SwiftCurrent

Flapjacks, sausage, coffee and just a little bit of rain were on the menu at J&S Tire in Swift Current this morning.

The third annual J&S Tire pancake breakfast saw a few raindrops in with the pancakes being cooked up by Swift Current Ride for Dad. Even with the precipitation, people still came out for their griddle-made morning meal. 

Tony Buckmeier, co-owner of J&S Tire, is happy to host the event for the fun of it and to support Swift Current Ride for Dad. 

A Swift Current land owner is claiming an abandoned well site and gas leak, which was supposed to have been fixed, is now in worse shape.

The site, located just outside of Swift Current city limits, across the road from the Pioneer grain elevator, is owned by Johanna Lee. She recently hired a private inspector to check on the leak after Taqa North had crews working to repair it in late May and early June.

Lee says that the repair, which saw an entire drill crew re-drill the well to implement a fix and determine the cause of the leak, is now leaking more than before.

A powerful storm system formed just south of Moose Jaw last night, and while it didn’t have much of an impact here in the city, it certainly left its mark on communities to the east. 

The system tracked eastwards across Saskatchewan, depositing large amounts of rainfall and hail as it went. Lumsden was among the hardest hit; the town was battered by hailstones up to five centimetres in diameter in the early evening. 

Fans packed the grandstand at Kinetic Park to witness metal and mayhem. 

The Appetite for Destruction Demolition Derby exhilarated the Thursday night crowd with a showcase of skill and action. 

Half a dozen drivers took to the track, with Carstairs, Alberta’s Nick Fedechko emerging as the victor behind the wheel of a 1976 Dodge Monaco.  

The operators of a proposed thrift store in Swift Current are not optimistic about moving forward after a recent meeting with the city and comments from Mayor Al Bridal regarding the status of their building at 508 Cheadle Street West.

Canadian varietal development system called a success story

Canada’s system of developing wheat varieties is both efficient and effective, says a University of Saskatchewan agricultural economist.

Australia invests much more into wheat genetics and improving varieties, but the yield gains are similar to Canadian results.

“In Australia, they’re spending three to five times what we are, right now, on wheat research and wheat genetics,” said Richard Gray, Canadian grain policy research chair at the U of S.

Frontier Days. So many people get excited for it each and every year. And there are many reasons you can be excited. But for lots, it's the fair food. You can't just go anywhere and get the same lemonade, the same mini donuts, the same ANYTHING you can buy at Frontier Days.

Property tax notices are finally going out on Monday in the City of Swift Current.

"(People will) have until the end of July to pay their taxes," said Mayor Al Bridal. "There have been some glitches in the system. That's why it's taking so long to get these out. There will be 972 new assessments going out with some tax notices because there were some problems with some of the assessments. Those people will have 30 days to pay their taxes, but also those 972 will have 30 days to appeal their assessment.

In the WCBL, the Swift Current 57's took three late leads, but fell 9-8 to the Energy City Cactus Rats yesterday.

Down 3-0, the 57's came back to lead 4-3, 7-6, and 8-7, before losing 9-8 in 8 innings.

Gus Koehn went 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored to lead the way for Swift Current.

David Jinks went 2 for 3 with a walk, a run scored, and an RBI.

Shunta Furuya took the loss in relief.

The 57's have lost their first three games on their Alberta road swing.

They play Energy City again this afternoon in Fort McMurray.

The Federal Court has approved a multi-billion-dollar class-action settlement for people who suffered abuse at federally run 'Indian hospitals' following out-of-court negotiations between Ottawa and Indigenous survivors.

The federal government ran 33 such hospitals between 1936 and 1981. The total compensation amount is expected to be between $3 billion and $5.3 billion.