Backyardigans add second Winnipeg show

Manitobans on hook for $40M in unpaid medical bills racked up by non-Canadians

Manitoba Nurses Union president calls the amount “shocking.”

Brandon flood protections solid as water recedes, officials say

BRANDON — Officials said water levels on the Assiniboine River continued to recede and flooding infrastructure held up Wednesday despite rainy weather in Brandon.

“The flood forecast hasn’t changed. The amount of rain that we did receive — we’ve been advised that the levels or flows will not be impacted,” emergency co-ordinator Tobin Praznik said.

The river level had dipped to 1,178.67 feet above sea level at 11:45 a.m., compared to the 1,179.49-foot crest on Monday morning.

“The flood protection system is in place and it’s doing what’s expected of it,” Praznik said.

Hydro’s planned outages turn out the lights for thousands across province

Business owners in the East Beaches area of Lake Winnipeg hauled out generators Wednesday after a planned Manitoba Hydro outage left thousands of residents and cottagers without power.

Lise Bourassa, who runs several stores in Grand Beach, had to rent generators to accommodate the eight-hour blackout, which affected the area from Beaconia to Victoria Beach as well as Sagkeeng First Nation, while Hydro crews fixed a pole that was damaged by fire in May .

Despite the spare power source, she was only able to open one of her stores during the outage and said it came at a bad time.

“I understand the importance of what Manitoba Hydro is doing, the problem all the businesses in this area are having is that our season is very short and to be shut down for a full day has a fairly big impact, plus they added cost of getting generators,” she wrote in a message to the Free Press. “We also had less than one week to make arrangements, find electricians and generators to be able to keep all the food safe.”

Report calls for schools to add more ‘sensory rooms’

Manitoba schools are being urged to set up more “sensory rooms” and use the spaces — which can feature mood lighting, flexible seating and fidget toys — to address growing concerns about student outbursts and related injuries.

A new report from the Manitoba Federation of Labour is renewing calls to better protect educational assistants, teachers and other public-sector employees.

One of its 10 recommendations, published on Monday, focuses on tackling overcrowding in community facilities and establishing “safe spaces in schools to respond to violence.”

“It’s become the norm: kids having meltdowns that require you have to evacuate the classroom,” said Jane Allison, an educational assistant in Winnipeg.

Bee2gether Bikes out of The Forks after lease confusion

Tandem bike rentals aren’t on offer at The Forks this summer — and the longtime company behind them is claiming financial loss, calling the change unexpected.

No more trashing paper coffee cups

Mahalia Lepage and Joshua Bassman know their way around a recycling bin.

They try to take reusable cups when they go to their local coffee shop, and even volunteered with Folk Fest’s “enviro crew” last weekend. A large part of that job, they said, was informing guests about which items were recyclable.

The one item that stood out was paper coffee cups.

They weren’t considered recyclable until Wednesday — when Winnipeg recycling organizations announced paper cups can be thrown into blue bins around the province, effective immediately.