-caused wildfire along the Banon Creek Forest Service Road in Ladysmith has the town once again calling on the provincial government to take “immediate emergency action” to address ongoing safety and watershed protection concerns.

Town council wrote to the province on June 26 requesting support to “strengthen access controls, (increase) enforcement against unauthorized access, trespassing and encampments within municipal watersheds, and expedited legal tools to better protect public health and safety,” according to a release from the town.

However, they said they have not received a response.

The Town of Ladysmith obtains its drinking water from the Stocking Lake and Holland Lake watersheds, which are accessed via the Banon Creek Forest Service Road (FSR).

The watersheds are located outside of the town’s boundaries and are managed under provincial timber licences held by private forestry companies and Indigenous forestry operators.

The watersheds supply drinking water to approximately 12,000 residents in the Town of Ladysmith, the Stz’uminus First Nation, the Diamond Improvement District and the Saltair area of the Cowichan Valley Regional District.

On Aug. 18, a human-caused brush fire broke out in the area, which followed another fire in the same area just weeks earlier, according to the town.

On Aug. 21, the town sent another letter to the provincial government reiterating its concerns, including the “humane relocation of individuals currently occupying or accessing areas within the watershed.”

The town council said they are concerned a catastrophic wildfire could break out in the region, causing significant damage to critical drinking water infrastructure or seriously injuring or killing someone.

“We are asking that the province take action to address the ongoing risks and ensure individuals are relocated in a humane manner away from our watershed,” Ladysmith Mayor Deena Beeston said in a statement.

“Every day of inaction increases the risk to Ladysmith’s watershed, drinking water infrastructure and the safety of those in the area. We must protect these resources that are needed by everyone in the area.”

On May 19, 2026, the South Island Natural Resource District Manager implemented a temporary closure of the Banon Creek Forest Service Road gate under Section 22.2 of the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA), restricting motorized access to the area.

The town said that gate locks have been intentionally cut and removed less than 24 hours after installation at least six times, while a newly fabricated high-security locking system has been deliberately damaged and rendered inoperable on multiple occasions.

Due to potential fire risks because of repeated vandalism, the gate is no longer locked and access is unrestricted.

“The town has taken every reasonable step within its authority to protect our watershed. However, repeated vandalism and damage to the gate and locking system have resulted in significant costs to taxpayers,” Nicholas Pescod, the town’s communication and engagement specialist, said in a statement.

“Continuously repairing and replacing these systems is not sustainable, which is among one of the many reasons why we’re calling on the province to immediately address the situation.”

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Police in Markham, Ont., are appealing for clues as they canvass for signs of where a 28-year-old local, who disappeared overnight, could have gone.

Officers with the York Regional Police said the missing woman was last seen between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. at her house in the area of Highway 7 East and Birchmount Avenue.

Investigators have yet to determine what she was wearing when she left or any leads on where she could have gone.

“Her family says this is very out of character, we have no indication of where she would have gone,” Const. James Dickson told reporters on Friday afternoon.

Police have committed a large number of officers and other resources to the search, as they go through buildings and parks in the Markham neighbourhood.

“This area is quite difficult for our officers to search,” Dickson said.

“We have a lot of buildings that have multiple storeys, we also have a lot of green spaces. As a result, we do have a lot of resources that are dedicated to this right now that are out looking.”

Among the clues police are desperate to find is video of the woman since she left, which might give them a more recent location or a full description of her outfit.

Dickson said the York Regional Police’s K9 unit hadn’t been involved in the search yet because they didn’t have a trail for them to follow.

The woman, named Andrella, is described as five-feet, eight-inches tall, with shoulder-length black hair and a red complexion.

Police said she may have a hijab and dark glasses.

Anyone with information is asked to contact York Regional Police.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A federal judge on Friday once again spurned Donald Trump’s effort to erase his hush money conviction, rejecting the president’s bid to move the state court case to federal court and have it dismissed on presidential immunity grounds.

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein reiterated his earlier finding against Trump, saying that the reasons Trump cited for renewing his request were “neither new nor legally sufficient.”

The judge added: “He has failed to show good cause and diligence.”

It is the third time Hellerstein has blocked Trump from having the U.S. District Court in Manhattan seize control of the case from the New York court where he was tried and convicted.

The guilty verdict, reached in May 2024 while Trump was between terms, made him the first former — and now current — U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. Trump is also challenging his conviction through the state court appellate process, which is pending.

Hellerstein’s decision came after a federal appeals court last year ordered him to reconsider his prior denial. The judge previewed his ruling during oral arguments in February, slamming Trump’s lawyers for legal maneuvers that amounted to taking “two bites at the apple.”

Lawyers on both sides did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump was convicted in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, whose claim of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier had threatened to upend his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge, which left his conviction intact but spared him any punishment. He had long denied Daniels’ claim and said he did nothing wrong. He has sought to get the conviction overturned both by attempting to move the case to federal court and through the appeals process in state court, which is pending.

Hellerstein rejected Trump’s requests to move the case twice before. The first was after Trump’s March 2023 indictment. The second was after Trump’s trial, as his lawyers sought to nix his conviction in the wake of the Supreme Court’s July 2024 ruling that presidents and ex-presidents can’t be prosecuted for official acts and prosecutors can’t use official acts as evidence that unofficial actions were illegal.

Trump appealed Hellerstein’s post-trial ruling and, last November, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the judge to reconsider his decision, finding that he had failed to consider “important issues relevant” to the president’s request to move the case.

A three-judge appellate panel said it expressed no view on how he should rule but instructed Hellerstein to closely review evidence that Trump claimed was related to official acts and whether Trump could argue those actions were taken as part of his White House duties.

The judges also instructed Hellerstein to determine if Trump had “diligently sought” to have the case moved to federal court and whether the case can even be moved to federal court now that Trump has been convicted and sentenced in state court.

During oral arguments in February, Hellerstein took issue with the Trump legal team’s decision-making after the Supreme Court ruling.

Instead of immediately seeking to move the case to federal court, he noted, Trump’s lawyers first asked the trial judge in state court, Juan Merchan, to throw out the verdict on immunity grounds. Normally, such a request must be made within 30 days of an arraignment, but a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. has ruled that exceptions can be made if “good cause” is shown.

Trump, a Republican, did not attend the arguments.

Trump lawyer Jeffrey Wall argued that prosecutors rushed to trial instead of waiting for the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision and that Trump’s legal team was crunched for time after the high court’s ruling because his sentencing was scheduled for just 10 days later.

Trump’s lawyers did not ask Hellerstein to intervene until nearly two months later, while their request to Merchan was still pending. The judge called that a “strategic decision” and suggested that by going to the state court first, Trump’s lawyers cost him the right to pursue remedies in federal court.

“No, your honor,” Wall replied. “It is what any sensible litigant would do” in that situation.

“Not so,” Hellerstein replied.

“That is a decision on your part,” the judge added. “You didn’t have to do that. You could have come right to the federal court. Just by filing a notice of removal, there would be no sentencing.”

Trump’s lawyers “made a choice,” Hellerstein said, “and you sought two bites at the apple.”

In his written ruling Friday, Hellerstein said Trump was asking for a “’second bite at the apple,’ a result the law disfavors.”

The judge added that “Trump’s delay in filing for removal constitutes a ‘quintessential strategic decision,’ and the ‘fact that he later came to view that decision as a poor one is not sufficient, by itself, to establish cause.’”

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Manitoba Hydro says chief executive officer Allan Danroth has left the organization for personal reasons after two years on the job.

The province’s Crown-owned energy corporation says current chief operating officer Hal Turner will temporarily step into the role during the search for a replacement.

It says Turner was also interim CEO before Danroth was hired.

Danroth replaced Jay Grewal, who was let go four months after the Manitoba New Democrats won the 2023 provincial election.

Danroth’s departure comes as the utility moves forward on a $3-billion natural gas-fired power plant that has faced criticism from environmental advocates.

At a Manitoba Public Utilities Board hearing last month, Danroth said he has faced “credible threats” and that misinformation has contributed to hostility towards the utility.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The lawyer for a man accused of threatening to bomb the U.S. Consulate in Halifax earlier this month says his client is not ready to seek bail.

Ali Assakereh was arrested on Aug. 10 for allegedly placing a propane tank and flammable liquids in his car and parking near the consulate, shutting down a section of downtown Halifax.

The 54-year-old is facing several charges, including an offence that deals with threats against internationally protected people that’s considered terrorist activity.

Assakereh’s legal aid lawyer told the court today that he’s been working with the accused’s family on a bail plan, but it won’t be ready for some time.

Assakereh has agreed to remain in custody and his lawyer will inform the court when, and if, he’s ready to pursue bail.

He’s scheduled back in court on Sept. 10 to enter a plea and inform the court of his choice of trial format.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

On Oct. 3, 2004, Marc Griffin, an analyst on Montreal Expos radio broadcasts, ended the final report in the baseball club’s history with the words: “Let me remind you of the final score: 1969-2004.”

Today, he could end his report by saying “1940-2026.”

Griffin’s longtime broadcast partner and mentor Jacques Doucet, known as the “Voice of the Expos” after calling the team’s games for 33 seasons, died Thursday evening at the age of 86.

His daughter Martine confirmed his death on social media Friday. The cause was not disclosed, but Doucet revealed in 2024 that he had Alzheimer’s disease.

“He was certainly a giant, and his loss is immense,” Griffin said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Friday. “His voice was part of our lives for generations. He’s the one who made me fall in love with baseball.”

“His honesty, his frankness, the way he described things (…) He was in everyone’s living room, so when people ran into him on the street, they felt like he was their buddy. He talked to them every night about what was happening with the Expos. There was a unique bond.”

Tributes poured for a broadcaster whose voice became synonymous with baseball for generations of francophone fans in Quebec.

“My teacher and mentor left us today,” broadcaster Denis Casavant, who worked alongside Doucet at CKAC and TVA Sports, wrote on X. “Thank you, Jacques, for your generosity and kindness, and especially for the influence you had on my career as a play-by-play announcer. My condolences to his partner Corrie and the entire family.”

RDS baseball broadcaster Alain Usereau said the entire baseball community was mourning Doucet’s death.

“Anyone who has called baseball in Quebec was influenced in one way or another by Jacques,” Usereau wrote on Facebook. “His was the most-listened-to voice of the summer during the Expos years. Thank you for all those wonderful moments he brought us.”

Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette also paid tribute, saying the province had lost “a voice that left its mark on generations of baseball fans.”

“His legacy will remain very much alive in our memories and in our sporting culture,” she wrote on X.

Born March 8, 1940, in Montreal, Doucet began his career as a sports journalist with The Canadian Press in 1959 and later covered the Expos for Montreal newspaper La Presse when the expansion franchise began playing in 1969.

He initially called about one game a week before becoming the team’s full-time French-language radio play-by-play announcer in 1972, a role he held until the franchise left Montreal after the 2004 season and became the Washington Nationals.

Doucet acknowledged in a 2020 interview with The Canadian Press that he initially wasn’t sure broadcasting was for him.

“I didn’t know if I was going to like it: I knew nothing about the job,” he said. “I was a reporter at La Presse. I was used to writing, not talking.

“I didn’t know whether people would take to me. You can do the best job in the world as a broadcaster, but if people don’t take to you, you won’t last long.”

The next 33 years showed he had little reason to worry. Expos fans not only embraced Doucet, but his voice became the soundtrack of baseball for three generations of francophone fans.

Doucet called more than 5,500 Major League Baseball games during his career, including Dennis Martinez’s perfect game for the Expos on July 28, 1991. For years, he also provided French-language broadcasts of Major League Baseball playoff and World Series games.

For Griffin, the departure of the Expos was probably the hardest moment of Doucet’s career. Doucet was also repeatedly passed over for the Ford C. Frick Award, an honour presented by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., for excellence in broadcasting.

“The Expos leaving was probably what hurt him the most,” Griffin said. “Because that was 36 years of his life, of passion, of trying to sell his sport, the Expos, of getting everyone to love baseball, which he succeeded in doing.”

After believing his broadcasting career was over with the departure of the Expos, Doucet received an unexpected call from the Quebec Capitales, then an independent professional baseball team in the Can-Am League.

He called their games from 2006 to 2011 before returning to Major League Baseball broadcasts with TVA Sports, where he called Toronto Blue Jays games and MLB playoff action in French.

His final innings behind the microphone came in September 2022, alongside longtime colleagues Rodger Brulotte, who died in March, and Casavant.

The Blue Jays were scheduled to honour Doucet before Friday’s game against the Seattle Mariners.

Doucet was inducted into the Quebec Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Expos Hall of Fame the following year. He received the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Jack Graney Award in 2004 and the Quebec national assembly’s Medal of Honour in 2011.

He was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020, though the COVID-19 pandemic and later health problems delayed his formal induction ceremony in St. Marys, Ont., until 2023.

Doucet also played an important role in developing and popularizing the French-language vocabulary used to describe baseball, helping generations of francophone fans follow a sport whose terminology was overwhelmingly English.

He also wrote several books, including “Les Secrets du baseball” with former major-league pitcher Claude Raymond and “Il était une fois les Expos,” an extensive history of the franchise co-written with Marc Robitaille.

In 2014, Doucet published his autobiography, “Mémoires d’un micro.”

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Callaway Golf has severed ties with brand partner Good Good Golf following backlash over an advertisement for a golf driver that showed a man aggressively pushing a woman to the ground.

The company announced the end of the partnership on Thursday in an Instagram post, noting it was committing $1 million to support organizations working to prevent violence against women.

“These actions do not undo the harm caused or excuse our role in it. We sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt, disappointed or offended by the incident,” the company wrote in reference to the online ad that depicted Garrett Clark — Good Good Golf’s co-founder —pushing professional golfer Alexis Miestowski to the ground and saying, “Do not touch my new driver.”

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Good Good Golf also wrote on social Media Thursday that it had decided to “step away” as the title sponsor of a PGA Tour event scheduled for the fall.

“We recognize that we have work to do as an organization, and our focus right now is on our team, our culture and ensuring we learn from this situation.”

“We are grateful for our relationship with the PGA Tour and appreciate their partnership over the years. We remain committed to earning back trust, and we hope to work together again in the future,” the statement concluded.

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Clark also released a video in which he apologized for his role in the ad and on behalf of the company.

“This is not at all what we stand for,” he said, before sharing some insight into the ad’s creative brief.

Clark said his company’s marketing team had wanted to “recreate” the 2026 hit horror film Obsession, by having his character in the ad “become obsessed with his driver.” 

“Looking back, super dumb concept, terrible ad in general, not the greatest idea,” he said, adding that he did not actually tackle the woman in the advertisement.

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Earlier this week, Good Good Golf and Callaway issued separate apologies for the ad, which was deleted shortly after it was posted.

Callaway CEO Chip Brewer said in a statement Tuesday that his company made a mistake and was taking it “very seriously,” while implementing changes to its approvals process and ordering “internal” and “external” investigations to ensure “this will never happen again.”

Callaway is an established golf equipment manufacturer, while Good Good Golf began as a YouTube channel that, as of 2025, has expanded into an independent media company amid an explosion in the popularity of YouTube golf content.

Good Good Golf, whose content is popular among young recreational golfers, announced last year that it received $45 million in funding from a consortium of investors, including Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions.

Top professional golfers on the traditional circuit have also moved to YouTube content creation, including major champion Bryson DeChambeau, who has amassed more than 2.8 million subscribers.

Fans watch him play golf at some of the world’s most exclusive courses, complete record-breaking challenges and play with the likes of Steph Curry, Kevin Hart and Adam Sandler.

U.S President Donald Trump has even appeared in a video with DeChambeau, where the two attempt to complete a full round of golf in under 5o strokes. The video was created before Trump began his second term.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Jake Reiner is opening up about the tragic murder of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, in his first sit-down interview eight months after their death.

Two weeks after his brother Nick Reiner was indicted on charges of murdering his parents with the special circumstance of lying in wait, Jake, 35,  spoke with KABC-TV Los Angeles’ Marc Cota Robles for a nearly 10-minute interview about life without his parents and the phone call he received from his sister Romy Reiner the day of his parents’ death.

“Nobody really understands what it’s like to go through something like that until you’re living it,” Jake said. “It’s been eight months. It feels like eight years at the same time. And it also feels like eight minutes because every moment that I wake up, I’m reminded of my reality.”

On the afternoon of Dec. 14, Jake was at a celebration of life for one of his best friends — who died in October — when he received the news of his parents’ deaths.

“Romy called me, and I screened it, because I thought at the time, I’m in the middle of something, you know, I’ll call her back,” Jake said, “and then, she called immediately again, and I knew at that point that something was wrong.”

“Romy told me our dad was dead, and then she said, ‘I can’t find mom,'” he said. “I immediately went into shock.”

Jake, who worked as a local news reporter, said nothing could have prepared him for arriving at his parents’ home after receiving the phone call from Romy.

“As a reporter, I did it for 10 years, I came up on crime scenes all the time,” Jake said, “but when it’s your crime scene, a crime scene at your childhood home, it’s like the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen.”

That same night, Jake also learned that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was looking at his brother, Nick, as the suspect.

When Jake was asked if he was surprised about the LAPD naming Nick as the prime suspect, he did not want to answer the questions, KABC-TV reported.

“He’s in jail. It’s like, I physically lost my parents, and then Nick was arrested. Now it’s just me and Romy, and we have to navigate this by ourselves essentially,” Jake said.

“For me, it manifests into anger. It manifests into rage, into how unfair this was, how I didn’t get a say in what happened. I didn’t get to stop it from happening. I had no choice in the matter,” he continued. “I just have to accept the reality of it. And to me, that is just one of the most infuriating parts of all of this.”

Jake said he knew how his parents felt about Nick and said they “never stopped helping” his brother through his reported struggles with addiction.

“My parents had unconditional love for all three of us,” Jake told the outlet. “I can tell you they never stopped wanting to help him. They never stopped helping him.”

During the interview, Jake also spoke about carrying on his filmmaker father’s legacy, saying, “I don’t necessarily know that I have this weight on my shoulders to carry on their legacy, but I do feel responsible for making sure people know them and they remember them.”

“I know they loved me. I know that they are proud of me, and I knew that,” he added.

Jake told the outlet that he still has a hard time trying to understand the deaths of his parents.

“I’ll never understand. I don’t care how it’s explained to me,” he said. “I don’t care what facts come out. I will never understand why this happened.”

Earlier this month, Jake’s brother Nick pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder with the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder by means of lying in wait after the indictment was unsealed, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said.

He also faces a special allegation that he personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon, a knife.

He was arrested on Dec. 15 after his 78-year-old father and 70-year-old mother were found dead with stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood section of Los Angeles on Dec. 14, 2025.

“This was a profound betrayal by someone who was loved and trusted by the very people he is accused of killing,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said.

“The indictment unsealed today also adds a special circumstance allegation that the defendant committed the murders by means of lying in wait. We hope that by having a grand jury return an indictment in this case, it will bring us one step closer to a trial and achieving justice,” Hochman added.

The grand jury indictment is a major step toward trial and allows prosecutors to skip California’s preliminary hearing process, where evidence is publicly aired.

Nick’s next court appearance will be held on Sept. 15.

If convicted as charged, he faces death or life in state prison without the possibility of parole. A decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be made at a later date, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office added.

—With files from The Associated Press

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ten Torontonians are missing in Nepal after devastating flash flooding and mudslides, a non-profit in the region says, as the death toll for the disaster passes 500.

A spokesperson for the Isha Foundation, a spiritual group based in India, said 10 people from Toronto had arrived at the Nepal-China border minutes before the flooding hit.

The group said they were considered missing in Nepal after reaching the Chinese Immigration Centre at 9:05 a.m. local time, around the same point the flooding began.

Global Affairs Canada has previously said that at least 30 Canadians were reported missing near the Nepal-China border. More than 500 people are reportedly dead and a further 1,500 are missing.

China’s state media previously said 558 people were missing on the Chinese side. Hundreds of the missing are foreigners in the area to work, trek or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak.

The flooding and mudslides appear to have come after a falling glacier triggered a catastrophic series of events high in the Himalayas.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a magnitude 5.2 seismic event occurred near the border between Nepal and Tibet, an autonomous region of China, on Aug. 26 at 8:37 a.m. local time.

The event was initially reported as an earthquake, but additional analysis determined the seismic event was caused by a glacial collapse that is believed to have resulted in the flow of debris that caused “catastrophic impacts downstream.”

“It is biblical — the amount of power when we get ice falling large distances. The amount of kinetic energy is really enormous. And when it hits the water, it just produces these incredible floods downstream. It’s hard to imagine that devastation,” Kent Moore, a professor of atmospheric physics at the University of Toronto, previously explained.

“A lot of these glaciers are what are called hanging glaciers, and so they’re kind of on very steep slopes and they’re frozen onto the rock. As the area warms, that adhesion with the rock is becoming less strong, and so there’s a greater kind of tendency for these avalanches to occur.”

— with files from Global News’ Ariel Rabinovitch 

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Police in Saskatoon are investigating after officers found a 29-year-old shooting victim Thursday night.

Officers responded to a report of “an unknown problem at a residence” shortly after 11:30 p.m. Thursday, the Saskatoon Police Service said in a news release Friday.

When they arrived at the home in the 300 block of 1st Street East, officers found a 29-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds, police said. He was taken to hospital and is believed to be in stable condition.

Saskatoon police’s serious assault unit is investigating.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.