Fun, fresh French wine still a hit

Surprising announcement opens door slightly for accountability in police HQ saga

Early Monday afternoon, it looked as if former Mayor Sam Katz, former chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl and contractor Armik Babakhanians were going to finally and successfully escape the long arm of the law for their roles in the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters scandal.

Fun, fresh French wine still a hit

PARIS -- The wine world's best-known party is beginning -- the ritual uncorking of Beaujolais Nouveau every November. That's both a curse and a blessing for the famed French region and its lesser-known yet finer wines.

Beaujolais Nouveau is easy to drink, but everything a fine wine is not: young, poor in tannins and not suited to storage. It's partially because new wines could never hope to stir the imagination the way the great wines of Bordeaux or Champagne do that the makers of Beaujolais Nouveau resorted to what has become a hugely successful marketing campaign.

As they do every year, bars and wine shops the world over uncorked the first bottles of the 2013 Beaujolais Nouveau at midnight on Wednesday. What started as the first chance to taste a vintage in Paris years ago has led to parties as far away as Japan and the United States.

"The party has started," said Bernard Rogue-Bouge as wine flowed from a barrel in his Au Petit Chavignol Restaurant in Paris. "Cheers! To the Beaujolais!"

Bayer Canada begins construction on new R&D facility in St. B

Instead of canola on Friday, there was sod.

But in two years’ time, by current estimates, the bare plot of land in a St. Boniface industrial park will hold canola samples and seeds for testing.

Bayer Canada officially broke ground on a 60,000-square-foot research and development facility Friday morning.

“It’s about bringing new and better innovation to farmers,” said Kacy Perry, Bayer Crop Science Canada’s country division head.

Waters remain murky in unchartered Hellebuyck trade request territory

ST. LOUIS — The thing about being in unchartered waters is that the answer to the next question isn’t always readily apparent either above or below the surface.

Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel has been doing his best to ensure the upcoming two-game road trip against Central Division opponents doesn’t include a three-ring circus. But with news coming over the weekend that the suspension for goalie Connor Hellebuyck is set to expire on Friday, the club has to prepare for the next step in that process.

The problem, as Arniel conceded during his session on Monday afternoon before the team departed for Missouri, is that some of the hypotheticals need to be eliminated from the equation before the proper response can be determined.

“When it comes to Helly’s scenario, honestly I don’t really have a lot of information,” said Arniel. “I know everybody knows (about) Friday. That’s all we know.”

Bullet to the face nets 7.5 years behind bars

Calling it “intimate partner terror,” a judge sentenced a Winnipeg man to seven-and-a-half years in prison for firing a loaded handgun held to his partner’s head causing her life-altering injuries.

The woman, who the Free Press is only identifying as A.W., watched as Machuor Akau sat silently and stared at the ground as Manitoba Judge Sidney Lerner read his ruling Monday.

Akau, 28, who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possession of a prohibited weapon, pointing a firearm and criminal negligence causing bodily harm, didn’t speak during the sentencing or look at his victim or her family members as court progressed.

At a previous proceeding, Crown prosecutor Ari Millo had requested a sentence of eight years, while defence counsel Saul Simmonds argued for between five and six.