Plug In nominated for new arts prize worth $75,000

Vibrant Norwood apartment garden a labour of love to honour green thumb’s late partner

St. Vital resident Rob Duncan can’t pinpoint when he first noticed an award-winning garden blanketing the grounds of a two-storey St. Mary’s Road apartment block, near Coniston Street.

Perhaps he was on his way home from work and caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye. Or maybe he was running errands in the Norwood Flats area and paused to admire the array of annuals, perennials and potted plants that extends from the block’s doorway to the front curb.

What Duncan does know for certain is that after spying the urban oasis, twice fêted in Take Pride Winnipeg’s annual Winnipeg in Bloom competition, he couldn’t unsee it.

“First of all, the pink building really stands out,” Duncan says, referring to the brightly painted California Apartments complex at 268 St. Mary’s Rd. “But then you have the pergola, the rock garden, the flowers and trees… a sea of colour on a very busy street.”

$60M, six-storey Harbourview Terrace due to open in June 2028

They donned high-vis vests and brandished shovels with gold-coloured blades Friday morning at the ceremonial groundbreaking for a multi-family residential development in northeast Winnipeg.

Concord Projects has started construction of Harbourview Terrace, the inaugural development by two-year-old real estate company Foxhill Properties. Located in North Kildonan at 1820 De Vries Ave., the $60-million, six-storey apartment building will contain 179 units.

Founder and president Frank Koch-Schulte, who runs the company with his wife Alisha, said Foxhill wants to develop and manage properties with integrity.

“This is kind of like my opportunity to try to do things our way, which I feel is a way that keeps tenants in mind,” Koch-Schulte said. “We live in this neighbourhood. We’re very much invested in seeing quality housing go here.”

Chrysler refines Pacifica and Grand Caravan as buyers return to practical family hauler

BURLINGTON, Ont. — The mighty minivan — relegated to the scrap heap by the rush to crossovers and SUVs — is making a comeback, and Chrysler hopes to lead the way with its top-selling, Canadian-made Grand Caravan and Pacifica models.

While many manufacturers — Mazda, Ford, GM, Hyundai and Nissan — abandoned the once-popular family hauler, Chrysler has continued to play in the segment since it was launched by Lee Iacocca in 1983.

For 2027, the Pacifica gets a cosmetic refresh and the Grand Caravan is a holdover, but new this year are price savings of up to $7,200, Chrysler product planner Mike Szymkiewicz told journalists assembled here for the launch of the two vehicles.

“It’s primarily that we’re taking less margin, but we’re also adding content,” he said. “So less margin but we hope more volume.”

Livestreamed mental-health meltdown underscores medium’s disturbing decline

On Tuesday evening, a well-known celebrity blogger, best known by the nom de plume Perez Hilton, opened up his TikTok account and began a livestream from his Miami home. What unfolded over the next 30 minutes horrified all who witnessed it — and should force the rest of us to take a very sober look at the ways social media can harm.

Lac du Bonnet slowly healing from devastating fire

LAC DU BONNET — Fifteen months after devastating wildfires ripped through Lac du Bonnet, claiming two lives and destroying more than a dozen homes, residents are trying their best to build back better.

Along the winding gravel path that is Wendigo Road outside Lac du Bonnet, new timber peeks through patches of charred forest. Homes and cottages are beginning to take shape after fire raced through the neighbourhood at record speed and levelled at least 18 homes on the road.

Table saws and nail guns ring in the distance while Brian Curtis plots out where his new cottage will go. Curtis bought his previous cottage 19 years ago and had recently levelled the foundation.

He and his wife, Pam, had been thinking about long-term renovations when the May 13, 2025 fire swept away all their work and memories.

Leon’s Getting Larger and their tours are getting longer

Emo music was never just a phase for Nikola Boticki.

“It was people just saying the things I was feeling,” says the 26-year-old vocalist and guitarist. “Growing up, it’s kind of like, ‘I feel that way but I’m not going to say that out loud,’ so it was nice to hear someone say it.”

Boticki got into the punk subgenre near the end of his angsty high school years and his appreciation only grew while in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The music inspired him to form his own emo band, Leon’s Getting Larger, with friends Luke Penner (vocals/drums) and Noah St Hilaire (bass).