Age-old advice: Wifely duties

Woman, 23, charged with fatal stabbing outside Portage Place

A 23-year-old woman has been charged with fatally stabbing a woman after they argued outside the entrance of Portage Place mall in the middle of the afternoon Tuesday.

Province orders mosquito fogging owing to increased risk of West Nile virus

Parts of Winnipeg and several rural communities will be sprayed for mosquitoes in the coming days as the heat wave across southern Manitoba has created a higher risk of exposure to West Nile virus.

The province has issued a fogging order under the Environment Act in response to a high number of Culex tarsalis mosquitoes — the primary transmitter of West Nile virus — in Manitoba.

Surveillance data from last week showed evidence of the West Nile virus.

“High temperatures across southern Manitoba have shortened the time required for West Nile virus to develop within infected Culex tarsalis mosquitoes and be transmitted to humans,” the province’s first bulletin on West Nile virus this summer, published Thursday afternoon, reads.

Downtown Winnipeg comedy club Yuk Yuk’s closes

A downtown Winnipeg comedy club, Yuk Yuk’s, closed after being one of the company’s worst performing locations across Canada.

“We’ve opened many clubs,” said Mark Breslin, Yuk Yuk’s founder. “They’re like oil wells — some of them gush, some of them trickle and some of them are just dry.

“You never absolutely know which is going to be which.”

The franchise counts at least 10 locations nationally.

Squash-ing the competition

The Thiessen bloodline is no stranger to racquet sport, and 19-year-old Ivo Thiessen is no different as an up and coming Manitoban squash player.

Thiessen started the sport at a young age, first introduced to the enclosed court and rubber ball by his father, John — an avid squash player himself.

“When I was younger, he was just taking me down (to the Racquet Club), throwing me on the court and making me hit a ball,” Thiessen explained. “Then it just progressed. He kept putting me in lessons, kept pushing me and then I started to actually begin enjoying it once I figured it out a bit.”

Thiessen not only had the support from his father, but from other family members who had a personal love of the game.

South Osborne residents fail in bid to prevent construction of 131-unit apartment tower

A proposed 10-storey highrise on an empty south Osborne lot will move forward despite concerns from residents about the impact the building will have on nearby parking and traffic.

The city-owned lot at 425 Osborne St., which previously served as a gas station but has long sat vacant, will be developed into a mixed-use residential building with 131 units, 39 of which would be affordable, along with additional office space for the adjacent Winnipeg Transit garage and the Transit customer service centre across the street, along with a two-level parkade for tenants and Transit employees.

The property is being developed by the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corp. 2.0, and designed by Prairie Architects Inc.

At a meeting held by city council’s appeal committee Wednesday, several residents said while they supported the idea of more housing in the Lord Roberts neighbourhood, they had lingering concerns about the impact the development will have on the already-busy area.

Giant Tiger to close downtown, area residents bemoan dwindling grocery options

One of the only remaining grocery-store options for people living downtown and in the Exchange District is closing its doors.

Red notices on the windows at Giant Tiger’s Donald Street and Ellice Avenue location advised passersby the store will close on Nov. 7.

Chain spokesperson Jessica Charbonneau said in an email the decision to shutter stores is “not taken lightly and is made with careful consideration and thorough analysis.”

The store was busy Thursday afternoon.