Anti-immigrant speaker blocked from entering Canada in time for Hamilton event

Police chief pulls plug on security shifts at supermarkets, stores

The Winnipeg Police Service is ending its years-long practice of allowing officers to pick up overtime shifts to provide additional security in supermarkets and other stores at retailers’ expense.

Bombers give would-be boo birds their marching orders

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are being criticized by some fans online for booking the University of North Dakota’s marching band for Friday’s game against Montreal.

Late founder of Canad Inns celebrated with honorary street name

The founder of Canad Inns will be remembered through an honorary street name, alongside his homegrown hotel chain’s Garden City location.

On Thursday, the city installed a sign to mark “Leo Ledohowski Way” on Jefferson Avenue between McPhillips and Watson streets.

“It is a lasting tribute … to a man who devoted so much of his life to this city and province and whose legacy will continue to inspire those who travel the road for years to come … From this day forward, Leo’s name will be part of Winnipeg’s landscape,” said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West), city council’s acting deputy mayor.

Ledohowski died last year at the age of 81. He started the Canad Inns hotel chain in the 1970s. At an event to unveil the street sign, he was described as a tireless entrepreneur, philanthropist and hospitality leader, as well as a cheerleader for both Winnipeg and Manitoba.

Fear and loathing in bedbug-infested seniors building

Years of living in a regularly infested suite in an always-infested building have given Lewie Gwyllt nightmares in which he’s wrestling giant bedbugs.

The 64-year-old has lived at 529 Country Club Blvd., a 107-unit seniors’ home run by Manitoba Housing, for nearly eight years. Much of his tenancy has been marked by monthly, but futile, bedbug-eradication treatments.

Gwyllt’s routine is set in stone: he bags his laundry, steams his clothes, and buys covers for any piece of furniture he buys. He has a physical disability and struggles to move things when the pest-control people arrive to spray for the bugs, but he knows the nooks and crannies of his baseboards are a problem spot.

The mental toll has weighed heavily on him. He takes anti-anxiety medication to deal with the stress and despair when the treatments don’t work.

Landline, internet service restored, Bell MTS says after nine-day outage in parts of downtown

Bell MTS service has been fully restored in downtown Winnipeg after a damaged telecommunications cable left some customers without landline and internet service for more than a week.

A Bell MTS spokesperson said repairs were completed Thursday morning in the affected area.

“We thank customers for their patience during this complex repair and thank the crews who worked around the clock to fix the cables as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said in an email.

The outage began Aug. 18 when a Manitoba Hydro construction crew drilled through multiple underground ducts, causing significant damage to several cables and affecting a small number of buildings, mainly around Fort Street, Garry Street and York Avenue.

Dolly Parton’s generosity sparkling example of genuine goodness

When I saw Dolly Parton perform in Winnipeg in September 2016, I tried, like many people, to take photos. She defied iPhone photography. In everyone’s snaps from the show, she would appear, always, as a column of light, confirming what we all say about Dolly Parton: she is an angel among us.