Closing arguments are expected today in the sexual assault trial of a former high-ranking gymnastics coach. Dave Brubaker has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault and one count of invitation to sexual touching at his judge-alone trial in Sarnia, Ont. The charges relate to alleged incidents between 2000 and 2007 involving a single complainant, now in her 30s.

When elders from Fort McKay near Alberta's oilsands went to their traditional picking areas, things just didn't feel right. The First Nation's questions eventually grew into a collaboration with university-based researchers that brought botanists out on traditional berry-picking trips in an attempt to use western science to investigate community concerns. "We have a lot of scientists working in the area, but they don't always get to meet the elders and learn from them," said Jenelle Baker, a botanist who helped direct the research.

Canada's transportation safety board is scheduled to release recommendations today after a plane crash last year near a remote northern Saskatchewan community. All 25 people on board the West Wind Aviation plane escaped when it crashed near the Fond du Lac airstrip soon after takeoff on Dec. 13. Nine people were seriously injured and one 19-year-old man, Arson Fern Jr., later died in hospital.

Police forces in cities across Canada investigated multiple bomb threats on Thursday as authorities in the U.S. said similar threats sent to dozens of locations appeared to be a hoax. Police departments in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa and Winnipeg, as well as RCMP detachments in B.C. and Manitoba, were investigating multiple threats. A spokesman for Toronto police said it wasn't clear whether that threat, or any of "at least 10" received across the city, were related to those in other locations.

The Crown says a man who faces a series of charges including alleged assaults of sex workers has been given an absolute discharge in a separate allegation against him by a judge in Vernon, B.C. The B.C. Prosecution Service says Curtis Sagmoen pleaded guilty to a single count of mischief Thursday and the court granted his application for a discharge, which means no conviction will be placed on his record. Prosecution service spokesman Dan McLaughlin says the decision was made after consultation with the victim and the investigating agency.