Battlefords News-Optimist

A man charged with manslaughter in relation to the death of 27-year-old Ryan Gatzke in 2019 has elected to be tried by judge alone in Battleford Court of Queen’s Bench.

A house on the 2300 block of 100th Street north of Territorial Drive was destroyed by fire Thursday in North Battleford. This is the aftermath of the blaze, as firefighters watched over the site once the flames were extinguished.

A man was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison for shooting at RCMP pursing him and four others on Onion Lake Cree Nation New Year’s Day. Danny Lee Weeseekase pleaded guilty today in Lloydminster Provincial Court.

John Cairns’ Leg Watch

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to loom large at the latest Living Sky school board meeting held virtually on Wednesday. Director of education Brenda Vickers provided trustees with an update on two items of importance.

From the province: More farmers have been able to get out into the field this week. Seeding is up from nine per cent last week to 38 per cent this week. This is well ahead of the five-year average (2016-2020) of 22 per cent.

Light of Christ School Division has been honouring its long serving staff members this month and a number of them are at John Paul II Collegiate in North Battleford.

Adopted for 2021-25

A Biggar man facing charges of sexual assault, sexual exploitation, making sexually explicit materials available to a child, transmit or distribute sexually explicit material to a child, and touching a child for a sexual purpose, was released on bail

Vaccines Reported An additional 6,737 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 537,044.