Vanese M. Ferguson

All rainfall and severe thunderstorm warnings have come to an end Sunday morning in Saskatchewan. In terms of rainfall amount from Saturday, unofficial amounts as provided by weatherstats.ca indicates Biggar saw 56.3 millimetres of rain, Lucky Lake at 50.2 millimetres, while Kindersley, which was also under a rainfal warning recorded 32.5 millimetres as of 6 a.m. Sunday morning. Saskatoon saw 26.3 millimetres with amounts tapering off as you go eastward like Watrous with 10.6 and Humboldt at 10 millimetres. Regina saw 21.

Premier Scott Moe posted on social media that Saskatchewan has lost a true community builder. Referring to him as a proud son of Carrot River and one of Saskatoon’s most generous philanthropists, Moe says Joseph Remai has passed away.

There was some good news in the provincial wildfire briefing provided by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency on Sunday. Bryan Chartrand Executive Director, Land Operations for the SPSA says 24 millimetres of rain was recorded in La Ronge which registered significant losses due to the “Pisew” fire.  There was 22 millimetres of rain which fell on the “Shoe” fire which is almost 500,000 hectares in size and is 11 kilometres from the Resort Village of Candle Lake.

The need for donations has risen exponentially after the number of evacuees from Saskatchewan’s north doubled on the weekend.

Fred Reibin with the Saskatoon Community Foundation says there were 1,400 evacuees on Friday and as of late last night that number had risen to 2,800.

In addition, a great number of children are among those evacuated from wildfires in northern Saskatchewan. Reibin says he knows Metis Nation-Saskatchewan and CUMFI are taking actual donations, but he says they are coordinating monetary donations.

Saskatchewan’s Lieutenant Governor met with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace Wednesday.

Lieutenant Governor Bernadette McIntyre who was accompanied by her husband Richar McIntyre, presented the King with gifts described as representative of Saskatchewan.

The first week of April is Global Asbestos Awareness Week and Saskatchewan has the first mandatory Asbestos registry in the country, often referred to as Howard’s Law.

Howard Willems who was dying of mesothelioma pushed for the creation of the registry of public sector buildings that contain asbestos. That came to fruition in 2013, a year after Willem’s died at age 59.

Leduc, Alberta RCMP say one of the victims who died in a motor vehicle accident on Wednesday night was from North Battleford.

At 8:34 p.m. RCMP responded to a two-vehicle collision on Highway 21 in Leduc County.

When officers arrived both people in the car were deceased while the driver and sole occupant of an SUV was taken to hospital seriously injured.

A 33-year-old resident of North Battleford and a 73-year-old resident from Camrose died in the accident and police are determining whether alcohol was involved in the crash.

The Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety says in 2020 Pinehouse Lake conservation officers became aware of an unlawful outfitting operation on the southwest shore of Cree Lake.

In a news release the ministry says Cree Lake is 81 kilometers long and is located approximately 220 kilometers north of Pinehouse Lake. With no highway access, most summer anglers and outfitting services can only access this area by float plane. The investigation included visits by boat and multiple float plane inspections.

If you receive a cheque from the Ministry of Social Services, you need to pick it up in person.

The Ministry issued a statement indicating that although Canada Post has resumed service, due to the backlog of mail, the government has made the decision to continue with in-person pick-up of benefit cheques at local service centres across the province. They say this is to ensure there is no delay for ministry clients.

Saskatchewan has made the top five in a list released Thursday of the 10 worst health care stories in Canada in 2024.

Think tank SecondStreet.org released the list after combing through news stories throughout the year, filing information requests with governments and talking with patients. The Saskatchewan story, in fifth place, features Cherise Trott of Yorkton who, since having an operation for a hiatal hernia and her gallbladder removed, has continued to suffer pain and inability to eat but was told it could be up to a year to see a gastroenterologist.