Francesca Lollobrigida added another major title to her Olympic resume this week, but her son stole the show in the press conference.

In a lighthearted family moment during the Italian speed skater’s post-race presser after securing gold, she was answering questions from reporters as her son decided to have his own moment at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

Lollobrigida’s young son Tommaso was seated beside her, reaching up as she was answering a question in an interview with Rai Sport on Sunday.

Tommaso grabbed his mother’s face, attempting to “shush” her as she was talking.

Lollobrigida attempted to fend him off, cracking a smile, but continuing the interview.

Her son then pulled her hat off her head while she was talking.

Lollobrigida, also celebrating her 35th birthday, won the gold medal in the 3,000-meter women’s speed skating on Saturday, setting an Olympic record in the process, with a time of 3:54.28.

“My family was here watching me and it’s incredible because we’re in Italy, and it’s the dream of my dream,” she said.

Lollobrigida is the first Italian woman in history to win gold in speedskating, and she also became the first Italian athlete to win gold during this year’s Olympics.

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She previously earned a silver and bronze medal in the 2022 Bejing Olympics.

“Aside from doing this for me, I did it for him, so one day he will be proud of me,” Lollobrigida said of her son. “Not just for being an Olympic champion, but because of the full journey we’ve lived together.”

She added, “This was to show the people that you can be a mom and come back to be much stronger.”

Reveling in her accomplishment, she admitted that she contemplated abandoning the journey altogether earlier this year.

“In the beginning of the season, I really wanted to give up,” Lollobrigida said. “But then the people who really believed in me said, ‘No, you really need to fight.’”

Officials are urging anyone who attended Ag Days or visited hotels and shops in Brandon, Man., last month to monitor for measles symptoms.

The agency says there was a suspected exposure during the event.

According to Manitoba Health, those who visited the event at Keystone Centre between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Jan. 20, 21 and 22 are asked to monitor themselves. Those who visited Jan. 20 are asked to monitor until Wednesday, while visitors on Jan. 21 monitor until Thursday and those at the event on Jan. 22 monitor until Friday.

Those who visited Ag Days’ Agriculture in the Classroom event at the Provincial Exhibition of the Manitoba Dome Building between Jan. 20 and 22, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., are asked to monitor themselves until later this week.

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Exposure notices have also been issued for those who visited the town of Winkler, Man.

Those notices involve anyone who visited the Stacked Pancake and Breakfast House on Feb. 1 from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., as well as the Boundary Trails Health Centre public health office on Feb. 2 from 10:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Anyone who visited the Boundary Trails Health Centre emergency department on Feb. 3 from 7 p.m. until 1:10 a.m. the next morning is also asked to monitor.

Manitoba Health says those who believe they may have been exposed should ensure they’re up to date on their measles vaccinations.

People who were born in 1970 or later and never received a measles vaccination and never had an infection are also asked to reduce exposure with others, especially anyone who has a weakened immune system, from the fifth day of exposure to the 21st day after their latest exposure.

Initial symptoms of measles can include a fever, runny nose, cough, drowsiness, irritability, and red eyes. Small white spots may also develop on the inside of the mouth or throat.

“Several days after the initial symptoms, a red blotchy rash appears on the face and progresses down the body,” Manitoba Health says in a release.

The symptoms typically present themselves within seven to 21 days after being exposed to the virus.

If symptoms develop, people who may have been exposed are asked to isolate at home and contact their health-care provider and advise them of the potential exposure.

The disease spreads through droplets in the air formed when coughing or sneezing, Manitoba Health adds.

—with a file from The Canadian Press

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Amanda Dyke of Jeddore, N.S., likes to feed birds in the winter, but when she noticed a colourful new bird perched on her deck recently, she didn’t know what kind it was.

The small animal had a mostly black and white plumage, except for a bright yellow splash on its throat.

To figure out what kind it was, she took out a book on Nova Scotia birds from the library, but there was no match.

Hoping to identify the species, Dyke posted a video of the bird on social media.

“Sure enough, all the experts knew exactly what he was and that he’s not really supposed to be here,” said Dyke.

The bird was a yellow-throated warbler, a species that typically resides in Mexico and Central America. In the summer months, it heads to the southeastern United States. It rarely makes its way this far north, especially at this time of year.

Shortly after her post, people asked Dyke if they could come and see the bird in person.

“I thought he was, you know, just a cute little bird,” said Dyke. “I didn’t know he would become so popular. He had lots of visitors coming from far and wide.”

Emerson Fiske, a retiree from Sackville, N.S., said he drove for around an hour to get to Dyke’s house.

He said when he arrived, there were another three birders in the yard, all trying to get a glimpse of the warbler. 

“Anytime you see a splash of colour this time of year, it’s always nice to see,” said Fiske.

He said one of the challenges of having a tropical bird in the winter is finding appropriate food, as many of the insects yellow-throated warblers would eat are not around.

Dyke said she started feeding the bird peanut butter — and after seeing how much the bird seemed to like it — she named it Butters.

“I got him a little addicted to peanut butter in the beginning, but now he’s on the right diet with mealworms and all the proper nutrition, so I’m hoping he makes it through,” she said, adding that some of the visiting birders left her with advice and some bird food for Butters.

Dyke even made Butters a small “mud cake” with worms and peanut butter, which he seemed to enjoy.

Dyke said she called the Department of Natural Resources to let them know about the sighting. She also said she will call wildlife groups to ask what the next best steps are.

Tony Millard, president of the Nova Scotia Bird Society, said these birds are very adaptable, and as long as it gets food and shelter for the colder nights, it should be able to make it through the winter.

“She’s doing about all she can do,” said Millard about Dyke’s care of the Butters.

“It’s a lovely bird and they are quite spectacular.”

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With its bright yellow and green doors and paintings of various fruits adorning the sides, downtown Charlottetown’s community fridge brought a pop of colour — and fresh, nutritious food — to the provincial capital’s downtown core.

The fridge first opened four and a half years ago to fanfare and political photo ops. Now, the parking lot of the Parkdale-Sherwood Lions Club is mostly quiet, and the fridge itself is nowhere to be seen. 

“The idea really came about from hearing the needs of the community,” said Sandra Sunil, a co-ordinator of the community fridge. 

“What we heard from folks is that they’re looking for affordable food, good quality food, cooked meals, warm meals and something that’s quick and easy and grab-and-go.”

The fridge served that purpose for a while, until Charlottetown council voted in 2024 to shut it down, citing a zoning issue. 

Some residents also complained about garbage around the site, the clientele that visited the fridge and the amount of food they were taking. 

Now, the site of the first-ever community fridge in the province is vacant, and the city hasn’t received any applications to replace it. 

While there’s no movement yet, advocates say they want to see that gap in Charlottetown’s downtown core filled — and that there’s still a need for support and resources in the community for those experiencing food insecurity. 

While the downtown Charlottetown fridge was the first of its kind on P.E.I., it wasn’t the last. 

There are two other fridges in the city now: one off of Brackley Point Road and one in the West Royalty area. 

Both of those fridges are supervised — a different model of operation than the now-shuttered downtown iteration.

But that’s not how Sunil wants to do things.

“It definitely doesn’t align with my values, with what the heart of the project is,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that it’s a resource and support where there’s no questions asked, there’s no barriers involved in … accessing the food.”

While Sunil’s concerns are about creating stigma around the fridge’s use, others say if supporting a vulnerable population means tracking who’s served. 

“We don’t have any data on that because that’s not tracked by those programs,” said Jennifer Taylor, a professor in food and nutrition in the department of applied human sciences at UPEI. 

“It’s very important to do that because how can you say your program is working? How can you say that you are helping if all those meals are going to a couple of people versus 25 people?”

Taylor said it’s also important to think about what kind of food people need, and whether people accessing a community fridge have the means to prepare or heat foods that are left in it. 

WATCH | Charlottetown needs a new community fridge downtown, advocates say:

Charlottetown needs a new community fridge downtown, advocates say

There’s no community fridge in Charlottetown’s downtown, and advocates say that leaves a gap in the core of the capital city. While some say a fridge is still needed, there hasn’t been an application for one. CBC’s Tony Davis explains.

The P.E.I. Food Exchange used to cook meals to put in the downtown fridge. Its members are still cooking, but the food is going to the province’s Community Outreach Centre in Charlottetown now. 

“It’s not the ideal scenario for us,” said Karen Murchison, who cooks with the group. 

“We … felt really good about the work that we were doing with the community fridge because we knew and understood that it was going to a broader population of vulnerable people or people that were living with food insecurity.”

She said some of the people who used to use the community fridge can’t access the P.E.I. Food Exchange’s programming in the same way anymore now that it’s housed at the outreach centre. 

“Ideally, I would like to see a number of community fridges — maybe at a smaller scale — located strategically throughout the city,” Murchison said, noting that there are some areas of the city with higher populations of seniors or young families that would benefit from having the service nearby.

“I just think that we have to be really open and creative about how we think about the community fridge because clearly the model that we had before does not achieve broad community acceptance,” she said. 

What’s next for the P.E.I. Community Fridge, after council nixes its current site?

Charlottetown council voted 7-1 against letting the P.E.I. Community Fridge stay on Valley Street after some residents in the area complained about loitering, littering, trespassing and property damage. CBC’s Tony Davis spoke to Sandra Sunil from the group that runs the fridge; Coun. John McAleer, who cast the lone vote to keep the fridge where it is; and Mayor Philip Brown about what comes next.

While the details of how a new community fridge in Charlottetown would work in practice are unclear, advocates agree that the demand exists. 

“There’s a need, definitely, for access to good food and access to nutritious food. Whether that’s through community fridge or another type of resource, that’s up for discussion,” said Sunil, who said she hasn’t given up on the idea and is still having discussions about it regularly. 

“The need is definitely still there in terms of the challenges families and individuals face in accessing food.”

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Some students say a dog ate their homework, others send in a doctor’s note.

Madeline Schizas cited a scheduling conflict called the Olympics — and it worked.

The Canadian figure skater and McMaster University student was granted an extension on her sociology assignment one day after going viral with her request on Instagram.

Schizas posted a screenshot of the email to her professor Saturday, the morning after she competed in the women’s team event short program at Milano Cortina 2026, with a link to the Canadian Olympic Committee’s press release to confirm her participation.

“Wondering if I could get a short extension on this week’s reflection,” the email read.

“I was competing in the Olympic Games yesterday and thought it was due on Sunday, not Friday.”

Schizas added: “LOLLLL I (heart) being a student athlete” in her post.

The 22-year-old from Oakville, Ont. — known for her deadpan sense of humour — updated her nearly 40,000 (and growing) followers on Instagram on Sunday, hours before she was set to compete in the team event free program.

Canada currently sits in fourth heading into Sunday’s action.

WATCH | Schizas competes in the figure skating team event Friday:

Canada sits 5th in Olympic figure skating team event after Madeline Schizas’ short program

Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., scores 64.97 in the women’s short program during the figure skating team event at the Milano-Cortina Winter Games. Canada finishes the day in fifth place.

“Since it seems everyone was quite invested, I did get my extension lol,” she said. “I can’t believe anyone cared so much (crying emoji).

“Good learning lesson about the spotlight of the Olympics.”

Schizas is set to graduate in May with a major in Environment and Society, which she compares to “environmental studies.”

Organizers of winter competitions meant to embrace the cold of February have been scrambling to adapt to unseasonably warm weather which saw the mercury climb into the double digits this week, melting ice and snow.

In Moyie, a community about 30 kilometres south of Cranbrook in B.C.’s East Kootenay region, participants in the annual ice fishing derby had to take to boats and docks on open water due to a lack of a deep freeze.

“It’s bananas. Nobody can believe what is happening, and that there is not ice on our lake,” said organizer Wanda Cavelle.

“I have lived in Moyie for 24 years and I have never seen it like this, ever … we’re gonna be doing cold plunges soon.”

More than a dozen communities from Victoria to Cranbrook to Dawson Creek have broken daily heat records over the past week, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada, with Bella Coola on the central coast climbing as high as 19.3 C. Vancouver may see its first snow-free winter in 43 years and ski hills have been struggling due to a lack of a strong base.

In Prince George Sunday,  the annual Iceman competition — a race that combines cross-country skiing, running, speed skating and swimming — has had to be heavily modified due to the relative warmth.

Rather than the traditional eight kilometre ski on a continuous trail, competitors are having to loop the same 1.6 kilometre loop of multiple times on artificial snow using the snow machines at the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club. This comes as the club has been warning of puddles on the tracks. Olympic qualifiers, scheduled for the city in November, also had to be moved last-minute due to adverse conditions because of a lack of snowfall.

But no modifications are possible at the Prince George Ice Oval, an outdoor rink that is completely reliant on the weather, meaning the skate portion of the race has had to be cancelled.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Kathy Lewis, president of the volunteer society that tries to keep the oval going as much as possible despite challenging conditions.

“We’ve been seeing this trend happening over the last five to 10 years, our number of days that we’re open for public skating is going down…. Our season is getting smaller and smaller. And at some point it may become non-existent if we’re putting in so much work and effort only for a few days of skating.”

The oval society has been fundraising and lobbying government for money needed to get a refrigeration for the ice so they can add more days to the skating season but with combined capital and operating costs estimated in the tens of millions there’s still a long way to go. And Lewis worries the money might not materialize before the ice melts for good.

“Do we want this fantastic facility that if we had refrigeration could actually be used for inline skating in the summer, so it would be pretty much a 12 month use? Or do we give up eventually on outdoor skating in this community?” she asked. “And that would be a real shame.”