Six stories in the news for today, July 14

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B.C. FIREFIGHTERS BRACE FOR WIND-WHIPPED FLAMES

Despite a slight break in the weather in recent days, crews battling the B.C. wildfires are now preparing for winds to pick up over the weekend. The Cariboo Fire Centre says this could fuel dozens of fires across the Interior region of the province. The province declared a state of emergency last week and more than 16,000 people have been evacuated, with thousands more on alert.

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LUMBER PRICES UP AFTER B.C. WILDFIRES

The B.C. wildfires that have forced some sawmills to close have resulted in a boost in lumber prices at a time when forestry companies have been squeezed by U.S. softwood duties. The benchmark price of Western spruce-pine-fir lumber has risen 5.5 per cent to US$400 per thousand board feet in less than a week. Ketan Mamtora, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets, says he expects prices will rise between six and eight per cent over the next couple of weeks, partly due to a limited supply.

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CALGARY POLICE INVESTIGATE QUADRUPLE HOMICIDE

A man and two sisters found dead in a burned-out car may not have been the intended targets in what Calgary police say was a brutal and ruthless quadruple homicide. Investigators are exploring the possibility that Cody Pfeiffer, 25, Glynnis Fox, 36, and Tiffany Ear, 39, were “simply at the wrong place and at the wrong time with the wrong people.” Their bodies were found Monday in a burned-out car and police believe the vehicle’s owner, Hanock Afowerk, 26, was the target.

SENTENCING FOR DRUNK DRIVER WHO KILLED MOUNTIE

A man who killed a mother of two when his truck rammed into her RCMP cruiser while driving drunk and speeding will be sentenced by a court near Victoria today. Court heard Kenneth Fenton had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit when he ran a red light, hitting Const. Sarah Beckett’s cruiser broadside. Fenton pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death for the April 2016 crash.

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SENTENCING EXPECTED TODAY FOR ANDREA GIESBRECHT

The case of a Winnipeg woman convicted of hiding the remains of six infants in a rented storage locker will be back in court today. Judge Murray Thompson is scheduled to deliver the sentence for Andrea Giesbrecht, 43, but may also hear a motion by her lawyer, who wants the case thrown out because it took 33 months to conclude.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY:

— Michelle Rice to appear in Edmonton court, charged with second-degree murder in the death of her daughter, 11, from a meth overdose.

— Representatives of the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Legacy Room initiative make an announcement today in Halifax.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Six stories in the news for today, July 14

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