Saskatchewan

Three more politicians will be coming to the Saksatchewan Legislature after the government passed a bill adding three more constituencies to the province.

Attorney General Don Morgan says the change is necessary because the population is growing and some people have to travel too far to see their MLA.

Each new MLA will cost the government $225,000 a year.

Morgan says that money will be found in savings, not through higher taxes.

Canoe Narrows RCMP was on scene yesterday night after receiving a call about a 23-year-old male with facial injuries from a gunshot.

Last night at approximately 9 p.m. RCMP report that the injured male had been drinking with a small group near La Plonge, when the man accused of shooting the handgun arrived.

The accused had left after his initial contact but returned a short time later.

The NDP managed to squeeze an apology out of the Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture during Question Period for a comment he made about the film industry rally earlier this week.

NDP Culture Critic Danielle Chartier demanded the apology for comments about the film industry Bob Bjornerud made during a speech in Moose Jaw.

Bjornerud said 98 per cent of people inthe film industry who recieved an employment tax credit never paid a cent of tax in this province.

Saskatoon police is warning the public that a high-risk violent sex offender, following his release last week, has chosen to live in the city.

Richard James Netmaker has a history of committing violent sexual offences against female acquiantances and with adults he comes into contact with, said police.

Netmaker is 5-feet-10 inches tall, weighs 150 pounds and is of First Nations descent. He has medium length black hair, brown eyes and a moustache.

With a pump house fire at the Regina Federated Co-op Refinery Complex finally extinguished, investigators began work Wednesday to determine how it all started.

A fire broke out around 8:25 p.m. Tuesday, with some witnesses reporting 20-foot-high flames and heavy black smoke.

Roughly 350 contract employees were evacuated quickly and no one was hurt.

The fire was put out overnight, Co-op's vice-president of corporate communications Vic Huard confirmed in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

Lac La Ronge Indian Band will be assuming the roles of Child Welfare Services as part of a a partnership with the province's ministry of social services.

The band will now be in charge of foster care, extended family care, and all other services included in child welfare.

Chief Tammy Cook-Searson said she thinks this is a positive change.

A wildfire north of Lloydminster has forced 100 people from their homes as high winds continue to fan an aggressive blaze which has been burning since Sunday.

Around 60 firefighters from three different departments on Wednesday were on scene in the rural municipality of Frenchman Butte attempting to contain the blaze.

The terrain is proving to be a challenge for the fire crews, said RM Reeve Bonnie Mills-Midgley.

Waskesiu RCMP members responded to a two-vehicle collision just before 12 p.m. today on Highway 2, one kilometre north of Halfway House.

The collision occurred between a four-door sedan and a one-tonne trailer truck carrying 20 drums of aviation fuel.

The male driver of the sedan was declared dead on scene. The other male driver of the truck refused medical treatment.

Protestors went through hallways of a Montreal university disrupting classes, spray-painting messages on classrooms and calling students names. They say they want all students to go on strike, but some want to return to class.

"There's going to be people who are going to elect to go back to class. It's as simple as that. To go in and disrupt what they're trying to do, I definitely can't support that," said Jared Brown, president of University of Saskatchewan Student Union.

The Saskatoon Police Service is getting some help in the language department through a partnership with Immigration Canada that trains interpreters to help with investigations.

Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) continues to rise near Prince Albert.

Betty Althouse, a Veterinary Program Specialist in disease control with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said by the end of April there have been 66 cases of EIA since January.

“In April we had four new premises detected with EIA in Saskatchewan. They were primarily north-northeast and into the northwest. The RM’s in particular were Parkdale, Kinistino, Barrier Valley, and Moose Range,” Althouse said.

Officials from the RM of Frenchman Butte northeast of Lloydminster are keeping a close eye on a wildfire that caused them to declare a state of emergency on Monday.

Firefighters from Paradise Hill and Onion Lake, as well as Rural Municipality and Saskatchewan environment representatives toured the fire area Monday afternoon, after it was contained.

Officials are keeping the state of emergency order in place for now because they worry that changes in weather and wind conditions could cause the fire to flare up again.