Your forecast
Sunny, becoming a mix of sun and cloud this afternoon. Wind becoming south at 20 km/h this afternoon. High 33 C. Humidex 36. UV index 8 or very high. There is a heat warning in effect for Winnipeg.
A heat wave and dry vegetation are putting Manitoba at higher risk of wildfires, with additional municipalities imposing fire bans Thursday to try to prevent human-caused ignitions.
Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C., said there is a potential for a “very active” week or two based on current conditions and short-term weather forecasts.
“There’s a recipe for wildfire: vegetation — fuels — ignition and weather. The vegetation is there — the fuel — the weather is now coming or there, so it’s really about ignitions now,” he said. “People-caused ignitions are common in the spring, but we’re also kicking into lightning season, too.” Chris Kitching has more here.
A water bomber fights a wildfire southwest of Chemawawin Cree Nation on Tuesday. (Leslie Arrow photo)
What’s happening today
American comedy legend Rita Rudner, who was a regular on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson and has several HBO specials, is bringing her act to the Burt tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $51-$87 at Ticketmaster.ca. Read Jen Zoratti’s one-on-one interview with Rudner.
Rita Rudner (Supplied)
Today’s must-read
Carol Radway was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2014. After 11 years as her primary caregiver, her husband Paul Chorney came to the grim realization he could no longer care for her at their Winnipeg Beach home, not without endangering his own health. He knew even with home-care support from the Interlake East Regional Health Authority that it was time to seek help.
Chorney had been advised, unofficially, by a home-care worker that the fastest way to get his wife into a personal care home was through the hospital system. So, on July 29, 2025, he took his longtime partner to the Emergency Department at Selkirk Regional Health Centre, where he told the intake staff that he had reached a breaking point.
After a six-hour wait, Radway was admitted.
“Leaving her there alone that night was incredibly painful for me and for her,” Chorney recalled. “We had been together since 1988, living together as partners, and then more formally as a married couple since 2011.” Janine LeGal has the story.
Despite facing overwhelming health challenges connected to Alzheimer’s, the bond between Paul Chorney and his wife, Carol Radway, remains unbroken. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
On the bright side
Manitoba has broken the record for the number of practising physicians for another consecutive year.
Currently, there are more than 3,700 physicians in practice, the highest number in Manitoba’s history, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara announced Thursday.
Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Alon Altman welcomed the milestone. Malak Abas has more here.
On this date
On May 29, 1976: The Winnipeg Free Press reported 25,000 turned out to celebrate the Winnipeg Jets’ winning the Avco Cup, with a procession of players waving to fans along Portage Avenue. Mayor Stephen Juba announced the city would have a new arena to house the Jets, but would not say when, where, how or why.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Free Press.
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