In letters to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week, carnivore specialists say the wolf population has only begun to recover and is absent from most of its historical territory after being driven to near-extinction in the past century.

They say there’s enough habitat and prey to support wolves in other parts of the country.

The wolf remains on the endangered species list except in the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, where the combined population is about 6,000.

A draft proposal to drop remaining protections except in the Southwest surfaced last month. Government attorneys said in court papers Monday a final decision has been postponed. They provided no explanation.

A spokesman for the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria, B.C., says the crash took place off the west side of Stuart Island, which is located in the Strait of Georgia, northeast of Campbell River, B.C.

He says nobody has reporter hearing or seeing the crash, and the plane was found upside down by someone who came across the scene.

Rescue crews from the Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian Coast Guard have been on scene.

There is no information yet on the victim’s age, gender or hometown.

NHL Playoffs

Eastern Conference Semifinals

Boston 2 N.Y. Rangers 1

(Boston leads series 3-0)

Western Conference Semifinals

Los Angeles at San Jose

(Los Angeles leads series 2-1)

–

Memorial Cup at Saskatoon

Round Robin

Halifax 9 London 2

–

AHL Playoffs

Grand Rapids 4 Toronto 3

(Grand Rapids wins series 4-2)

–

Basketball

Western Conference final

Memphis at San Antonio

(San Antonio leads series 1-0)

–

Baseball

American League

Tampa Bay 4 Toronto 3

Detroit 5 Cleveland 1

Baltimore 3 N.Y. Yankees 2 (10 innings)

Oakland at Texas

Boston at Chicago White Sox

Kansas City at Houston

Seattle at L.A. Angels

–

National League

Pittsburgh 5 Chicago Cubs 4

Cincinnati 4 N.Y. Mets 0

Philadelphia 7 Miami 3

L.A. Dodgers at Milwaukee

Arizona at Colorado

St. Louis at San Diego

Washington at San Francisco

–

Interleague

Minnesota at Atlanta

–

Starter Ramon Ortiz (1-2) took the loss for Toronto, which had its four-game home winning streak come to an end. The rubber game in the three-game series will go Wednesday afternoon.

Cobb (5-2) allowed three hits and one earned run to trim his earned-run average to 2.73. Fernando Rodney gave up a run in the ninth inning before picking up his ninth save.

Colby Rasmus hit a solo homer for the Blue Jays, who fell deeper into the American League East basement at 18-27.

Tampa Bay (24-21) gave Cobb an early lead by scoring a pair of runs in the second inning.

Rays slugger Evan Longoria extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a double and moved to third on a James Loney groundout. Longoria scored when Luke Scott hit a slow grounder down the third-base line.

Johnson followed with a solo blast. He took a 2-1 pitch from Ortiz over the wall in centre field for his eighth homer of the year.

Jennings hit Ortiz’s first pitch of the third inning over the wall in left-centre for his fifth home run of the season. Left-hander Aaron Loup relieved Ortiz with runners on the corners and one out.

First baseman Edwin Encarnacion made a nice defensive play by short-hopping a Loney chopper on the run and throwing out Ben Zobrist at home. Scott then drove in Longoria with a single to make it 4-0.

Rasmus woke up the quiet crowd of 15,802 with a solo shot — his seventh homer of the year — in the fifth inning. The ball bounced off the 300-level scoreboard in right field and fell into the seats in the second deck.

Toronto threatened with two outs in the sixth inning when Jose Bautista singled and Encarnacion walked. Adam Lind hit a sharp grounder that former Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar snagged behind second base and threw to first to get Lind by half a step.

Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., reached on a throwing error by Longoria with one out in the seventh inning. Jake McGee relieved Cobb and got Rasmus on a flyout and pinch-hitter Mark DeRosa on a strikeout.

Toronto cut into Tampa’s lead in the eighth inning. Munenori Kawasaki singled and moved to second on a Melky Cabrera walk.

Bautista hit a single that scored Kawasaki. The Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out but J.P. Arencibia hit into an inning-ending double play.

Rasmus doubled in the ninth inning and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Kawasaki reached base on a walk but was left stranded when Rodney got Cabrera on a strikeout to end the game.

Ortiz allowed six hits, four earned runs, one walk and had one strikeout. Loup, Esmil Rogers, Steve Delabar and Brett Cecil handled relief duties for Toronto.

Tampa Bay outhit Toronto 10-6 and the game took three hours 15 minutes to play.

Notes: The series finale will be a rare late afternoon start. First pitch is scheduled for 4:37 p.m. Eastern Time. Mark Buehrle (1-3) is scheduled to start for Toronto against Jeremy Hellickson (2-2). Toronto will continue its nine-game homestand with a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays are off Thursday and will entertain the New York Yankees over the weekend. … Ryan Roberts came in as a pinch-hitter for right-fielder Matt Joyce in the eighth inning. Joyce left the game with right hamstring tightness.

Boston leads the best-of-seven series 3-0 and can advance to the conference finals as early as Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Only three teams in NHL history have rallied from an 0-3 hole to advance.

The Bruins trailed 1-0 heading into the third, but defenceman Johnny Boychuk tied it at 3:10 of the period with his fourth of the playoffs. The Rangers hadn’t lost in regulation when leading after two periods since Feb. 4, 2010.

Boston thought it had grabbed the lead seconds before Paille actually scored when a shot deflected off the mask of Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, popped up in the air and landed on the goal line. Lundqvist couldn’t find it before Paille swooped in from behind the net and poked in the puck.

A string of attacks in the middle eastern country has killed more than 270 people in just the past week.

Baird says consular officials are in touch with the Canadian’s family and are offering assistance.

He says he’s grown “increasingly concerned” about the violence that has rocked Iraqi cities and towns in recent days.

Baird says while the security situation in Iraq has been fragile for years, the most recent violence is “particularly troubling” and risks plunging the country into a civil war.

He says Canada will be monitoring the situation carefully and is urging Iraqi authorities to do all they can to increase security.

Rising tensions between Sunnis and the Shiite-led government in Iraq have burst into a new round of bloodshed recently with scenes reminiscent of some of the worst carnage during the days when the two Islamic sects battled each other as well as U.S.-led forces in the chaotic years after Saddam Hussein’s ouster.

The violence has raised fears the country is sliding back to the brink of civil war amid rising Sunni anger over perceived mistreatment at the hands of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government and dangerous spillover from Syria’s civil war next door, where the two factions are also pitted against each other.

A series of blitz attacks on Monday, stretching from north of Baghdad to the southern city of Basra and targeting bus stops, open-air markets and rush-hour crowds, killed 113 people.

Meanwhile, 20 were killed after a car bomb exploded as Sunni worshippers were leaving a mosque after evening prayers Tuesday in Baghdad. Several smaller attacks struck areas elsewhere in the country earlier Tuesday.

— with files from the Associated Press.

Biden says culture and arts change people’s attitudes. He cites social media and the old NBC TV series “Will and Grace” as examples of what helped changed attitudes on gay marriage.

Biden says, quote, “Think — behind of all that, I bet you 85 per cent of those changes, whether it’s in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry.”

Biden says the influence is immense and that those changes have been for the good.

Biden was speaking Tuesday night at a Jewish American Heritage Month reception hosted by the Democratic National Committee. He says Jewish values are an essential part of who Americans are.

The Cavaliers won the lottery for the second time in three years and have the No. 1 pick for the June 27 draft.

Gilbert, owner Dan Gilbert’s bowtie-wearing son, was on stage again for the victory. He won in 2011, a pick the Cavs used on eventual Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving.

The Orlando Magic fell back one spot to No. 2, while the Washington Wizards vaulted from the No. 8 spot to third.