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Farm Canada Wins Big At Coding Competition

A farming themed mobile app designed by a former Dauphin man has won a top prize at a national coding competition.

Adam Michaleski's Farm Canada app won the "Commerce: Business Opportunity" category at the Canadian Open Data Experience event in Toronto.

Michaleski says he always shoots for the best, and thought Farm Canada was going to win the top prize.

With the win, Adam and his cousin Steven take home $5,000, and legal representation from a company that specializes in start-ups.

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Dredge Efforts Paid For By Volunteers

A volunteer who spearheaded last year's dredging of the Red River in Winnipeg for missing women has paid for a boat out of her own pocket for this year's search.

Bernadette Smith, whose sister Claudette Osborne went missing seven years ago, says the group is also fundraising for another boat and rain gear through a GoFundMe web page.

The group wants Winnipeg police to join in the search.

So far, police have declined, saying only that they will support the group ``from a safety standpoint.''

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Transportation Network Tested By High Yielding Crops

The head of the Canadian Wheat Board says higher-yielding crops will continue to test the ability of Canada's transportation network to move Western Canadian grain.

Ian White says growth in Western Canadian grain production means improvements in logistics are needed to ship the crop from the Prairies to customers.

The wheat board, which is in the process of developing a privatization plan to be implemented in the next two years, is investing up to $200 million to buy new Great Lake ships and grain-handling terminals.

Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced last month that the government wouldn't extend the unprecedented step taken a year ago to impose minimum grain volumes.

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Damage Not Observed On Rocky CWB Voyage

A ship owned by the CWB is the first of the season to travel up the St. Lawrence Seaway, but it hasn't been a calm voyage.

A spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board says the Canadian bulk carrier CWB Marquis went aground 35 kilometres southwest of Montreal on Friday after hitting a large ice floe.

A pair of tugboats freed it later in the day and no immediate damage was observed.

According to a post issued earlier this year by the ship's management company, it was loaded with more than 29,000 tons of Labrador iron ore.

A news release from the CWB last fall said the ship was expected to carry both grain and ore and play a strategic role in an integrated grain handling system. 

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Restrictions Imposed On Poultry Movement

Canada has restricted travellers from bringing raw poultry and poultry products, as well as raw pet food, across the border from avian flu affected areas of the US.

The highly contagious poultry influenza has reached Montana and South Dakota.

The disease was also found in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California, Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas.

BC's Fraser Valley was hit by an avian flu outbreak that began last December but has not been detected in BC since early February.

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Duffy Trial Kicks Off Tomorrow

A trial opening in Ottawa this week could breathe new life into a political scandal just as the Harper government gears up for a fall election.

Suspended senator Mike Duffy faces fraud, breach of trust and bribery charges, and the Crown will start laying out the details in a courtroom tomorrow.

Duffy's lawyer is expected to launch a counter-attack that could focus on the behaviour of key figures in the Prime Minister's Office and Conservative Party.

Several weeks have been set aside for the trial.