As it Happens: Wednesday Edition

Part One

Manitoba house fire
The house fire started in the middle of the night, in sub-zero temperatures in a small Manitoba town --- and by the time firefighters arrived, it was too late to save four children. 

ISIS-abducted Christians
ISIS attacks Assyrian Christian settlements in northern Syria, and takes dozens, possibly hundreds, of prisoners -- sending thousands fleeing for their lives.

Not Sam Roberts
Similar, but not the Sam. He is Sam Roberts -- Samuel Roberts from the U.K. But he's not the musician Sam Roberts, which surprised the guy who thought he was contacting Sam Roberts when he called Samuel.

Part Two

Jamaica legalizes marijuana
It took years of wrangling, but the Jamaican Parliament has finally decriminalized the possession of small amounts of cannabis. 

Polar bears in Black Tickle
Every year, polar bears show up in the Labrador community of Black Tickle -- but this year, the man who wards them off has been called into service a month early. 

Part Three

Heritage Minister Shelly Glover
Eight years after Vince Li brutally murdered Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus, his doctors are recommending he be sent to a group home in Winnipeg. Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover does not agree with them. 

Brampton suicide
Why was a man under suicide watch left alone for two hours? Eight months after Prashant Tiwari killed himself at a Brampton hospital, his family is demanding to know -- and suing the hospital for twelve-point-five million dollars.

Rosetta Stone French teacher
A Grade 11 class in Quebec has been learning French from Rosetta Stone software rather than a human instructor, because the schoolboard hasn't been able to find one.