Public Health Ontario reports first confirmed female case of monkeypox

Winnipeg a character all its own onscreen

Watch something shot in Winnipeg with a Winnipegger, and you will be treated to a live running commentary. We can’t help playing “spot the location.”

When we recognize that field/statue/mall/intersection/theatre, we have to say it. It’s practically civically mandated.

A friend told me she was at a film screening at which people literally applauded footage of the Mint. (That likely would have been 2005’s The Constant Gardener.)

Being excited about seeing Portage Place Mall at Christmastime in the trailer for Violent Night 2 — and then exclaiming, to your husband, “Oh, look, it’s Portage Place Mall at Christmastime!” — is not, I will admit, particularly cosmopolitan behaviour. In fact, I could be accused of suffering from a mild case of Podunkitis.

Husband of rival sex club owner accused in attempted bathhouse bombing

A Winnipeg bathhouse owner says he was shocked to learn the man accused of planting a pipe bomb outside his business is married to the owner of a competing sex and lifestyle club.

Christopher Gregoire, who recently took ownership of AQ Sauna, said a live pipe bomb was found by a “heroic patron” outside the club, formerly known as Aquarius Bath House, in the early morning hours of Sept. 11.

On Thursday, the Winnipeg Police Service announced Erik Lymen Olson, 59, was facing multiple charges in the incident. Olson is the husband of Adonis Men’s Spa owner Doug Pomanski.

“This is wild,” Gregoire said after learning of the charges.

Time for the PUB to review Winnipeg water rates

We take you now to just over a month ago, to the Public Utilities Board and its decision about water and sewer rates for Russell, Binscarth, Angusville, Rossburn and Gambler First Nation.

Why? Just wait.

The area is supplied with water and sewage services by the Russell-Binscarth Water and Wastewater Utility, which has a total of 1,014 customers.

As the PUB noted in an Aug. 27, 2026 order on the utility’s rates, “The [water treatment plant] gets water from two groundwater wells that were upgraded in 2016 and the raw water main was installed in 1984. The water distribution system is primarily cast iron pipe. The raw water line will need to be upgraded in the near future to keep up with demand.”

Happy email debt forgiveness day

There are few things more capable of producing an immediate feeling of guilt than opening your inbox and seeing an email you have not answered.

You know the one. It has been sitting there for three days or three months or perhaps long enough that responding now feels less like answering an email and more like reopening a historical case. You read it, think, “I really need to deal with that,” and then close it again.

The next week you see it, feel slightly worse and tell yourself you will answer it when you have more time. A month later, you are considering whether it would be less embarrassing to change your name and move to another province.

Fortunately, there is a solution: Sept. 30 is Email Debt Forgiveness Day, and I think it may be one of the most compassionate holidays we have invented.

Failure to exploit NDP weaknesses leaves PCs in tailspin

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party is getting slaughtered.