David Letterman joins Just for Laughs Montreal lineup

Summer Reading Challenge concludes with more musings from young readers

Another Free Press Summer Reading Challenge for Kids is in the books, but before we turn the page completely, there are a few more reviews written by our young readers to share.

Participating readers were tasked to write down their thoughts about any of the books on the Summer Reading Challenge’s three reading lists; with a range of formats (novels, graphic novels, books with pictures), themes and reading levels to choose from, budding reviewers of all ages were eager to share their opinion.

Those registered for the challenge received reading resources and activities throughout the summer, from word searches or puzzles based on the content of the books to a set of discussion questions and, in one instance, a special video from an author.

There were also more creative activities meant to engage readers’ critical thinking skills, all of which were free to access for anyone who signed up for the challenge.

Nightclub owner, divorced dad sentenced for involvement in cocaine-trafficking case

Three people, including a Winnipeg nightclub owner and a divorced dad desperate for cash, have been sentenced in a cocaine-trafficking case city police were once concerned had been compromised by a corrupt cop.

The trio was charged in early 2024 as part of Project Roasted, a lengthy investigation into a drug trafficking network by the Winnipeg Police Service organized crime unit.

Investigators arrested two of the men, Mohamed Ali and Abdullah Khan, as they left the Stella’s on Pembina Highway in early February 2024. Two kilograms of cocaine was found in Khan’s car.

On the same day, Ahmed Dini was arrested at his River Avenue suite, where investigators found more than 200 rocks of crack cocaine.

Kusama embraced dots which crowded her vision

In 2012, just as I was leaving the Tate Modern in London, I noticed an exhibition that I had nearly missed: The Obliteration Room by Yayoi Kusama, the famed Japanese artist with the bright-red bob known for her use of repetition and polka dots.

I had read about this exhibition but had no idea it was on while I was in the U.K. Conceived as an interactive exhibition for children and first put up at the Queensland Art Gallery in 2002, it begins as a monochromatic white room, furnished with all-white furniture and objects that visitors are then encouraged to cover with the multi-coloured dot stickers they are given on entry.

The idea is that, over weeks, the pristine room becomes “obliterated” by dots of colour.

Obviously, I beelined for it. I was handed my sheet of stickers, all different sizes of circles, and sent to add to a work that hundreds of people had already contributed to.

Five exceptional Manitobans reflect on what it means to be Canadian while bracing against Trump’s vitriol and economic upheaval

Canadians have been trying to make sense of a new reality since Canada-United States trade talks broke down on Aug. 21.

The following day, President Donald Trump’s administration imposed 50 per cent tariffs on US$20 billion worth of Canadian exports to the U.S.

The federal government responded in kind a few days later, rolling out tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of imports from the U.S.

The Free Press contacted five Manitobans who have been appointed to the Order of Canada and asked them for their thoughts on the status of Canada-U.S. relations and what is means to be a Canadian today. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Carney’s defence of Lake Ontario carries enormous weight

For centuries on Turtle Island (North America), explorers, map makers, and political leaders have erased Indigenous place names and substituted them — more often than not — with political, ethnocentric, and self-aggrandizing names.

In recent years, a few places on the continent have had Indigenous names re-established, but as of today, few of the original names are “official.”

So, it was no surprise when U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior and Board on Geographic Names to take steps within 30 days to officially rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”

The move may have been a result of the Canada-U.S. trade war and Trump’s pettiness and ego, but it also fits in perfectly with his career.

Former care home nurse fined $8,000 for ‘disturbing in the extreme’ 2025 incident

A former nurse has been fined $8,000 and is facing numerous restrictions after making a mistake “no registered nurse should have made” by inserting 10 centimetres of gauze into a patient’s anus instead of dressing a nearby wound.