On the Night Table: Charla Smeall

The scoop on lawn bowling

If you’ve ever wondered what bowls — better known as lawn bowling — is all about, the Free Press has the scoop on it.

First off, to get you in the right headspace it’s important to not compare bowls to alley bowling. Although there is a ball that is rolled, there are no pins at the end to knock down. Bowls is better compared to curling and bocce ball.

The game is played on a turf known as a rink. The rink can be made of grass — a bowling green — or carpet.

Both types of rinks have advantages and disadvantages, with players usually having a preference. With grass turf, bowlers need more force while rolling the ball to make it through the thicker terrain, while carpet is a smooth surface and requires a lighter touch.

Winnipeg couple feels flush after highway porta-potty scare

Talk about a crappy situation.

Two Winnipeg seniors were driving on the Trans-Canada Highway Monday afternoon when they collided with an unlikely projectile: a porta-potty.

Ed and Helen Toews were driving to their cottage in Sioux Narrows from Kenora, Ont., when a portable toilet came loose from the bed of a passing truck and launched into their car.

Ed Toews, 87, was sitting in the passenger seat when a flash of green came into his line of sight.

‘Disrespectful’: residents frustrated after Wyatt arrives hour late to committee meeting

Several Winnipeggers attending a city development hearing on Thursday expressed frustration that one councillor arrived about an hour late, delaying the matter from being heard.

Coun. Russ Wyatt, who continues to attend city hall while facing criminal charges, began participating in the 9:30 a.m. East Kildonan-Transcona community committee meeting at 10:35 a.m.

A resident who hoped to speak at the meeting about a development plan in south Transcona noted the tardiness led the committee to bump the topic down on its agenda, while dozens waited to speak on it.

Christina Pyra eventually opted to leave city hall instead of waiting for her turn to make a presentation, to avoid missing a work commitment.

Ducks Unlimited makes province’s largest-ever conservation-land purchase

A Manitoba landscape that helped save the Giant Canada goose from extinction has now been permanently protected in the province’s largest conservation land purchase in history.

Transcona councillor faces new sex assault charge

A city councillor charged with sex assault earlier this year faces new sex charges in a separate incident, in a case Winnipeg’s mayor called “deeply concerning.”

Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, 56, was charged Monday with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to aggrieve or annoy over an October 2023 incident.

Allegations of a 2023 assault were reported to the Winnipeg Police Service in April, a month after Wyatt was charged with sex assault in relation to a 2025 incident.

In the 2023 incident, a man told police he become acquainted with Wyatt through a website in July of that year and said they met in person on more than one occasion.

Plasma clinic pauses operations in Canada amid ‘unfounded attention’

A plasma collection company is pausing operations in Canada due to “unfounded attention” after two people died following donations at Winnipeg clinics.

Grifols said in a statement Thursday it has “proactively and voluntarily decided to pause plasma collection activities at all its plasma donation centres in Canada,” citing “unfounded attention that has been focused on compensated plasma collection.”

A Health Canada investigation highlighted several concerns with the for-profit operator, which resulted in a notice of a non-compliance rating issued for a clinic in Winnipeg, located at 693 Taylor Ave.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Marjorie Michel said the safety of Canadians must always come first.