Gold rings around 2,000 years old found during dig at Thailand archaeological site

Dynacare strike set to begin before hearing into essential services agreement

Hundreds of Dynacare lab employees are expected to hit the picket line Tuesday, hours before a labour board hearing to determine whether they are essential workers.

QDoc patients in tight spot over billing dispute

Manitobans have been pulled into a dispute between QDoc — a Winnipeg-based virtual health-care platform — and the NDP government over fees billed to the province for patient care.

An Aug. 24 email from QDoc to its users prompted concern or calls for clarity from Manitobans who use the 24-7 platform to see a physician or nurse practitioner through encrypted video calls.

“When I first read it, like many others, I assumed they were going to be nixing the service altogether because that’s the way it was presented,” Tyndall resident Stephanie Pituley said.

“Upon further research, obviously that’s not the case, but I am still concerned to be honest. How many people did that research, I don’t know.”

Frequency of private plasma donations called into question

Two weeks after the death of a second plasma donor in Winnipeg at a privately run collection site, provincial and territorial health officials compiled a list of urgent questions for Health Canada.

A health department official in Nova Scotia, which leads the Provincial Territorial Blood Liaison Committee, wrote in mid-February to the federal regulator that their members had expressed “a great deal of curiosity tempered with concern” and forwarded two dozen questions, according to documents obtained by the Free Press.

Under a section titled “MANITOBA ESTABLISHMENT INCIDENTS,” the provinces wanted to know: “What requirements are in place to ensure Grifols is ensuring collections frequency (does) not exceed the limit under the Health Canada licence?” and “Is Health Canada able to identify whether Grifols Canada has a donor system across establishments? (e.g., can identify when a donor last donated and where, similar to their operations in the United States).”

“Does the situation of two high-severity incidents in one Province or at establishments run by a relatively new entity to Canada, within a short period of time, initiate any additional protocols?”

Comic creator unleashes talent with book bound for festival

For Glenn Hares, comic books — specifically, superhero comics — have always been a refuge, a way to both understand and escape the world.

Now, he’s prepared to release his own into the world.

“When I was in high school, I started creating characters, like this guy here,” says Hares, 40, showing a reporter a copy of the self-published Tytanium No. 0.

“Originally, he was just named Jerry Wolfe. Recently, my aunt suggested I make him neurodivergent because I based him on myself. A lot of superheroes have extraordinary, fantastic, out-of-the-ordinary powers, but they’re also just people. They live imperfect lives.”