Rob Gronkowski named grand marshal of Indianapolis 500 Snake Pit for 2nd straight year

What's Up: Clara Hughes, Moving / Still: Animation, Rumble in the Burt, Send+Receive, Lotai as Chappell Roan, Scream & Halloween

Clara Hughes book launchMcNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park (1120 Grant Ave.)Tonight, 7 p.m.FreeOne of Canada’s most decorated Olympians returns to her hometown tonight to launch a new memoir about her healing journey, the roadblocks along the way and the search for new beginnings.Clara Hughes, who was born in Winnipeg and now lives on Vancouver Island, launches her new memoir Learning to Breathe at 7 p.m., when she’ll be joined in conversation by Shelagh Rogers, the former host of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter.

Learning to Breathe is Hughes’s second memoir, following the publication of 2017’s Open Heart, Open Mind. Her latest sees the six-time Olympic medallist detail her use of psychedelic-assisted therapy to deal with physical and emotional ailments, navigating menopause, forging new relationships and more.

Hughes is the only athlete to win multiple medals in both the Summer and Winter Games (in cycling and speed skating, respectively), and is a member of both the Order of Manitoba and the Order of Canada. She’ll discuss Learning to Breathe with Rogers before signing copies at the store. The free event is also available to stream on McNally Robinson’s YouTube page.

— Ben Sigurdson

‘We know we’re not going to beat Mother Nature’: Ice prep begins at Princess Auto Stadium for Heritage Classic

Derek King typically has ice in his veins.

But the Manitoban admits there may be a few more butterflies than usual as he prepares for the ultimate home game — the 2026 Heritage Classic between the Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens.

“This is so exciting to be back,” King, the NHL’s vice-president of hockey operations and facilities operations, said Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s definitely going to be a fun event to be part of.”

Chief says minister offered money to remove highway checkstop

The chief of the Bloodvein River First Nation says a Manitoba cabinet minister offered up to $250,000 for economic development as he was trying to persuade her to remove a highway checkstop that has outraged hunters.

A decision with potential for ‘distraction’ and ‘disrespect’ in Transcona

Transcona voters acknowledge they have a tough decision to make at the ballot box on election day.

The east Winnipeg working-class ward is replete with lawn signs and posters, but most of the people the Free Press spoke with said they were still undecided.

While Winnipeg is, historically, more likely to elect an incumbent, longtime councillor Russ Wyatt is seeking a sixth term while facing five criminal charges, including sexual assault and administering a noxious substance, after incidents alleged to have occurred in 2023 and 2025.

Residents are not without options. In addition to Wyatt, former councillor Shawn Nason — who occupied the city council seat from 2018-22 — is running for council (Wyatt chose not to run in the 2018 election after taking several months off to undergo addictions treatment), and there are three new faces on the ballot: Lora Meseman, Chris Giesbrecht and Nathine Dagdick.

Man pleads guilty to manslaughter for chasing, stabbing man downtown

An intellectually disabled man who drunkenly chased down a man he had been arguing with and fatally stabbed him in broad daylight admitted to manslaughter on Wednesday.

Matthew Gerald Tomack Pelletier, now 38, chased Ricky Dwayne Mancheese, 49, down Kennedy Street before stabbing him six times in front of his wife on the sidewalk between Sargent and Cumberland avenues, at about 11:50 a.m. on June 11, 2024.

Pelletier, who police arrested the next day, was charged with second-degree murder, but instead pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter in front of Court of King’s Bench Justice Joan McKelvey on Wednesday.

“This type of incident on Winnipeg streets is all too common and must be strongly deterred,” said McKelvey.