The area of low pressure that brought a messy mix of rain, ice, and snow to the Island Saturday and a blizzard to southeast Labrador Saturday into this morning continues to spin and impact the Provincial weather. The animation below shows this very well.

via GIPHY

As of early Sunday morning, Wind Warnings were still in effect for portions of central, northeastern, and eastern Newfoundland, and a Blizzard Warning is in effect for southeast Labrador. A Blowing Snow Advisory is also in effect for the mid-coast. Travel conditions along the Great Northern Peninsula and into Southern Labrador aren’t good right now as many roads are closed. Vist 511NL.ca for details.

As the low-pressure area departs today, the wind speeds will slowly calm down, and the winter storm and blizzard conditions along the Labrador Coast will improve.

The West Coast will see periods of snow all day, enhanced by onshore winds. Snowfall in the lower elevations will be light to moderate at times, but significant amounts are likely in higher terrain. Keep that in mind if you travels take you that way. The forecast below shows the snowfall forecast for the area through tomorrow morning.

We are also looking at colder temperatures today and for the next few days. On top of that the weather for Christmas Week seems very quiet for the upcoming week, which will be helpful for any travel across, through or into the Province.

A local woman has written a children’s book about the loss of a loved one to help young kids navigate grief. Speaking from her own experience, Deborah Dickson explores themes of love and loss and how to navigate grief within the family.

Private security system footage is going viral for all the wrong reasons today in Moose Jaw.

The video, posted on social media, shows three unidentified individuals jumping out of a red pick-up truck and proceeding to throw themselves at a PVC fence at a resident property in Moose Jaw. Towards the end of the video, one individual manages to kick out a panel of the fence before all three flee.

The Moose Jaw Police Service told Discover Moose Jaw that they've "received multiple calls this week regarding broken or damaged fences in the Northwest area of Moose Jaw."

The MJPS added that "all the files are currently under investigation to try and identify the individual(s) who are responsible for this."

Anyone with information can reach out to the police service via their non-emergency phone line at 306-694-7600, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit tips online at p3tips.com or their mobile app.

Born from a shared love of music and singing, the Musica Singers of Manitoba is a Filipino choir that sings in multiple languages, including Tagalog, Italian and Maori.

The wife of a man with dementia who disappeared a year ago says she was denied access to a federal pension plan because it requires paperwork to prove his death. 

Vancouver city council voted to explore holding cryptocurrency in reserve and accepting payments in the virtual currency. But even with that support, there's still a lot of confusion surrounding it. Jarrett Vaughan, adjunct professor with UBC's Sauder School of Business, explains.

A Grade 12 student has won awards for his invention that makes it easier for deaf and blind people to communicate.

A second man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of a 36-year-old Cape Breton man that police have called a homicide.

Charlottetown Police say they used the E-watch camera system to locate two suspects recently after getting a report of two people going through vehicles in the area of Dresden Court and Hawthorn Avenue.  The E-watch cameras led police to the suspects in the area of Fitzroy Street and Esher Street, where they were arrested.  The initial investigation pointed officers to several other locations where similar offences had taken place.  A 42 year old Charlottetown woman has been charged with a single count of theft under $5000.   A 40 year old Charlottetown man has been charged with 6 counts of Theft under 5-thousand dollars; 5 counts of Breach of probation; and 2 counts of Trespass at Night.  Police remind residents to always keep vehicles locked and don’t leave valuables in vehicles.

Santa is just one member of a global family of winter gift-givers that include angels, fairies, human-sized crows and even a pooping Yule log.

There will be no mill rate increases in the town of Botwood in the coming year.

The town adopted its municipal budget for 2025 a few days ago.

Residential property tax rates will be maintained at 8 mils.

Capital works projects for the coming year include water infrastructure on Church Road, Valley Road and Commonwealth Drive.

This is one of the busiest weekends of the year in terms of social interaction in the leadup to the Christmas holidays, and while many people wind down, some step up their activity in the name of public safety.

The RNC and RCMP will patrol the roads to look for distracted and impaired drivers. RNC Cst. James Cadigan says the two police forces also partner with MADD, and rely on people in the community to report anyone they suspect of getting behind the wheel in a compromised manner.

Random checkpoints are also a key component of law enforcement activity this time of year.

That includes spreading resources to all parts of the province including metro, the Corner Brook area and Labrador West. Essentially, they’ll stop any vehicle which they believe deserves a closer look.

The Opposition Leader says he’s already identified a number of questions to raise when the House of Assembly opens for a special debate on the MOU reached with Quebec on the Upper Churchill.

Tony Wakeham wants to know how the price of 4 cents per kW hour was reached, and what the annual rate Hydro Quebec will pay for electricity generated at the existing Churchill Falls powerhouse will be.

Wakeham says the premier quoted 5.9 cents per kilowatt hour, while officials in Quebec are saying they will have to pay less than that. In the meantime, says Wakeham, NL Hydro CEO Jennifer Williams has said that the price will start at 1.6 cents per kW hour.

He also wants to know how much revenue the provincial treasury will receive annually.

The Brandon Regional Health Centre Foundation continues their capital campaign A Foundation for Care, to support the Brandon Regional Health Centre (BRHC) expansion project that is currently underway.

A Foundation for Care has the goal of raising $2 million to support the construction of the BRHC’s new Critical Care building, along with needed equipment.

Once completed the project will feature:

• A new 16-bed Intensive Care Unit on the main level.
• Approximately 30 additional medical beds on the 2nd level.
• Mechanical space on the 3rd level. 
• And the 4th level will be shell space for potential future expansions.

“There is going to be a floor that's going to have our new and expanded ICU unit and then another floor is going to have new medical beds on it," shares BRHC Foundation Communications & Development Coordinator, Jessica Saler. "So, it's going to help increase the capacity that we have for those who are in-patients here."

The expansion project will provide healthcare staff with additional space and better equipment to meet the increasing demands of our healthcare system in Westman and will improve overall patient care. Any additional funds received over the campaign goal will be allocated to the areas of greatest need, as determined by the BRHC Foundation Board of Directors.

"It's very exciting," says Saler. "At some point or another every person is going to need medical care and so we really just try and make sure that when the time comes that you or someone you love needs medical care at the BRHC that they can have the best care possible."

The A Foundation for Care campaign is expected to go until the end of 2025, although the expansion project is anticipated to be completed and turned over to Prairie Mountain Health by July 2025.

"We're hoping that by early 2026 everything will be fully operational for patients in that wing.  So that's the current status for that new wing, but we all know a lot can happen in a year and so we like to update people through our website," explains Saler. "As we get more information on the status of the build and where our fundraising efforts are at, we update that webpage because we know that things can change over time."

Through the generous support of their donors the BRHC Foundation has provided $1,497,544.41 in equipment and program support in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.   Funds raised in the 2024-2025 fiscal year to date as of November is $999,453.

For more regular updates, please subscribe to the BRHC Foundation e-newsletter. You can find more on at on their website.

Please listen to more with Jessica Saler below!  Check out their website for more information and donation details HERE!

It’s been a busy holiday season for the Niverville Helping Hands Food Bank, and as the final delivery day wraps up, Board Chair Larissa Sandulak shares how things went. 

“We wrapped up our Christmas season with the final hamper deliveries on Tuesday.” 

The food bank's mission this year was to make sure every family in need received a hamper.  

“We had some late registrations, but everyone that asked for a hamper got a hamper this year.”

This year, the food bank provided 80 hampers.  

“The number is a little bit lower than last year. We had a lot of people forget to register within the window of time. Otherwise, it would have been higher, but we accommodated all the requests,” Sandulak said. 

Even with the late registrations, the community’s response has been overwhelmingly positive.  

“People were eager to step in. When we had some late hamper registration show-ups, people were asking, ‘How can we help?’ and ‘Where do you need help?’ We had lots of willing hands.” 

Niverville Helping Hands Food Bank Christmas Hamper program is unique from other communities. Sandulak explained how it works:  

“Families who need a hamper register with us, and then other families register to sponsor them. We send the asking-families information to the ‘sponsoring’ families, who then shop for the kids, donate towards the food portion, and we purchase and pack everything. It’s very personalized. The sponsoring family goes out, picks out the gifts, wraps them, and includes cards. They take complete ownership of the family they’re sponsoring.” 

Sandulak says that the hampers weren’t just for Niverville residents.  

“We had families from New Bothwell, Niverville, and a few from Ste. Agathe.”

Looking ahead, the food bank will continue to rely on community support. 

“Our shelves are looking pretty good right now, thanks to lots of donations. But, of course, we always need help throughout the year.” 

Sandulak says financial donations are always appreciated and can be made by e-transfer to [email protected]. These funds help fill in gaps, purchase things like eggs, milk, and meat, and even support local seniors participating in community lunches. 

The holiday season may be wrapping up, but Niverville Helping Hands Food Bank’s work continues, with the community’s generous support making a real difference. 

A teacher from Richer School has returned home with incredible memories after competing in the DIBF (Deaf International Basketball Federation) 3x3 World Cup in Washington, D.C. 

Graham Bodnar, a member of the Canadian 3x3 Deaf National Basketball Team, played in the tournament from December 11 to 14. The event featured 19 teams from 15 countries, all vying for top honours on the international stage. 

The road to the tournament wasn’t without challenges. Originally scheduled for 2022 in Israel, the team had to withdraw after an injury to a teammate.

“It was quite disappointing to say the least, so you can imagine my excitement when I found out that we would have the opportunity to participate this time around,” Bodnar said. 

Preparation included months of individual training and a group training in Montreal in October. “As a team made up of four players from different provinces in Canada, we came together for one main training camp,” he explained. 

A tough start but progress made 

The Canadian team faced a difficult start. “We found ourselves in a pool with some excellent teams and due to our lack of time and experience together, we initially struggled to play with much chemistry in the first couple of days,” Bodnar said. 

Despite the challenges, the team showed resilience.

“After the very tough start in our pool play, we eventually started to play much better as a team and ended up finishing in 11th place out of 19 teams with wins over teams from Puerto Rico, Sweden, and Slovenia,” he said. 

Playing at this level was a unique experience. “Because it is a World Championship, these countries take a lot of pride in what place they finish in and as a result, there are truly no easy games and we understood we were getting the best effort from every team we faced,” he added. 

Highlights on and off the court 

Bodnar had some memorable moments, both during the competition and off the court. “An on the court highlight from the trip actually came at the very end,” he shared. “My coach let me know that I had finished second overall in scoring for the entire tournament that included 71 players. I’ll be honest that I didn’t feel like I had been playing very well, especially as our team struggled to win some of those earlier games, so it was a reassuring feeling to know that I had done a little bit better than I originally thought.” 

Off the court, Bodnar enjoyed connecting with athletes from around the world. “Because all of the teams were staying in the same hotel and eating all of our meals at the same place, there was a lot of time to interact with the players from the other teams,” he said. “It’s an amazing thing that despite being from different countries and living very different lives in a lot of ways, the game of basketball is the common experience that brings us together in that moment and allows us to build relationships that we most likely wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to do.” 

Bringing lessons home 

As Bodnar returns to work at Richer School, he continues to inspire students.

“The support from students and staff at our school continues to be awesome,” he said. “I definitely make a point of sharing the lessons that I’ve been so fortunate to learn over the years and continually encourage our students that they too should be aiming to set personal goals and pursue their passions.” 

Looking forward to making history in Japan 

While there are no immediate plans for the 3x3 team, Bodnar is focusing on the Canadian 5-on-5 Deaf National Team, “which has a lot to get ready for in this upcoming year,” he said.

“Two years ago, we attended the Deaf Pan American Basketball Championships in Argentina, which SteinbachOnline reported on at that time. As a result of our finish at that tournament, our team qualified for what is known as the Deaflympics, the highest level they have in Deaf Sport, and we will attend the 25th Summer Deaflympics next November in Japan. This marks the first time that Canada has qualified in Men’s Basketball in 40 years, so we are extremely excited to be a part of it.” 

For many, Christmas is a time of celebration but for those staying at Agape House, a shelter in the Southeast that offers support to survivors of domestic violence, the holidays are bittersweet.  

Outreach and Housing Counceller Lisa Fast shares that a lot of guests at the shelter have fled a situation and are coming in with pretty much nothing.  

“Starting over is incredibly hard, especially when you don’t have a lot, and financial support is really difficult. Christmas can be an especially difficult time for our clients.” 

To make the season brighter, the team at Agape House work to bring holiday cheer to women and children staying in the shelter. 

“We really like to just try and make things special for them over the holidays because we know it’s hard. They're in an unfamiliar space. They're in a shelter and far away from their home or friends or family.” 

Throughout the month of December, Fast says they plan to do crafts, baking, and other activities to get the women and children in the Christmas spirit and think less about other things going on in their lives.  

“Christmas day, the staff put together food and presents. We get some very generous donations over the holidays for the clients, so we're able to give them those gifts. Clients are also sometimes interested in cooking, so we have everyone together, making some sort of dinner and doing activities for Christmas.” 

Agape House asks the children in the shelter to put together a Christmas list for Santa to make sure they get something special over the holiday season.  

Fast asks for the community's help in donating some gifts.  

For those interested in donating a gift or making a monetary donation, call (204) 326-6062 or email [email protected]. 

“If people want to reach out, I'm happy to go and pick those things up,” Fast adds.  

Local Crisis Line – 1-204-346-0028 

Provincial Crisis Line – 1-877-977-0007 

With files from Carly Koop 

The City of Steinbach has approved its 2025 fee schedule, including some changes to keep up with rising costs. One of the most notable increases is the fee for residential development. 

City Manager Troy Warkentin explained why this particular fee is going up.

“When there is a subdivision or variance or that kind of land use review and approval which requires the registration of a document such as a development agreement on a title, the city charges a fee to the applicant or the developer to do so because there are fees associated with it. The last time that fee was adjusted was 2017. Legal and registration fees have increased over time, and we are now proposing that fee be increased to $1,250.” 

That’s a $500 increase from the current administration fee for residential development.  

“It is solely just to reflect the actual costs that the city has to pay in order to proceed with that registration,” Warkentin added. 

Other fees have also been adjusted, many by about 2.5 to 3 per cent, to match inflation and rising expenses. 

While there won’t be any increase in fees for city services such as lottery licenses and marriage licenses, there will be some changes to admission fees at the Aquatic Centre. Fees will not change for swimming lessons, however, there will be an increase in admission for public swimming as well as Aquacise classes. 

There will also be an increase in some rental fees of park facilities and soccer pitches. 

Deputy Mayor Michael Zwaagstra made the motion to approve the fee schedule, noting its importance for responsible city management. 

“The purpose with the fees here is to ensure the City recovers our costs,” he said. “One of the key reasons that some of the fees have increased is because simply the cost of providing some of these services has gone up. And so, we want to make sure that we are being responsible with our tax dollars and ensuring that we are operating on a cost recovery basis with our fees.” 

The motion was seconded by Councillor Jac Siemens and passed by council. The new fees will take effect in January. 

This holiday season, a plethora of local churches or faith groups will be holding Christmas services, ceremonies, mass, and more to celebrate the special time.

The first of the services was a Blue Christmas service, held yesterday evening at the East Side Church of God. The Blue Christmas service was a unique experience to honour lost loved ones and give hope during such a nostalgic time of the year.

Monday, December 23, will be the ninth and final of the Novena Masses for this year's Simbang Gabi.

For December 24, Saint Anne's Catholic Church in Gull Lake will host Christmas Eve mass beginning at 4:30 p.m. while Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Cabri begins their mass at 8:00 p.m. 

Maple Creek Family Church has a pre-recorded service, accesible on their website or through YouTube. Back in Swift Current, Zion Mennonite Church holds their Christmas Eve candelight service at 7:00 p.m. 

The Church of the Open Bible will have a Christmas Eve service at 6:30 p.m. and First United Church will kick off their service at 7:00 p.m. 

Also on Christmas Eve, the Community Baptist Church will hold a service at 7:00 p.m.. At the same time, Trailview Alliance is set to have several Christmas Eve services including one at 10:30 a.m., another at 5:00 p.m., and a final service at 6:30 p.m. 

Saint Olaf Lutheran Church, Christ the Redeemer Parish, and Grace Community Church in Herbert will each have a Christmas Eve service beginning around 7:00 p.m. 

On Christmas Day, Saint Olaf Lutheran Church will hold a service at 10:30 a.m. and Christ the Redeemer Parish is set to host a Christmas Day mass at 10:00 a.m.

For those who are interested, a handful of local churches will also be gearing up for their New Year's Eve services.

For more information about a service, contact the specific church.

SaskPower’s Great Plains Power Station, which began construction just outside Moose Jaw in March of 2021, is now officially complete and supplying 370 megawatts to Saskatchewan’s power grid. 

The power plant’s completion was marked with an onsite ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, and the unveiling of a specially commissioned painting by Moose Jaw artist Patti Lewis, titled Powering the Prairies.  

Artist Patti Lewis helps unveil her specially commissioned painting 'Powering the Prairies' at the Great Plains Power Station official dedication Dec. 2024

The ceremony was attended by many dignitaries, including Mayor James Murdock and members of Moose Jaw City Council, MLAs Tim McLeod and Megan Patterson, SaskPower president and CEO Rupen Pandya, Elder Larry Oakes from Nekaneet Cree First Nation, project manager Ken Wakelam, director of southern Natural Gas generation Curtis Granger, and Darcy Wagner, manager director of Burns & McDonnell Canada. 

“This is an exciting day for Moose Jaw,” Mayor Murdock said. “Almost four-and-a-half years in the making, and to think, last evening at 9:30 it was officially turned over to Great Plains and SaskPower. It was a really nice feeling driving out here this morning and seeing the vapour going straight up. 

“As they stated during the announcement and the ribbon-cutting, that’s 25 full-time jobs as a result of this project. And over the years of its construction, too, at peak times there were over 600 workers out here, and the spin-offs for Moose Jaw’s economy were just tremendous. This is going to be a great partnership with the city for decades to come.” 

Seventy per cent of workers on the project were from Saskatchewan, including 13 per cent from Moose Jaw. More than 300 Saskatchewan companies contributed to building the combined-cycle natural gas-fired station. 

Construction included the following: 

• 11,200 cubic meters of concrete 
• 3,400 metric tonnes of steel 
• 20,000+ metres of pipe 
• 200,000 metres of cable 

A control room worker supervises operation of the plant's combined-cycle natural gas and steam generator turbines (photo by Gordon Edgar)

Tim McLeod, minister of justice and attorney general, said the plant represents a step forward in the province’s development of a sustainable, clean power grid. SaskPower will continue adding thousands of megawatts of solar and wind power to our power grid, McLeod noted, but those renewable sources of energy need a reliable baseline to back them up, and natural gas power plants will provide that reliable baseline for decades.

Burns & McDonnell were the engineering, procurement, and construction partner on the project. B&M CEO Leslie Duke said they were proud to partner with SaskPower. 

“The Great Plains Power Station is designed to optimize power output, enhance energy efficiency, and significantly reduce emissions, contributing to a cleaner and reliable energy system.” 

Before the ceremony, media were led on a complete tour of the fully operational power plant by project manager Ken Wakelam. Although he had notes, Wakelam recited almost all of the plant’s specifications from memory. 

Project manager Ken Wakelam leads a media tour at the Great Plains Power Station official dedication Dec. 2024 (photos by Gordon Edgar)

“We’re very, very proud to have the facility complete,” Wakelam said. “There were many problems to work through on a day-to-day basis, so to get to this phase of the project, where it’s turned over to operations staff and operating reliably, it’s just a huge sense of relief and a huge sense of accomplishment.” 

Rupen Pandya acknowledged everyone who had worked on the plant, especially congratulating workers on a site safety culture that resulted in zero days lost to injury. 

“The demand for power will continue to rise as electrification increases and the economy grows,” Pandya said. “Natural gas generation provides a reliable 24/7 power supply that will enable us to meet this challenge.” 

Learn more at SaskPower.ca/GreatPlains.

A Regina woman bought her first nutcracker in 1962, just after getting married. Since then she has garnered more than 100 nutcracker's that add to her yearly Christmas décor.

A Victoria man who was charged in connection with a series of events in February of 2023 received a nine-month conditional sentence in court this week.

Thirty-three-year-old Justin Joseph Melvin King was sentenced in provincial court in Harbour Grace last week.

King was convicted of flight from police, dangerous driving, and resisting arrest.

King also received a 24-month probation order and was fined $8,930. He’s also prohibited from driving for 75 months.

Questions are swirling about how much gas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has left in the tank as Liberal leader.  Trudeau’s facing growing calls from within his party caucus to step down after Chrystia Freeland’s bombshell resignation as finance minister at the beginning of the week.  Trudeau shuffled his cabinet days later, saying his team is squarely focused on Canada-US relations ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next month.  Trump has threatened massive tariffs on Canadian goods when he returns to the White House.

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — German authorities received a warning last year about the suspected perpetrator in a car attack at a Christmas market, a government office said Sunday as more details emerged about the five people killed in the attack.

“This was taken seriously, like every other of the numerous tips,” the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said Sunday on X about the tip it said it received in the late summer of last year.

But the office also noted that it is not an investigative authority and that it referred the information to the responsible authorities, following the procedure in such cases. It gave no other details about the suspect or the nature of the warnings.

Police in Magdeburg, the central city where the attack took place on Friday evening, said Sunday that those who died were four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy they had spoken of a day earlier.

Authorities said 200 people were injured, including 41 in serious condition. They were being treated in multiple hospitals in Magdeburg, which is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, and beyond.

Authorities have identified the suspect in the Magdeburg attack as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.

The suspect was on Saturday evening brought before a judge, who behind closed doors ordered that he be kept in custody pending a possible indictment.

Police haven’t publicly named the suspect, but several German news outlets identified him as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.

Describing himself as an ex-Muslim, the suspect appears to have been an active user of the social media platform X, sharing dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who had left the faith.

He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he referred to as the “Islamification of Europe.” He also appears to have been a supporter of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.

The horror triggered by yet another act of mass violence in Germany make it likely that migration will remain a key issue as German heads toward an early election on Feb. 23.

Right-wing figures from across Europe have criticized German authorities for having allowed high levels of migration in the past and for what they see as security failures now.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is known for a strong anti-migration position going back years, used the attack in Germany to lash out at the European Union’s migration policies and described it as a “terrorist act.”

At an annual press conference in Budapest on Saturday, Orbán insisted that “there is no doubt that there is a link between the changed world in Western Europe, the migration that flows there, especially illegal migration and terrorist acts.”

Orbán vowed to “fight back” against the EU migration policies “because Brussels wants Magdeburg to happen to Hungary, too.”

___

Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Bálint Dömötör contributed from Budapest.

Michael Probst And Vanessa Gera, The Associated Press

Canada Post has been making deliveries this weekend in select cities.  The postal service has processed its backlog of parcels from the month-long strike and is now trying to get more items to doors in time for Christmas.   But it says Canadians should still expect domestic package delays into the new year.  Thousands of workers went back on the job earlier this week after the labour board ordered an end to the strike — with no new agreement in sight for Canada Post and the union.

In the NHL on Saturday, some of the highlights include the Maple Leafs losing 6-3 to the Islanders; Montreal beat Detroit 5-1; and Boston downed Buffalo 3-1.

NFL action on Saturday saw Kansas City beat Houston 27-19, and Baltimore dump Pittsburgh 34-17.

There’s live harness racing today with a rescheduled program at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.  The 13-dash program has a 12:30 P.M. opening post time.

Saturday’s Scoreboard

NHL

Ottawa 5 Vancouver 4 (OT)

Edmonton 3 San Jose 2 (OT)

N.Y. Islanders 6 Toronto 3

Calgary 6 Chicago 4

Montreal 5 Detroit 1

Winnipeg 5 Minnesota 0

Nashville 3 Los Angeles 2

Boston 3 Buffalo 1

Philadelphia 5 Columbus 4 (OT)

New Jersey 3 Pittsburgh 0

Vegas 6 Seattle 2

—

PWHL

Montreal 4 Toronto 3 (OT)

—

AHL

Toronto 7 Hershey 3

Belleville 5 Springfield 2

Tucson 4 Abbotsford 2

Charlotte 6 Bridgeport 2

Colorado 5 San Diego 3

WB/Scranton 7 Lehigh Valley 2

Texas 4 Milwaukee 0

Hartford 4 Providence 2

Chicago 4 Iowa 1

Bakersfield 4 San Jose 2

Ontario 4 Coachella Valley 2

—

NBA

L.A. Lakers 103 Sacramento 99

Detroit 133 Phoenix 125

Orlando 121 Miami 114

Memphis 128 Atlanta 112

Utah 105 Brooklyn 94

Boston 123 Chicago 98

Cleveland 126 Philadelphia 99

New York 104 New Orleans 93

Milwaukee 112 Washington 101

Golden State 113 Minnesota 103

Dallas 113 L.A. Clippers 97

San Antonio 114 Portland 94

—

NFL

Kansas City 27 Houston 19

Baltimore 34 Pittsburgh 17

—

NLL

Saskatchewan 14 Rochester 12

Colorado 19 Halifax 14

Georgia 11 San Diego 8

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The death toll from stampedes during two Christmas charity events in Nigeria has increased from 13 to 32, police said Sunday. The victims, including at least four children, collapsed during crowd surges as people grew desperate for food items while the country grapples with the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.

The dead included 22 people in southeastern Anambra state’s Okija town, where a philanthropist on Saturday organized a food distribution, local police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said. Ten others died in the capital, Abuja, during a church-organized similar charity event.

Police said they were investigating the two incidents, only days after another stampede in which several children were killed.

Africa’s most populous country is seeing a growing trend by local organizations, churches and individuals to organize charity events ahead of Christmas to ease economic hardship caused by a cost-of-living crisis.

Witnesses of the Abuja stampede told The Associated Press there was a crowd surge at one of the church gates, as dozens tried to enter the premises at around 4 a.m., hours before gift items were to be shared.

Some of them, including older people, waited overnight to get food, said Loveth Inyang, who rescued one baby from the crush.

The stampedes prompted growing calls for authorities to enforce safety measures at such events. Nigerian police also mandated that organizers obtain prior permission.

Dyepkazah Shibayan, The Associated Press