Back in the early 2000s, Omaha’s 311 was on a real roll, selling lots of records, playing plenty of gigs, and making their share of big-budget music videos.

In 2001, they managed to get Shaquille O’Neal for a cameo in the video for their song You Wouldn’t Believe. At the time, O’Neal was playing for the LA Lakers and the team was in the middle of a playoff run. The team stipulated that O’Neal was not to play any basketball outside of official games and practices for fear that he might get hurt.

But 311 convinced him to play a little hoops in this video, completely in contravention of orders from the Lakers. There was an added complication.

For some reason, O’Neal showed up with two left shoes. Where was anyone going to get a pair of size 22 basketball shoes at short notice? Nowhere. Shaq still agreed to appear in the video—but if anyone filmed his feet, he promised that he’d sue.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Being on tour as Nirvana must have been a pretty intense thing. There were all those nights where Kurt (and sometimes the rest of the band) smashed all their gear onstage. The label had granted the band a $750 equipment allowance when the band went on tour, but given the amount of gear that was trashed, that didn’t go very far.

Hotel rooms and dressing rooms also suffered, often using fire extinguishers in ways they were not intended.

Then there was the time one of their tour vans almost went up in flames. Kurt, who was often keen on using destruction to alleviate his boredom, was giving an interview with a journalist and apparently got bored. So he set the van’s curtains on fire.

The flames were put out before there was some real damage, but the label was not impressed.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

WARNING: Some details in this story are disturbing. Discretion is advised.

A teen girl and her mom are speaking out Monday about what they say is a vicious case of bullying

“It’s been very stressful and it’s impacted me a lot,” the victim, who cannot be identified due to her age, told Global News.

“Like, I can’t leave my house. I just sit at home all day. I have a couple of tears here and there because I don’t know what to do with myself just sitting at home and not being able to do anything without worrying that someone’s going to come up behind me any moment and hurt me.”

On Saturday night, she said she was walking with two friends near Pitt Meadows Secondary School when she said a group of girls started running up to them, chasing them and finally physically assaulting her.

“And then I got slapped, and I blacked out and fell to the ground,” she said, adding that she had a glass bottle thrown at her back, which then shattered across her lower neck.

Part of the incident was filmed and the video shows the victim on the ground surrounded by several other girls yelling at her and kicking and punching her.

The victim said her head was smacked into the pavement and the attack left her with a concussion and several fractures.

“I have a fractured left shoulder, a fractured back. I have a fractured chest, like chest and neck, and I have a concussion and minor brain damage.”

The victim told Global News the bullying behaviour has been going on since September and she is now home-schooled as she is too scared to go to school.

“I can’t leave my house without my mom with me or a big adult with me because … something can occur at any moment,” she said.

Ridge Meadows RCMP have been called and the victim said they have been in contact.

“I honestly thought I wasn’t going to make it,” she said. “I had an officer tell me that if I didn’t get away in time, I would have. Most likely it would have been a different trip to the house for him.”

The victim’s mother said she was called by her daughter and all she could hear was a “blood-curdling scream.”

“I could hear her screaming and crying and she said, ‘Mom, I’m going to die’,” the mother said. “And she just — I just, I lost it because I’m not there and I have no control.“

She said she couldn’t rush over there due to two other little kids at home but she called her sister who lives close by so she could go and help and pick up her daughter.

“And then finally, I do have an app that tracks her. So I knew she was moving,” she added. “So I knew she was on her way home. But it was just — I didn’t know what to expect when she walked in the door. I had no idea what she was going to look like. I was quite surprised that she didn’t have as many surface wounds that were visible then. But she was a mess.”

The mother said her daughter struggles to sleep every night, she has high anxiety and she worries that her mental health is going to suffer because she is forced to sit at home all the time.

But she also wanted to speak out to let others know they are not alone.

“I’m concerned for all the kids that are in her position just simply because of the fact that they’re so young,” she said. “They don’t really have the mental coping mechanisms to process situations this violent. And they’re triggering such traumatic responses in them that they’re constantly living in fight or flight mode. And they’re always on survival mode. They’re tired, they have anxiety and they’re just not getting to be kids anymore.”

Kal Dosanjh, the CEO and founder of KidsPlay Foundation, works to get youth involved in sports and recreation activities as a way to build confidence and leadership skills.

He told Global News that the family has reached to them and they have worked together in the past.

“To have a child that has experienced something so tremendously violent and impactful, it has a ripple effect not just on the child physically and mentally, but more firmly on the family as well,” he said. “And we’ve seen significant examples of this.

“As a parent, I can’t even imagine what my child would be going through if they experienced something similar to that. Essentially, where they show up to a particular location, they’re jumped by multiple assailants at the same time, left with very serious injuries and that child is now scared to leave the house. And as a parent, I would be concerned if my child is out there that they could get jumped and attacked again any time.”

In April, a Surrey teenager received an 18-month conditional sentence for their part in an assault of a teenager in Surrey in May 2022.

The youth involved was the third suspect to be sentenced in connection with the incident and had pleaded guilty to assault.

The first youth suspect received their sentence on Jan. 11, 2023, after pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm and another charge of breach of release.

“After receiving credit for 161 days of pre-sentence time, the offender was placed on an intensive support and supervision order for 18 months with 18 months less and one day of probation to follow,” BC Prosecution Service staff said in an email in January.

On Jan. 27, the second youth suspect received their sentence after pleading guilty to assault.

They received a conditional 18-month discharge.

“I think what’s fuelling it is the advent of social media has definitely poured fuel on the fire. Essentially these kids have cellphones where they’re recording and releasing live footage on various social media platforms,” Dosanjh said.

“And these kids that are watching it, they think it’s a pure source of entertainment. Well, there’s nothing entertaining about the fact that somebody’s being assaulted, let alone the fact that you should have a moral and social obligation, and responsibility, to notify law enforcement when you witness something (like) that.”

He added that this behaviour of kids luring victims, jumping them, assaulting them and videotaping the incident is on the verge of an epidemic.

“But in the same vein, there’s some solace in consultation with the fact that law enforcement agencies are taking it seriously and there are charges being pursued and these kids are being held accountable for their actions,” he said.

Dosanjh recommends parents get the help their kids need and reach out to organizations that offer help and support for a child who has been bullied or attacked and traumatized.

“The Kids Play Foundation and many other organizations out there have held multiple forums and presentations in the past dealing specifically with cyberbullying,” he said.

That cyberbullying can lead to physical attacks, Dosanjh added, and parents need to be involved in their child’s life and talk to them and encourage open communication.

“We’ve always encouraged parents to get involved, talk to their kids,” he said. “And if your child is experiencing something to that effect, have that line of communication. Give that child the help that they need. Bring it to the attention of school administrators or in cases where it’s relevant to law enforcement.”

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A group of scuba divers are still in disbelief after a close encounter with a bluntnose sixgill shark in waters south of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island late last month.

The sharks appeared from the depths of the Alberni Inlet as the divers explored a wreck together. It swam among them slowly for several minutes that were caught on camera in the light of their underwater flashlights.

“When we first saw it, there was a lot of excitement. For me personally, it was just a matter of, ‘I gotta get the camera on, because if I don’t film this, no one is going to believe us,'” recalled dive master Matteo Endrizzi.

“That’s a big shark, kind of surreal,” added Connor McTavish, who saw the shark first. “It was such a bit of fear, but amazement. It was such a beautiful thing to see.”

The bluntnose sixgill shark — also known as a cow shark — tends to live in deep waters, which makes human encounters rare, Endrizzi said.

According to Environment Canada’s profile of the animal, it has six gill slits instead of the usual five, along with six rows of large lower teeth and smaller pointed upper teeth. Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Department also says they can grow to 18 feet in length and weigh up to 1,300 pounds, and live as long as 80 years.

Cow sharks are known to appear off the coast of Vancouver Island and around Puget Sound, and while their population in Canadian waters is unknown, estimates based on tagging studies suggest there are at least 7,900 of them.

Endrizzi said there were about 40 divers in the Alberni Inlet at the end of May, but none saw the shark.

“I was talking to one diver who’s been diving for over 20 years and has over 2,000 dives, and been down very deep — more than most divers — so you would think he would have the best chance of seeing one of these rare sharks, and he’s never seen one,” he said.

“He was quite jealous when he found out that’s indeed what we saw.”

While the divers aren’t sure why the creature had risen from the depths to see them, after reviewing their footage multiple times, they believe it was “curious” about their flashlights.

“It kind of came to my light, then went over to Garrett’s and came back to mine, and just kind of circled in between us,” Endrizzi said.

“It’s not known to be an aggressive shark. From what we can tell, it’s a juvenile.”

The group has notified Fisheries and Oceans Canada of the sighting, remarking on a lack of research on bluntnose sixgill sharks in Canadian waters.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A Calgary toddler was taken to hospital after a dog bite on Monday evening.

An Alberta Health Services EMS spokesperson confirmed to Global News a 19-month-old toddler was bitten in the face near Sage Hill Row and Sage Hill Crescent in northwest Calgary.

The incident happened just after 5 p.m. on Monday, according to EMS.

The spokesperson did not provide details about the severity of the injuries.

More to come…

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

In the strongest show of force seen on the trip so far, Canadian, Japanese, Australian and American ships have all sailed together toward new missions in the East China Sea.

The MV Asterix, a Canadian navy refuelling ship, led the formation as helicopters buzzed over top, photographing the mission. As Lt.-Cmdr. Scott Richard Colbourne, executive officer of HMCS Montreal described it, the show demonstrated “our interoperability, our capabilities together and the fact we’re willing together as one group.”

Meanwhile, photobombing in the background were three Chinese warships.

Good evening from HMCS Montreal!

We've left the Taiwan Strait and headed into the East China Sea but the busy seas we saw, when a Chinese ship cut off USS Chung-Hoon, followed us the as we continued our journey.

Here's my latest report, which includes Dolphins! #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/6AFoyxijl3

— Mackenzie Gray (@Gray_Mackenzie) June 5, 2023

Colbourne says their presence was “not an impediment” to what the allied ships were doing.

But two days ago in the Taiwan Strait, their impact was significant.

A Chinese warship came within 150 yards of hitting American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon on Saturday during a rare joint Canada-U.S. mission sailing through the Taiwan Strait, the latest aggressive military move from Beijing in the South China Sea.

Global News has been travelling on HMCS Montreal since May 25 in the South China Sea and witnessed the near collision from the bridge wing of the ship.

A People’s Liberation Navy ship picked up considerable speed and cut in front of the bow of the Chung-Hoon, a manoeuvre HMCS Montreal’s commander, Capt. Paul Mountford, called “not professional.”

When the Chinese vessel altered its course, Mountford says the crew called the American ship and told it to move or there would be a collision. The Americans responded by asking the Chinese to stay clear of the ship, but the Chung-Hoon ultimately needed to alter course and slow down to avoid a crash.

The U.S. navy on Sunday night released new footage of that close encounter with the Chinese warship — one that retired vice-admiral Mark Norman, a 39-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy and former commander of the fleet, called “clearly provocative.”

“This was not an accident,” he said in an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson.

The Chinese ship is part of the world’s largest navy, estimated to have 340 warships. That recently surpassed the U.S. and dwarfs the 30 ships the Canadian Navy has.

The Chinese naval build-up and other military drills have the West concerned about a potential invasion of Taiwan, just across the very waters HMCS Montreal sailed.

Beijing views the democratically governed island as a breakaway territory and despite the Chinese Communist Party never controlling Taiwan, the Pentagon believes Chinese President Xi Jinping could order an attack as soon as 2027.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said on four occasions the Americans would defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack. Defence Minister Anita Anand was less clear in an interview with Global News when asked directly whether Canada would defend Taiwan if China invades.

“Canada respects the one-China policy. At the same time, we have a very large Taiwanese diaspora in Canada and we have strong trade ties with Taiwan, and those are two areas that we will continue to augment, to work on, because they are so important to our country,” she said.

“We are concerned, however, by China’s military activity in the vicinity of Taiwan, and we urge China to resolve differences through peaceful means.”

In a followup question, Anand was asked whether Canada would support U.S. military action to defend Taiwan.

“Well, as I mentioned, we do adhere to the one-China policy, and our policy vis-a-vis China is set out in the Indo-Pacific strategy, where we will challenge China where we must and co-operate where we need to. We want to avoid conflict,” she said.

“We want to promote peace and stability and the rules-based international order. And that’s what we will continue to do through tangible contributions.”

She added: “The secretary of defense of the United States was very clear about this, too. We need to avoid conflict.”

Lloyd Austin had warned in a speech to the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore that a war over Taiwan would be “devastating.”

“Conflict is neither imminent nor inevitable,” Austin said on Saturday. “Deterrence is strong today – and it’s our job to keep it that way. The whole world has a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

The Montreal is scheduled to head to port in Okinawa, Japan shortly, which is where the Global News team will get off the ship and head home. But most of the sailors won’t be able to say the same thing until October, when the ship arrives back in Halifax.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Local officials gathered on Tuesday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new organic composting facility at the Oliver, B.C., landfill.

The facility is almost ready to begin the composting process, however, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) still has to install some pipes.

“We just did a ribbon-cutting on the compost facility — one of the benefits of it, is it’s extending the life of the landfill in my understanding, which is really important,” said the Mayor of Oliver Martin Johansen.

“It helps people lighten up the demand on their pocketbooks and help some environmental side. So, it’s a pretty awesome project. I’m excited and congratulations to the team to help make it happen,” said MLA for Boundary-Similkameen Roly Russell.

The facility is designed to take yard waste that the landfill currently takes in but doesn’t compost.

According to RDOS Solid Waste Senior Manager, Andrew Reeder, the RDOS is looking into curbside collection in the future for food waste that can be composted alongside yard waste.

“Usually, it goes either up north to a place where it’s burned or part of our landfill here operations. This will help divert quite a bit of waste. In the future, we’re looking at diverting about 26 per cent of our organics that might be going into our landfill or more,” said Reeder.

“Curbside collection system for food waste, that will be brought here amongst with our yard waste, and all that together be composted together. Then we’ll be creating a product that we can sell.”

The facility will process compost through various stages of curing.

The end compost product will meet organic certified standards that can be used anywhere and will be available for the public to purchase.

“It started off just as a means to divert waste and really the big thing with it was expanding the life of our landfill. And by doing this, we can extend the life of our landfill by about 26 per cent — that was the real impetus behind where the project started,” said Reeder.

“From a greenhouse gas perspective, this is a way to really help reduce waste as well and I think we’re looking at about 14 per cent as a total reduction in greenhouse gases from the Oliver and Area C areas.”

Meanwhile, the project was largely funded by the Province’s Organics Infrastructure program, which provided $800,000 of the total cost of $1.9 million.

The program is cost-shared by the Government of Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund, the provincial government, and the Regional District.

“Well needed composting system to extend the life of value all over landfill, it will give us considerably more life,” said RDOS Area C Director Rick Knodel.

“It’s been done quite nicely with a minimum load on the taxpayer — actually, there is no load at this point. So, anything that’s no burden to the taxpayer at this point in life is a good thing.”

The compost facility is expected to be fully up and running within the next month.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The dream of getting accepted into an Ivy League school has become a reality for one Kingston, Ont., high school student.

With the school year winding down, many students are counting down the days.

For Loyalist Collegiate and Vocational School student Addison Wu, the end of the term will mean the end of his four years at LCVI.

The Kingston teen’s next chapter will unfold at one of the most prestigious schools in the world.

“I would have never imagined getting into Princeton in a million years,” said Wu, who is set to head to the Ivy League in the fall.

Wu will become one of the few students from LCVI to ever enrol in the private Ivy League university.

While Wu might not have seen this coming, there’s at least one person who did

“I wasn’t that surprised because Addison probably ranks in the top 1 per cent of students I’ve ever taught,” said LCVI teacher, Jo-Anne Riley.

Riley has been teaching Wu math since Grade 9, an experience the veteran teacher isn’t taking for granted

“Kids like Addison are amazing to work with. They’re fun, they’re passionate about mathematics and they love to learn,” she added.

Wu shared a similar admiration for his teacher, going as far as to credit her for helping to ignite his love of math.

“I will always say I was a bit of a math kid but RJ, Ms. Riley, she really made me see the passion in mathematics with her really engaging teaching style,” said Wu.

He has already visited the campus in New Jersey and is excited to start in Computer Engineering come the fall.

His Ivy League acceptance is just the latest Princeton connection for LCVI.

“Some of our teachers here are Princeton alumni. I think I’m probably the second student but all in all we have a very unique connection with Princeton given our school’s pretty small size,” he added.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The Alberta NDP are declaring victory in two Calgary ridings a week after the provincial election following recounts.

In the unofficial results published by Elections Alberta in the hours following the election, Calgary-Acadia went to the NDP’s Diana Batten by seven votes and Calgary-Glenmore went to Nagwan Al-Guneid by just 30.

With fewer than 100 votes between the contenders, both of those ridings had automatic recounts.

Official results are to be made public on June 8, but the New Democrats said their candidates were “declared elected” following a weekend recount.

“I’m excited to be joining the largest Opposition caucus in history to be a voice for public healthcare in Alberta, affordability for families, and a strong economy,” Batten, a registered nurse and former research scientist, said in a release.

“I’m committed to being a voice for Calgary, our energy sector, and for economic development,” Al-Guneid, who has experience in the energy sector, said. “I’m deeply honoured by the trust the people of our community have placed in me and our party.”

When reached for comment, the United Conservative Party said, “We will wait for the official results from Elections Alberta.”

Tyler Shandro served as the UCP MLA for Calgary-Acadia for a term, during which he served as minister of health and ended the term as Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

Also a one-term UCP MLA, Whitney Issik held roles of government whip, minister of environment and parks, and associate minister of the status of women.

Elections Alberta expects to publish official results on Thursday. Candidates and parties can apply for a judicial recount up to eight days after the results are certified.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Cancelled fundraising events is becoming a common theme this summer in Lethbridge.

“We just didn’t see the ticket sales picking up, so that really forced us into the decision,” said Lethbridge Rotary LobsterFest committee member Kimberlee Davis. “In the end the risk was too great.

“We are a non-profit and to invest in live lobsters flown in from Nova Scotia is a significant cost — and if we didn’t get those ticket numbers up that would have been concerning.”

Davis added feedback showed community members have an appetite for something different, along with juggling inflation and affordability concerns.

“Because the cost of everything went up, we had to raise our ticket prices this year,” Davis said. “I think there was a combination… that our tickets were more expensive and people don’t have as much disposable income to spend on those type of events.”

Davis said her organization is now pivoting, selling the silent auction items they had collected for LobsterFest online. The details are still being worked out but the auction will start June 22 and run until June 29.

The money raised will go towards the Chinook Child and Youth Advocacy Centre

“We partnered with Kastner Auctions here in Lethbridge and they are going to host an online auction,” added Davis. She said details will be available on the Lethbridge Rotary LobsterFest Facebook page and the auction will go live online at kauctions.ca.

Other cancelled events include the YWCA Turning Point Classic Golf Tournament and the Boys and Girls Club of Lethbridge’s 100 Mile Dinner.

More fundraisers are making adjustments to their still-scheduled events.

Lorien Johansen with the Lethbridge Terry Fox Run said they are strategizing to make their efforts a success.

“We just may not be able to do all the things we want to do — a free barbecue for all of our participants and swag bags with gifts — because we know that not only are non-profits, but businesses, small businesses, national businesses are dealing with an economic situation that makes giving away things untenable,” she said.

The Lethbridge Terry Fox Run has a couple of bottle drives planned over the summer to help raise funds, which will be posted on the Lethbridge Terry Fox Run Facebook page.

They will also be at a community farmers market on Sept. 9, and taking part in this years Whoop Up Days Parade. Then its the big event, the Terry Fox Run which is Sept. 17 at Legacy Park.

Johansen said the Terry Fox Run will go ahead in Lethbridge no matter what, but if you are unable to pledge or donate money, the next best thing is showing up to show your support to let the non-profits know you appreciate their hard work.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.