It’s an interesting selection of releases for New Friday, including a big one from Muse and an interstellar ode by PJ Harvey.

Singles

1. Almost Monday, No More Regrets (Hollywood Records/UM Canada)

San Diego’s Almost Monday started gaining momentum earlier this year when word of their second album, Thank God It’s Almost Monday (due September 9) was announced. This is the third advance single. Keep an eye on them.

2. PJ Harvey, Voyager (Partisan)

God love Polly Jean. Her latest single is about, yes, the Voyager space probes launched in 1977 and still operating, even though V1 is 24.56 billion miles away and V2 is 21.34 billion miles from home. Why is she so interested in interstellar craft? Boy band singer-turned-astrophysicist Brian Cox invited her to contribute a song to his Emergence stage show, which debuts later this. The song will also probably end up on Harvey’s next (still-untitled) album.

3. Odd Marshall, Wreck Your Life (For Rock’n’Roll) (Anagram Canada)

What do you do after you flip your pick-up in a snowstorm? You contemplate life and then start writing songs again. That was the experience Canada’s Odd Marshall, who is back making music after about 10 years. Through cheer chutzpah, he convinced Christopher Thorn and Roger Stevens from Blind Melon into the project. They have never worked together outside of their old band. And the keyboardist? Rami Jaffee of The Foo Figthers.

4. Tame Impala, Hummer (Independent)

The tribute album has returned via Sending Hearts to All My Dearies: A Tribute Album to The Smashing Pumpkins (yes, that’s a line from the song Mayonnaise). Among the 15 songs is this one by Kevin Parker and Tame Impala. Siamese Dream, he says, was the soundtrack to his high school years with Hummer the song that made the biggest emotional impression. The whole package will be out digitally on August 14 while a 2 x LP package arrives on October 16.

5. Team Dresch, One Song (Jealous Butcher)

Team Dresch, led by Donna Dresch, was a mainstay of the riot grrrl scene of the Pacific Northwest back in the 90s and heroes of queercore punks everywhere. Not only are they back playing gigs, but they will have a new record for the first time in 30 years on September 18. The woman in the video is the daughter of bass player Jody Bleyle. This rocks.

Albums

1. Butthole Surfers, After the Astronaut (Sunset Blvd.)

This isn’t exactly a new album because it was completed in 1998. But since it’s been shelved since then, it’s kinda new to everyone. This was supposed to be the follow-up to Electric Ladyland, the Surfers’ breakthrough album, but the label said it wasn’t commercial enough. When the band took it to another label, it was reworked and released under the title of Weird Revolution. This, however, is the first time it’s been heard in its original form.

2. Muse, The WOW! Signal (Warner)

This pairs well with the PJ Harvey single. As he’s shown with previous songs and albums, Muse’s Matt Bellamy is also a fan of astronomy and cosmology. For the band’s tenth album, Matt is all about “cosmic mystery,” the concept of First Contact, and the vastness of space. The title refers to a strangle signal picked up by a radio telescope in 1977 and never fully explained. They’re out there, Matt. They’re out there.

3. Beth Orton, The Ground Above (Partisan)

I have been a fan of Beth for years and I just wish more people knew about her. To the uninitiated, she’s an English singer-songwriter whose career goes back to at least 1993. You’ve probably heard some of her songs in TV shows like Dawson’s Creek and Grey’s Anatomy plus movies like Vanilla Sky. If you like what you hear, there are eight other albums worth checking out. (My favourite is Central Reservation from 1999.)

4. The Pretty Reckless, Dear God (Fearless/Concord)

Here’s the fifth album from Taylor Momsen and her crew. The band is darker and better for it. There’s plenty of misery here (depression, grief, abuse of various substances) and they handle it well. And yes, it’s also kinda sexy. That’s why the video is age-restricted. You’ll see why.

5. Switchfoot, Forever Now (BMG Rights Management)

Back to San Diego for the first new album from Switchfoot in five years. This is their fourteenth album and is being presented as a concept record around “the emotional rollercoaster of a person’s final day on Earth.” Joe Foreman, the band’s frontman, asks, “If you found out that today was your last day, how would you live it? What would matter most?” Heavy stuff.

6. Temples, BLISS (V2 Records)

Finally, a little psych from the UK. For their fifth album, Temples seemed to have been able to pull things in the direction of Massive Attack, Underworld, Tame Impala, and Daft Punk while still retaining that fuzzy, shimmery glow. My album of the week.

 

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

When there is a live music event, we often refer to it as a “gig.” Why? I’ve heard several explanations, and here’s the most recent, which comes from the musical history of New Orleans.

It begins with a term used in illegal lotteries, which moved to horse racing. A two-number betting combination was known as a “saddle,” while a three-number combo was called a “gig,” after a type of horse-drawn cart. When musicians were paid for a show, they got paid with whatever was left over after the venue took its cut. This was dicey because a club may or may not pay.

Getting money at the end of the night was like a “gig” bet at the track. You might or might not get paid. Therefore, playing a club show also became known as a “gig.”

Sidebar: The term “gig” may also refer to a show played using a horse-drawn cart as a stage that would be hauled from place to place.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

WINNIPEG – It has become the Elks mantra this season – they just keep finding a way to win.

After blowing a 17-point lead and trailing by a point midway through the fourth quarter, Edmonton quarterback Cody Fajardo found TJ Luther with an eight-yard touchdown pass with 53 seconds left as the Elks pulled out a 23-18 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday night.

“We’re not playing our best ball all throughout four quarters,” Fajardo said. “But what we are doing is we’re playing our best ball at critical times.

“And when you do that, you’re going to win more games than you’re going lose.”

Fajardo completed 25 of 35 passes for 267 yards. Running back Justin Rankin rushed for 106 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries.

“Cody was awesome on offence, man,” Luther said. “He kept us all together, even when the crowd was loud and we couldn’t hear anything. He kept us together until the end of the game.”

Fajardo had led the Elks to victory over the Montreal Alouettes in overtime last week.

“We talk about it all the time – finding ways to win and that’s what Cody and the offence did when he needed it the most,” said Elks head coach Mark Kilam. “They drove down and got points.”

The Elks have opened the season at 3-0 for the first time since 2017.

“Nobody’s messing with us,” Luther said. “I feel like we’ve got the best team in the league. I just feel very confident in our team. We all play together and are very assignment-oriented.”

Backup quarterback Cole Snyder scored on a one-yard plunge. Vincent Blanchard kicked a 15-yard field goal and had two converts.

Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros almost pulled off a comeback after falling behind 17-0 in the first half in front of a sellout crowd of 32,343 at Princess Auto Stadium.

He completed 24 of 33 passes for 290 yards and had touchdown tosses of 26 yards to Tim White and 14 yards to Brady Oliveira.

Sergio Castillo, who missed two field goals, did connect on a 53-yarder, kicked both converts and added a single.

The Elks converted two of three Bomber fumbles into 10 points as they jumped out to a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

“We made way too many mistakes,” said Oliveira, who rushed for 77 yards and added 45 yards and a TD on six catches. “When we did turn it on a bit, it was too late.”

Collaros was guilty of one of those giveaways.

“You can’t turn the ball over,” he said. “You’ve got to play a clean game, stay on the football field.”

Oliveira and Dante Daniels had the other fumbles.

“When you have turnover problems, that’s the type of result you’re going to get,” said Bombers receiver Nic Demski. “We preach ball security and didn’t take care of the ball the way we wanted to.”

The Bombers also lost both receiver Ontaria Wilson and defensive lineman Jake Ceresna to injury. There was no update available during post-game interviews.

The Elks did not panic after Winnipeg erased their 17-0 lead and went up 18-17.

“We weren’t worried,” Luther said. “We’ve been in that position before, so we already knew what we had to do to get out of it and we just knew we had to lock in and focus on what our assignment was.”

The Elks are proving they are for real, Fajardo said.

“There’s been a narrative about this organization over the last six years and all I want to do and what these guys want to do is change that narrative,” he said. “We do that by starting 3-0.

“The CFL is a long season. Just because you start 3-0 doesn’t mean you’re going to keep winning. You’re going to have your rough patches but when you have those rough patches, you’ve got to find a way to persevere like we did tonight and find ways to win games.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

A first half full of mistakes was too much for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to overcome on Thursday night.

And for the first time since 2017, the Edmonton Elks are 3-o to begin the CFL season.

The Elks dropped the Bombers to 1-2 on the season with a 23-18 win in front of a full house at Princess Auto Stadium, the 16th straight sellout in Winnipeg.

The packed stadium watched the Bombers turn the ball over three times, miss two field goals, and allow more than 250 yards of offence in the game’s first 30 minutes, falling behind 17-0 in the second quarter.

Ball security was a major problem for the Bombers as they fumbled the ball six times in all as Edmonton won in Winnipeg for the first time since 2018.

“We gave the ball away,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “And didn’t start on time. We didn’t start the game on time.

“They understand what they’re capable of based on what they did in the second half and they’re not going to look at that and say we should build off the second half. That was really good. They’re gonna look at it from the lens of, if we did that in the first half this is a different story.

“I think they’re going to see the mistakes they made early and they’re not going to be pleased.”

The Bombers had won 11 of their last 12 meetings.

QB Zach Collaros completed 24 of his 33 passes for 290 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Nic Demski was their leading receiver with six catches for 92 yards. But it’s the six fumbles that really stick out.

“First and foremost, you can’t turn the football over,” Collaros said. “You got to execute that play, right. You can’t put yourself in a hole. I think it’s two weeks in a row now, we’ve put ourselves in a hole like that, and that’s on us as an offence.”

Brady Oliveira finished with 77 yards rushing but also had a costly fumble.

“We made way too many mistakes,” he said. “And then when I think we did turn it on a little bit, it was just too late.

“Come back ready to work and like, look at yourself in the mirror and like, how can you give more to your teammates. Like, do more. Demand more from yourself because your team, the guy next to you, the guy to the right and the left expects that from you.

“I’m pretty rattled about this one.”

The Elks had 262 yards of net offence in the first half, but the Bombers defence flipped a switch after half time. The Bombers held the Elks to six punts and a fumble on their first seven possessions in the second half until the last-minute go-ahead touchdown.

“I think we certainly tackled better,” O’Shea said. “I think we got after it a little differently on the front and filled a little harder. And then they were just out-gapping us and we were getting caught in the wash instead of flowing over the top a few times early.”

On the Elks opening drive, they marched the ball 100 yards down the field and opened the scoring on a Justin Rankin 5-yard touchdown run.

Rankin, the CFL’s leading rusher, had 106 yards on 15 carries.

The Bombers offence moved the ball inside the Elks 20 on the next drive, but Brady Oliveira coughed up the ball, and the fumble was returned 93 yards by the Elks to the Bombers three-yard line. They would settle for a field goal to take a 10-0 lead after the first quarter.

Another lengthy Elks drive early in the second quarter put them inside the Bombers 5, but they turned it over on downs, going for a touchdown on third down. But the Bombers gifted them the ball right back after a Dante Daniels fumble and this time the Elks would punch it in on Cole Snyder’s one-yard touchdown plunge.

The Bombers were able to get on the board seconds before halftime as Zach Collaros found Tim White for a 26-yard major with four seconds left, cutting the lead to 17-7.

And after a nightmare first half, the Bombers defence locked it down for most of the second half.

Bombers kicker Sergio Castillo provided all the points in the third quarter, recording a kickoff single and a 53-yard field goal to cut the Edmonton lead to 17-11 heading into the fourth.

And the Bombers took their first lead of the game with just over eight minutes left to play, as Collaros hit Oliveira for a 14-yard touchdown pass.

But the Elks were finally able to find some offensive momentum, and with 53 seconds left, Cody Fajardo hit T.J. Luther for an eight-yard touchdown to give the Elks the lead for good.

On the injury front, Bombers receiver Ontaria Wilson left the game in the first quarter and did not return. Defensive tackle Jake Ceresna was also forced out with an injury and exited the game in the second half. O’Shea didn’t have an update on their conditions after the game.

Bombers offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld was a late scratch due to a personal matter, and was replaced at right guard by Tyler Elsbury, while Tui Eli started at centre.

The Bombers will head back out on the road to play their next game on Sunday, July 5, where they will try to get revenge on a Hamilton Tiger-Cats team they lost to in Week 2.

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

The second-degree murder trial of Vitali Stefanski is nearing its conclusion in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops.

Closing arguments wrapped up Thursday and were followed by the judge’s final instructions to the jury ahead of deliberations.

Stefanski is accused of killing his ex-wife Tatjana Stefanski, whose body was found on April 14, 2024, down a steep embankment off a forest service road in the North Okanagan, one day after being reported missing.

Stefanski delivered his own closing arguments to the jury after he took conduct on his own defence mid-trial.

“My arguments to you that I am not guilty I will present today and you should believe me. I am not guilty,” Stefanski told the jury.

Security video presented during the trial showed the former couple speaking at the top of Tatjana Stefanski’s driveway in Lumby before prosecutors allege Stefanski forced her into his vehicle and drove away.

The Crown alleges she died from multiple stab wounds. Stefanski testified that his ex-wife stabbed herself.

Stefanski took well over an hour for his closing arguments.

He spoke quickly, rejecting a lot of the evidence presented by Crown, including the RCMP’s testimony that he confessed to the murder when he came across police on the forest service road.

“That statement that she’s dead and I killed her, I never said that,” he told the jury. “That statement does not exist, so that does not exist and he has no proof that it does exist.”

In his closing arguments, he also said that Tatjana had moved into the back seat of the vehicle to rest, pointing to what he said was the absence of fingerprints on window controls and door handles as evidence supporting his claim that she inflicted the fatal injuries herself.

“Otherwise she will try to open the door, calling for help, running out or something else,” Stefanski told the jury.

The trial began on May 25.

“I see, you know, kind of the limbo that this family has been in all this time,” said Jen de Bourcier, a family friend who has been attending much of the trial.

“I just really want this to be over for them and for myself, you know, even just as a friend coming. It’s just this waiting, just kind of this tension in waiting for justice to be served.”

Tatjana and the accused shared two children.  Both testified at the trial.

Gaudreault, who has legal guardianship of both, said the whole ordeal since Tatjana’s passing and re-living the tragedy through the trial has been unbearably painful.

In addition to justice, he’s also hoping the trial’s conclusion brings a sense of closure.

“Possibly able to breathe again and start a whole brand new life with my and Tatjana’s children and just carry on,” Gaudreault said.

The trial judge spent several hours delivering final instructions to the jury Thursday afternoon, with deliberations to follow.

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

A number of loose bolts have been discovered on the new stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge.

The bolts are holding the safety barriers in place in a pedestrian pull-out about mid-span on the east side of the bridge.

Global News found about a dozen of the nuts that could easily be unscrewed by hand.

A construction industry spokesperson says the discovery is a cause for concern and there is a requirement for rigorous final inspection to be made before a major structure like the bridge is opened to the public.

“We need to have confidence that other things weren’t missed,” Chris Gardner with the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association said.

“So this is something the Ministry of Transportation needs to get on right away with the contractor, with the inspectors, to make sure this is resolved and there wasn’t anything else that was missed.”

Wendy Itagawa is the project manager on the bridge and she said the structure is entirely safe.

She told Global News that the bolts are like that because of ongoing work.

“There still are some temporary panels in place that need to be custom-fit for the final fencing,” she said.

“We know that there are about 30 panels of the 500 that need to be tightened, but we can’t do that until the final alignment and adjustments of the fencing is completed.”

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

A Vancouver food truck owner says he’s been sidelined from his regular spot on the Granville Strip during the FIFA pedestrian zone.

Days before the World Cup, the operator of Mr. Arancino says the city told him he would have to move his truck to Robson Street, east of Granville Street.

He opened at that location for one day before he said the city asked him to relocate again, as police were extending the barricade zone.

Yannick Cudennec, owner of Mr. Arancino, says they have been operating in Vancouver for the past 10 years, with the last eight years in Vancouver.

“It’s just a thoroughfare for people walking between Robson Plaza and Granville, but nobody stops, there’s no seating here, there’s no knowledge that we’re actually in this location so our attempt to operate here, on Thursday, during the FIFA Canada game, which we were prepped for a huge day, we came out, tons of food and we barely scraped $300 together over a whole eight-hour day,” he told Global News.

Cudennec said the lack of support has been heartbreaking. He said he’s a small business and he feels like he is being pushed aside by FIFA.

In a statement to Global News, the City of Vancouver said that there is limited space within the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone and the city must maintain six metres on the street for emergency access.

“Due to safety standards of the closure design of the Granville Pedestrian Zone, street vendors are unable to safely enter and exit the closure area each day with their vending unit and towing vehicle,” the city said.

“As a result, several permitted street vendors whose regular locations are inside or adjacent to Granville Street Pedestrian Zone, including Mr. Arancino, have been temporarily relocated to alternate locations in the downtown core, and where feasible, as close to Granville Street as possible.

“Mr. Arancino has been temporarily moved to 700 Robson St, adjacent to the Granville Pedestrian Zone and nearby to Robson Square, while we continue to explore other available options in the Downtown core. Due to the need to maintain safe access through the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone, the City is not able to relocate any vendors to locations within the Pedestrian Zone.”

Cudennec said his food truck is currently parked because it’s not worth setting up near Robson Square.

“We’re very much subjugated and relegated to a side street and it’s just very unfair,” he said.

“FIFA was really going to be that boost that we needed and up until about a week before, we expected to be right here every day.”

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

After a record-setting season for snowfall, Sunshine Village is taking advantage of what’s left and opening for 16 days of summer skiing.

The resort saw more than 1,000 cm fall through the winter and into the late spring.

Its practice of snow farming allowed crews to move the snow pack around and build a base of up to six feet in some areas for the 10 runs, three terrain parks and two chairs to open in June and July.

It’s only the third time since the ’90s that the mountain resort has been able to offer extremely late season runs.

Anyone with a 2025/2026 or 2026/2027 season’s pass can ski for free. Lift tickets can also be purchased.

Summer skiing runs June 20 to July 5.

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

Calgary police have seen an increase in the number of drivers running red lights, saying thousands of tickets have been issued to motorists over the past few years.

According to police, those tickets were only from red light cameras and they’ve caught more than 60,000 vehicles since 2024. Of those, around 8,400 occurred between Jan. 1 and May 31 of this year.

“Red lights are there for people safety,” says Staff Sgt Andy Woodward with the Calgary police traffic unit. “When you approach a red light or you’re approaching a set of traffic lights start, reduce your speed and anticipate that light is probably going to change.”

Staff Sgt. Woodward says while their officers who are out patrolling the street do see drivers running red lights, these days they’re mostly seeing it through dashcam videos.

He also says catching drivers running red lights is difficult for police, so they are relying on drivers to obey the rules of the road.

“We’re asking the public to be responsible. You’re driving your car, you pass the driving test, and you’ve got to obey the rules of the road … for a reason,” he says.

“They’re there for your safety and safety of other road users.”

Dashcam videos of motorists running red lights are uploaded daily to a Facebook group called Bad Calgary Drivers, showing everything from near misses with pedestrians to drivers running a red light several seconds after the signal had already changed.

Jacob Lamb is an assistant professor in the department of civil engineering at the University of Calgary. He says while the city has 57 active cameras, they cover less than five per cent of the city’s intersections.

“We hope that those ones have been chosen because of their high severity of the collisions or a history rate, but if we actually want to dissuade this behaviour, we should have these cameras nearly, at least nearly every intersection,” he says.

Police say a ticket for running a red light at an intersection with an enforcement camera will cost you $405.

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

The massive rainfall experienced last weekend didn’t just flood roads, basements and fields — it’s also affected a section of the North Saskatchewan River banks to the point that a popular bridge crossing is now closed.

Following inspections completed Thursday, the City of Edmonton said it was closing the east sidewalk on the High Level Bridge, starting at or around 6 p.m.

Recent heavy rainfall has caused slope instability near the southeast side of the High Level Bridge, above Kinsmen Park.

The city said a section of the slope next to the wooden guardrail has experienced failure, making it unsafe for pedestrians and active mode users.

An additional 30-60 mm of rain is forecast for this weekend. With the ground already saturated and rainfall totals for the month of June well above normal, Environment Canada said additional precipitation will increase the risk of overland flooding, washouts and potential impacts to infrastructure.

As a result, the east sidewalk over the 113-year-old bridge will remain closed until further notice.

Also as a precaution, a portion of the far-left turning lane will be closed on the 109 Street hill, directly after the High Level Bridge.

Left turns to Saskatchewan Drive and down Walterdale Hill will be maintained. The city said drivers should plan ahead for potential delays.

Pedestrians and active mode users can still cross the High Level Bridge using the west sidewalk.

The next round of rain is forecast to begin Friday evening and carry on through Sunday.

While 30-60 mm of rain amount on its own wouldn’t normally be too concerning, it hasn’t been a normal June.

Edmonton, on average, gets around 70 mm of rain in June — but this year, 203 mm has fallen so far in the city.

It has been the second-wettest June on record for Edmonton and could potentially become the worst ever — the wettest June ever was in 1914, when 216.5 mm was recorded.

A special weather statement issued Wednesday encompassed central Alberta surrounding Edmonton, stretching from Edson and Fox Creek in the west to the Saskatchewan border in the east, and Athabasca and Lac La Biche in the north to Rimbey, Wetaskiwin and the highways 14 and 13 corridors in the south.

Environment Canada said it is still working to determine what areas will be most impacted by the upcoming rainfall.

The city said it will continue to monitor conditions and provide updates as more information becomes available, but relief doesn’t appear to be in sight any time soon.

Another system is also forecast Sunday night into early next week, Environment Canada said, that may bring additional heavy rainfall to vulnerable areas of central Alberta.

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