Prairie Harm Reduction to cease all operations, citing funding challenge | Globalnews.ca


Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR) will cease all operations, including its family support services, youth houses, and supervised consumption site as of 5 p.m. on Thursday, it announced.

Prairie Harm Reduction to cease all operations, citing funding challenge  | Globalnews.ca

“To ensure that PHR staff, and those that they serve, do not experience any continued undue distress, the board has decided the only remaining option is to cease all programs and services,” said Brady Knight, the vice-chair of the board of directors at the non-profit.

“Everything will immediately close, including the drop-in centre, support services, education services, family support, and our two youth homes,” Knight added.

The supervised consumption site that was previously closed in March will remain shut down.

“To those who accessed our services, thank you for trusting us. We’re sorry that we can no longer walk with you,” the vice-chair said.

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Since discovering financial strain, and firing its executive director in March, the service discovered its shortfalls are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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Knight did not provide an exact figure.

“The financial shortfall that was identified was more dire than it originally thought. The deficit continues to grow,” he told reporters.

“After the board received the financial review from our independent financial advisers, it was clear that there was unfortunately no path forward.”

No forensic audits were done to specify how the “dire” situation emerged, as the board estimated its price to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Despite their efforts, Knight said board members felt they could not identify a way to move forward.

The government of Saskatchewan terminated its contracts with Prairie Harm late last month — effectively ending funding for some of PHR’s programs.


“There has been a constellation of events here that led to things,” explained Knight. He cited the provincial pullback, as well as an uptick in overdoses, and a 300 per cent increase in demand for services as some of the factors.

Knight said the group has been working with other organizations, as well as Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Social Services. The ministry was said to be in the process of transitioning youth to new housing.

The groups are working to ensure a smooth transition for those who relied on the nonprofit for a home.

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“Notwithstanding the circumstances announced here today, advocacy and compassion are needed now more than ever. We sincerely hope that one day a new organization will emerge to pick up where PHR left off,” he said.

“It is a scary time. It’s, I think, a situation where there’s a whole lot of uncertainty for people whose lives are marked by uncertainty.”

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Melania Trump Condemns ‘Lies’ Linking Her to Epstein


WASHINGTON—First lady Melania Trump on Thursday condemned “lies” linking her to the disgraced late sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.

The first lady unexpectedly issued a statement in the afternoon that was not on the official White House schedule shared with reporters.

‘The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect,” she began.

“I do not object to their ignorance, but rather, I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation. I’ve never been friends with Epstein,” she added.

The first lady said she and President Donald Trump were occasionally invited to the same parties that Epstein attended because of common “overlapping” in social circles in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida.

“To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, [Ghislaine] Maxwell,” she said. “My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence. My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note.”

The first lady added that she is not a victim of Epstein’s and that she met her husband years before she ever crossed paths with Epstein.

“I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump,” she said. “I met my husband by chance at a New York City Party in 1998. This initial encounter with my husband is documented in detail in my book Melania.”

“The first time I crossed paths with Epstein was in the year 2000 at an event Donald and I attended together. At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings,” she added.

She also blasted “fake images and statements” circulating online that allege a link between her and Epstein.

“Be cautious about what you believe. These images and stories are completely false,” she said.

She added:

I’m not a witness or a named witness in connection with any of Epstein’s crimes. My name has never appeared in court documents, depositions, victim statements or FBI interviews surrounding the Epstein matter. I have never had any knowledge of Epstein abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity. I was not a participant, was never on Epstein’s plane, and never visited his private island. I have never been legally accused or convicted of a crime in connection with Epstein, sex trafficking, abuse of minors, and other repulsive behavior.

She said those attacking her with “smears” are “politically motivated.” The first lady noted that, through the legal system, the likes of the Daily Beast, James Carville, and HarperCollins UK have been required to publicly apologize to her. She also called on Congress to hold a public hearing for Epstein’s victims.

“I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing, specifically centered around the survivors. Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony,” she said.

“Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional Record. Then and only then, we will have the truth,” the first lady concluded.


Fever’s Lexie Hull speaks out against attacks on players as team’s popularity grows during Caitlin Clark era


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Lexie Hull remembers what it was like playing for the Indiana Fever before Caitlin Clark arrived in town.

It’s different now. The arenas are louder, the opposing players are more motivated and social media is more volatile.

“The most challenging part is there’s just so much scrutiny. People have opinions online, and, unfortunately, that’s part of the job and the role that we play,” Hull told Fox News Digital about what’s harder about playing in Indiana since 2024.

“People need to know that everyone’s human. We’re real people. I think when things get blown out of proportion, when things get really personal and there’s personal attacks on people’s character, I think that’s where it gets over the line.”

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Fever’s Lexie Hull speaks out against attacks on players as team’s popularity grows during Caitlin Clark era

Lexie Hull, left, and Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever during a game against the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena June 27, 2024, in Seattle. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

When asked if she has been the target of personal attacks online, Hull said, “I’m sure I have. I try not to read comments for that reason.”

Much of the controversial social media discourse about the Fever stems from heated moments on the court over the last two seasons. Clark and Fever fans often expressed outrage at times when an opposing player fouled her or delivered a physical play against Clark without a foul being called.

Hull was drafted by the Fever in 2022 and played two full seasons in a quieter, less-crowded Gainbridge Fieldhouse than the one she has played in the last two years, falling short of the playoffs both years.

But when Clark was drafted in 2024, Hull’s team became the center of the women’s basketball world.

Hull says she noticed a difference in how opposing players started to perform against her team that year, which she credits to the surge in popularity.

“Because of the fans that we’ve gotten since 2024, with the rise in, I think, like, popularity with the Indiana Fever being like a name that people know. … And there’s a million Fever jerseys and Fever shirts. I think, like, as an opposing team, you’d want to win even more because you feel there’s so many people rooting,” Hull said.

“It’s exciting to have that type of following across the country, and I think, like, for other teams, they have great fans and great people that show up for them, and they want to perform for those people, just like we want to perform for ours.”

When asked if she believes games have gotten more physical as a result, Hull said, “I think just the game itself is physical. I don’t know if it’s gotten any more physical. I think social media amplifies a lot of that.

“I think people want to win. I think people just want to win. … [The games] are all physical. … They all get chippy at times. Calls get made, calls don’t get made. That’s just part of the game.”

FEVER’S SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM DROPS ‘NO ONE LIKES US’ TAKE AS INDIANA DEALS WITH ADVERSITY

Lexie Hull, Caitlin Clark, and Sophie Cunningham watching Golden State Valkyries celebrate at Chase Center

The Indiana Fevers’ Lexie Hull, Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham watch as the Golden State Valkyries celebrate their 88-77 win in a WNBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco June 19, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

During a game between the Fever and the Connecticut Sun June 17, physicality boiled into a brawl. After Sun guard Jacy Sheldon poked Clark in the eye and fellow Sun player Marina Mabrey shoved Clark to the ground, Fever star Sophie Cunningham committed a hard foul on Sheldon, initiating an on-court fight that resulted in three ejections.

When asked if she believes her team is prepared for a similar incident in 2026, Hull said, “It shouldn’t get to that point.”

Instead, Hull said she is focused on helping her team win a championship. And she embraces all the attention and popularity despite the challenges that come with it.

“Growing up, I didn’t necessarily watch the WNBA as much, didn’t have dreams of playing in the league at a young age, and now girls have the ability to watch us, see us, dream about being professional athletes. And that’s what’s been the most rewarding part about it,” Hull said of the positives that come with the attention.

She came one game shy of reaching the WNBA Finals last year, leading the Fever through the playoffs after Clark and Cunningham were lost for the season with injuries. In a career-best year, Hull averaged career highs in points (7.2), rebounds (4.3), and assists (1.8) while shooting 36.7% from 3-point range and appearing in all 44 games.

In the playoffs, she averaged 10.3 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 8 games. It all came to an end in a 107-98 overtime loss to the Las Vegas Aces in Game 5 of the WNBA semifinals.

With Clark and Cunningham healthy and back this year, the Fever go into 2026 as a top contender for the title.

“Tasting that and being so close and feeling like we have so much more to give, I think that just changes our mindset a little bit,” Hull said.

The trio of Clark, Cunningham and Hull proved to be an efficient and gravitating force in popularity when they were all on the court at the same time last year. Along the way, they earned a mysterious nickname on social media, which they later adopted for themselves — “Tres Leches,” which translates from Spanish to “three milks” and refers to a popular Latin American sponge cake.

“We saw it on Twitter at some point, and people ran with it,” Hull said of the nickname. “It was funny.”

In terms of navigating the attention, Hull, Clark and their teammates now have two years of conditioning in that arena.

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Indiana Fever guards Lexie Hull, Caitlin Clark, and Sophie Cunningham laughing near team bench

Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull (10), Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham laugh near the team bench June 3, 2025, during a game against the Washington Mystics at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (IMAGN Syndication: The Indianapolis Star)

“I think everyone does a really good job of not giving the rise in attention any attention. I think we’re just showing up the same we do everyday,” Hull said.

“Knowing that there’s more eyes on us, knowing that there’s more seats in the stands, all of that is exciting, but I don’t think that necessarily changes how we go about the game, go about our relationships, go about what we post on social media. It just adds to the engagement.”

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Mairéad Dillon: Galway Camogie Star’s All-Ireland Final Goal and Rise to Stardom


Mairéad Dillon has become one of the most admired players in the Galway camogie dressing room, and it is easy to see why. Since first being called into the senior panel by Cathal Murray in 2019, the Kilconieron player has shown patience, resilience and a constant hunger to improve. Those qualities have helped turn her into a major figure for the Tribeswomen.

Dillon’s breakthrough came in unforgettable fashion last August when she won the first of her three All-Ireland medals on the pitch against Cork. There is a strong argument that Galway would not have lifted the title without her contribution in some of the biggest moments of the campaign.

Big-game impact for Galway camogie

When Tipperary threatened to upset Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final, Dillon stepped up. After Tipp drew level early in the second half, Galway needed leaders to respond and Dillon was one of the players who found another gear. She finished with two points, while also posting an impressive tackle count and covering huge ground throughout the contest.

Even better was to come in the All-Ireland final. Galway had unsettled Cork early with their aggression, but they had not fully made that pressure count on the scoreboard. Then came the moment that changed everything.

 

Aoife Donohue burst through the heart of the Cork defence after a brilliant pick-up, drawing three defenders before releasing Dillon in space. There was still plenty for Dillon to do. She carried for around 10 metres, tapped the sliotar once off the bas of her hurley, and from just outside the 13-metre line she struck decisively. Libby Coppinger tried to close the gap, but the finish was too clean and Amy Lee had no chance.

It was a goal of composure, timing and nerve. Dillon’s reaction said plenty too. There was a small fist pump, but she quickly looped back into position on the half-forward line. It was a celebration marked by control rather than emotion, a sign of a player fully locked into the occasion.

Cork fought right to the end and Galway still needed a late pointed free from captain Carrie Dolan in the third minute of injury time to edge over the line by the minimum margin. For Dillon and Galway, it became one of the happiest memories of all.

“Yeah, look, it was brilliant. I suppose to be able to be part of the team in itself is such a huge honour and it’s nice to get the reward at the end of it. I’m just glad that we did get over the line, and all our hard work paid off.”

Dillon also reflected on the goal itself with typical humility.

“When I look back on it now, I just think it was great that it went in. Not too many people can say that they scored a goal in Croke Park on All-Ireland day. Cathal emphasises work rate and supporting the play, and Aoife had the ball and it was just one of those moments where you take the risk. Luckily, it worked out in the end.”

Asked about keeping pace with Donohue’s surging run, Dillon laughed: “I think


Can the Middle East ceasefire hold?


This is the text from The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email. Sign up here to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox.


It’s still not clear who will turn up in Islamabad tomorrow for the first round of talks aimed at turning the 14-day ceasefire in the Iran war into a permanent end to the crisis. Indeed, it’s not at all certain that the ceasefire will still even exist by then.

To anyone following events, there seemed little, if any, gap between reports that Pakistan had brokered a truce between the warring parties and news that Israel was continuing to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon. But from then the story followed a depressingly familiar path. Iran – backed by Pakistan – claimed that the ceasefire also covered Lebanon. Israel said that it didn’t and it would continue to pound Hezbollah targets there.

For his part, the US president, Donald Trump, said that as far as he was concerned, Israel’s assault on Lebanon was a “separate skirmish”, albeit one of considerable brutality in which 1,400 people were either killed or wounded.

We asked Scott Lucas, of the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin for his take on some of the most important issues which may affect the talks.




Read more:
Why is Israel continuing to attack Lebanon, despite the ceasefire? Expert Q&A


The ceasefire was always going to be fragile, even without Israel’s intervention. There’s clearly no goodwill or trust between the warring parties. Trump was less than two hours away from launching an attack on Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including its power plants and its bridges – a bombardment so monumental that, as he put it: “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again”.

Tehran, for its part, was spitting defiance back at Washington, while calling on its people to form human chains across bridges and around power plants.

Nicholas Wheeler, an international relations expert at the University of Birmingham who has been investigating the role of trust in diplomacy, believes there’s a big difference between a mutual lack of trust between warring parties, and active distrust. In the former situation there is the potential for trust to develop. But in this case – as Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi noted recently, the US has now twice attacked Iran during ongoing negotiations, so – he says – there is “zero trust” in the US from Tehran’s point of view.

Trump’s failure to bring the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to heel over Israel’s continuing bombardment of Lebanon can only make matters worse.




Read more:
Iran ceasefire: trust will be vital but it’s in short supply right now


And so Iran has not opened the Strait of Hormuz, which was America’s most important demand. We must wait to see what events, both in the Middle East and at the negotiations in Islamabad, will bring. The ceasefire had allowed both Tehran and Washington to declare a victory – which certainly seemed to be something in which the Trump administration placed a great deal of value. Both the US president and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, were trumpeting that line on Wednesday – Hegseth going so far as to say that the Iranian military was rendered completely ineffective and that the country’s leadership “begged” for a ceasefire.

Iran also declared victory. And Bamo Nouri and Inderjeet Parmeer of City St George’s, University of London, believe that Tehran has more reason to do so. For one thing, the Islamic Republic has demonstrated resilience in the face of the might of US and Israeli firepower that aimed to destroy it. It has shown that it can use its control of Hormuz to thrown global energy markets into considerable disarray. And, under the terms of the ceasefire accepted by the US president, it is Iran’s ten-point plan which will form the basis of negotiations.




Read more:
Middle East conflict: this ceasefire may have made Iran stronger


Changing world order

The US president, meanwhile, has repeated his criticisms of America’s Nato allies and, according to German news magazine Der Speigel, has issued what European diplomats are calling “an ultimatum” for European member states to send military assistance to the Strait of Hormuz within days.

Can the Middle East ceasefire hold?
Nato under pressure: Donald Trump with Nato secretary-general, Mark Rutte.
EPA/Aaron Schwartz/pool

Trump has been highly critical of Nato as a whole – and several of its member states specifically – because he believes they haven’t done enough to help the US and Israel against Iran. On April 1, he raised the possibility of the US quitting Nato altogether.

But he’s unlikely to pull America out of its transatlantic alliance, writes Paul Whiteley, who gives us three reasons why it’s either not in the US president’s interests or America’s to turn his back on the alliance it has led for nearly eight decades.




Read more:
Three reasons Donald Trump won’t pull the US out of Nato


The emergence of Pakistan as a key interlocutor in all this will have come as something of a surprise to many. But the country has emerged, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey, as part of an important power bloc with influence in the Middle East, writes Natasha Lindstaedt, professor in the Department of Government at the University of Essex.

Lindstaedt argues that these countries want an end to the dominant roles played by both Israel and Iran in the region. The war in Gaza has appalled the Islamic world and put paid to any hopes – certainly for the near future – of any normalisation of relations of the sort envisaged by Donald Trump’s Abraham Accords. And all are also tired of the force for tensions and destabilisation that Iran has represented for nearly five decades.

As Lindstaedt points out, they’re a powerful bunch: Pakistan has nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia has loads of oil, Egypt controls access to the Suez Canal and Turkey is a member of Nato: “Taken together, they represent the most politically and militarily influential Muslim-majority countries in the world,” she concludes.




Read more:
Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia emerge as a new regional power bloc amid Iran war


Meanwhile in Hungary

Hungarians head to the polls on Sunday for elections which will determine who is to be the country’s next prime minister. The long-time incumbent, Viktor Orbán, faces a stiff challenge from his former political ally, Péter Magyar. Polls show he is seriously up against it.

So the US president dispatched J.D. Vance to campaign alongside the prime minister in a bid to mobilise the country’s far-right eurosceptics. Zsofia Bocskay, of Central European University, sets the scene for what she believes could be a turning point for Hungarian politics.




Read more:
Hungary election: how a new opponent has forced Viktor Orbán into the first genuinely competitive race in 16 years


Birmingham University’s Stefan Wolff, meanwhile, believes that the fall in support for Orbán despite all the help from Washington, reflects a Europe-wide disenchantment with Trump, especially in light of the US president’s apparently warm relationship with Vladimir Putin, a leader many feel poses a very real threat to their security.




Read more:
Hungarian election exposes tensions at the heart of Donald Trump’s plans to boost the far-right in Europe



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“Who snitched on Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini”: Jason Whitlock smells foul as Patriots HC gets spotted holding hands with NFL insider


After a terrific 2025 NFL season, Mike Vrabel made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The New England Patriots head coach was spotted being cozy with senior NFL insider Dianna Russini at a hotel in Arizona at the end of March.

The photos, shared on Tuesday, caused a major stir around the league. Vrabel and Russini denied that the pictures meant more than a friendly interaction, but many people disagreed with it.

A lot has been said about the situation, and multiple questions have been asked. Veteran analyst Jason Whitlock questioned on Wednesday who could have been behind the decision to expose Vrabel and Russini.

“Who snitched on Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini? Who had the motive and who beneffited,” Whitlock tweeted.

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On a similar note, former Fox Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho claimed somebody was after the pair and paid another person to take those pictures.

“As the foremost expert on this topic,” Acho said during Wednesday’s edition of his “Speakeasy” show. “Let’s just take the sting out. Beat them to the punchline! As the foremost expert on this topic, here’s what nobody’s talking about regarding Russini and Vrabel, somebody hired a private investigator.”

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Jason Whitlock ripped Dianna Russini over Mike Vrabel pictures

Before questioning who could have been behind this situation, Jason Whitlock had strong words about the leaked photos of Russini and Vrabel. He put the insider’s integrity in question while saying it was an unfair system.

“So you’re telling me a woman can land a high-profile media job in sports and all she has to do to gain a competitive advantage is sleep with a high-profile coach, athlete, executive or agent? Coach/athlete/exec/agent have no reason to complain. It’s a perk. System is rigged,” Whitlock wrote.

The Russini-Vrabel situation doesn’t seem to be over soon. Fans continue to dig up old comments and behavior from the insider, which only fuels the rumors.

She said she was at the hotel with some friends and they ran into Vrabel. However, the photos only show them alone.