Kenny and Spenny split up; injuries include bruised egos

Firefighter’s death fuels cancer fight

The United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg is mourning the loss of Winnipeg firefighter Darrel Maynard while continuing its work to raise awareness of occupational cancer and improve health protections for firefighters.

Maynard, a senior firefighter II and acting lieutenant with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, died Aug. 5 at age 41 after a three-year battle with occupational cancer.

He served Winnipeg for nearly two decades and leaves behind his wife Francine and sons Colin and Christian.

“Darrel was an incredible, incredible person, an incredible firefighter, and really, really special to all of us,” said Nick Kasper, president of UFFW.

Proposed Transcona development — which could add 20,000 people — gets thumbs down from residents

Dozens of Winnipeggers fear plans to make way for up to 20,000 more people to live in south Transcona would dramatically alter their neighbourhood and tie hefty fees for new services to their property titles.

If city council adopts the proposed South Transcona secondary plan, all future development applications would need to conform to its goals. The affected area is located south of Dugald Road, north of St. Boniface Road, east of Plessis Road and west of Murdock Road.

Homeowner Virginia Page Jähne fears the plan could add a massive tab to the title of her 4.3-acre property to cover services required for the development.

“My main concern is that they are wanting to put $1.4 million onto my title to pay for this. Now, they say that I will not have to pay it unless I subdivide. But if a person comes by and wants to buy from me … and they see that $1.4 million … what’s the first thing (they’re) going to do?” said Page Jähne, in an interview.

West Kildonan Industrial residents call for speed bumps after child hit by truck

Residents in the West Kildonan Industrial neighbourhood are calling on the city to install speed bumps in their area after a child was hit and dragged by a vehicle Thursday.

Katelyn Bemister lives near the area where the child — who was hospitalized as a result of the incident and has been upgraded to stable condition — was struck. She says people frequently speed in the area.

“They’re going really fast, and they’re not really paying attention at all to the pedestrians in the area,” says Bemister.

In video supplied to the Free Press by a resident, the child can be seen riding a bike down a sidewalk along the 500 block of North Point Boulevard.

WRHA directs three care homes to accommodate surge of hospital patients

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has directed three long-term care centres to make space for hospital patients, citing “exceptionally high demand for care across the health-care system.”

Kenny and Spenny split up; injuries include bruised egos

On the set of Single White Spenny, a new scripted comedy starring Spencer Rice, the comedian is bemoaning the breakup from his friend and television partner, Kenny Hotz.

"Emotionally, it's been difficult, but my relationship with Kenny has been strained very much because of the show," says Rice of Kenny vs. Spenny, the seven-year-old comedy reality-TV series that concludes in a Christmas special airing on Showcase Dec. 23. "We haven't been buddies in terms of spending time together for many, many years, and that reflects our age and the fact that we're different people than when we were young."

The differences between Hotz and Rice added fuel to the fire of their competitive show. Now broadcast in more than 150 countries, the series gave the comedians legions of fans and opened doors for them to work in the U.S. However, the program also found the two friends performing ever more ludicrous stunts and, in the end, years of humiliating each other on national television tore their friendship apart.

"Is he going to pull a Paul McCartney on me? What a douche," says Hotz, at his home on the west side of Toronto. Like Rice, Hotz is also hard at work on a new comedy series, Kenny Hotz's Triumph of the Will, which will première next year on Showcase. He speaks well of his old partner, but claims that Rice became too sensitive.

Corroded Arlington overpass yields way for new hope of spanning urban chasm

It’s an interesting quirk of timing, perhaps, that the end of two of Winnipeg’s most unlovely features are coming into view in the same few weeks. The rail lines that split the city in half, and the bridge that was built to tie it back together. The original problem, and the solution.

And in the confluence of those two ends, we have an opportunity to dream of what a better Winnipeg can be.

At a news conference on Wednesday, former federal transport minister Lloyd Axworthy laid out a vision for a rail line bypass that would remove more than 120 railway crossings from Winnipeg, route them through Crown and Manitoba Hydro corridor land south of the city, and reclaim 250 acres in the urban core for greenspace and development.

The next step is to focus on how to make it happen. Nothing of this scope comes easy. This new bypass plan emerged from a two-year feasibility study that Premier Wab Kinew had tasked Axworthy with back in 2024. Now, Axworthy will helm a new 90-day feasibility study zooming in on that route specifically.