Canadian cruise ship passenger tests negative for coronavirus in Cornwall, Ont.

Is a better Winnipeg on the horizon?

Four Free Press columnists weigh in on the challenges ahead and how the city can become better.

Bison kicker Turner named captain, shows she belongs

Even on nights like this, Maya Turner can appreciate how far she’s come.

Though it feels like yesterday that the Manitoba Bisons kicker arrived on the scene with an unheralded right leg and a point to prove, these days the fifth-year student-athlete is lining up to split the uprights with a veteran boot and the added responsibility of being a team captain.

Getting to this point wasn’t easy, though.

It’s now four years ago that Turner ditched her NCAA Division 1 soccer career at Loyola University in Chicago to kick a different ball on the gridiron and signed with the Bisons, who were one of more than one hundred programs across North America that she sent tape to in hopes of realizing a new dream.

Four Jets clear waivers to join Moose

The Winnipeg Jets organizational depth has yet to take a hit on the waiver wire.

On Saturday afternoon, all four players exposed to waivers — defenceman Isaak Phillips and forwards Nikita Chibrikov, Noah Gregor and Parker Ford — cleared, which means they can be assigned to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

Owing to injuries to captain Adam Lowry and winger Cole Perfetti, both Chibrikov and Ford started last season on the NHL roster but spent the bulk of last season with the Moose.

Chibrikov, chosen in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft, has dealt with multiple lower-body injuries during the prior two seasons and is still working his way back to peak form.

Nuit Blanche ready to wow in city’s core

For one night each September, downtown Winnipeg becomes an art gallery — an amusement park, even.

During Nuit Blanche, which takes place tonight, 3D projections spill across the Exchange District, The Forks and St. Boniface, and thousands flood the city core to take in live music, DJs and installations.

“There really isn’t anything like it. I know every promoter probably tells you that, but we are the only event that works at this scale in the fall,” says Nuit Blanche general manager Kurt Tittlemier.

“Culture Days Manitoba is run with the mission statement to make free, accessible artistic programming to all,” he adds, referring to the multi-week national festival, “and Nuit Blanche is our flagship event.”

Gordon Bell students relish — ‘of all things’ — new pickleball courts

Manitoba’s newest public school sports facility is bringing the pickleball craze to an inner-city campus.

Gordon Bell High School unveiled four custom-made courts for the popular paddle sport this fall as part of a multi-faceted makeover.

Grade 12 student Matea Thiessen Unger called the courts “the cherry on top,” of a multi-year construction project that consumed much of her high school career.

“It was happening for so long — it felt like it was never going to end,” the 16-year-old said.