Your forecast
Mainly cloudy, with a 60 per cent chance of rain showers changing to 60 per cent chance of flurries this morning. Risk of freezing drizzle late this morning. Wind from the northwest at 30 km/h gusting to 50. Temperature falling to -8 C this afternoon. Wind chill -17 this afternoon. UV index 1 or low.
What’s happening today
🏒 The Winnipeg Jets host the New York Islanders at Canada Life Centre, starting at 7 p.m.
Today’s must-read
Fed up with safety concerns in Winnipeg’s downtown, union officials are speaking out after police arrested a man accused of randomly assaulting three women walking in the skywalk system last week.
Gord Delbridge, the president of CUPE Local 500 — which represents about 5,000 City of Winnipeg public service workers — said officials from various unions recently met for a meeting about the safety of their members.
“We feel that we have to ramp up safety and security in the downtown core,” Delbridge said Monday. “We’re seeing it, from various locations, whether it’s the Millennium (Library) or whether it’s Portage Place where we’ve got federal employees… and we’ve got provincial employees at various other locations… everyone is very much concerned about this, the safety and security in the downtown core.” Erik Pindera has the story.
The section of the skywalk system that connects the Millennium Library to Cityplace shopping centre. (Mike Deal / Free press)
On the bright side
No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan. The Associated Press has more here.
Canadian Ice Master Mark Messer in the stadium where the speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho. (Luca Bruno / The Associated Press files)
On this date
On Jan. 13, 1955: The Winnipeg Free Press reported in Ottawa that a report to the combines commissioner said anti-competitive practices were common in the manufacture, distribution and sale of beer across Canada. A struggle between Manitoba and British Columbia for new industriy was highlighted in both provinces’ efforts to secure a multimillion-dollar aluminum plant that Reynolds Metals of Richmond, Va., was considering building. 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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