John K. Samson refuses to be quiet about library measures

Carney’s pick for Manitoba senator called a curious choice

Manitoba’s newest representative in the Senate only moved to the province in 2019.

Unlike former Manitoba Senate candidates, Geeta Tucker hasn’t known this province for very long — and that’s raised the eyebrows of some experienced politicians and academics.

Retired Manitoba senator Don Plett said he hadn’t heard of Tucker until this week. The Conservative said he has nothing against her personally, but he questioned whether she knows Manitoba well enough to represent its interests in the chamber of sober second thought.

“I think it is imperative that you have strong roots to the region you’re representing,” Plett said Wednesday.

Winnipeg high school football coach subject of hazing investigation

Manitoba’s independent teacher commissioner is investigating the head coach of the Grant Park Pirates football program amid allegations of team hazing.

The AAAA varsity team is at the centre of a probe into allegations student-athletes who played for Doug Kovacs during the 2025-26 school year drew blood while carrying out a locker room ritual.

Multiple sources confirmed Kovacs was put on leave from Grant Park High School in the spring in response to a complaint about his coaching style.

“There’s a lot of different red flags here,” said one parent of a football player who was recently contacted about the case by the office of commissioner Noni Classen.

Apartment fire that sent 8 to hospital was drug related, tenants say

A fire that tore through a Manitoba Housing building on Furby Street early Thursday, sending eight people to hospital and displacing tenants, started in a suite known for drug use, multiple residents told the Free Press.

“We’re kind of joking around that hopefully it’d be great if the rest of the building found out that it was his suite that now has everybody displaced,” said one resident, who has lived in the apartment for 15 years.

Another tenant, who has lived in the complex for 26 years, said concerns about the suite had been reported before, but added “nothing ever gets done.”

“It’s very different now,” he said. “We used to have an on-site caretaker, someone was guarding the place. We have nothing now. It went downhill in the 2010s, when they took the caretaker away. There used to be no problems here.”

Mayor flip-flops on cutting tree-planting budget after intense criticism

Public opposition has prompted Mayor Scott Gillingham to change his mind about chopping $1.2 million from the city’s tree-planting program.

Red card for FIFA, Infantino

It took longer than most people thought it would, but U.S. President Donald Trump finally brought his brand of chaos to the men’s World Cup soccer tournament — and immediately soiled the pitch.

Trump was infuriated by a questionable red card shown to top U.S. forward Folarin Balogun during the American team’s July 1 match with Bosnia and Herzegovina — disciplinary action which meant Balogun was ejected from the game and suspended for his country’s next match versus Belgium on Monday, July 6.

Spurred on by officials including Andrew Giuliani (yes, the son of Rudy), director of the White House task force on the World Cup, Trump called up his bosom buddy, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, that very evening to ask that something be done about the suspension. He called Infantino again on July 4.

Lo and behold, FIFA announced July 5 that its disciplinary panel had suspended the application of Balogun’s one-match ban for a year, making him eligible to play in the Belgium game (which the U.S. lost 4-1, by the way). Multiple news reports quickly revealed Trump’s calls to Infantino — reaction was equally swift.