Estevan

The Estevan Extreme 13UW volleyball team put on an impressive performance at SaskCup #2 in Saskatoon over the weekend, finishing fifth overall out of 36 teams from across the province.

The team lost only three sets across seven games, dominating in round-robin play with straight-set victories over the PA Toppers Walberg and the SE Viper Rattlers to claim first place in their pool.

With spring rolling into the province, snow is melting and posing a challenge that the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency (WSA) is looking to track. Their latest developments were put forward in their annual Spring Runoff Report, which details the risks of flooding and drought which may come up in Saskatchewan.

WSA Spokesperson Patrick Boyle talks about what they're expecting to see come to the province this spring.

Students from Southeast College’s Computer Science Training Through Projects (CSTTP) course earned an honourable mention at the University of Regina’s first hackathon, organized by the Computer Science Student Society (CSSS).

The Hackathon, held overnight from March 14–15 at the U of R, focused on sustainability and challenged participants to develop technical solutions inspired by the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that Ottawa will expand the Canadian Armed Forces’ presence in the Arctic and turn to Australia's over-the-horizon radar tech to monitor threats from adversaries such as China and Russia.

Carney also pledged $253 million in new funding for Indigenous reconciliation initiatives in the North.

They include $94 million to upgrade power plants in Nunavut and $20 million for a hydroelectricity project to help move northerners off diesel.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says United States President Donald Trump will have to stop his "disrespectful" comments about Canada before the two countries can have comprehensive bilateral conversations about trade and security.

"We've called out those comments. They're disrespectful, they're not helpful, and they need to stop," Carney said in response to a question regarding Trump's repeated remarks about Canada becoming the 51st state. 

"They will have to stop before we sit down and have a conversation about our broader partnership with the United States."

As the snow continues to melt across the prairies, farmers are gearing up for the busy seeding season. According to Ian Epp, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, moisture levels across much of the region appear sufficient for crop germination. 

"It looks to me like we've had enough moisture throughout winter. Obviously, we always need more during the summer season, but there's enough out there to get us up and going. Some areas are better than others but in general things look pretty good heading into spring.” 

In a span of just under five hours, the deep southeast corner of the province was hit with rolling power outages. Communities like Estevan, Oxbow, Bienfait, Roche Percee and even stretching to North Portal were affected, with crews being dispatched to solve the issue. SaskPower blames the outage on poor weather and ice building up on power lines, which made them unstable. 

The southeast has been feeling some rapidly changing weather over the past month with spring getting closer and closer. For Environment Canada, actually predicting when spring comes into focus can be fairly difficult before that's less than a week away.

Meteorologist Danielle Desjardins says that she wouldn't expect that until at least the end of April.

Estevan police responded to a busy weekend of calls, including a power outage that knocked out traffic lights, an assault arrest, and reports of disturbing social media messages.

On March 14, police received multiple calls about traffic lights being out due to a power outage. Officers reminded the public that in such situations, intersections should be treated as four-way stops and extra caution should be used.

Singer-songwriter JJ Voss returned to Art Concepts Custom Framing in Estevan for a special performance, marking his third time playing at the venue.

"Just a great independent business like this," Voss said. "It's such an artsy vibe—artists supporting other artists. Byron and Teresa are artists in their own right, and the amount of local artists they feature here is amazing. It’s just a good place."

As a Saskatchewan-based musician, Voss understands the challenges of making a living in the arts. However, he finds collaboration to be key in moving forward.