AP Source: Smoltz, Leiter refuse vaccine, will work remotely

Transit driver stabbed with syringe by passenger

A Winnipeg Transit driver is recovering in hospital after a passenger stabbed him in the leg with a syringe while riding the bus early Wednesday, the Amalgamated Transit Union says.

The union said the incident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. while the operator was stopped in the northbound lanes of Isabel Street, near William Avenue. A female passenger reached around the driver’s safety shield and stabbed the driver twice before getting off the bus.

The driver was taken to the Seven Oaks Hospital in stable condition, where he is undergoing treatment and further testing, union president James Van Gerwen said in an interview.

“We spoke to the member. He is doing OK, but he is still in the hospital and he is scared — as anybody would be,” Van Gerwen said.

Countdown to tee off at the Manitoba Open begins

It’s not quite at Stanley Cup drought territory — that sits at 33 years and counting — but it’s been a long wait for a Canadian golfer to capture the prestigious Manitoba Open.

Seventeen years, to be exact, since Graham DeLaet accomplished the feat.

Could that be about to end? We’ll find out when one of North America’s longest-running golf tournaments tees off at Elmhurst Golf and Country Club from Aug. 20-23.

The odds may be better than they’ve been in ages. Two Canadians have won on the PGA Tour Americas this season, and both will arrive in Winnipeg looking to add another title while strengthening their bid for a career-changing advancement to the Korn Ferry Tour.

Water-bus service relaunches with bigger boat

After staying docked last summer, the water-bus service stationed at The Forks is once again ferrying people up and down the Red and Assiniboine rivers.

Winnipeg artist’s ambitions growing as work reaches Paris

RYAN AD is Jamaican-Grenadian, lives in Winnipeg and receives iPhone notifications in French.

One of these notifications recently gave the photographer (who goes by his artist name) good news: a prestigious Parisian art gallery was interested in featuring two of his photographs in one of its exhibitions. One was captured in Manitoba, the other in Jamaica.

“I felt a constant sense of community in Jamaica. You’ll walk down the road and people will talk to you,” he says. “Here you have to be buying something to exist in most places.”

One photo, entitled Born Underwater, is a gentle depiction of Lake Winnipeg, reminiscent of Wanda Koop for its symmetry and pastel-like softness. The other, Myself When Young, shows a man leaning on an old car with its hood popped, a glimpse into Jamaica’s culture of repair and resourcefulness.

City police to resume drug-enforcement crackdown

The Winnipeg Police Service is restarting a drug enforcement campaign in certain neighbourhoods Friday after a 10-day initiative led to more than 100 arrests – eight for drug possession or trafficking – earlier this summer.

Police said the renewed campaign, targeting open drug use and trafficking, will continue into November with an outreach-first approach and improved communication and collaboration with community organizations in response to complaints about the initial crackdown.

Chief Gene Bowers said the three-month campaign will be reassessed in November to determine where it will go from there.

Police said the 10-day initiative, which began June 24 and focused on Main Street near Higgins and Logan avenues, parts of West Broadway and other areas, involved 1,099 officer-generated and related calls for service.