Second dead grey whale washes ashore in B.C. in less than a week

Letters, Aug. 31

Connor Hellebuyck, as we know, backstopped the U.S.A. to Olympic gold. Shortly after winning, he was invited to the Oval Office and accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from his country, a medal that has been awarded to numerous famous athletes — Babe Ruth, Billie Jean King, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, to name a few.

Port of Churchill celebrates first grain shipment in six years

Approximately 30,000 tonnes of Canadian durum wheat from Saskatchewan-based AGT Foods is being loaded at the northern Manitoba port and will be shipped to customers in Europe.

Dangerous offender status sought for convicted killer

Crown prosecutors intend to apply to have a convicted killer, who also admitted his guilt in an assault on a stranger at The Forks and a robbery at a local beer vendor, designated as a dangerous offender.

Daniel Christopher Dumas, who is in his mid-30s, pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and robbery in front of provincial court Judge Donovan Dvorak on Monday for the attacks on June 6 and 7, 2025. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Prosecutor Monique Cam said the Crown plans to apply for a dangerous offender designation for Dumas, which, if granted, could result in him being given an indefinite prison sentence.

“The Crown does intend to make an application at a future date … for a remand for assessment to have Mr. Dumas assessed by a court-ordered assessor for the purpose of pursuing a dangerous offender application,” Cam said.

‘One-stop powwow shop’: Trail Creations opens doors to traditional, ceremonial clothing

Spoons hang on the wall — small, silver and, unlike most items in the shop, not for sale.

One from Saskatchewan, another from Florida. Each represents a place Jessica Lavallee and her family visited during a powwow circuit. The 32,000-kilometre trek led Jessica to 3096 Portage Ave.

She opened Trail Creations, a Winnipeg store selling materials to make traditional Indigenous garb, in the space last month.

“We want it to be a one-stop powwow shop,” Lavallee said.

Chefs gather in St. Boniface to see whose version of jollof is best

Chef Alex Bockarie is bringing an age-old African culinary battle to Winnipeg.

On Saturday, five local chefs hailing from Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria will go head-to-head to determine who makes the best jollof — a rice dish simmered in a savoury tomato-based stew.

“Jollof rice originated from Senegal but it has spread throughout West Africa and every country has its own method of cooking it,” Bockarie says. “It’s a long-standing fight; even among the communities here in Winnipeg, everybody’s always saying that Sierra Leone’s (jollof) is the best, Ghana’s is the best, Nigeria’s is the best.

“It’s a friendly competition; friendly, but very serious too.”

School zones return Tuesday as lead-footed drivers risk steep fines

School crossing guards are preparing to resume their posts on busy corners across the Winnipeg School Division, but Luna Zúñiga isn’t one of them.

Zúñiga hung up her high-visibility vest about 30 months ago after she was struck by a motorist while escorting a child through a pedestrian crosswalk on Grant Avenue at Lanark Street.

Zúñiga protected the child, who wasn’t hurt, but the educational assistant at nearby J.B. Mitchell School suffered life-altering injuries, including nerve damage that limits her stamina, range of motion and makes her left leg “feel like it’s burning all the time.”

“I don’t know what needs to be done (to improve school-zone safety),” she said. “But I do know that when a six-year-old is crossing the street, a car needs to be fully stopped.”