Your forecast
Mainly cloudy, with a 60 per cent chance of showers or thunderstorms early this morning and a 60 per cent chance of showers late this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm late this afternoon. Widespread smoke. An air quality warning is in effect for the City of Winnipeg. High 25 C. Humidex 33. UV index 7 or high.
Much of Manitoba had the worst air quality in Canada Thursday, as researchers warn the long-term effects of the smog are not yet fully realized. Nicole Buffie has more here.
Smoke hangs over the Red River as people walk the River Trail at The Forks on Thursday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)
What’s happening today
The Run It Back Alumni Basketball Tournament, now in its third year, has already seen plenty of success, bringing together players from the graduating classes of 2022 all the way back to 1999 to face off against old rivals.
This year, 16 teams will make their way to the Duckworth Centre downtown, starting today at 5:30 p.m. and continuing until Aug. 10, to compete in the tournament. For the full schedule, click here.
Calvin Diaz (left) and Joseph Medrano, organizers of the third annual Run It Back high school alumni basketball tournament (Supplied)
Advance polls in a historic federal byelection for Alberta’s Battle River-Crowfoot open today. For the first time ever, Elections Canada says voters must fill out a blank ballot. The agency lists a record 214 candidates running in the rural riding, with voting day on Aug. 18. The Canadian Press reports.
Today’s must-read
Winnipeg’s police chief vowed Thursday to regain the public’s trust after announcing a veteran officer — already accused of criminal wrongdoing last year — has been charged with more than a dozen new offences, including drug dealing while on duty and sharing a photo of a half-naked dead woman.
Winnipeg Police Service professional standards investigators re-arrested Const. Elston Bostock, 48, on Wednesday, and took him to the city remand centre, where he remains locked up. Bostock was removed from his duties as a police officer — a job he’s held for 22 years — last fall.
“These are very serious allegations which go directly against the values of the Winnipeg Police Service, tarnishing our reputation and eroding the public’s confidence,” Chief Gene Bowers told a Thursday news conference, calling it a “very sad day for the service.” Erik Pindera has the story.
WPS Police Chief Gene Bowers (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
On the bright side
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the best picture yet of a high-speed comet visiting our solar system from another star. NASA and the European Space Agency released the latest photos Thursday.
Discovered last month by a telescope in Chile, the comet known as 3I-Atlas is only the third known interstellar object to pass our way and poses no threat to Earth. The Associated Press reports.
An image captured by Hubble of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21 (NASA/European Space Agency via The Associated Press)
On this date
On Aug. 8, 1962: The Winnipeg Free Press reported Manitoba Pool Elevators would build a meat packing plant in Brandon at a cost of $1.5 million to $2 million, replacing the Brandon Packers plant, which the pool bought a year earlier for $180,000. Scotland Yard detectives combed Britain for U.S. Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell while angry protests grew over his presence in Britain. Read the rest of this day’s paper here. Search our archives for more here.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Free Press.
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