Guy Maddin in conversation with Bookworm host Michael Silverblatt at the News Café: Replay

Emergency rooms need help — now

Triage. It’s an interesting, necessary, and bluntly pragmatic concept, but it’s not for the faint of heart.

It’s a method of determining how and when to treat the injured and the sick, and it has a long (and disputed) history. Many historians credit French army surgeon Dominique-Jean Larrey, who, in Napoleonic France, came up with a classification system to help evacuate and treat injured soldiers by quickly dividing their injuries into three different classifications.

“In the Battle of Jena in 1806, the French army used the triage system developed by Larrey. The system involved categorization into three grades based on the severity of the wounds irrespective of the soldier’s rank: dangerously wounded, less dangerously wounded, and slightly wounded,” wrote researchers Hiroyuki Nakao, Isao Ukai and Joji Kotani in the medical journal Acute Medicine and Surgery.

Triage, in fact, means “breaking into threes,” and there’s a dispute over whether it was originally used to classify coffee beans or wool — but we’re not going any further down that particular rabbit hole today.

Transit driver stabbed with syringe by passenger

A Winnipeg Transit driver is recovering in hospital after a passenger stabbed him in the leg with a syringe while riding the bus early Wednesday, the Amalgamated Transit Union says.

The union said the incident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. while the operator was stopped in the northbound lanes of Isabel Street, near William Avenue. A female passenger reached around the driver’s safety shield and stabbed the driver twice before getting off the bus.

The driver was taken to the Seven Oaks Hospital in stable condition, where he is undergoing treatment and further testing, union president James Van Gerwen said in an interview.

“We spoke to the member. He is doing OK, but he is still in the hospital and he is scared — as anybody would be,” Van Gerwen said.

Mayoral race lineup grows to 10 candidates

An electrical contractor has become the 10th candidate to register for the race to become Winnipeg’s next mayor.

Zac Uminski has thrown his name into the competition, after Scott Gillingham signed up to seek re-election as mayor and eight other candidates previously registered.

The father of four said concern about homelessness and addictions sparked his interest in politics.

“My campaign will focus on practical solutions to improve public safety, support families and strengthen the city services,” Uminski said. “We need safer communities.”

Canad Inns puts Portage Avenue hotel, MET, office building ‘connected campus’ up for sale

Downtown entrepreneurs are watching with wary eyes as a prominent hotel and event centre hits the market.

Sea Bears’ Burns finds himself at the centre of it all

D.J. Burns can’t score in bunches like Teddy Allen.

He’s not a threat in the post like Jeremiah Tilmon Jr., and he’s not as versatile as Emmanuel Akot.

But he does bring something to the table that not everyone in the world of pro hoops has: an endless amount of energy and the willingness to do anything to help his team win.

With the Winnipeg Sea Bears losing those three key names in the days leading up to Thursday’s Western Conference semifinal against the Saskatoon Mamba, the door was swung wide open for Burns to make an impact in what was his first start of the season.