Weekly News Recap: June 12, 2026

Weekly News Recap: June 12, 2026

Arran and Ratana Stephens have made a transformational $40 million gift to the Simon Fraser University School of Medicine. SFU Photo.

We should cherish old age and enjoy it. It is full of pleasure if you know how to use it. Fruit tastes most delicious when its season is ending. -- Seneca

WEEKLY RECAP WILL BE ON A BREAK

For the first time since 2015, the ViTreo Weekly Recap will be on a break. There will be no Recap for the next two weeks while we canoe the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City. We will be back with more great stories on June 27. See you all on the other side.

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • VIDEO: #TheMoment he made a working pinball machine (CBC) PICKERING STORY #Nostalgia "Marco Bucci tells The National about the moment he made his own working pinball machine in Pickering, Ont."

  • VIDEO: #TheMoment they became national cooking champions (CBC) WINNIPEG STORY Woot! Congrats to all. "Winnipeg high school students Matea Thiessen Unger and Adetooni Adegoke tell The National about the moment they competed in a national cooking competition in Montreal and placed first — securing a spot in a global competition in Paris."

  • VIDEO: 'Chicken chores' help Sask. students learn about where food comes from (CBC) SASKATCHEWAN STORY More of this please. "The elementary school in Bulyea, Sask., has used several methods to incorporate outdoor education into subjects such as science and math. This year, five egg-laying hens were added to the curriculum."

  • VIDEO: Bumblebees can solve complex puzzles like chimpanzees and elephants, study finds (CBC) Bees are cool. "Scientist Juha-Heikki Kantola always knew bees were smart. But when he watched them solve a variation of a puzzle originally designed for chimpanzees, he was blown away [...] "There's a certain kind of decisiveness about their actions," Kantola, a physicist at Finland's University of Oulu, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "It just leaves you with the feeling that there's something going on in the brains of these creatures.' "

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. ​VIDEO: 'Maybe Serena': How a text message led to a partnership of a lifetime for Victoria Mboko (CBC) CANADIAN CONTENT What an invitation (good thing she responded to the text). "Victoria Mboko was at a tennis tournament in France last month when she got an unexpected notification. It was the morning before a match, and Mboko's phone said the text message was from someone 'maybe' named 'Serena.' 'It could be anyone,' Mboko thought. The message was from Serena Williams, arguably the greatest female tennis player of all time, and she was asking 19-year-old Mboko to be her doubles partner."

  2. Alberta government eyes downtown-to-airport trains as 1st key project of passenger rail plan (CBC) ALBERTA STORY Good news but...I will be in my 70s when this comes true :-) "Alberta's government is eyeing train connections between airports and the downtown cores of its two biggest cities as the first key projects in its new passenger rail plan. But construction isn't expected to start any time soon. The government says it plans to spend $15 million over the next three years to move ahead with planning those routes and others before shovels break ground."

  3. Can a pigeon's liver really help it navigate long distances? New research suggests it could (CBC) #Amazing "But what's really stumped scientists for decades is how pigeons actually tap into that magnetism. They've known the birds can do it, but they've never been able to figure out exactly how this internal 'compass' works. 'There has been a theory that special light-sensitive molecules in the eye might transfer this magnetic information, and other people thought maybe there are small magnetic particles in the beak of pigeons, but none of these theories really could answer the story [completely.]' [...] Now, new research led by Lisowski and her team points to a different possibility: iron-rich immune cells in the liver may be acting like sensors that pick up Earth's magnetic field and help guide the birds' navigation."

  4. Stressed by forces they can't control, Canadian farmers turn to mental health groups for help (CBC) CANADIAN STORY I love our farmers but they have tough jobs. "The Mental Health Commission of Canada says farming and ranching are considered two of the most stressful occupations in the country. It's a living that tests the hardiest of souls. Cynthia Beck, with the SaskAgMatters Mental Health Network, says producers' livelihoods largely depend on things they can't control: weather, markets, trade disputes and government policy decisions. 'When you feel like you have no control over what's happening in your business, in your personal life, then that causes deteriorations in cognitive functioning,' Beck said."

  5. ​VIDEO: Chinese tourists are choosing Canada — again (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Welcome back! "Posters of famous sites around the world adorn the walls of the Utour Group travel agency headquarters in Beijing. There's the Eiffel Tower, a cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea and a full advertisement dedicated to Canada featuring Lake Louise and Vancouver's skyline. Flanked by these ads, Li Wei discussed her travel options with a Utour agent. While the Rockies weren't on her immediate list of places to visit, she said she was considering it more seriously as Beijing started allowing group tours to Canada again this winter."

  6. Is Gen Z really coming back to church? (Broadview) CANADIAN STORY "Headlines about Gen Z Canadians flocking back to church spread quickly through the mainstream media last fall. But sociologists who follow religious trends say the evidence behind those claims is thinner and more nuanced than reports suggested [...] The result that drew so much attention: 24 percent of Canadians aged 18 to 24, also known as Generation Z, defined themselves as 'religiously committed' — the highest rate among all age groups surveyed. The study defines religious commitment as 'professing deep devotion' and researchers noted the figure appeared to mark a possible shift after a long decline in religious affiliation."

  7. ​MacKenzie Scott is using her $26 billion philanthropy push to rescue organizations in danger after the Trump administration’s funding cuts (Fortune) I love her penchant for trust-based philanthropy. "For the past six years, Scott has remained committed to emptying her safe, so to speak. She’s donated more than $26 billion across more than 2,700 gifts through her philanthropic organization, Yield Giving. Her marquee year was in 2025 when she donated an eye-popping $7.2 billion. (That’s more than Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, have given over their entire lifetimes, according to Forbes estimates). The publication also named Scott the third-most generous philanthropist in the world this year, noting she has given away 46% of her net worth. True to the Dillard ethos, she gives fast and lets go. Her philanthropic style is stroking unrestricted checks with no applications, no progress reports, and almost no press. 'She practices trust-based philanthropy,' Bob Woodruff Foundation CEO Anne Marie Dougherty previously told Fortune."

  8. 'Always wash your fruits': Calgary family finds black widow in grapes (CBC) CALGARY STORY #Eeek "Grapes will never look the same to Sean Cardiff. The Calgarian had been eating out of a bag of red seedless grapes from a Calgary grocery store for two days before finding a highly venomous black widow spider in the bunch. 'I just noticed something when I pulled the grapes out of the container,' he said. 'It was like a black spot, and I kind of shook it a little bit, and that little black spot suddenly had legs and started crawling towards my hand.' "

  9. Why the Calgary Stampede still defines the city after more than 110 years (Daily Hive) CALGARY STORY Get ready for another great Stampede season. " 'The history of the Stampede is tied up with the history of the city itself, so it’s hard to find many urban events in other cities that have such an entwined history with the city as a whole,' said Matt Patterson, associate professor of sociology at the University of Calgary. Patterson says the city and the Stampede have essentially grown alongside each other, creating identities that have become closely tied together over time."

  10. Glenrose Hospital looks to raise $25M to advance rehabilitation (CTV) EDMONTON STORY "The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital has launched a campaign in an effort to raise $25 million to support priority infrastructure, research and patient care needs. Part of the funds raised, $6.5 million to be exact, will go towards redeveloping the facility’s therapeutic pool."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. Should you send that midnight text? 11 essential rules for phone etiquette (The Guardian) A must read for anyone with a cellphone.

  2. Forgetting words more often after 65? (Crows Feet: Life As We Age) I am definitely forgetting more words. This helps.

  3. Degrees of Freedom, Finally Explained (Science Spectrum) Long read. Nerdy. You have been warned.

  4. Seneca At His Very Best (Illumination) Still useful after 2000 years.

  5. The Peter Pyramid (Psychology Of The Workplace) Interesting take on the "Peter Principle".

  6. The Wine-Ordering Mistake A Lot Of People Make (And Why You Should Avoid It) (The Takeout) Look beyond just the colour of the wine.

  7. Self-cleaning fabric could eliminate the need for detergent (Phys.Org) How amazing would this be​?

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. SFU medical school receives historic $40M donation (CBC) SURREY STORY This is a terrific gift from a wonderful family. "University president Joy Johnson says the donation from Ratana and Arran Stephens is the largest in the university's history and will support training and research opportunities, with the goal of delivering care to urban, rural and Indigenous communities."

  2. ​VIDEO: Whopping $40 million donation to Fight MND during Big Freeze | 9 News Australia (YouTube) "Queensland couple Quentin and Kylie Birt donated $40 million to motor neurone disease charity Fight MND after Neale Daniher’s death."

  3. Stevie Nicks donates $3m to medical school to recognize her voice doctor (The Guardian) "Legendary singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks has given $3m to the University of Southern California’s medical school to recognize the physician who has helped care for her voice throughout much of her career."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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