Ottawa is having quite the Friday — from a field shaped like a giant heart to high schoolers sounding off on AI to federal departments scrambling to squeeze employees back into the office. Let's break it all down.
A Heart Mowed Into an Ottawa Field (Yes, Really)
What started as a simple act of love has turned into something truly remarkable. Ottawa resident Mike Herzog began mowing a walking path into his field to help his wife stay active during the COVID-19 pandemic. But that small gesture has grown — quite literally — into a massive heart-shaped design visible from above, and Herzog is now using it to raise money for the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
It's the kind of story that reminds you why community matters. Herzog has been quietly turning his lawn into a landmark, and locals who've spotted it on aerial maps have been charmed. The Heart Institute, which serves thousands of Ottawa-area patients each year, is the beneficiary of his efforts — a fitting tribute given the shape he chose.
If you've been driving through the outskirts of the city wondering what that giant green heart is all about, now you know.
Ottawa's Teen Journalists Have Thoughts on AI
Ottawa's high school students aren't just passively watching the AI revolution unfold — they have feelings about it, and big ones. The Ottawa Citizen spoke with local students about how artificial intelligence is reshaping their school experience, from essay-writing shortcuts to concerns about cheating, authenticity, and what skills will even matter in the future.
The responses ranged from enthusiastic early adopters to students who worry AI is eroding the point of education altogether. Teachers are caught in the middle, trying to update their assignments faster than students can find prompts to outsmart them.
It's a conversation happening in classrooms across the city, and Ottawa's students are proving they're anything but passive on the subject. Whether schools can keep pace with the technology is another question entirely.
Federal Workers Get a "Stagger" Option for RTO4
For the federal public servants in Ottawa navigating the return-to-office-four-days-a-week (RTO4) mandate, there's a small but meaningful new wrinkle: departments that don't have enough physical space to accommodate everyone simultaneously can now "stagger" their employees' in-office schedules.
In plain terms, if your building simply can't fit the full team on the same day, your department can spread out the days employees are required to be in. It's a pragmatic concession from the government, which has faced persistent criticism over the logistics of RTO4 — particularly from unions who've argued that many Ottawa offices weren't designed to handle full occupancy five days a week, let alone four.
The stagger policy won't satisfy everyone, but for the thousands of federal workers based in the National Capital Region, it may take some of the edge off a mandate that's already stirred significant frustration.
Heading Into the Weekend
From grass-roots fundraising to AI anxiety to office politics, Ottawa's Friday news cycle has something for everyone. Keep an eye on the Ottawa Citizen for full coverage of each of these stories as they develop.
Source: Ottawa Citizen. Read the full stories at ottawacitizen.com.
