Fruit flies impact Manitoba berry crops

Piece of magic history disappears

A piece of Winnipeg’s magic history has vanished, and internationally renowned escape artist Dean Gunnarson is offering a $500 reward to anyone who can make it reappear.

The plaque marked the birthplace of what has become the world’s largest organization of professional and amateur magicians, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, which was founded in Winnipeg more than a century ago.

Gunnarson said fellow magician and local magic historian Bruce Thompson discovered the disappearance Tuesday while on his way to work.

Thompson returned to inspect the site and found what appeared to be evidence it had been forcibly removed.

What's open, what's closed, what's up on Thanksgiving

Here's a round-up of things to do and hours of business for services on Thanksgiving Day 2026.

Collaros turns back the clock in crucial win over Stamps

It was around this time seven years ago that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers officially became Zach Collaros’s team.

Making his first start in blue and gold after being acquired via trade, Collaros ran backwards to escape a collapsing pocket before rolling to his right and firing a perfect pass to Darvin Adams in the back corner of the south end zone during a home game against the Calgary Stampeders.

The play marked the beginning of the Collaros era in Winnipeg.

And a similar play Saturday night, once again against the Stampeders, served as a reminder that the 38-year-old pivot isn’t done just yet.

Hydro’s unpredictable fortunes

Hope for rain. Or snow. Or both.

There’s a truism buried deep in a financial outlook in Manitoba Hydro’s 2025-26 annual report, released in late September: “Manitoba Hydro’s net income is highly dependent on several uncontrollable factors.”

Those factors include the risk of drought reducing hydroelectric production and sales (a situation that means the utility will have to purchase more power, especially in winter), the rate of inflation, the actual cost of purchased electricity and increased interest rates that would mean Hydro will have to spend more servicing its $26.55 billion debt.

The report outlines that several of those factors came together during the utility’s last full fiscal year — along with huge costs to replace equipment damaged in a long, dry summer of forest fires.

Comparing the Iran and Vietnam Wars

The other day I asked my students in U.S. foreign policy to think about the relevance of the Vietnam War in relation to the ongoing war in Iran. More specifically, I wanted them to identify the similarities and differences between the two wars.

What is immediately striking is how domestic politics played such a seminal role in both conflicts. While American public opinion was generally in favour of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam in the early years, things started to turn very sour after U.S. soldiers started arriving stateside in flag-draped coffins and body bags. As for Iran, just about every single poll and TV newscast since the first few weeks of the war have illustrated an overwhelming public repudiation of President Trump’s military adventurism.

The electoral implications were also quite apparent for the two wars. The U.S.-Iran War is clearly having a positive effect on the Democratic Party’s electability, as it looks set to capture both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, reading the political tea leaves from the Vietnam fallout, opted not to contest the 1968 U.S. presidential election.

Equally interesting, the U.S. press had a crucial, and mostly negative, impact on both the Vietnam and Iran conflicts. Who could forget Gen. William Westmoreland — the commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam (1964-1968) — maintaining that it was the media’s fault the U.S. lost the war in Vietnam. While I take issue with his thesis, I do believe the news coverage and visuals of the first televised war served to raise serious concerns about why the U.S. was at war in Southeast Asia.