Weekly wrap: health care, fentanyl, school and coincidence

In one courtroom, the public health care system is under attack.

In another, a prosecutor calls for unprecedented jail time for fentanyl traffickers.

And in Nelson, a frustrated mom wonders why the system can't find space for her daughter in a school full of international students.

But the question everyone really wants to know — according to our web traffic, anyway — is what do those real estate numbers really mean?

Starting this weekend, we'll be putting together a list of some of the stories you might have missed each week: those which dominated the news agenda; those which passed it by; and some we just can't resist re-telling.

From bubbles to bans

Mike Laanela's analysis of Vancouver's often-confusing real estate figures was among our most-read pieces. If the endless flow of announcements about ups, downs, prospective bubbles and benchmark prices has you breaking into a cold sweat wondering if you're about to go bankrupt — take a look.

You might have seen the headlines proclaiming the start on Tuesday of a B.C. Supreme Court case which has been years in the making. The future shape of public health in Canada is very much at stake.

This overview of Dr. Brian Day's challenge to B.C.'s ban on purchasing private health care for medically necessary services sets up the basics of the fight. He argues that the case is about making a broken system better.

You can also read this piece featuring one of the intervenors in the case to get a sense of what Day is up against.

A provincial courtroom provided the setting for a different kind of life or death battle: the question of how the justice system should handle fentanyl traffickers.

Walter James McCormick, described as a high-level fentanyl dealer, faces a penalty of up to 18 years in jail. The Crown wants a judge to create a new range of sentencing reflecting the severity of an epidemic which has taken hundreds of lives.

If you're in any doubt about the severity of the crisis, take a moment to consider a plea for understanding from Nick Jansen: he lost his brother and his girlfriend to the drug. He says fentanyl is pure evil.

If it's not pot, it's speed

This week was, of course, back to school for families around the province. But a Nelson mother's complaint caught national attention. Camara Cassin was livid that her Grade 9 daughter was on a wait-list for the only high-school in the city while about 50 international students seemed to have no problems finding space.

It may have been a wait list communication problem; funny how quickly these things get solved when the media gets involved.

Speaking of Nelson, or at least Nelson's agricultural products, Saanich police really harshed a mom's mellow Tuesday by pulling her over for sparking a celebratory back-to-school joint minutes after dropping her kid at class.

The same police force went on to stop a cyclist for going faster than the 30 km/h limit through a school zone the next day. If it's not pot, it's speed ....

Finally, take a few minutes today to read Chantelle Bellrichard's moving story about a Saskatchewan teenager who was cast in a film role that mirrored a loss in her own life.

It's an amazing tale about the serendipitous coincidence that can make real life stranger — and more heartwarming — than fiction.