The Draganfly X6 is not a pretty insect, it's actually a new tool that will enhance the way the Regina Police Service conducts investigations from the air.

It's a remote-controlled mini helicopter that's used to obtain aerial views and photos of major crime scenes and serious car accidents.

Monday is the kick off for Regina's ride your bike to work week.

It all gets going at 1 p.m. at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum with a bike festival. Later in the afternoon, there will also be a community ride around Wascana Park

Spokesperson Ada Chan Russell says the week emphasizes the healthy aspects of cycling.

"Especially today, now when we have work hours and that we're mostly indoors and not doing much exercise on our own. It's a great way to get exercise and be healthy."

 

There was likely a group of very unhappy car owners in Saskatoon Friday. Just before one in the morning police received a slew of calls from residents in the 600-900 blocks of Avenues I, K and L South. They reported hearing glass breaking and saw a suspicious vehicle in the area. Police arriving on the scene quickly learned that seven vehicles in the area had windows broken. Officers pulled over a vehicle matching the description and took a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old into custody. The teens are now facing a string of mischief charges.

Regina police have now charged a second person, Harley William Fraser Stueck, in the death of three-year-old Nylan Jordan George Clark, who was found in a van behind a house on Halifax Street.

Thirty-eight year-old Stueck is charged with criminal negligence causing death, indignity to a dead body and obstruction of justice. He made his first court appearance at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

Regina city councillor Terry Hincks has made his return from fighting cancer three weeks early.

The long-time representative for Ward 9 was diagnosed with colon cancer last month. Speaking before Tuesday night's City Council meeting, he acknowledged undergoing surgery about three weeks prior.

Saskatchewan storm chaser Greg Johnson was driving through Moore about half an hour before the massive tornado hit.

He says the team kept going because chasing tornadoes is more dangerous within a city.

Even watching the aftermath on social media Johnson says the devastation never fails to shock him.

“I think the myth is that tornadoes don’t hit metropolitan areas but Mother Nature really doesn’t care about city boundaries,” Johnson commented. “It’s a really dangerous myth, people think oh it’s just going to pass us by.”

The Cathedral Village Arts Festival (CVAF) is kicking off its 22nd year Monday.

"My daughter is 22 years old, she doesn't know this neighbourhood without the festival," reflected Bernadette Wagner, co-chair of the 2013 festival. "It's part of who we are."

The festival runs from May 20 to May 25, with a theme of roots and wings.  As it usually does, the CVAF starts with a parade, beginning at Connaught School, travelling down Elphinstone and ending at Les Sherman Park.

Police have taken a big chunk out of the drug trade in Moose Jaw after a drug bust in a motel on Thursday.

Officers raided a motel in Moose Jaw on May 16 and discovered about $5,000 worth of cocaine, some marijuana, and about $2,000 in cash.

Two men and two women in their twenties were arrested. Scott Matthew Bobbett, 21, Curtis Matthew Hopkinson, 29, Melissa Dawn Halyk, 27, and Jocelyn Nicole Yates, 24.

All of them are being charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of the proceeds of crime.

The ritual of setting up nets, catching birds, and releasing them is one that Alan Smith has repeated each year for the past two decades at the Last Mountain Bird Observatory. But the kinds of birds he studies is not constant.

"The nets are in the same place, open on the same hours each day. By doing it consistently over a period of time we're able to see what kind of species are increasing and which ones aren't doing so well," Smith said.

Those changes in bird populations reflect back on environmental changes in Canada.