The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has launched a National Board of Investigation after a man serving time for manslaughter escaped from Saskatchewan Penitentiary by allegedly impersonating another inmate.

In an update Thursday, CSC said preliminary findings from an internal review point to “possible procedural errors” in how the incident was handled.

Keiston Custer, 30, escaped custody on Feb. 20 while being transported by correctional officers from the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert.

Custer was serving a 10-year sentence for manslaughter, use of a firearm, rioting, and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.

CSC says he may have impersonated another offender with the same last name who was scheduled for release that day.

Custer was arrested without incident by Prince Albert police on March 4. He now faces additional charges related to the escape and has been placed under heightened security.

The employees who were involved in the incident are currently on administrative leave pending the results of a disciplinary investigation.

CSC says it has already implemented changes to its inmate release verification procedures.

The Board of Investigation (BOI) will include three members reviewing both the escape and the response, with one member coming from outside the agency.

Not to be outdone, provincial correctional officials in Prince Albert disclosed a similar erroneous release on the very day that Custer was apprehended.

Dagan McKenzie was released in error from the Prince Albert Correctional Centre on March 4 and remains at large.

Five people are facing drug trafficking charges after the Weyburn Police Service (WPS) intercepted a vehicle entering the city early Wednesday morning.

A traffic stop conducted by the WPS Drug Enforcement Unit with support from the service’s Patrol Division around 1:30 a.m. on March 25, led to the arrest of all five people inside the vehicle for possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Officers seized 13.6 grams of fentanyl, six cellphones, a pair of brass knuckles, $105 in cash, and drug paraphernalia.

A subsequent search of the vehicle and a residence in Weyburn uncovered additional drugs, weapons, and equipment used in trafficking. From the vehicle, police recovered a paint can with a false bottom, 14 grams of fentanyl, 27.4 grams of cocaine, 27.7 grams of methamphetamine, knives, a collapsible baton, a taser, digital scales, and drug paraphernalia.

The search of the home yielded a machete, collapsible baton, imitation revolver, digital scales, four cellphones, drug paraphernalia, score sheets, and three high-value tools believed to be stolen from a CP Rail truck.

Altogether, police say the seizures included 27.6 grams of fentanyl with a street value of $11,000, 27.4 grams of cocaine valued at $4,500, and 27.7 grams of methamphetamine worth $1,600.

As a result of the investigation, multiple individuals from Weyburn, aged 22 to 52, have been charged with various drug and weapons offences, including possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine.

Several were also charged with possession of weapons, possession of property obtained by crime, and failing to comply with court conditions.

Later the same day, police responded to a possible break-in at a related residence and arrested two more individuals, aged 32 and 44, who now face break-and-enter charges.

Saskatchewan RCMP’s Enforcement Response Team (SERT), with assistance from White Butte RCMP, have arrested a man following the seizure of drugs and a prohibited firearm at a Regina home.

Officers executed a search warrant at a property on Gordon Road on March 9th to search the home and a vehicle which led to the seizure of 182 grams of cocaine, 520 grams of fentanyl, 748 grams of methamphetamine, a prohibited firearm and magazine, ammunition, cash, and drug-trafficking paraphernalia.

A 21-year-old Regina man was arrested and charged with multiple counts including trafficking cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine, possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000, and several firearm-related offences.

He appeared in Regina Provincial Court on March 23, 2026.

Saskatchewan RCMP says its SERT team continues to investigate.

The Sask. NDP is echoing some local industry concerns about SaskPower’s requested rate hikes for 2026-27.

During Thursday’s question period, the Official Opposition highlighted a letter penned by the Saskatchewan Industrial Energy Consumers Association (SIECA) to the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel which expressed disappointment over the decision, saying SIECA wasn’t properly consulted beforehand.

“Our membership considers this level of industry engagement or communication regarding this rate increase as insufficient and unexpected,” read the letter, which was written on March 20. “At engagements with industry earlier in the year, SaskPower provided no indication formal or otherwise to signal if or when there might be a rate increase.”

SIECA also stated that SaskPower gave no indication that there would be any changes in revenue requirements in its fall discussion with SIECA.

In February, SaskPower introduced a 3.9 per cent rate increase in 2026 and followed by another in 2027, which Crown Investments Minister Jeremy Harrison was necessary to improve SaskPower’s transmission system as well as for making investments.

Under the 2026-27 budget, the province is investing $1.7 billion in SaskPower’s electricity system.

Harrison said he was not going to inform customers of any decisions until the Rate Review Panel was aware and had the matter formally referred to them.

“I think that everybody in the province should be finding out at the same time in a formal context, when we referred the matter to the rate review panel, and that’s what we did,” he told reporters on Thursday.

The minister said these decisions come from necessary investments SaskPower needs to make.

“We’ve talked about the investments that we’re making into transmission infrastructure, we’ve talked about the investments that are going to be made into the transition to nuclear power,” he said.

“We’re making investments as well into life-extending our existing thermal assets. There are rate pressures because of the investments that we’re making. We believe that it’s reasonable with regard to that path forward for SaskPower.”

Harrison also suggested that there are $21 billion in capital savings for SaskPower by extending the life of its thermal coal-generating assets instead of replacing them with a combination of intermittence and gas.

However, NDP MLA Alean Young called these numbers into doubt.

“What we see from this minister is, again, a steady stream of lies,” Young said, arguing there hasn’t been any transparency or accountability from the provincial government.

“Myself, members of the public and certainly, the largest industries in the province have been clear; release the business case, let us know … what the impact is going to be on rates and what the impact is going to be on the crown when it comes to building out electricity in Saskatchewan.”

A planned 10 per cent increase to transit fares in Regina has cleared its final hurdle.

Councillors officially approved the amended bylaw during Wednesday’s meeting. The decision follows a budget plan to increase ridership fees to generate more revenue for the city.

The increase means a single rider fee will now cost $3.50. Monthly and semi-annual passes will also increase to $97 and $488 respectively.

When asked whether the rate hike might discourage residents from using public transit, Mayor Chad Bachynski said he hopes it will have the opposite effect.

“City administration actually accounted for a potential decline in ridership as part of the calculations when we were trying to figure out what the deficit might be that we were trying to make up at budget time,” Bachynski said.

“These are all estimates at this point. That was a consideration – obviously, we hope that is not the case.”

The new rates will take effect on April 8.

A large sum of funding will be going to pediatric and maternal research in Saskatchewan.

Announced on Thursday at the University of Regina (U of R), $1.5 million will be invested into trauma-integrated research, with the U of R being the first recipient.

“The ultimate goal is to not have kids visit our hospital, that’s why we’re really focused on research through our board of directors,” said Troy Davies, the CEO of Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation.

The conversation around the grant has been in the works for around four years.

“Unfortunately, bad things do happen to kids,” said Davies. “But we do have some of the best in the country and some of the best in the world working in our facility, and we’re happy to support that.

The Child Trauma Research Centre will be looking to put the new investment to good use, responding to “urgent, emerging, and long-term social, familial, economic, educational, health, and well-being impacts of childhood trauma and resilience”, according to the province’s announcement.

The $1.5 million in funds will go forward will be used to improve many different areas, according to Nathalie Reid, the director of Child Trauma Research Centre.

“We’re going to continue our growth in terms of supporting public safety, children and youth. We’re going to continue and grow our work with educators, mental health and wellbeing in schools. We’re also going to continue looking at the generational impacts of trauma in the perinatal period.”

The Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital wants the grant to provide “hope” for families struggling in Saskatchewan. CTV News asked Reid on what some of the biggest challenges that children face when brought into pediatric care.

“Children and mothers face layers of systemic and structural barriers that are the reality of our time. Even with access to health care right now, finding a family doctor is really difficult in this province. Then we know that there are generational cycles of trauma, and how do we bump and interrupt those so that they don’t get passed down to future generations?”

According to Reid, today’s youth are showing higher signs in self-harm, eating disorders along with mental health issues.

“This kind of investment allows us to look at the structures and supports that we could put in place to really change the face of child research in this province,” she said.

According to the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation, 85,000 children visited its Saskatchewan facility in 2025.

Saskatchewan RCMP are alerting the public to a rise in fraudulent letters being sent to residents claiming they have won a “Set for Life” lottery.

The letters, often in handwritten envelopes, claim to come from the lottery’s “President of Operations” and instruct recipients to call a phone number to claim a lump-sum prize.

They typically include the recipient’s mailing address, lottery numbers, a file number, and a guarantee of “safety and security.”

RCMP say the return addresses and phone numbers are not connected to any legitimate lottery company.

Police are warning residents not to respond, call the number, or provide personal information.

RCMP say ways to protect yourself from these scams, are to be cautious of unexpected mail claiming they have won a prize or owe fees, never share personal or financial information with unverified senders, and avoid calling phone numbers or visiting websites listed in suspicious letters.

If you receive a similar letter, report it to police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Once again, the provincial NDP is calling out the Government of Saskatchewan over its health care record.

On Thursday, Saskatchewan NDP MLA Keith Jorgenson pointed to an incident in Regina from January 2025, in which he said that local ambulance crews were stretched so thin that they stopped picking up residents altogether.

“People were actually phoning back to cancel their 911 calls and requests for ambulances because they were tired of waiting and had decided to drive themselves to the hospital,” Jorgenson told reporters.

“This is absolutely shocking and it shows how this government has driven health care absolutely into the ground.”

Jorgenson said his party became aware of the incident through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. He went on to claim that the incident wasn’t an isolated occurrence, as he told reporters he’s heard similar stories from across the province.

“We’ve seen this in Saskatoon all the time, where people call 911, no one shows up,” he said.

“Sometimes for pretty disturbing situations where the ambulance doesn’t show up - not because the ambulance drivers aren’t trying to keep people safe, but because there’s just so many calls and the hours are so backed up that they’re not able to offload.”

The Government of Saskatchewan said both it and the SHA are committed to ensuring “timely” emergency medical services, though it didn’t address the specific claim about last year’s incident.

“The 2026-27 budget includes an increase of more than $14 million to protect and enhance EMS across Saskatchewan by improving response times, reducing workload pressures for paramedics and emergency medical communications staff, and supporting more consistent service delivery across the province,” the government wrote in its statement.

“To support recruitment for EMS services, our government expanded training seats by 66 per cent for primary care paramedics and is providing training bursaries for EMS providers as well as training and licensing support for emergency medical responders.”

The provincial government went on to say that every ambulance call is triaged, and the closest available ambulance is deployed when someone calls for service.

EVO Radio Network – Scheduled Maintenance Notice

EVO Radio will be conducting a network-wide server migration and infrastructure update beginning Saturday, January 17, 2026 at 3:00 AM, with work expected to be completed by Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 8:00 PM.

During this maintenance window, the following services may be temporarily offline or intermittently inaccessible at various points:

Websites

• https://z1035.evoradio.ca/

• https://979thecowboy.evoradio.ca/

• https://101therockhound.evoradio.ca/

• https://887thegoat.evoradio.ca/

• https://advertiseraccess.evoradio.ca/

• https://vipclub.evoradio.ca/

• https://evomcorp.com/

• https://djspinderella.evomcorp.com/

Live Broadcasting

• Z103.5

• 979 The Cowboy

• 101 The Rockhound

• Classic 88.7 The Goat

Stream Relay Network

• All Stream Relay services will be unavailable during the migration.

Because this update involves server transfers, database installations, and name server changes, exact downtime periods cannot be guaranteed. Individual service interruptions may vary, with some components taking up to several hours to complete.

Our support and technical teams will work to keep all stations and websites online for as long as possible and will restore services immediately as each system becomes available. Broadcast services and station websites will be prioritized, followed by additional network services.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we complete these upgrades, which are designed to improve performance, reliability, and long-term stability across the EVO Radio Network.

Thank you for your continued support,
EVO Radio Network

🎉 Update Completed Successfully! 🎉

We are thrilled to announce that our scheduled network update has been completed without any issues! 🚀 All our broadcast stations, streams, and websites are now fully operational and running better than ever.

What’s New?

Here’s what you can expect from this update:
✅ Improved Audio Player – No more interruptions or cutting off! Enjoy seamless streaming on our websites.
✅ Enhanced Stream Stability – Our radio streams are now more reliable than ever.
✅ Upgraded Security & Quality – Improved protection and enhanced broadcast quality for an unmatched listening experience.

Fully Operational Services:

🎵 Stations:

• Z103.5 – https://z1035.evoradio.ca/
• 979 The Cowboy – https://979thecowboy.evoradio.ca/
• 101 The Rockhound – https://101therockhound.evoradio.ca/
• Classic 88.7 The Goat – https://887thegoat.evoradio.ca/

🌐 Websites:

• EVO Radio Advertiser Access – https://advertiseraccess.evoradio.ca/
• EVO Media Corporation – https://evomcorp.com/
• DJ Spinderella – https://djspinderella.evomcorp.com/

Experiencing Issues?

While everything is running smoothly on our end, we’re here to help if you encounter any issues. If you’re having trouble with our broadcasts or websites, please report the issue to us immediately so we can address it.

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Thank you for your patience and understanding during this process. We’re committed to providing you with the best listening experience possible and appreciate your support!

🎧 Happy Listening!
The EVO Radio & EVO Media Corporation Team