The YWCA is celebrating women who have made a positive impact in Saskatoon. 

More than 950 people attended the 2012 YWCA Women of Distinction Awards Thursday evening.

This year, 11 women were recognized for the contributions in several areas including arts, entrepreneurship, science and athletics.  In total, 261 women have received distinction awards in the events 30 year history.

Toronto's city council has become the first major centre in Canada to ban plastic bags.

Not everyone here is in agreement that Regina should do the same.

Speaking to people outside Safeway at the Northgate mall, it is like a walk of shame. Most people admitted they like using reusable cloth bags, but most forget to bring them.

"I guess it would help the environment, and a ban would give me the incentive to actually use the reusable bags. Now I forget and think oh I will do it next time."

City planners and others who decide the paths and routes Saskatoon cyclists ride on got to try it for themselves Wednesday, and decided there's room for improvement.

It was part of a 3-year study called Smart Cities, Healthy Kids, funded by Canadians for Health Research.

"We are built to walk, and bike, and be active. To the extent that we can do that, living every day, I think we'll all be better off," said Nazeem Mahjarine, principle investigator in the study.

"We'll have better health, and the costs of treating diseases will be reduced."

Regina seems to have become a popular destination for moose.

For third time in two weeks and the fifth time this year, conservation officers in the city found themselves dealing with a wild visitor.

They tracked this moose all the way from the Northwest Leisure Centre at 6:30 a.m., to the airport and then to the southwest end of the city near Gordon Road.

He's probably the biggest animal  ever seen in a back yard on Laubach Crescent near Gordon Road, but after two tranquilizer darts to the rump, he was out cold.

Most of the water pipes in Regina are made with a good portion of asbestos but according to an expert and city engineers you don't have to be afraid of it.

More than half the city's water pipes are made of a mixture of concrete and asbestos, a product that's notorious for being a powerful carcinogen when its fibers are inhaled.

A microbiologist has explained that there is actually a whole universe at work inside the pipes to help keep you safe from the asbestos.

You could say we're being saved by the slime.

A drug dog team will once again be sniffing out crime at the Saskatchewan-U.S. border thanks to a couple from Roche Percee.

When Sam and Pat Dzuba heard Holly and her handler, Toban Tisdale, had been cut from the North Portal border crossing, they decided to start a poster campaign to get the team their jobs back.

"We just didn't understand because we have lots of drugs here and we need all the help we can and that dog is brilliant," said Pat.

The Los Angeles Kings could win their first Stanley Cup and that would also be a first for Saskatchewan-born star Jarret Stoll.

Stoll has come a long way from playing with hockey teams in Yorkton.

Los Angeles hosts the New Jersey Devils game four tonight, leading the series three nothing.

One Yorkton man fondly remembers Stoll as a kid in his class.

Mike Malayney was vice principal of a Yorkton elementary school when he taught Stoll in grade six.

The Salvation Army thrift stores are seeing more than donations.

The stores are being treated like a landfill, with people dropping of renovation materials and general garbage outside their location, said Laverne Isley, store leader.

"A lot of it is renovation materials and furniture that really is not in sellable condition," she said.

For the store to get rid of the product is becoming a "huge detriment to the program."

Emergency crews have been busy dealing with a bad accident involving a pair of semi trucks east of Saskatoon.

It happened along Highway 16 near Elfros.

Ambulance paramedics, police, and fire trucks were on the scene early this morning.

"The cab of one of the semis was totally demolished, and that didn't look good. One set of trailers was in the ditch. But both tractors were on the road," said one caller to the newsroom.

With civic elections only a few months away, Battleford town council is pondering the idea of making potential candidates submit criminal record checks.

Changes in the Municipalities Act made in 2010 allow council to do just that by passing a bylaw.

Having a criminal record would not prevent someone from running in the municipal election. A copy of the record check would simply be attached to the nomination paper.