Empty boxes top high-tech toys on doctor-recommended list

Clearing the deck and filling the seats

The winds of change are always blowing at Winnipeg’s city hall, but with a civic election looming this fall, the gusts through the council chamber at 510 Main St. seem particularly strong.

With slightly less than three months until voters head to the polls, no less than five incumbent councillors have declared they will not stand for re-election. Combine that with the possibility that one or more other members of the 15-member body could lose their bids for re-election, and what becomes apparent is that the makeup of Winnipeg’s municipal decision-making assembly will have changed dramatically when the new council is sworn in.

The five veteran councillors who have opted not to seek another term are Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry), Markus Chambers (St. Norbert–Seine River), John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry), Janice Lukes (Waverley West) and Brian Mayes (St. Vital).

All the departing councillors are experienced representatives, with Rollins and Chambers having served two terms, Lukes having been on council for a dozen years, and Mayes and Orlikow having served 15 and 17 years respectively. Had any or all of them chosen to run again, they would almost certainly have been re-elected, as incumbency remains a most formidable force in municipal politics.

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.

U of M researchers studying ‘digital legacy planning’ before death

A team of researchers at the University of Manitoba wants adults to take the cloud they leave behind into special consideration when they envision heaven and their afterlife.

Government overrides school board in ‘mature minor’ controversy

The Manitoba government has vetoed the Steinbach school board’s plan to override common law by making parents the ultimate authority on all student health issues.

Since Hanover School Division trustees approved a motion to disregard the category of “mature minors” just over two months ago, there has been widespread debate.

Trustees unanimously voted to stop honouring the mature minor doctrine — in which teenagers 16 and older are automatically assumed to have the maturity to make medical decisions for themselves — at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

“We would just encourage the Hanover School Division to do what they do best, which is providing high-level, quality education for the kids in their community,” Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said in an interview on Tuesday about her July 22 directive to the board to repeal its motion.

Empty boxes top high-tech toys on doctor-recommended list

Skip the costly electronic games and flashy digital gizmos. Pediatricians say the best toys for tots are old-fashioned hands-on playthings that young children can enjoy with parents — things like blocks, puzzles — even throwaway cardboard boxes — that spark imagination and creativity.

"A cardboard box can be used to draw on, or made into a house," said Dr. Alan Mendelsohn, co-author of a new report on selecting toys for young children, up to around age 5.

Many parents feel pressured by ads promoting tablet-based toys and games as educational and brain-stimulating but there's not much science to back up those claims, Mendelsohn said. Their main misconception: "The toy that is best is the one that is the most expensive or has the most bells and whistles or is the most technologically sophisticated."

Simpler hands-on toys that parents and young children can play with together are preferable for healthy development, said Mendelsohn, a pediatrician at NYU Langone Health in New York.