TownandCountryToday.com

1 day ago | townandcountrytoday.com | Mike Stobbe |Geoff Mulvihill

There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That’s down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023. The CDC has been collecting comparable data for 45 years. The previous largest one-year drop was 4% in 2018, according to the agency’s National Center for Health Statistics.

1 day ago | townandcountrytoday.com | Paola Loriggio

A woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by five former world junior hockey players told their trial Tuesday they were men, not boys, at the time of the alleged incident. The complainant, who was 20 at the time, has referred to the players and their other teammates as men throughout her testimony, which began more than a week ago.

1 day ago | townandcountrytoday.com | Steve Lambert

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government issued an evacuation order for one provincial park and shut down activities in others Tuesday, as dry, hot weather spurred more wildfires. Cottagers, campers, lodge owners and others were asked in the morning to leave Nopiming Provincial Park in the eastern part of the province. Public and private developed areas in other nearby parks, such as Wallace Lake and Manigotagan River, were closed to the public.

1 day ago | townandcountrytoday.com | John Korobanik

EDMONTON — For much of three seasons Tre Ford stood on the Edmonton Elks sidelines listening to fans chant: "We want Tre, we want Tre."No more chanting. The fourth-year quarterback out of the University of Waterloo, who got to start only when the Elks playoff chances were virtually eliminated the last two seasons, has been handed the reins of the team that has been revamped from ownership to upper management to coaching.

2 days ago | townandcountrytoday.com | Donna Spencer

EDMONTON — Stuart Skinner had faith in himself, if others didn't. The goaltender's first win of this year's NHL playoffs was a 3-0 shutout Monday for the Edmonton Oilers, who take a 3-1 lead in their second-round series against the Golden Knights to Las Vegas with a chance to close it out Wednesday. Skinner's 23 saves were an integral piece of Edmonton's most complete game of the post-season. "It felt great," Skinner said. "All I can really say is thanks to the guys playing in front of me.