Mower, co-inventor of implantable defibrillator, dies at 89

Letters, Sept. 10

So, Coun. Browaty, do tell, when should we start to panic? What is your magic number? Is there one?

Childfree Winnipeg group gives women without kids a place to gather

Katelyn Sawatzky founded Childfree Winnipeg Women in 2021 to bring together women who don’t have kids — be it by choice or circumstance — and do not plan on raising children.

The group is designed to help them share experiences and build meaningful friendships.

The community welcomes cisgender, straight, transgender, bisexual and lesbian women. Parents, including empty nesters and men, are turned away.

“Our group is a safe space where women can hang out with other women without being asked when you’re going to have kids or why you don’t have kids … where you don’t feel like you have to validate or defend your choices in any way, because everyone gets it,” Sawatzky says.

Flash, bang … oops: police raid leads to lawsuit

A couple suing the city allege Winnipeg Police Service officers trying to execute a search warrant at their condominium complex rappelled down the side of the building, broke in their glass patio door and fired off a stun grenade before realizing they were in the wrong unit.

Saeid Ghavami and Shahla Shojaei, a married couple who are academics and scientific researchers at the University of Manitoba, filed the lawsuit in Court of King’s Bench last month over the Jan. 31, 2025 incident.

The claim names the City of Winnipeg and several officers involved in the operation, whose identities are, at this point, unknown to the couple, and are referred to as “John Does.”

Officers were attempting to execute the warrant on the third floor of the eight-storey Pembina Highway building, the court filing says. The couple lives on the fourth floor.

Grieving families, local leaders want review of Interlake intersection after teens die in crash

A two-vehicle crash that killed four teenage friends in the Interlake Sunday night prompted outpourings of grief in several communities and calls for safety improvements at the intersection, which was also the site of a death in July.

Recent high school graduates Maya Borsa and Chloe Vermette, both 18, were identified by their families as victims of the collision at Highway 8 and Provincial Road 229, just west of Winnipeg Beach.

“(Chloe) was a very bubbly, loving personality. Always giving, always caring. Her friends meant the world to her,” said her mother, Veronique Vermette, who struggled to comprehend the tragedy when she went to the scene Monday. “We sat in the rain for hours, and it blew my mind that four lives were taken.”

The teens’ parents are waiting for RCMP to provide more information about the cause of the crash. Chloe, who graduated from Windsor Park Collegiate in Winnipeg in July, was driving one of the vehicles, her mother said.

Mower, co-inventor of implantable defibrillator, dies at 89

BALTIMORE (AP) — Dr. Morton Mower, a former Maryland-based cardiologist who helped invent an automatic implantable defibrillator that has helped countless heart patients live longer and healthier, has died at age 89.

Funeral services were held Wednesday for Mower, who died two days earlier of cancer at Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver, The Baltimore Sun reported. The Maryland native had moved to Colorado about a decade ago.

Mower and Dr. Michel Mirowski, both colleagues at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, began working in 1969 on developing a miniature defibrillator that could be implanted into a patient. The device would correct a patient’s over-rapid or inefficient heartbeat with an electric shock to resume its regular rhythm.

“It was the talk of the whole hospital that these two crazy guys are going to put in an automatic defibrillator,” Mower said in a 2015 interview with The Lancet medical journal. “If something had gone awry, we would have never lived it down. We were these two crazy guys who wanted to put a time bomb in people’s chests, so to speak.”

What's Up: Brew at the Zoo, Neighbour x Neighbour fest, Fiver, Exploration of Contentment, Mangofest

Brew at the ZooAssiniboine Park Zoo, 2595 Roblin Ave.Friday, 7-10 p.m.Tickets $68 hereIn July, Winnipeg beer drinkers flocked to Blue Cross Park for the return of Ballpark Brewfest; in August, they convened at Le Patio 340 for the Winnipeg Beer Festival.

And on Friday, lager lovers and hop heads will descend on the Assiniboine Park Zoo for the annual Brew at the Zoo, which sees local breweries pouring their wares alongside a range of national and international products. (Note: the zoo proper is not open to Brew at the Zoo guests.)

Among the locals taking part at this year’s Brew at the Zoo are Kilter Brewing Co., Heritage Farms Brewing Co., Dastardly Villain Ale Works, One Great City Brewing Co. and Barn Hammer Brewing Co. Locals pouring non-beer options include Brat Cat Mead Co., Shrugging Doctor Beverage Company and Patent 5 Distillery.

Brew at the Zoo, then, offers much more than beer, with a range of ready-to-drink cocktails, coolers, cider, wine and spirits being poured throughout the event; non-alcoholic options include kombucha and non-alcoholic beer.