B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton dead following prison attack
Convicted B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, who preyed on women he lured from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to his rural pig farm, has died.
The tiny rain-fed wildflowers, no bigger than a few inches, are so vivid and abundant across California this year that their hues of purple and yellow look like paint swatches from space.
From the mist-shrouded San Francisco Bay Area to the Mexican border and across the deserts of Arizona, there are flashes of color popping up after an unusually wet winter helped produce a so-called " Superbloom."
A series of powerful storms dumped record amounts of rain and snow across California, replenishing reservoirs, bringing an end -- mostly -- to the state's three-year drought, and setting prime conditions for millions of dormant seeds to sprout. Botanists say wildflowers are expected to be blooming well into May, with some areas just starting.
"One of the things unique about this year is how incredibly widespread it is," said Naomi Fraga, director of conservation programs at the California Botanic Garden. "It's pretty spectacular."
Superblooms often follow wet winters, according to experts. University of California ecologists have counted 10 Superblooms in Southern California's Anza-Borrego Desert over four decades. Nine of the 10 blooms occurred after winters when precipitation was higher than average.
In Arizona's deserts, blue lupine and orange poppies surround towering saguaro cactus, while delicate orchids dot Northern California's forests, like the calypso orchid or "fairy-slipper."
North of Los Angeles, visitors from around the globe have been making the trek to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve to see the burst of orange and yellow flowers, which extended well beyond the park's borders this year. On a recent afternoon, people pulled over along the freeway to shoot selfies with California's official state flower.
In the low desert of Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California, too many wildflowers have sprouted up to list, according to the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants. The barren landscape has come alive with Canterbury bells, purple mat and yellow cups.
Fragrant blooms can be smelled from car windows, and their colors captured from space.
Satellite images of Carrizo Plain National Monument, just west of Bakersfield, California, taken on April 6 and released by NASA, show valleys surrounded by craggy mountains with a coating of deep purple. Images of the same area from the previous year when California was in severe drought showed it was mostly brown.
"Extensive patches of blue tones invade the view of places," actor Joe Spanos said Friday, narrating the foundation's report on its wildflower hotline about what can be seen in the Carrizo Plain region.
He goes on to describe driving along the base of Mount Figaro and spying "yellow buttercups, beautiful blue fiesta flowers and sky lupines, dazzling white milkmaids and popcorn flowers. There are shooting stars scattered about too. Nuggets of California golden violets can be found embedded everywhere."
Experts ask people to not trample the flowers. One small city recently closed a popular viewing area after being bombarded during previous Superblooms.
Convicted B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, who preyed on women he lured from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to his rural pig farm, has died.
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
The ex-husband of Tatjana Stefanski – the woman whose disappearance and death set the small town of Lumby, B.C., on edge last month – has been charged with her murder.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored two power-play goals as Edmonton smothered the Dallas Stars 3-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the NHL's Western Conference final on Friday.
A newborn is dead after being delivered via emergency C-section to a woman in police custody.
Jennifer Lopez has cancelled her 2024 North American tour, representatives for Live Nation confirmed to The Associated Press.
There's a luxury 'tree home' for sale in Calgary.
The Department of National Defence is moving approximately 1,000 employees out of an office building in Ottawa's Lowertown neighbourhood, citing safety concerns for its employees.
A man convicted of murdering a Toronto police officer more than four decades ago has been granted day parole for six months.
A hefty donation by a renowned local activist to the University of Winnipeg has created what is believed to be the most comprehensive two-spirit archives in all of Canada.
Leanne Van Bergen discovered a skulk of 10 baby foxes, and two mothers, had made themselves at home on her property in Beausejour.
An 81-year-old Waterloo, Ont. woman thought she’d never ride a horse again after a brain bleed led to severe physical complications.
A CP24 camera caught the moment a driver frantically got out of her car as it was being dragged by a truck on Avenue Road Wednesday afternoon.
Prince Edward Island is celebrating its first-ever International Day of Potato on Thursday.
The president of Covered Bridge Chips in New Brunswick is hoping to have his factory rebuilt for late 2025 following a devastating fire last year.
Students and staff at Winnipeg’s Westwood Collegiate had a unique problem to solve this month; how do you lead ducks to water from the school’s courtyard when 12 of them can’t fly yet?
Debby Lorinczy remembers her father as an amazing person and as a man who also made an amazing discovery.
Abigail Strate is a member of the Canadian national ski jumping team and an Olympic bronze medallist. She's also a certified beekeeper.