Jazz Winnipeg hires new artistic director

Bombers prepare to bounce back after bye week

It didn’t take Jaylen Smith long to earn the respect of his teammates.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have an annual tradition where they name a player the “Pro’s Pro” of the year. The title goes to a special teamer who shows up, takes pride in their craft, and never complains about his role.

Last season, it went to Smith — a rookie linebacker from Hamilton, Ont., who finished second on the team with 22 special teams tackles.

“I personally don’t think I deserved it. I thought Michael Ayers (now a third-year linebacker) deserved it. Everything he did, I just followed. He was the pro’s pro the year before, so I just followed him,” said Smith after Monday’s practice at Fort Garry Lions Field.

Frustrated owners won’t rebuild demolished Boujee

The co-owner of a former Main Street restaurant vows he will not rebuild in Winnipeg’s downtown, owing to constant crime and vandalism in the area.

Kanish Sood, who is one of three partners of the now-demolished Boujee Restaurant and Bar, said he did everything he could to keep the building safe from vandals after it was hit by arson last October.

“After that (fire), there is about already 15, 20 times there has been break-in in the property,” Sood said Monday. “We have been informing police continuously that there is continuously break-ins. People are trying to go inside the building and stealing things, but there was no action.”

After Boujee was torched, Sood and his partners locked the building and boarded it up. They also hired private security to monitor it. The break-ins continued.

Winnipeg pooches get time in spotlight in Rainbow Stage production of Legally Blonde

On stage and screen there are no small roles, but there are small actors.

And then there is Lil’ Beast, a spunky, wild-haired performer who weighs in at 1.5 kilograms (3.5 lbs).

“You think of a small dog, and then he’s even smaller,” says his owner Britainy Jasper.

In April, when the beast was only six months old, he was encouraged by dozens of dog park acquaintances to tap into his creative side and audition for his first professional acting gig.

Hydro’s planned $3B gas turbines purchase misguided, bad for environment, critics say

Despite defending a $3-billion gas turbine purchase as the most reliable power source in freezing temperatures, Manitoba Hydro’s gas turbines in Brandon have had outages during three of the 10 highest usage times over the past five winters — a sign that the Crown corporation’s long-term power plan needs re-evaluation, environmental groups say.

AI fears voiced during public consultation in Brandon

BRANDON — Security against cybercriminals, safeguards against being tracked or monitored and limiting the role of artificial intelligence in people’s lives were some of the concerns raised during a public consultation in Brandon Monday.

Innovation and New Technology Minister Mike Moroz said it was essential to give people an opportunity to speak about what AI means in a “Manitoba context.”

He was a teacher, he said, when cellphones started becoming a part of daily life, and now governments are being forced to double back and implement regulations years later.

“We can’t afford to have that same pattern or follow that same pattern with AI. It is so much more pervasive, so much more dominant and has so many more potential ramifications than what we’ve experienced at this point in time,” Moroz, the MLA for River Heights, told attendees.

Bombers look to rally vs. Redblacks

Mike O’Shea is guilty of wearing rose-tinted glasses at times.

There have been situations where a certain player, or the team as a whole, has obviously struggled, and the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will downplay the questioning.

But not even O’Shea could take a glass-half-full approach to his team’s most recent performance.

The Bombers, who were on a bye last week, returned to work on Sunday at Fort Garry Lions Field for the first time since suffering an inexcusable 35-19 home loss to the B.C. Lions on July 30.