Set some ground rules for the pumpkin patch

Main Street restaurant Boujee burns for the second time in one week

A former restaurant on Main Street is set to be demolished after a fire broke out for the second time in less than a week.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews responded to reports of a fire at Boujee Restaurant and Bar, a vacant, single-storey building on the 100 block of Main Street shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday. The same building was most recently damaged in a fire last Sunday.

At the scene, crews found heavy smoke coming from the building. After attacking the fire using aerial ladders that sprayed water from above, firefighters arranged an emergency demolition of the building. Demolition is expected to be completed today, the WFPS said in a news release.

No injuries were reported and the fire is under investigation.

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.

Football kept Bombers’ Jaworski going while recovering from car crash

Instead of gearing up for his first full season of CFL football, Matt Jaworski was in a hospital bed wondering if he’d ever get to play again.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive end was in a serious car crash in March and has several scars on his face — which he pointed out to reporters on Sunday — to prove it.

The 23-year-old from Buffalo, N.Y., was placed on the retirement list in May. Over the weekend, the Bombers signed him to the practice roster.

“I appreciate Winnipeg taking me back and I’m ready to go,” he said after practice.

It’s been a winding journey to the pros for PWHL’s first Manitoban bench boss

Christine Bumstead has never been one to spend much time wondering what might be on the horizon.

The Winnipegger has made a habit of focusing on the task at hand, leading to a wide variety of experiences behind the bench, culminating with her promotion to head coach of the PWHL’s Seattle Torrent in early June.

“I truthfully never look at things in (terms) of what is next or shooting for the next thing. I’ve never been someone with a five-year plan or anything,” Bumstead said during a recent telephone interview.

“I kind of laugh, five years ago I was in a classroom in Morden, Manitoba, teaching. So a lot can happen in five years that you can never really expect.”

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.

50 years of rare tall grass prairie celebrated

Kristin Bestvater is always glad when she heads to Winnipeg’s St. James neighbourhood and visits the Living Prairie Museum.

“It’s beautiful,” Bestvater said of the 13-hectare site, which is one of the last remaining tall grass prairies in North America. “I don’t know how many other cities would have something like this.”

The Island Lakes resident and her nine-year-old son were among the hundreds of people who gathered at the museum on Saturday to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Designated a park in 1974, it officially became the Living Prairie Museum in 1976 with the opening of an interpretive centre which houses a gallery of exhibits, a gift shop and an observation deck.