Tanis Fowler

Voters in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania know they may help decide the upcoming U.S. election Larry Spade, 66, stands at Salino’s Imports, a deli in Reading, Pa., on Aug. 1. He describes himself as a Democrat who isn’t afraid to vote Republican — in other words, a swing voter in a swing county in one of the country’s most critical swing states.

There was no phone call to tell Bryan Fogelman that it was time to evacuate his guests, staff and family from Reo Rafting Resort in the Nahatlatch Valley of B.C.’s Fraser Canyon. The only warning was the fast-approaching flames. “We could see it getting closer and closer,” he said. When Fogelman returned days later, 80 per cent of his resort had burned to the ground.

Masai Ujiri can feel it coming. An African renaissance of sorts. It’s something he hopes to help grow through basketball. Standing under the spotlights of a packed arena in Kigali, Rwanda, in late August, the Toronto Raptors vice-chairman and team president delivered this message to hundreds of African youths he was welcoming to the Giants of Africa Youth Basketball Festival. “There’s nothing, nothing that can be done over there (in America) that can’t be done here.