Weekly News Recap: November 6, 2026

Weekly News Recap: November 6, 2026

Image: Irish Times

I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach. -- Alfred Hitchcock

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • New elementary school in Texas named after beloved longtime school custodian (The Guardian) Love this! "US schools are often named after presidents, historical figures and civil rights leaders. And soon joining those ranks is a retired longtime Texas school custodian known for going above and beyond her duties by buying classroom supplies for children in need and helping students with their assignments."

  • This College of Magic turns ordinary kids into cool magicians (NPR) #SoGreat "Tucked away in a peaceful suburb, this extraordinary school is a real-world Hogwarts: Africa's only school for youthful stage magicians and illusionists. Every Saturday morning, about 190 starry-eyed students ages 10 to 18 attend classes in everything from puppetry, mime and clowning to juggling, card tricks, illusions, mentalism, stage magic, theater production and escapology. 'All the skills that will make a good magician,' sums up David Gore, the school's founder."

  • Oksana Chusovitina, the 51-year-old gymnast who refuses to retire: ‘I think about the Olympics all the time’ (New York Times) #Champion "When Oksana Chusovitina, the Uzbekistani gymnast, wakes up in the morning, she feels no pain. No aches. Just a deep sensation that her body needs to get back to the place it belongs: the gym. So far, so predictable. The difference with Chusovitina is that she is 51 — over three times the age of some of her rivals."

  • Mill 19: a creative hub built into a former steel factory (The Guardian) I love when we repurpose buildings. Nice work all. Thanks to Recap contributor, Mick Mulloy for this article. "Mill 19, once part of the Jones and Laughlin steel mill in Pittsburgh, has been repurposed into a hub for tech, robotics and advanced manufacturing."

  • Outback kaleidoscope: Australia’s fabled desert lake bursts to life in rare sight (The Guardian) Wonderful! Thanks to Recap contributor, Mick Mulloy for this article. "A prodigiously wet monsoon season has brought damaging floods to parts of Australia, but transformed Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre in a way not seen in decades."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Poppy Flag raised at U of A to honour those who serve and have served (UAlberta) EDMONTON STORY We will remember them. "A powerful symbol of remembrance rose high at the University of Alberta [...] to recognize the service of Canada’s veterans and military members. The official Poppy Flag of the Royal Canadian Legion was raised at the flag plaza in front of University Commons on the university’s North Campus. 'The Royal Canadian Legion has been a partner of the University of Alberta since 1952, providing vital support for veterans and military members who work and study at our university,' says U of A president and vice-chancellor Bill Flanagan. 'We proudly raise this flag as a symbol of support for those who have served and those who continue to serve.' "

  2. VIDEO: CBC's 90 years of being there with you (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Happy Birthday CBC! "Nov. 2, 2026, marks the CBC's 90th anniversary. To celebrate the occasion, Canada's public broadcaster is taking a trip down memory lane, while also looking ahead."

  3. Why musicians are touring less and expecting fans to come to them (CBC) "First, comes the concert tickets. Then the flights and hotel rooms. The outfits, the drinks and dining out. By the time your voice is raw from scream-singing along with 50,000 fans in a packed stadium, you're down $2,000 — easily. Attending a concert is no longer always just a night out. With the rise of music residencies and select-city tours, artists can save on travel costs while fans are shelling out for what's being sold as the trip of a lifetime. While the residency was once synonymous with aging artists in Las Vegas, Celine Dion helped show its broader potential, staging blockbuster runs that revitalized her career and, more recently, launched her to a residency in Paris. In the last year alone, Bad Bunny and Harry Styles have held runs of more than 30 shows in Puerto Rico and New York City, respectively. And in February, the Backstreet Boys will begin a 12-night run in Toronto that the group says will be its only North American live performances of the year."

  4. VIDEO: Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart dead at 86 (CBC) Farewell my captain. RIP Sir Patrick Stewart, we will not see your like again. "Patrick Stewart, British stage actor who found fame as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek, has died. He was 86 years old. His death was announced in a statement on his official social media account, which said he died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles after "a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia." Stewart's career spanned six decades, from the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon to Broadway to film and television." RELATED: ‘We freed Patrick Stewart!’ Star Trek’s Marina Sirtis on breaking in her beloved but very serious co-star, 5 unforgettable Patrick Stewart performances as Jean-Luc Picard

  5. They don't make instant coffee like they used to. It's getting gourmet now (CBC) As a coffee lover, even I have to agree that today's instant coffee is WAY better than it used to be. "In a world of fancy espresso machines, gourmet blends and cold brews, instant coffee has often been considered to be at the bottom of the proverbial coffee barrel. But the powder is getting a glow-up, thanks to better quality, social media trends and advancements in instant coffee technology."

  6. Gen Z Studies Philanthropy: Enrollment Up 300%, 100% Employment Rate (La Voce di New York) #Yay "In the United States, philanthropy is increasingly becoming a profession. At Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the first university school in the world devoted entirely to the study of giving and the nonprofit sector, enrollment has risen by more than 300% over the past decade, from about 50 students to 230. The school also reports a 100% employment rate over the past three years. Courses cover fundraising, foundation management, social impact evaluation and even the practical work of distributing grants to organizations and communities."

  7. How much of your donation reaches the cause: 5 factors that shape the answer (Quartz) A great article on the reality of running a charity. "The percentage most donors check before giving — how much a charity spends on overhead — tells them less than they think. A low administrative cost can sit alongside programs that change very little. A higher one can pay for the staff, data systems and evaluation that make a program work. The real answer to how much of your donation reaches the cause depends on several separate decisions, some made by the charity and some made by the donor."

  8. Kamloops pups strut their stuff for downtown Halloween dog costume competition (Castanet Kamloops) KAMLOOPS STORY #SoCute "A cavalcade of costumed canines made their way down Kamloops' Victoria Street this Halloween [...] Dozens of dogs of all shapes and sizes, dressed as devils, hot dogs and even Superman — to name a few — made their way down the sidewalk to many smiling onlookers."

  9. VIDEO: Scientists discover healthy corals can help dying corals recover | The Moment (CBC) #GoodNews "Stanford University scientists Steve Palumbi and Danny Collins tell The National about the moment they discovered a healthy coral can help a dying coral recover fully by coming in contact with it."

  10. Plans for Bow Valley College's downtown Calgary campus expansion move forward (CBC) CALGARY STORY Can't wait! Congrats to all. "Bow Valley College (BVC) may have found a new home for its health-care training expansion. The institution says it is working with the City of Calgary to acquire Block 40 — the former home of the central library branch and the Calgary Police Service arrest processing unit — to provide a downtown space for the Health Care Centre of Excellence, very close to the current campus."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. The 1-Sentence Journal That Replaced My Entire Notion System (Lili K Gunawan) I really like this simplicity that, over time, adds up to complexity.

  2. 10 ChatGPT Prompts That Can Save You Hours Every Week (Grow Up) I don't share a lot of prompts in the hacks section but these are really quite good.

  3. 8 Boring Habits That Made Me More Productive Than Any App I’ve Paid For (Write a Catalyst) Are you not starting something because you can't find the 3-hour block to do it in? This might help.

  4. 20 Things You Can Do With ChatGPT That Most People Never Try (The Human Mode) Very cool.

  5. A 10-Minute Weekly Review: What to Check, What to Cut, What to Schedule (Minu Writes) If there is one area I consistently fail in, it's this -- doing a weekly review.

  6. Become a Dangerously Good Communicator: 5 Rules That Make People Listen (Write Your World) Some really great rules here. I need to get better at being more communicative with my appreciation.

  7. A Detective’s 7 Rules For Hard Conversations (The Springboard) Take this into your personal life. I bet it gets better.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. Church of Jesus Christ donates $3M to Utah’s effort to remove phragmites along Great Salt Lake (Utah News Dispatch) Nice work LDS. "Utah received a big donation as it seeks to remove an invasive plant species affecting the Great Salt Lake. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has agreed to donate $3 million toward the state’s efforts to remove phragmites that surround the struggling lake."

  2. VIDEO: Historic UK country estate saved in £30m deal after Sir David Attenborough backed campaign (Independent) Sir David is a gem. "Sir David Attenborough has praised the public after a major win for nature. Conservationists finalised the biggest land buy in England for years as they secured a 9,500-acre estate for nature. The Northumberland Wildlife Trust alongside The Wildlife Trusts announced they had purchased Northumberland’s Rothbury Estate - the size of Athens - for £30million. The proposed project, backed by Sir David who appealed to the public to help fund it, aims to integrate farming friendly to nature and promote wildlife on the estate. Sir David’s support generated more than £1million of donations in just a week when the fundraising first kicked off."

  3. VIDEO: Coeur New Afton announces $1M donation as City of Kamloops arena multiplex breaks ground (Castanet Kamloops) KAMLOOPS STORY "The Dufferin arena multiplex broke ground [...] accompanied by the announcement of a $1-million donation toward the project from Coeur New Afton Mine."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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