Spring started at 10:46 EDT today, which, regardless of what it feels like outside, means that things can only get better, right? Right? Maybe New Music Friday will speed things along. I’ll skip talking about the new BTS album because they don’t need my help. Meanwhile, this week’s album recommendations are very much on the heavy and dark side.

Singles

1. Death Cab for Cutie, Riptides (Anti-)

Death Cab for Cutie will release their first album (and 11th overall), I Built You a Tower, on June 5. And for the first time in 20 years, they’re an indie band after having left Atlantic Records. This one came together fast, with sessions taking just three weeks. A tour begins on May 29, which will bring them to Toronto on July 19. Sadly, it’s the only Canadian date on the schedule.

2. Everlast, Stones (Martyr Inc. Records)

Everlast (aka Whitey Ford aka Erik Schrody) first came to our attention as the frontman for House of Pain. Then he had a huge hit with What It’s Like in 1998, a song that’s still a staple of alt-rock radio. He’s been very quiet since 2018, but he’s finally on track to return sometime this year with a new album. Stay tuned.

3. Muse, Be With You (Warner)

After teasing something new on social media for the past month, Muse is back with another big of space-themed modern prog. This is the first single from The WOW! Signal (great astronomical/cosmological/alien contact reference; Matt Bellamy really wants to believe that someone is Out There). This will be the first bit of proper material from Muse since 2022. And get this: They announced this single via a partnership with a company called Sent Into Space. A specially-designed tablet was carrier 33 km into the atmosphere to do…well, I’m not sure. (And it wasn’t really space; the Kármán line, the place were space begins, is at 100 km. But never mind. The album lands June 26.

4. Stuck on Planet Earth, High Vibration (Coady/Anthem)

I’ve been following Stuck on Planet Earth (est. Vaughn, Ontario, 2007) for years now. For the uninitiated, they’re a three-piece and since 2018, they’ve been signed to Anthem Records (Rush’s label) where they released their debut album in 2020. Let’s see where they go next.

Albums

1. Dawn of Ashes, Anatomy of Suffering (Metropolis)

I know the days are getting longer, but when it finally does get dark, you might want to check out this new album from LA’s Dawn of Ashes, an industrial band that’s been around since 2000. This is their 15th studio album of dark’n’heavy electro.

2. Exodus, Goliath (Napalm Records)

More heaviness. Exodus, the Bay Area band who is currently on tour with Anthrax and Megadeth, is up to their 13th album. It’s also the first record to feature one-time ex-vocalist Rob Dukes since 2010. Let there be riffs! Thrash thrash thrash!

3. Girl Scout, Brink (Human Garbage Records)

Something new and fresh. Girl Scout is a four-piece from Stockholm, formed in 2020 who met at the Royal College of Music where they were studying jazz. The pandemic was on, so what else was there to do? (Remember, Sweden didn’t go into much of a lockdown.) The two EPs they’ve released so far have been very well received, so expectations for this debut album are pretty high.

4. Ladytron, Paradises (Nettwerk)

Originally formed in Liverpool in 1999, this electronic trio has just released their eighth album. Producer Brian Eno is a big fan (maybe because their name comes from an early Roxy Music song when Eno was still a member.) Looking for something that blends everything from synth-pop to new wave? This might fit the bill.

5. Poison the Well, Peace in Place (Sharp Tone)\

Florida metalcore. It’s their first album from this five-piece in 17 years, so yeah, it’s a comeback record that’s been described as “emotionally heavy.” Come for the riffs, stay for the unexpected melodic parts.

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

If you’re a musical artist and start to do well, the point will come when you need a manager.

The manager is the person who looks after all the business stuff so the musician can get on with the business of making music. Managers deal with booking gigs, marketing, promotions, promoters, publicity, support staff, and road crews.

They collect the money and pay the bills. And they oversee all the infrastructure of your career: lawyers, accountants, and all the other people involved in running the business that is you and your music.

But it doesn’t stop there. Managers can also function as advisors, sounding boards, fixers, father and mother figures, referees, bail bondsmen, bouncers, psychologists, and even amateur physicians and pharmacists—for good and not-so-good reasons.

They need to be on top of trends, have all the right connections, understand audiences, be able to navigate record companies, and translate contracts. It is a 24/7 job.

They are incentivized by their commission, which is usually somewhere around 15%, so the more you make as an artist, the more they make. If they’re good at their job, your career grows and the money rolls in for everyone.

The bottom line is that a manager can make or break a career. These are the stories of nine managers who have had an impact—mostly good, but also, you know, not-so-great.

Song heard on this show:

• • David Bowie, Rock’n’Roll Suicide (Live)
  • Malcolm McLaren, Buffalo Gals
  • The Specials, Gangers
  • Ramones, Sheena is a Punk Rocker
  • U2, Pride (In the Name of Love)
  • New Order, Fine Time
  • Alice in Chains, Man in a Box
  • Foo Fighters, My Hero
  • Cage the Elephant, Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.

• Naturally, Eric Wilhite has a playlist for us.

The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on these stations. Don’t forget that there’s a podcast version, too, in case you miss any episodes. Get them for free wherever you get your podcasts.

• • 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
  • Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
  • Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
  • 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
  • FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
  • Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 10am and 10pm
  • 107-3 The Edge/Calgary – Sundays at 10am and 10pm
  • Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
  • The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 8am and 9pm
  • The Fox/Vancouver – Sundays at 10anm and 10pm
  • The Goat Network/Interior BC
  • Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
  • WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm

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

Artists and their vices often go hand in hand, so it’s no surprise that drugs often find their way into lyrics. But if you had to guess who sang about the drugs the most, which genres would win? That’s what Addictions.com wanted to find out in a recent study.

By analyzing the lyrics of over 1.1 million songs and scrubbing for phrases or slang that referenced specific drugs (outside of alcohol, by the way), Addictions.com discovered something interesting. The genre that mentions drugs most often is country, with an average of 1.6 mentions per song. Jazz and pop follow closely behind, while rock takes fourth place. And rap? Believe it or not, rap actually mentions drugs less often than even folk, at less than 1.3 references per song.

And, if you were curious, the most mentioned drug is consistently marijuana, with over 30% of drug references across all genres sticking to pot.

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

EDMONTON – Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season as the Florida Panthers continued to plague Edmonton, emerging with a 4-0 victory over the Oilers on Thursday in a rematch of the last two Stanley Cup finals.

Cole Reinhardt, A.J. Greer, Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe scored for the injury-riddled Panthers (34-31-3), who snapped a two-game losing skid.

Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues and Michael Benning all had two assist games. The Panthers are almost certain to miss the playoffs and a chance to defend their back-to-back titles.

Connor Ingram made 19 stops in the loss for Edmonton (34-27-9).

The Oilers had a modest two-game winning streak halted and missed out on an opportunity to move ahead of idle Anaheim into first in the Pacific Division.

Edmonton remained without star forward Leon Draisaitl, out for the rest of the regular season with a lower body injury.

Takeaways

Panthers: Benning, a fourth-round (95th overall) selection in the 2020 Entry Draft by Florida, was playing in just his fourth career NHL game. The 24-year-old Edmonton-area native defenceman already has three points.

Oilers: Captain Connor McDavid is still two goals short of 400, one assist away from 800 and three points shy of 1,200 for his career.

Key moment:

Florida went up 3-0 on the power play with 5:39 to play in the second period as Lundell put away his 18th goal of the season on a loos puck in front of the net.

Key stat

Florida has been hit hard by injuries all season long with the most man-games lost in the league including many lengthy IR stints. Among those out of the lineup on Thursday were Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart. Only defenceman Gustav Forsling has managed to appear in all 68 games this season. Conversely, six Oilers have played in every game: Connor McDavid, Matt Savoie, Vasily Podkolzin, Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, and Darnell Nurse.

Up next

Oilers: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Panthers: Visit the Calgary Flames on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Alberta Mounties who arrested a pregnant mother won’t face charges in the death of her newborn baby, with the province’s police watchdog citing her drug use as a factor in its death.

However, investigators considered the detachment’s attitude toward her apathetic and inappropriate.

The woman, unnamed in an Alberta Serious Incident Response Team report released Thursday, was arrested on May 9, 2024, for breaching conditions, obstruction and outstanding warrants from Saskatchewan.

The report said she was brought to the Lloydminster RCMP detachment and booked into cells. It said a prisoner report was drawn up, without detailing her potential pregnancy.

An arresting officer reported that the woman didn’t appear to be pregnant and suspected she was using it as an excuse to avoid arrest. She had lied about her name and date of birth when she spoke with police earlier that day.

Others expressed skepticism about her statement, as well.

“The overall impression was that the (woman), who was an admitted chronic drug user, was somehow deemed less worthy of belief or that she was simply the author of her own misfortune, in terms of the severity of her withdrawal symptoms, due to her drug use,” the report said.

“Where a duty of care is owed to detainees that are often vulnerable and marginalized persons, that kind of jaded, indifferent and unempathetic approach is inappropriate.”

The woman said she was about 36 weeks pregnant to some law enforcement while denying it to others, the report said. She denied ever telling officers she wasn’t pregnant, insisting it was the officers who told her that she wasn’t.

Over the course of her imprisonment, officers and guards were informed about her potential pregnancy, her past withdrawal symptoms that almost led her to miscarry, and her treatment regime in a “poorly executed game of broken telephone” that didn’t notify people who should have known.

The onus to inform people of the potential pregnancy was placed on the woman who was in the “throes” of withdrawal, the report said.

“When she did tell someone that she was pregnant, they either did not believe her or did not take any steps to try to confirm the information through alternate reliable means,” it said.

The watchdog report details how the woman, who confessed to being a daily fentanyl user, tossed a methamphetamine pipe out of her cell the morning after she was arrested and was given methadone, a drug to help with withdrawal symptoms, during her imprisonment.

Her boyfriend had reiterated her need to take it because she had nearly lost the baby the last time she went through withdrawals without it, the report said.

The woman complained several times about a sore stomach. Late one night, she said the pain was “my baby.”

About an hour later, guards said she appeared to be experiencing a seizure. When paramedics arrived and asked if she was pregnant, she denied it.

She was taken to hospital and gave birth, and the baby died three hours later.

The report said it died of cardio-respiratory arrest and it’s not believed that treating the mother earlier could have saved her baby.

It said inadequate growth in the womb, pregnancy-induced hypertension and the mother’s drug use contributed to the death.

A little more than a month later, the woman was found dead in her home. A post-mortem report suggested the death appeared to be unrelated to her time in police custody, the watchdog document said.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

With the first day of spring on the 20th, high temperatures across the province are making it feel like T-shirt weather.

Some cities in the province are seeing temps in the high teens.

“Very warm start to spring and end to winter as well. Temperatures Thursday in parts of the south, getting to the 20s for the first time this year in parts in the southwest. The Regina area into the teens, Saskatoon area into those mid to upper single digits. Lots of melting snow,” said Peter Quinlan, Global News meteorologist.

While people got a glimpse of spring, it’s also leading to pooling water and potholes on roads throughout the province.

But even though temperatures are above average for this time of year, Quinlan says winter weather isn’t quite over.

“We are kind of deep in the freeze-thaw cycle, so even at night we see that ice reform as we fall below freezing most nights,” Quinlan said.

“There are a few that we kind of hover at or just above zero, but it looks like we’re going to actually see daytime highs dip back below zero as we go into next week, the end of the week especially. So, we’re definitely not done with winter.”

The city says some temporary pooling is expected during the spring thaw and they are actively monitoring conditions and responding where drainage problems occur.

People are encouraged to clear drains that may be blocked, if safe to do so, and report potholes using the city’s report a pothole online map.

Watch above for more on Saskatchewan’s winter warm-up.

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

It was a packed house at the Rutland Centennial Hall in Kelowna, B.C., Wednesday evening where Conservative MLA Gavin Dew hosted a town hall on crime and social disorder.

“In the last number of months, there has been a lot of conversation about what’s happening downtown and there were a number of events happening there,” Dew told the crowd of roughly 200 people.

“One of the reasons why we’re here tonight is that there were a lot of good folks at those downtown events…and one of the things they said to me is we wanted to make sure Rutland is not forgotten.”

Cedric Anderson was one the attendees.

He voiced concerns about rising crime in an area he’s lived in his entire life.

“Businesses getting broken into, homes being broken into,” Anderson said as he described some of his concerns. “I was attacked a couple months ago myself.”

Last fall, Anderson said, he confronted a man who broke into a fenced area on his property and was bear-sprayed.

“As he was leaving, he said something under his breath and caused me to look and at that point he bear-sprayed me,” Anderson told Global News.

In response to the growing social disorder, particularly downtown, the City of Kelowna implemented its Business Safety Action plan.

On Monday, city staff updated council on the initiatives, some of which include enhanced RCMP and bylaw patrols.

Darren Caul, the city’s public safety director, told council the enhanced patrols are in place five days a week downtown but only twice a week in Rutland.

“Bylaw is currently in Rutland doing those patrols Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons,” Caul said on Monday.

The difference in patrol frequency between downtown and Rutland, which continues to be a hotspot for crime, isn’t sitting well with residents.

“I do feel that Rutland is treated like the redheaded stepchild. We do get left behind,” said Anderson. “We do get a lot of issues dumped on us as a community, and I don’t think it’s fair.”

Carley Cherney is a mother of two young children.

She said Rutland, with so many families, should have equal resources.

“I feel relatively unsafe. I want more patrols here. We’re just as important as downtown,” she told Global News.

“They’re tending to the businesses but what about the families? What about the kids?”

Caul said the city is well aware of the issues in Rutland and has numerous resources in place for that part of the city.

“We are very attentive to what is happening for Rutland residents,” Caul said.

Caul said despite finite resources, the city re-deploys them based on greatest needs.

He added that the city takes a tailored approach to different areas of town and pointed to one program unique to Rutland.

“Rutland has the only dedicated business and community liaison that exists in the city,” Caul said. “In fact, that is a model that we started in Rutland last year and it’s working so well, we’re looking to replicate that for downtown and Midtown.”

Caul said that two more bylaw officers are being added in Rutland this spring.

In the meantime, Anderson is urging residents and business operators to report all crime, no matter how minor, hoping it spurs change for the better.

“If you go undocumented, it won’t happen and it won’t change,” Anderson said.

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

A B.C. mom says she will do anything to help her son get treatment overseas.

“He’s beautiful, he’s kind, he’s loving,” Natasha Hepburn said. “He loves playing with his brother. He loves going to the playground, just being silly. He talks about growing up and what he wants to be when he’s older.

“He’s just a happy child, a happy, wonderful child,”

But Hepburn is worried her son may not get the chance to grow up.

Her now eight-year-old son, Nathan, had a seizure in 2021 and she noticed he was having staring spells.

He was later diagnosed with brain arteriovenous malformation, AVM, which is a rare and life-threatening condition where abnormal blood vessels in the brain can rupture without warning. A bleed can cause permanent brain damage or be fatal.

“In 2023, the summer of 2023, his amazing, remarkable physicians, like they did everything; they tried radiation to treat his lesion,” Hepburn said.

“Unfortunately, his lesion didn’t respond. And you know, there’s just something to do with the biology of his lesion; it didn’t show any treatment response. Six months passed, and we’re continuing to monitor and he developed significant brain swelling, and he had left-sided weakness. And then we were told that he has developed an aneurysm that’s bleeding.”

Hepburn said they took Nathan on an emergency flight to Toronto and a team of neurosurgeons saved his life by successfully embolizing the aneurysm and stopping the bleed.

“They saved his life,” she said. “And I’m convinced if he was anywhere else in the world, this wouldn’t be done. It’s because of their skill level and just how fast they acted.”

However, the lesion wasn’t gone and Hepburn said her son experienced significant side effects. He developed a clot in his femoral artery and was in excruciating pain.

“I can’t even like tell you, he couldn’t walk a block without screaming, like he was in excruciating pain,” Hepburn said.

“This extended his hospital stay, and he had to get injections for months on end to dissolve the clot, and eventually it did dissolve, but I don’t know if we can use that access site anymore.”

Now, every three months, Nathan gets follow-up MRIs to see if the lesion will respond to the radiation, but there has been no change and has even had micro-hemorrhages, indicating that the lesion is becoming more unstable.

“It is a ticking time bomb, because you never know when this lesion can rupture,” Hepburn said.

“It could rupture when you’re sleeping. It could rupture when you’re eating, when he’s at school. You know, it can go off at any time. And a lesion in the thalamus, it’s.. he’ll lose his life. You know, he will lose his life if it ruptures, or he’ll have significant neurological effects.”

Hepburn said they needed to look for any other potential treatment options.

“What can I do as a mother to help my child, you know, because living with this condition, with this ticking time bomb in his brain, it could go off at any time,” she said.

“It’s not easy. Every day we live with fear. Every day we live with fear, with the anxiety (that) any time he has a headache or he says ‘My head hurts’ or he’s feeling unwell, my heart literally drops to my stomach and I think, is this going to be the day that I lose my child, you know, is this going to be the day that my precious child is no longer with me?”

She came across an article by Dr. Rene Chabot, an interventional radiologist in Germany who has pioneered a new embolic agent called Obtura. It works like glue, so anytime a brain is bleeding, they can inject the glue into the blood vessels to stop the bleed or close it off.

“It could save his life, because it’s very different than the embolic agents or glues that we have here in North America,” Hepburn said.

“So this doctor, he pioneered an approach called transvenous embolization. And he’s treated these lesions before. He’s treated complex lesions of this nature many times, like 50 times before. And he’s shown me, he’s shown me other cases that were very similar to Nathan’s that he treated effectively.”

Hepburn said Chabot told her that he is highly confident that Nathan can be cured with his method.

“Hearing that as a mother, you just, you feel so hopeful, but at the same time, there’s the uncertainty of, how are we going to afford it?” she added.

The treatment costs about $61,000 each time and depending how Nathan responds to treatment, he may need between three and five treatments.

The neurosurgical team from Vancouver and Toronto has written letters and applied to the B.C. government to help fund Nathan’s treatment.

Hepburn has also started a GoFundMe.

“He’s my child,” she said. “Every day we’ve been living with this and just wondering how long do we keep this ticking time bomb before it goes off and he loses his life like many others before him?”

“It’s very hard when you know, when you have an expert, a pioneer in the field, telling you that they have an effective treatment available and they can help your child, and you’re worried that he may not be able to access the care that he needs because of finances.”

Hepburn said that initially, she didn’t even think about the price as she was so hopeful they might have found a cure.

“When reality set in, it was scary,” she added. “It was very scary. I was just thinking, how am I going to do this? You know, as a single mom working a full-time job, taking care of two boys.”

Hepburn said the treatment is not available in Canada, so they contacted Health Minister Josie Osborne in January, but have yet to hear back.

Osborne’s office confirmed to Global News that they did receive the application, but not to make travel plans until they hear back.

Hepburn said they don’t have the luxury of time.

“He could lose his life while I wait and if I don’t act as a mother and I just put it on the back burner and just wait, what if he loses his life in that interim?” she said.

“I don’t want to wake up one day and have regrets that my child passed away, knowing an effective treatment is available.”

Hepburn says Nathan knows something is wrong with his brain, but they try to keep some details from him as he’s so young.

“He has to get MRIs every month and a half to three months, under general anesthesia. He comes out screaming and crying, confused. You know, it’s been very hard on him, very hard on him, and hard on me, as his mother, watching him go through that,” she said.

“If I could change places with him, I would.”

Hepburn added that this condition has robbed her son of his childhood.

“He has somebody with him at all times monitoring him,” she said.

“He gets a headache, we have to go to the hospital. He gets MRI scans every three months. He’s endured more pain than any child should at his age. You know, with the treatment, there comes complications, and he endured a lot of pain following it, but the AVM still isn’t gone. It’s there, and now we have a path forward. We have a path forward, and I feel strongly that we need to take it.

“Every child deserves the chance to grow up. Nathan deserves that chance.”

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

More than 400 police files since 2016, and now Justin Collins is facing three new charges.

Collins was back in court Tuesday, charged with one count of committing an indecent act in public and one count of mischief, both stemming from Feb. 16. A third mischief charge is tied to an incident on March 3. He was released on bail set at $250, with conditions.

“Beyond infuriating when you read something like that, and you’re like, ‘Are you kidding me,’” said Kristina Loewen, BC Conservative MLA for Kelowna Centre.

Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas says bail decisions are based on specific legal criteria, but he questions how Collins was released, based on his history.

“For a judge to look at granting bail for an individual, they have to say that the individual will not commit any more crimes, that they will show up for court, and that there is a level of comfort that there is not a safety risk to the community,” Dyas said.

Collins has a lengthy criminal history, including charges related to assault, robbery and mischief. In total, he has faced 64 charges over the past decade. His record also prompted a rare public warning from Kelowna RCMP in 2022.

“Four hundred police files, I don’t know what the number is where it gets to the point where it’s serious enough that they are going to deal with it properly,” Dyas added.

Frustration is growing among some officials, as Collins, described by some as a prominent example of catch-and-release, is once again back in the community.

Loewen says opposition politicians at both the provincial and federal levels are pushing for changes to bail laws.

“I just was back in Ottawa speaking to Bill C-14 and Bill C-42, that we need tougher laws around bail reform and repeat offenders,” Dyas said.

In a statement, B.C.’s attorney general pointed to the province’s repeat violent offending intervention initiative, saying it has shown strong results.

“The Province’s repeat violent-offending program (ReVOII) has also shown strong results, with an evaluation shows 50% fewer police interactions involving accused individuals and faster charge approvals for high-risk violent offenders,” said the ministry.

“Building on ReVOII’s early success, the Province is expanding a similar initiative, Chronic Property Offending Intervention Initiative (C‑POII), provincewide with $16 million over two years to address persistent property and public‑disorder offending.”

Collins is back in court on March 31.

“As politicians in the opposition, both in our province and across the country, are fighting for changes to federal and provincial laws,” said Loewen.

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

Vancouver police have issued a public warning about a violent offender being released back into the community.

Jordan McIntosh was previously released back into the community last September and was serving a conditional sentence order related to two counts of assault and one count of breach of release order from an incident in 2024, police said.

He was bound by several conditions, which included wearing an ankle monitor.

However, police said he cut off his ankle monitor and went “on the run” on Dec. 4.

Investigators with the VPD’s Intimate Partner Violence and Risk Assessment Unit then became involved due to McIntosh’s history of violence against women.

On March 2, detectives and District Five officers, who patrol the Downtown Eastside, Chinatown and Gastown, tracked McIntosh to a rooming house on Water Street.

“McIntosh tried to escape by jumping out of a window,” said VPD Sgt. Adam Donaldson in a release. “Fortunately, our officers planned for that scenario, and he was taken into custody with the help of a police dog.”

McIntosh was held in custody for a breach of conditional sentence order hearing that took place on March 18.

Police said the court decided to release him back into the community to serve his sentence with another ankle monitor, rather than keep him in custody.

McIntosh has 49 criminal convictions, including 11 for violence or weapons, police added.

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