Free Press Head Start for Aug. 4

Good morning.

Canadian sprinters Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse will compete in the men’s 200-metre final at the Tokyo Olympics this morning. The race is at 7:55 a.m. CT. Both sprinters won their semifinal heats.

Manitoba’s indoor mask mandate should have been the last pandemic restriction removed, an epidemiologist said. Masks will only be recommended under new public health orders that take effect Saturday, despite the threat posed by the COVID-19 delta variant.

The chief federal electoral officer says Canadians might have to wait a few days for the final results of an election if one is called amid the pandemic. “As much as we like early results, I think Canadians expect that we do it right,” Stephane Perrault told The Canadian Press.

Environment Canada has issued another special air-quality statement for Winnipeg and most of Manitoba because of smoke from wildfires. Last month was the second-smokiest on record in Winnipeg, and the worst for any July.

— Adam Treusch, assignment editor

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What’s happening today

A broken disposable mask discarded in Central Park. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Pandemic poll: Fewer Canadians believe the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic has passed than a month earlier, a poll released today found. Fifty-four per cent of respondents said the worst of the crisis is over, compared with 63 per cent a month earlier. The Canadian Press reports. READ MORE

Extradition case continues: The final set of arguments in the extradition case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou are scheduled to begin in British Columbia’s Supreme Court in Vancouver. Legal arguments on whether Meng should be extradited to the U.S. are expected over the next few weeks. The Canadian Press reports. READ MORE

Rural Internet access: Winnipeg MP Dan Vandal, the minister of Northern Affairs, will make an announcement about “high-speed Internet for rural Manitoba communities” at an online news conference in Ottawa later this morning.

Weather

Your forecast: Mainly cloudy with a 30 per cent chance of showers and risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon, a high of 29 C, humidex of 31 and wind from the south at 15 km/h increasing to 30 km/h and gusting to 50 beginning later this morning.

In case you missed it

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSGoldie elbow bumps with fans at the Goldeyes game at Shaw Park on Tuesday, the team’s first game at home since 2019.

Baseball welcomed back: Fans filed into Shaw Park last night for the first Winnipeg Goldeyes game there in nearly two years. Joseph Bernacki reports. READ MORE

‘Climate chaos’: As if a drought weren’t bad enough, farmers are battling resulting plagues of grasshoppers, too. Cody Sellar reports. READ MORE

Measuring river’s depth: An effort is underway to measure the depth of the Red River from South Dakota to Lake Winnipeg, something that hasn’t been done in more than 70 years. Carol Sanders reports. READ MORE

‘Nightmarish fires’: A wildfire on the outskirts of Athens has destroyed or seriously damaged dozens of homes, forced thousands of people to flee and threatened a former royal palace. The Associated Press reports. READ MORE

On this date

On Aug. 4, 1972: The Winnipeg Free Press reported that at a conference Canada’s premiers tackled issues such as federal-provincial policies for employment, organization of higher education institutions and health-care costs. The U.S. Senate ratified a treaty limiting the spread of U.S. and Soviet defensive missiles. In Belfast, two men were killed in bomb and gun violence within 24 hours, even as the British government moved to hold a plebiscite in Northern Ireland on union with the Republic of Ireland to the south.

Today’s front page

Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Winnipeg Free Press READ MORE

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