Babies who hear more than one language at home develop attention advantage: study

Trailblazer returns to share success, inspire next generation

Starstruck kids and fans zigzagged throughout the rink, anxiously waiting to get an autograph from Kati Tabin and to see their role model on the same side of the glass.

Tabin, Montreal Victoire defender and Team Canada silver medallist, on Saturday came home to the rink where it all began, the Oakbank Community Club. She brought the PWHL championship trophy, the Walter Cup, won in her third season with the club, as well as her 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic medal.

The arena was packed to the brim with fans from all over coming to see Tabin — the local player who made history in women’s hockey. Hundreds of enthusiasts of all ages lined up with their Victoire or Team Canada merchandise, some waiting over two hours to see their idol.

Eight-year-old Loxley Cierzan came with her mother, Ainsley, and other family members to meet the one and only Tabin. Cierzan has loved seeing other girls grace the ice and play the competitive sport she adores. When the PWHL takeover stopped in Winnipeg in March, she not only got to watch the game but also a practice beforehand where Tabin signed her Victoire hat.

Up to the challenge

There may not be another restaurant in Manitoba that can say it has welcomed visitors from as many communities across the province and beyond as the Somerset Food Bar & Lounge has this summer.

In just over a two week span, visitors from more than 100 towns have come out to the family-owned restaurant tucked away in Somerset, a community of roughly 450 people in the Pembina Valley 130 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

It started as a challenge, “60 Towns in 60 Days,” where the restaurant wanted to document how many different places they could reach, as it often sees people travelling across Canada stop at the restaurant. The goal was also to encourage people to make a drive they normally wouldn’t.

“The more we started sharing, the more people really started getting behind it, and it turned into this really big thing fairly quickly,” said Jay Friesen, restaurant manager.

Automation reaches new heights on farm

LANGHAM, Sask. — The thousands of farmers from across the Prairies who flock to the annual Ag in Motion show every July seem oblivious to the possibility the technology on display could one day replace many of them.

Families with children in tow, Hutterite colony workers, grandparents and young couples just starting out roamed through the 600 or more exhibitor displays, amazed at how everything about farming just keeps getting bigger, more efficient and increasingly more automated.

It’s now possible to seed using a 100-foot-wide drill — a 12-foot jump over the widest available a few years ago — provided the farmer can afford a tractor with enough horsepower to pull it. Those sell for around $850,000 and up.

Granted, the number of farms with enough acres to justify that kind of width and drawing power is still relatively small, but farms continue to grow. And it’s no secret the number of people who have the interest, skills and financial wherewithal to run them continues to shrink.

Winnipeg Fringe Festival: 2026 show reviews

Not sure what to see at this year's Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival? All of the Free Press’s reviews will be published here.  Find a show and click to read its review.

Conservatives call for emergency meeting on Trump threats, demand Carney explain plan

OTTAWA - The Conservative shadow minister for Canada-U.S. relations is calling on Ottawa to provide its negotiation plan with U.S. President Donald Trump at an emergency meeting.

Shuv Majumdar says in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney that the Conservatives want an emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on International Trade next week, and Ottawa needs to table its written plans at the hearings.

Majumdar says Carney must explain how the government will address Trump's latest tariff threat.

Trump said Monday the U.S. government will hit an array of Canadian products with 50 per cent tariffs in 30 days.