Most-read: University of Waterloo stabbings, giant poison ivy, famous triplets

Here are the most-read stories of the week for June 25 to July 1:

WRPS CALL UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO STABBING HATE-MOTIVATED, CHARGE 24-YEAR-OLD INTERNATIONAL STUDENT

Waterloo regional police can be seen at the University of Waterloo following a stabbing on June 28, 2023. (Dave Pettitt/CTV News)

Waterloo regional police say a 24-year-old international student has been charged in connection to a stabbing that injured three people during a gender studies class in Hagey Hall at the University of Waterloo on Wednesday.

Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) say Geovanny Villalba-Aleman had been studying at the university, and faces three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon and two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

Police believe the accused targeted a gender-studies class and investigators believe it was a hate-motivated incident related to gender expression and gender identity.

About 40 students were in the classroom at the time of the incident, according to WRPS. Three people were stabbed including the professor, a 38-year-old woman and two students, a 20-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man – both from Waterloo. Police said all victims sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries.

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GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS SAYS WORLD’S TALLEST POISON IVY PLANT IS GROWING IN PARIS, ONT.

This poison ivy plant wrapped around a White Ash tree in Paris, Ont. has been claimed as the world's tallest poison ivy plant by Guinness World Records. (Courtesy/Robert Fedrock)

It appears the old saying “leaves of three, let it be,” meant the opposite for a Paris, Ont. man, who landed in the history books thanks to one poisonous plant on his property.

According to Guinness World Records, the tallest poison ivy plant was discovered by Robert Fedrock and stretches an impressive 20.75 metres -- or 68 feet.

Guinness World Records notes the record was achieved on March 12, 2023, but Fedrock said he has known about the plant for some time.

“I actually found the plant a few years ago, I was in the woods making a trail, and I just happened upon it,” Fedrock said. “It was covered in quite a bit of dense brush, so I could only see a little bit of it initially."

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UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO STANDING IN SOLIDARITY AFTER STABBING SPREE SENDS THREE TO HOSPITAL

Students, staff and community members gather at the University of Waterloo on June 29, 2023 the day after three people were stabbed and sent to hospital. (Darly Morris/CTV News)

The mood on the University of Waterloo (UW) campus was sombre but united, the day after a stabbing spree in a gender studies classroom sent two students and a professor to hospital.

Classes resumed as normal at Hagey Hall – the site where a professor and two students were stabbed on Wednesday afternoon – however, only a handful of students were seen going into the building.

On Thursday, hundreds of people gathered in the quad, including students, university administrator, staff and Waterloo region’s police chief.

The grief was visible on many faces, some expressing shock that an assault like this could happen on campus.

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KITCHENER-WATERLOO'S FIRST SET OF SURVIVING TRIPLETS TURN 84

Jean, Edith and Edna pictured here on June 29, 2023. (CTV News/Spencer Turcotte)

The Vogt triplets have made headlines from the day they were born and another birthday means another headline.

Introduced to the world on June 29th, 1939 at K-W Hospital (now Grand River Hospital), Jean, Edith and Edna were hailed as the first set of surviving triplets born in Kitchener-Waterloo.

It was almost unheard of in an era before fertility drugs. At the time, the Kitchener Daily Record reported the phenomenon of triplets happened only once every 7,500 births. The sisters became somewhat of a spectacle around town.

"Someone would come and be looking at me and I'd have no idea who they were. I didn't acknowledge them or anything. Edna ran from where she was over here so she could say 'it's OK, I'm Edna, that's my sister Edith," said Edith.

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SMOKE FROM WILDFIRES CAUSING AIR QUALITY WARNING IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO

Smoke from wildfires burning in other parts of the country can be seen lingering over K-W on Tuesday afternoon. (Dan Lauckner/CTV News)

Environment Canada is warning “high levels of air pollution” are developing across a large swath of southern Ontario due to smoke from forest fires.

The national weather agency issued a special air quality statement for Waterloo region just before 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

"Today is the first day I smelt the air," one Waterloo region resident said. "And it smelled like someone was having a BBQ."

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