In the mid-70s, David Bowie was a mess. He was drinking a lot. His cocaine intake was off the charts. And he was convinced that he was some kind of alien who was being pursued by witches looking to steal his vital essence, which is why he took to storing his urine in the fridge. Oh, and for a while, he fell to less than 100 pounds because all he would eat for meals was milk and red peppers.

This being the 70s, the police were often curious about what sort of illegal things rock stars like Bowie were up to. On December 1, 1974, after the final show of the Diamond Dogs tour, there was a party. It was decadent.

Suddenly, a bunch of plainclothes cops armed with handguns broke down the door. Bowie retreated to a bedroom where he was able to flush his stash. Whatever was left was claimed by Bowie’s bodyguard, Tony Mascia.

He took the rap for his boss, keeping Bowie from being arrested on serious drug charges.

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

Before there was X Factor and all the Idol and Got Talent TV shows, there was The Gong Show. It was conceived as an insane half-hour of absurdity by TV executive Chuck Barris. It debuted in 1975 and ran for 500 episodes.

There was often nothing serious about the amateur contestants who performed for the panel of judges. If they couldn’t stand you, one of them struck a big gong and your time was done.

John Lee was a radio DJ who also played in a band called The Hard Luck Band. In about 1979, John appeared singing a cover of The Eagles Desperado. Much to his surprise, the judges loved his performance, and he won that particular episode, escaping with his dignity and a little cash.

Why do I mention this? Because John Lee is the father of Amy Lee of Evanescence.

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

One of the great things about vinyl is that you have a 12×12 palette on which to create artwork that says something about the release.

For example, everyone knows the cover for Nirvana’s Nevermind with the naked baby underwater in a pool chasing a dollar bill on a fishing hook. What’s the message? The designer Robert Fisher wanted to make a punk rock statement about the evils of late 20^th-century capitalism mated with the cynicism felt by the Gen Xers of the day.

Nirvana loved the concept because it captured their anti-corporate feelings. It has become one of the most famous album covers of all time.

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

A concept album is a record that has a narrative, theme, or story that links all the songs together in a unified way. Green Day’s American Idiot qualifies as such a record.

Dig into rock history, and you’ll find plenty more: The Wall by Pink Floyd, both Tommy and Quadrophenia by The Who, The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper, Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, and My Chemical Romance and The Black Parade are all examples. But who was the first to release a concept album?

If we’re going to be honest, it was Frank Sinatra in 1955. That’s when he released In the Wee Small Hours, which features songs about that particular time of day. But hang on. We can also make a case for folksinger Woody Guthrie.

He released a collection of songs entitled Dust Bowl Ballads, which featured accounts of Depression-era America. The year was 1940.

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

Saskatchewan is looking to buy some high-tech weaponry for its marshals police service, including sniper rifles, sound cannons and a thermal camera.

In a bid request posted online late last month, the province says the marshals need the equipment for a special response unit.

The unit also requires night vision goggles, hydraulic breaching tools and a multi-shot launcher, it says.

At a news conference Monday, the Opposition NDP said it wants to know the cost of the equipment and how the items fit into the marshals’ broader mandate.

Hugh Gordon, the NDP’s community safety critic, told reporters in Saskatoon that the new equipment appears to exceed what’s needed for duties of the marshals promised by the Saskatchewan Party government.

“Some of it seems to be justified, but some of the other stuff – like the ballistic helmets, the shields, the sound cannon – a lot of this appears to be like they’re going to be the first (officers) through the door,” he said.

“But they’ve already said they don’t want to do that.”

He said the money used for the new equipment could go towards second-stage shelters, recovery and addictions spaces or other policing agencies.

The province didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The marshals began operating last year with the mandate to help other policing agencies fight rural crime, gangs and drugs. They are to also arrest high-risk offenders with outstanding warrants.

Since its inception, the NDP has criticized the service.

Earlier this year, it accused the marshals of poaching officers from other agencies instead of beefing up law enforcement.

Of the 27 marshals hired earlier this year, two are new and the rest came from other agencies, the NDP has said.

The marshals service is planning to hire 70 officers and has said it’s continuing to work towards that goal.

Michael Weger, the province’s community safety minister, has said the government wants to attract people to the province for policing jobs. It’s also expanding training at the Saskatchewan Police College.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

It already offers a scenic view of Calgary’s downtown skyline, along with easy access to the city’s network of trails and the CTrain.

Now the City of Calgary has some major improvements planned for Max Bell Park and the adjoining pathway so more people can enjoy it.

The space is located just south of Memorial Drive and west of Barlow Trail, on the east side of the Max Bell Arena parking lot.

The two-fold plan includes improvements to the existing pathway network, west of Albert Park/Radisson Heights, as well as developing an “under-utilized” piece of land, about 4,000 square metres, or about one acre.

Among the ideas being proposed are amphitheatre-style seating and stairs built into the hill, an open plaza that can be used for fitness or play activities and an overhead structure to frame the downtown skyline, creating an area that can be used for a range of small-scale events, festivals and other community uses.

Prior to the start of construction in 2028, the City of Calgary is asking the public for feedback on the proposed plans and the “most effective design concept” for future use, including a large number of artist renderings of what the redeveloped space would look like.

More information on the city’s proposed plans, along with the artist renderings, is available on the city’s website.

The window for public feedback closes on Aug. 27.

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

The federal government is likely to face a constitutional challenge to its proposed ban on social media for kids under 16, some experts say.

On Friday, France’s top court struck down that country’s social media ban for kids under 15, saying the ban was too broad and infringed on freedom of expression.

Dalhousie University associate law professor Michael Karanicolas said a Charter challenge to Canada’s law is almost inevitable.

“If we’re talking about such a significant intervention in the social media space and in the expressive space, there will be organizations that have the resources and the expertise to take a challenge forward and I think it’s very likely that we see litigation around this,” he said.

Karanicolas said social media is effectively the only avenue young people can make their voice heard on political issues, and denying them access silences them.

“People under 16 may not be able to vote, but they have skin in the game when it comes to the political discourse. They are impacted by political decisions that are being made,” he said. “They are the next generation of our leaders. And we want them to be able to engage with the rest of the population on these political questions.”

Both Karanicolas and Tamir Israel, a director at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, brought up the example of Greta Thunberg, who was 15 when she gained international recognition as an environmental activist.

Israel said Canada’s Bill C-34 shares many of the same features that led the French court to conclude the French law was overly broad and unconstitutional, both in terms of freedom and expression and privacy.

“I imagine for something this novel and this categorical, there will be challenges for sure,” he said.

The Liberal government introduced Bill C-34 in June, which still has to make its way through the Parliamentary process before it becomes law. Social media platforms will be able to obtain an exemption if they have put in place sufficient safeguards to protect children.

The government has not yet released a Charter statement, a document that identifies potential effects on Charter rights and freedoms, for Bill C-34.

Canada is among dozens of countries which began looking at social media age restrictions after Australia became the first country to ban kids from social media in December 2025.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Health Canada has authorized a drug to treat moderate to severe hot flashes and night sweats in breast cancer patients.

Elinzanetant, also known by the brand name Lynkuet, was first approved in July 2025 to treat the symptoms in women going through menopause, but another study reviewed by the department has since shown effectiveness of the drug specifically in breast cancer patients.

According to Health Canada’s drug database, the new market authorization took effect on Friday.

About two-thirds of breast cancers are hormone-receptor positive, meaning they need estrogen to grow. Oncologists treat those cancers by blocking the body’s production of estrogen, often triggering vasomotor symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats.

Elinzanetant — manufactured by Bayer — is a non-hormonal medication that reduces those symptoms by directly targeting neurons that can become hyperactive with a lack of estrogen.
Dr. Christine Brezden-Masley, medical director of the cancer program at Sinai Health in Toronto, said women with breast cancer have had limited options to help with hot flashes and night sweats because they can’t take hormone replacement therapy like other women in menopause might.

“The clinical trial with elinzanetant was the very first one that actually looked at breast cancer patients on anti-estrogen therapy,” said Brezden-Masley, who receives compensation as a consultant to Bayer.

Breast cancer patients generally have to stay on anti-estrogen pills — also called endocrine therapy — for about five to 10 years, she said.

The most commonly used anti-estrogen medications are tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Chemotherapy can also put patients into menopause by stopping the ovaries from working, Brezden-Masley said.

Hot flashes and night sweats interfere with women’s ability to function during the day and interrupt their sleep at night.

Moderate hot flashes are defined as the feeling of heat along with sweating. Severe hot flashes are the same, but so bad they cause women to stop what they’re doing.

They can be so debilitating that some patients stop taking their cancer medication to halt the symptoms — something oncologists want to prevent, Brezden-Masley said.

“We work closely with them to ensure that we deal with all of those symptoms to ensure that they adhere to their breast cancer therapy so we don’t have breast cancer recurring.”
That has included prescribing some drugs off-label — including anticonvulsant gabapentin and anti-depressant Effexor — to try to give their patients some relief.

“We’ve been kind of pulling old drugs that would have, you know, a little bit of a benefit for our patients and decrease their hot flashes,” she said.

Dr. Dave Cescon, a medical oncologist and clinician scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, said menopausal symptoms are a major issue for many breast cancer patients and “historically have not been well addressed.”

Health Canada’s review and approval of elinzanetant as an effective therapy for hot flashes and night sweats in women with breast cancer “will be very helpful,” said Cescon, who does not have any financial ties with Bayer.

Laurie Legere, a 47-year-old hospital administrator living in Toronto, found a lump in her breast just before her 44th birthday.

She started chemotherapy to shrink the tumour before having it surgically removed — and that’s when her hot flashes started.

They were “really disruptive,” affecting both her sleep and her daily life as she continued working throughout her cancer treatment.

“I would just, you know, start getting hot flashes in the middle of meetings or the middle of presentations,” Legere said.

“The sleep was really, I think, the most difficult part because you’re really trying to, you’re trying to heal, you’re trying to rest and it’s just kind of impossible.”

Those symptoms have continued as Legere takes endocrine therapy to prevent the cancer from coming back. She was referred to a menopause clinic, but with hormone replacement therapy off the table, the medications she’s tried either haven’t worked well or caused side effects she can’t live with.

Legere has been on gabapentin for about a year, but can’t take a dose high enough to make a difference because it makes her groggy, so she’s coming off of it.

She’s already got a prescription for elinzanetant.

“I’m, yeah, looking forward to hopefully having a much better experience.”

A spokesperson for Bayer said on Monday that elinzanetant is not currently publicly funded in Canada and did not provide the price.

The expansion of Health Canada’s authorization for elinzanetant to specifically include women with breast cancer was supported by Bayer’s OASIS-4 study.

Elinzanetant is a neurokinin receptor antagonist. Neurokinin receptor antagonists target KNDy neurons that can become hyperactive with a lack of estrogen and trigger hot flashes and night sweats.

The Phase 3 randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial looked at 395 women between 18 and 70 years old receiving endocrine therapy for breast cancer over 52 weeks.

To qualify, the participants had to be experiencing at least 35 moderate to severe hot flashes or night sweats a week.

The study results showed a significant decrease in daily hot flashes and night sweats, as well as fewer sleep disturbances, among women taking elinzanetant compared to those taking a placebo.

The most common side effects of elinzanetant were drowsiness during the day, fatigue, and diarrhea.

At the end of the trial, 91.6 per cent of participants chose to keep taking elinzanetant for another two years.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Summerland, B.C., farmer Chamkaur Saran was 12 hours away from harvesting his crop last weekend when the explosive Bald Range wildfire broke out.

“After the fire, there was a very strong wind came, but that wind has broken so many trees,” Saran told Global News.

He is now assessing the damage done to his peach trees and said the broken trees will not grow back.

Saran said that now, 70 to 80 per cent of his crop is gone.

The remainder of his livelihood now lies rotting on the ground and he’s not the only farmer having to compost.

The owner of the Trout Creek Fruit Stand is cleaning up mouldy fruits and vegetables.

Crops in the Okanagan have been hit consecutively, first by a heat dome in 2021, then a cold snap in 2024 that led to the closure of B.C. Tree Fruits Cooperative.

Saran is trying to gather what peaches he can sell, but he’s looking to the province for help.

“It’s very difficult to survive for the farmers. So we are looking for any support from the government,” he said.

Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes said he has asked Premier David Eby to remember that they need help.

After 32 years in the business, Saran and countless other residents will have to start fresh again.

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

After just three years in the league, the Saskatoon Berries took home the WCBL championship and did so in front of a record crowd.

“All the boys were locked in,” player Nathan Houston said after the game.

Last year the Berries set the regular season record, winning 46 games, but couldn’t reach the championship, losing in the East final to the Regina Red Sox. Head coach Joe Carnahan said it was the team’s resiliency that brought them the trophy this year.

“Adversity is always good,” he said. “You define a person the way they respond to stuff, and when things get hard, how they respond to that.”

Outfielder Ethan Murdoch, a Swift Current product, said every time the team fell, they got right back up.

“We made a couple mistakes throughout every game of the playoffs, and everybody makes those mistakes,” he said. “It just didn’t seem to really faze us.”

The Berries took the win against the Sylvan Lake Gulls 11-1 in Game 2 of the best-of-three series to secure the trophy.

While the team got in their hits, Carnahan gave a lot of credit to the pitchers on the mound.

“Our pitching was outstanding,” he said. “Defensively we played pretty good and got some timely hits in there, generated some runs and tonight we scored a ton of runs.”

Berries closing pitcher Wesley Shackelford was named post-season MVP.

The win was special for those born and raised in Saskatchewan, but the Berries players from the U.S. said post-game that Saskatoon has started to feel like home.

“I figured out that I was coming up here a little towards the end of the spring season, but now it’s pretty much home now,” Brooks Jones, who is from Lawrence, Kansas, and plays for the University of Texas, said.

And for those leaving, the diamond will be missed.

“I would have loved to keep playing and play pro. But it’s not in the cards for me, and at least if I went out, I went on my own terms and went on top,” Murdoch, who hit a home run and earned two RBIs, said.

More than 2,500 fans packed the stands at Cairns Field to watch the Berries secure the victory.

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