Olympic badminton champion Marin injured, won’t defend title

Health Canada suspends plasma collection at Grifols Taylor Avenue clinic

Health Canada has suspended all plasma collection at Grifols’ Taylor Avenue facility while the private company continues to face scrutiny after two people died following donations at its Winnipeg clinics.

The suspension began Wednesday, although Grifols paused plasma collection in Canada on Aug. 14, two days after the federal department gave the Taylor Avenue site a non-compliant rating.

“Health Canada issued the suspension because Grifols had not effectively implemented some corrective and preventive actions and, overall, it failed to demonstrate that the Taylor Avenue site has implemented an effective quality management system,” the department said in a statement.

The penalty was first proposed Aug. 13. The site’s operating licence was partially suspended, Grifols said in a statement.

Decorated business vet Spiring announced as NSL Winnipeg president

Manitoba’s own Dayna Spiring is no stranger to the sports world, but her latest venture into the world of football — this time of the kick-about variety — is a whole new ball game.

“I’m getting up to speed on that as quickly as I can,” Spiring told the Free Press Tuesday, shortly after the accomplished business leader was announced as Northern Super League Winnipeg’s president.

Spiring joins an already stacked roster on the first women’s professional sports team in the Keystone province alongside the likes of NSL Winnipeg’s decorated co-founders Desiree Scott and Rob Gale.

And her own stats sheet is just as historic. Spiring was one of the first women to serve on the CFL’s Board of Governors and was the first woman to serve as chair of the Winnipeg Football Club’s board of directors. She is also the first woman to have her name engraved on the Grey Cup when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers captured back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2021.

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: Caution. Avoid shopping (except food and gas) and important decisions from 3 a.m. until 10:55 p.m. After that, the moon moves from Aquarius into Pisces.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

There’s a moon alert all day so restrict spending to food and gas, and postpone important decisions. However, you are the artisan of the zodiac, and a moon alert is an excellent time for socializing and making art.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Indigenous Sports Fund listening to level playing field

Manitoba is home base for a fund organizers hope will boost Indigenous participation in sport across Canada.

“We should be involved in more than just dancing in the opening ceremonies,” said Bruce Miller, creator of the nascent Indigenous Sports Fund.

He’s been visiting First Nations and Métis groups since June as part of “listening tours,” where community members share their thoughts about how such a fund could be used.

It’s not his first time launching a project: he’s a founding member of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre and has led the Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund, which provided emergency relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Relief, reproach from law school staff after disgraced ex-dean’s arrest in France

The overseas arrest of a disgraced former law dean who defrauded the University of Manitoba out of more than $600,000 is being met both with relief and renewed frustration in the local legal community.

Bluesman’s memoir focuses on life before music fame

He was born Colin Munn in Regina in 1964, but he’s best known by the name given to him onstage by his late friend Stevie Ray Vaughan in Ann Arbor, Mich., 20-plus years later — Colin James.