Amelia Earhart statue vanishes from Newfoundland park, leaving town and mayor shocked
ST. JOHN'S – A Newfoundland mayor says his community is shocked and devastated after a life-size statue of pioneering American aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared from a municipal park overnight.
Don Coombs, mayor of Harbour Grace, N.L., says he got a call early this morning saying the cherished bronze statue commemorating Earhart's successful 1932 transatlantic flight was gone.
Though he hasn't seen it yet himself, he says his staff saw surveillance video indicating two people were dropped off in the park just after midnight and were picked up nearly three hours later in a red SUV.
Coombs says Earhart fans and flight enthusiasts from across the globe have been calling him to express their concern and condolences.
Earhart took off from Harbour Grace on May 20, 1932, and landed about 15 hours later in Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean.
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The aviator vanished over the Pacific Ocean nearly five years later during an attempt to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2025.
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Toronto Sun
a day ago
- Toronto Sun
SHAPIRO: Team Trump restoring a warrior mentality in the military once again
In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the John Lewis-class replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) conducts a replenishment at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, Dec. 13, 2024. Photo by Maxwell Orlosky / AP This week, the U.S. Department of Defence made an unprecedented move by renaming a ship originally christened the USNS Harvey Milk. According to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's memo, the goal was to ensure 'alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of re-establishing the warrior culture.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account And predictably, the radical left went insane. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose district encompasses San Francisco — the home of Harvey Milk — called it 'a surrender of a fundamental American value to honour the legacy of those who worked to build a better country … a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.' Part of this supposed legacy was the creation in 2018 of the John Lewis-class replenishment oilers, designated to be named after various civil rights leaders, including Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But this idea is rather stupid in the first place. First off, these figures are not exactly anonymous. There are currently two public schools named after Milk (one in San Francisco and one in New York), even though he was a scurrilous figure who had sex with a 16-year-old runaway while he was in his 30s and rather prominently supported murderous cult leader Jim Jones. A film was made about his life, starring Sean Penn, who won an Oscar for his performance. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Traditionally, U.S. Navy ships have been named after places (USS Ohio) or presidents (USS Ronald Reagan) or military heroes (USS John Paul Jones) or ideas (USS Enterprise or USS Hope) or even Native American tribes (USS Seminole). The reason for these naming conventions is obvious— they are not polarizing. If you name a ship after John F. Kennedy or Doris Miller, you're not offending anyone; we can all acknowledge JFK's presidency and Doris Miller's Second World War heroism. But that's not what happened with the USS Harvey Milk. When the name was announced, radical state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-Calif., explained, 'When Harvey Milk served in the military, he couldn't tell anyone who he truly was. Now our country is telling the men and women who serve, and the entire world, that we honour and support people for who they are.' That, of course, is a strange proposition for the United States military, which is fundamentally not about honouring people for 'who they are' but for what they do— and given that the topic is ship-naming, what they do ought to be at least tangentially related to the question of military readiness. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Trump administration's renaming is part and parcel of a broader shift away from the censorious wokeness that crippled military recruitment and led to an astonishing diminishment in the perception of our military strength. It turns out that young men don't want to join a military that is more focused on cultural signalling than lethal efficiency — and our enemies are far more sanguine about a military that focuses on which interest groups to placate than a military that focuses on victorious deadliness. Hegseth, in short, is right. If the purpose of branding is to establish a vision of the thing being branded, we are far better off with a USNS Daniel Daly — a ship named after one of the most decorated Marines in American history — than with a USNS Harvey Milk. What's more, the Trump administration's refreshing willingness to say the obvious is a credit to the White House and the Secretary of Defence. No, our military ought not be a canvas for the latest social revolutionary fad. We don't need a USNS RuPaul. We need an America united by our reverence for our citizen warriors, which means honouring the universal icons who remind us of their bravery and sacrifice. Ben Shapiro is host of The Ben Shapiro Show and co-founder of Daily Wire+ Sports World Canada Sunshine Girls Columnists
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Serving a greying church
'God must like old people. He keeps creating more of them.' So quipped Scott Tolhurst, a former pastor who, over the course of his 48 years in ministry, developed a heart for service to seniors. Current demographics prove him right. According to Statistics Canada, seniors are the fastest-growing group in Canada. Today there are over seven million Canadians 65 and older — or about 20 per cent of the population. By 2068 that is projected to rise to 25 per cent. But it's not just society that's greying; so are churches. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, in 2024 36 per cent of members of American congregations were over 65. At the same time, the percentage of those under 35 who attended religious services of all denominations fell to 32 per cent. Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS files According to Statistics Canada, seniors are the fastest-growing group in Canada. Or, as the institute put it, there are now more churchgoers older than 65 than younger than 35 in U.S. churches — and likely in Canada, too. Despite the rising number of older adults in congregations, many churches are still focused mostly on serving younger people and families, Tolhurst said. 'Seniors can be people nobody thinks of much,' said the 69-year-old. 'These are people who were very loyal, sacrificial, and who had a love for Jesus beyond words. But now they are often on the periphery in the church, left on their own.' What hurts many seniors is how their churches don't see them as having much to offer beyond money. For Tolhurst, that's a form of spiritual ageism. 'Churches need to shift their thinking to see seniors as a resource in their congregations,' he said. 'Seniors still want to serve. They have given all their lives. They're not ready to stop now.' He acknowledges seniors face unique challenges that can impact their service, such as health, loss, grief, loss of independence and other limitations. 'But they still have much to give,' he says. 'They just need someone to ask them.' Jane Kuepfer directs the Schlegel Institute in Spirituality & Aging at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo. She also feels many churches today don't value older people. Instead, many are putting all their efforts into attracting younger people. This is a great loss. 'There is great potential in older people,' Kuepfer said. 'They are an incredible resource. We need to encourage churches to pay more attention to people in the third act of life.' Kuepfer wants churches to realize God doesn't stop calling people to various kinds of service just because they're older. 'God will call us to different things at different stages of our lives,' she said. But, she added, God still calls — including when people are older. The best way for churches to do a better job of serving seniors is by just listening to them, Kuepfer said. 'Find out what they need to keep them spiritually sustained and healthy. Ask them what they need, where they're at and how they might become involved,' she said. As for churches worried about their futures, she suggests they would do well to focus on who is in the pews right now. 'What if the future is serving older adults? An older congregation doesn't infer a dying congregation,' she said. Tom McCormick, 75, felt a call to serve seniors when he was in his 20s. He ended up serving people in long-term care for some 50 years and also wrote two books on nursing home ministry. For him, serving seniors is 'about following a scriptural mandate. It's what it means to be the people of God.' What disappoints McCormick is how few churches seem interested in service to seniors. 'When I talk to churches, I'm often told they want to focus on the emerging generation, there's more future there,' he said. 'It must break the Lord's heart to see older people neglected by the Church in this way.' McCormick is also disappointed by the lack of courses about ministry to seniors at Canadian seminaries. 'Seminaries tell me [that subject] isn't marketable,' he says. And yet, he noted, people graduating as clergy today will find themselves in churches with a large number of seniors — but with little training in how to minister to them and their unique needs. 'Not enough seminaries are preparing clergy for this reality. It's a real blind spot,' he said. In 1971, singer-songwriter John Prine wrote a song titled Hello in There, about an older couple whose children had moved away and left their parents on their own. In the song, the couple describes the loneliness they felt. The chorus goes like this: 'You know that old trees just grow stronger And old rivers grow wider every day Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. Old people just grow lonesome Waiting for someone to say 'Hello in there, hello.'' I wonder how many churches, and other places of worship, are saying hello to seniors as society ages? faith@ The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER John LonghurstFaith reporter John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Global News
3 days ago
- Global News
Lost for over a century, Heiltsuk Nation celebrates return of bentwood box
The Heiltsuk First Nation is celebrating the return of a precious piece of history, lost to their people for more than a century. The nation held a special reunification ceremony for the bentwood box last Friday that coincided with a feast to mark the ratification of their written constitution. 'I was very emotional,' said Christine Smith Martin, CEO of Coastal First Nations, who helped facilitate the return of the box from an American family to the Heiltsuk Nation. 2:03 Heiltsuk Nation ratifies new written constitution through celebratory feast 'We really want to tell art collectors or whoever may have boxes similar to this, the right thing to do is to bring it home, to make sure those boxes make it home if they can because its an important piece for us, there' s a lot of teachings on that box, there's a lot of things artists might not have seen yet.'' Story continues below advertisement Bentwood boxes were specialized, watertight containers fabricated from a single piece of cedar wood that has been steamed and curved, then fastened shut with wooden pegs. Elroy white, an archeologist, hereditary chief and elected councillor with the Heiltsuk, said they were used to carry trade goods up and down the coast, as well as for the storage of important items like instruments or regalia. They were also used to store and prepare food. He said the Heiltsuk became well known for their skill in crafting the boxes in the 1860s, after their population was decimated by smallpox and came together in a single community. Ethnographers who visited the community documented them and spread the word, and soon collectors and academics from around the world began seeking them out. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'That was their premise, that they were going to preserve this cultural way of these First Nations, they were called Indians back then,' he said. 'They were either sold or they were coerced from the owners.' The provenance of this particular box is unknown, Elwood said, save that it passed through collections and galleries before being purchased in Vancouver in 2020. He believes it was made some time in the 1880s, but said that when items pass through galleries their back history is typically not shared, and information like the artist who made them is lost. Story continues below advertisement That's when Janet and Dave Deisley, a couple from Salt Lake City, Utah, purchased it at the Douglas Reynolds Gallery on Granville Street. 2:11 Heiltsuk Nation celebrates 'powerful, emotional' return of historic chief's seat 'After Dave bought the box we had we had it in our home for a couple of years,' Janet Deisley told Global News. But the item never felt right in the couple's collection, and they decided to return it — free of charge — reaching out to Coastal First Nations for help in connecting it to the Heiltsuk. 'The community in which those artifacts were created is where they belong from a spiritual sense,' Dave Diesley said. 'I would imagine they felt what we felt when we had it in our office for that short time. You can feel. It's like a piece of an ancestor wanting to come home … you look at it and you see that history in there,' Martin said. Story continues below advertisement 'I would imagine they felt that yearning, because it's not just a box, there are spirits that are attached to it, there are ancestors that are attached to that.' Coastal First Nations accepted the box, but it stayed in their office for some time as they worked to arrange an appropriate return. White came to Vancouver to authenticate the box and work on the best way and time to get it home safely. 'I knew it would have no back history, but the important part was …. it was still important to the Heiltsuk,' he said. 'Elroy came down and did some ceremony in our office, and we had a talk to the box and let them know they are going home now. It's been a long journey as you can imagine, since the 1800s, since this box has been away from their territory.' 2:11 Heiltsuk Nation hold constitution ratification ceremony Last week, the box was honoured in the Heiltsuk big house in Bella Bella as a part of the constitution ceremonies, and members had the opportunity to get up close and see a piece of their lost history. Story continues below advertisement 'It was so heartfelt to see that, seeing the artists looking at it and sort of pointing out different things,' Martin said. For White, it is just one step in the ongoing process to repatriate Heiltsuk culture that was taken from the community and now resides in museums, galleries and private collections around the world. The nation has spent decades building a database of items and has identified 34 institutions around the world that house more than 1,000 Heiltsuk items. They've repatriated four items since 2022, including a historic chief's seat that was returned to the community last summer. It's work that White intends to continue, and that Martin hopes will have more success. 'I hope that we have many more of these boxes,' she said.
