A man in his 30s has died following a motorcycle crash in downtown Ottawa that took place in the early hours of Saturday morning. Ottawa Police said that the single-vehicle collision occurred at the intersection of Colonel By Drive near Rideau Street. The investigation remains ongoing and the Police Service is still open to information from any witnesses who have not yet reached them. No further details have yet been released on the nature of the incident, including crash-related damages, the state of the man just prior to the incident, and anyone else who may have been involved.
An Alta Vista man is grateful after his custom-made bike was recovered after having been stolen last month. The bike was discovered behind a Tim Hortons on Lancaster Road by a recycling business owner retrieving waste there. He had heard of the missing bike and was able to have it identified, with the help of Ottawa Police, as the one belonging to owner Kevin Shaw, who is living with cerebral palsy and had the bike custom-made several years ago for his mobility. The suspect, captured by the Police Service in photos, is still at large; meanwhile, Shaw is encouraging generous people who were willing to fund a replacement bike to instead support other good causes in his honour.
In a world of growing concerns related to disinformation, a shrinking of the number of news outlets, and important news stories going untold, news poverty is a reality in certain Canadian communities who may or may not realize it. Canadian Heritage, a branch of the federal government, kicked off a project late last year that would see the creation of a comprehensive news outlet directory across Canada to help address this issue concerning “news deserts”: areas which have inadequate local news coverage. Major markets–with Ottawa implied–may have well-known outlets assisting with breaking news, but, as observed by project team member April Lindgren of Toronto Metropolitan University, “the newsrooms are so diminished that it’s very hit-and-miss what they pick up on.” With the help of AI to review and populate the list of local news outlets in a proof-of-concept, the federal project is now applying the technology towards communities in Ontario and Quebec, as the second phase within a multi-year plan.
