Weekly News Recap: December 5, 2025

Weekly News Recap: December 5, 2025

Ontario Construction News

The soul is healed by being with children. — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • Stray Pooch Just Won 2025 Hero Dog Award for Soothing Families After School Shooting (Good News Network) How lovely is this! "A stray mutt that turned into a service dog soothing kids after a school shooting has just been crowned the 2025 Hero Dog Award by the American Humane Society—and now he’s winning hearts nationwide as a symbol of comfort and courage. Sgt. Bo, the mixed breed from Nashville, Tennessee, may have started as a stray, but after being rescued off the streets of Florida in 2022, the four-year-old became a certified therapy dog with the Nashville Police Department, working alongside a former officer, Faye Okert, to help students feel safe and supported."

  • VIDEO: Nutcrackers Handcrafted for Generations (YouTube) #TheRealChristmasElves "What’s Christmas without a nutcracker? These iconic wooden nutcracker figurines have become some of the holiday season’s most beloved Christmas decorations, but behind the glitter and cheer lies a story carved by hand. In the German town of Seiffen, the heart of Germany’s nutcracker history, generations of artisans have turned simple wood into timeless nutcracker soldiers. In this family-run workshop, known worldwide for its traditional German craftsmanship, every nutcracker is still made the old-fashioned way: carved, painted, and dressed in miniature holiday finery."

  • The Tiny Dogs That Can Pull 100 Times Their Weight (Wall Street Journal) Ha, little dogs rule! "Chihuahuas, rat terriers and miniature poodles are muscling in on strength contests long dominated by big dogs. Major organizations, including the North American Weight Pull Association, the American Pulling Alliance and the World Wide Weight Pull Organization, have lightweight categories and awards for most weight pulled relative to size."

  • VIDEO: Boy takes his favorite neighbors on an adorable preschool tour (USA Today) What a wonderful kid. "It’s not every day a preschooler shows up to an open house with his own fan club. Three-year-old Roman Williams insisted on bringing his favorite neighbors, Suzie and Wade Fulghum, to his preschool open house — a friendship years in the making."

  • VIDEO: Roommates, 31 years apart in age, free one another from hiding Parkinson's (CBC) HAMILTON STORY More of this please. "The pair got to know each other at a cross-country bike ride for Parkinson's awareness in August. While pedalling more than 2,000 kilometres across British Columbia and Alberta, they learned they were about to live in the same city.The pair, who both live with Parkinson’s disease, met through cycling before becoming friends and roommates. Jiang was going back to school in the fall to study integrated rehabilitation and humanities at McMaster University. Jongsma had a spare room at her house in Hamilton."

  • Nature inFocus photography competition 2025: flamingos, foxes and a chilled out chimp (The Guardian) Thanks to former ViTreo Associate Mick Mulloy for sharing this story. #Beautiful "The Nature inFocus photography competition 2025 announced its winners at the Nature inFocus festival hosted at Jayamahal Palace in Bengaluru, India. Close to 16,000 images were submitted by more than 1,250 photographers from more than 38 countries."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. U.S. Philanthropists Shift Funds to UK Charities (CEO Today) "American donors are exploring new ways to safeguard and strategically position their charitable capital, with the UK emerging as a favored destination. This trend is being driven not just by generosity, but by careful financial planning and a desire for regulatory stability. Experts suggest that hundreds of millions of dollars have already been funneled into UK charitable structures, signaling a shift in global philanthropic strategy."

  2. The Most Generous Billionaire: How MacKenzie Scott Is Changing Philanthropy (Nasdaq) "MacKenzie Scott, the novelist-turned-philanthropist, became one of the world’s richest women after her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, receiving around $36 billion in Amazon stock. But instead of building a flashy empire, Scott took a radically different path — one that’s redefining what it means to be a billionaire. She pledged to give away at least half her fortune and quickly began making historic donations."

  3. VIDEO: The Philanthropic Wealth Transfer - Episode 3: Quiet Power, Big Shifts (YouTube) This is an excellent video overview of the increasing power of women's philanthropy. "What if the biggest shift in global philanthropy isn’t loud at all but quiet, steady, and led by women? The third episode of The Philanthropic Wealth Transfer series explores how placing women at the centre of wealth conversations is reshaping agency, influence, and ultimately who and what gets funded. Paula Murphy Ives, MD of Social Capital & Impact, Enterprise Strategic Climate Group, RBC speaks to the power of helping women step into rooms where decisions are made and claim the authority they’ve always had."

  4. VIDEO: 'Rage bait' is the Oxford University Press word of the year, because apparently anger fuels us (CBC) #Ugh "Oxford University Press has named 'rage bait’' as its word of the year, capturing the internet zeitgeist of 2025. The phrase refers to online content that is 'deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive,' with the aim of driving traffic to a particular social media [account.]"

  5. Alberta selects site for new stand-alone Stollery Children’s Hospital (Ontario Construction News) EDMONTON STORY Congrats to all. "Alberta has selected the University of Alberta’s South Campus as the site for the new stand-alone Stollery Children’s Hospital, marking a major step toward building a modern pediatric facility to serve families across the province and Western Canada. The hospital will be constructed on an undeveloped greenfield at the northeast corner of 122 Street and 51 Avenue."

  6. VIDEO: Carney gets a standing ovation in Calgary after signing energy MOU (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed an energy deal to pave the way for a new west coast pipeline. Shortly after, he got a standing ovation when speaking to business leaders at a Calgary Chamber of Commerce event."

  7. Banff National Park turns 140 (CBC) BANFF STORY "Banff National Park's 140th birthday comes at a moment when its purpose is being tested. What began on Nov. 25, 1885, as a place for people to use freely for pleasure has transformed into a leader in conservation management. But huge crowds are now challenging that progress, and Parks Canada is exploring new ways to manage how people visit the park in the years ahead."

  8. Glenbow Museum renovations moving ahead, with exterior almost completed (Yahoo News) CALGARY STORY Can't wait! "One key project in the ongoing overhaul of the Glenbow Museum’s 325,000-square-foot space has been completed and another is almost done, but museum officials are unsure if it will reopen next year as planned. Work on the Rawji Family Gallery, a four-storey space stretching between the ground floor and fifth floor terrace, has now [finished.]"

  9. VIDEO: Canada at the defence crossroads: The challenges of thinking long-term (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "Witnessing the ongoing public debate about fighter jets and submarines this fall has felt a lot like watching people argue over baseball, hockey or some other team sport. Naturally, it has been particularly uncompromising online where the characteristics and quirks of each aircraft and boat have been analyzed to the nth degree with the kind of fan worship usually reserved for pro franchises. Those who love the F-35, love it a lot. The same can be said for the Gripen."

  10. VIDEO: Launching hundreds of thousands of satellites will threaten space research, scientists warn (CBC) "Satellite constellations, networks of multiple satellites that can number from a few dozen to tens of thousands, are interfering with scientific research using ground-based telescopes, but now a new study looks at how they might affect space-bound telescopes like Hubble. The Hubble Space Telescope has produced some incredibly beautiful photographs of galaxies and nebulas that we have come to marvel at, but it’s also made incredible scientific discoveries, including measuring the rate of our universe’s expansion. But that science could be threatened if all the proposed satellite megaconstellations — groups of thousands of satellites launched by companies like SpaceX and Amazon — come to fruition."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. VIDEO: The Leftovers Of A Third Eyelid Can Still Be Found In Your Eye (IFL Science) Fascinating.

  2. Why singing is surprisingly good for your health (BBC) I have a terrible voice but I still like to sing.

  3. Announcing Wikipedia’s most-read articles of 2025 (WikiMedia Foundation) For your Christmas dinner discussions.

  4. The most life-changing books, statistically (Residual Thoughts) A cool analysis.

  5. Sweet Vermouth Vs Dry: What's The Difference? (The Takeout) I often drink red vermouth straight, on ice, with lemon, when I am cooking. And, I cook with white vermouth (gives my risotto a subtle sourness).

  6. The 3,000-year-old story hidden in the @ sign (BBC) I love the pet names: 'little mouse', 'dog', 'strudel', and 'monkey's tail'. Whatever we want to call it, it has a very interesting history.

  7. 12 Tips That Will Instantly Improve Your Knife Skills (The Takeout) Best skills I ever learned in a professional kitchen.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. $2.04 million donation helps fund NAIT’s largest student award (The Nugget) CALGARY STORY What a wonderful gift. "There’s a quiet humility to Arnold Rumbold’s philanthropy. The 93-year-old has donated millions of dollars to organizations around the city, including NAIT, where he was named a Distinguished Friend of the Institute in 2022 and an Honorory Diploma recipient in 2024. Rumbold also recently donated a whopping $2.04 million to fund three initiatives at NAIT, including a $10,000 leadership award — NAIT’s largest student award."

  2. Strathcona Resources Ltd. invests $1M in Sask Polytech’s Time to Rise campaign (Saskatchewan Polytechnic) SASKATOON STORY "Saskatchewan Polytechnic has received a $1-million gift from Strathcona Resources in support of the new Joseph A. Remai Saskatoon Campus."

  3. Calgary Soccer Centre gets a new name and a decade of support (Calgary Citizen) CALGARY STORY Nice to see. "The Calgary Soccer Centre has a new name and a new partner committed to keeping it thriving for the next decade. The City of Calgary announced a 10-year naming sponsorship agreement with MaxWell Realty that will officially rename the facility to the MaxWell Soccer Centre."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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