Good morning!
Your weather: As a two-for-one bonus, we offer forecasts for Winnipeg, and then for Athens, Greece. In Winnipeg today, it will be cloudy, with a 60 per cent chance of rain, and a high of 23 C. In Athens today, it will be a scorcher with a high of 36 C and no chance of precipitation. Why give a forecast for Athens? First, we want to give Greece special attention because it has serious economic problems and it’s not feeling a lot of love from the European Union. Second, the Greek Folklorama pavilion, 2255 Grant Avenue, is a humdinger. Their homeland might despair, but the Winnipeg Greeks still party with gusto. “Gia sou (I drink to your health)!”
In case you missed it
SUPPLIED PHOTOThe entrance to the Canada Wellness Institute in Rizhao City.
Exporting wellness: Thumbs up to the Wellness Institute at the Seven Oaks General Hospital, which has exported to China its concept of a medical fitness facility to support chronic disease prevention. A four-year project culminated in Thursday’s opening of the Canada Wellness Centre at Rizhao Hospital in the north of China on the Yellow Sea. The Rizhao facility — at 80,000 square feet, almost exactly the same size as Seven Oaks’ Wellness Institute — is the first attempt in China to deal with chronic disease like diabetes and obesity and other lifestyle-related health issues like smoking cessation in a medical fitness centre connected to a hospital. Marty Cash explains how these Winnipeggers succeeded on the international stage. READ MORE
Thelma Krull: The family of Thelma Krull, the Winnipeg grandmother who has been missing since July 11, met with the Free Press on Wednesday. “This whole scenario is straight out of a movie. But sometimes movies end with happy endings,” Krull’s daughter, Lisa Marquis Besser, said. Mike McIntyre has the story. READ MORE
Up next
Michelle Siu / THE CANADIAN PRESSLiberal Party leader Justin Trudeau
Tonight’s debate: This evening will be rich for fans of political debates. In Canada, the party leaders will meet in this campaign’s first debate. And across the border, 10 U.S. Republican rivals have their first nationally televised confrontation. Our citizenship inclines us to watch the Canadian debate, but perhaps we’ll channel-hop occasionally to gawk at the spectacles of Donald Trump and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. READ MORE
Two thousand extras needed: A top-flight movie starring Dennis Quaid, Peggy Lipton and Britt Robertson will need about 2,000 paid extras to portray “a variety of wholesome, friendly-looking people both male and female of all ages and ethnic background to play as: regular townfolk, students, families, moms, dads, kids, grandmas, grandpas.” That describes just about everyone. The casting call is Sunday, Aug. 9. Randall King outlines how you can get a small part on the big screen. READ MORE
Around the water cooler
TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILESPolice are investigating two separate incidents where a cash-filled wallet was found by a jogger only to be confronted by a male shortly after.
Creepy encounters: Police are investigating at least two instances in the past week where wallets stuffed with cash were found on Wellington Crescent and in Assiniboine Park, only to have a man immediately claim the wallets. In each case a female walking or jogging in that area found a wallet. Then a man approached claiming to have lost something and took the wallet. No crime was apparent but the women felt creepy vibes. READ MORE
We’re under-rated: Under the National Post headline “Canada’s most under-rated destinations,” Jim Byers, Postmedia travel writer, opines about “…a few places that I think deserve more attention than they get. In Winnipeg, you’ll find great local shopping in the Osborne Village area. Downtown is slowly coming along, spurred in part by the new home for the Winnipeg Jets. Assiniboine Park is one of the prettiest in North America, and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights features a stunning interior. Besides, you have to love a place where two of the best-known foods are called a ‘nip’ (burgers at the famous Salisbury House) and a ‘goog,’ a blueberry milkshake concoction at the famous Bridge Drive In.”
Trending now
#bombers: Winnipeg quarterback Drew Willy was named CFL Top Performer of the Week on Wednesday after last week’s warrior-like performance against the B.C. Lions. Let’s hope Willy’s on his game Sunday against Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Pot poll: The police raid this week on a Winnipeg medical marijuana dispensary has prompted a debate on the plant. You can cast your vote by answering the Free Press poll question: Should pot be legalized in Canada? READ MORE
On this date
On August 6, 1919: The Manitoba Free Press reported that at the close of the first day of the national Liberal Party convention, the leadership of the party was in question but that premier Martin of Saskatchewan was a favourite to win. Drought had affected the prairie wheat crop but recent rains in Alberta were changing conditions for the better. The Prince of Wales set sail from Portsmouth for Canada. Prince Henry of Prussia was criticized in Germany for blaming the war on Great Britain for resisting demands for the extradition and trial of the former Emperor William.
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