Uptown magazine to be distributed as part of Winnipeg Free Press

Empty desks: Advocates talk chronic school absenteeism

Concerned school and government leaders are downplaying the state of student absenteeism, as community organizers are strategizing to create urgency around who’s regularly missing class — and why — in Winnipeg.

The inaugural Youth at Risk in Winnipeg Symposium, held over the weekend at the Canadian Mennonite University, drew roughly 100 people to discuss barriers to attendance and brainstorm ways to remove them.

Nearly 20 years after he began calling attention to the issue, first as a volunteer with the Point Douglas Residents Committee, Sel Burrows gave an impassioned speech about the lack of political will to take meaningful action to help students from “dysfunctional homes.”

“I’ve dealt with nine cabinet ministers, Conservative and NDP, and five deputy ministers, and the issue has not gotten any better,” Burrows told teachers, reseachers and community support workers gathered Saturday on CMU’s Shaftesbury campus.

Salvation Army calls on Winnipeggers to donate merchandise as sales soar

The Salvation Army is taking donated merchandise from other regions to stock its Winnipeg thrift stores as increasing sales outpace local donations.

Retail activity at the charity’s eight Winnipeg locations grew more than 10 per cent year over year during several months, from January through April, and again in June.

Although local donations remain strong, they haven’t kept pace with demand, prompting the organization to supplement inventory with merchandise from elsewhere.

Ted Troughton, managing director of the Salvation Army’s thrift store operations, said rising living costs are bringing in new customers.

Spinning yarns into comedy, chaos and hope

“I watch ALL the new TV,” I recently bragged at a family Thanksgiving, a fiction that I was rightly called out on.

But I do watch a lot and, more than that, I read about as close to all the upcoming TV as I can. It’s not (usually) for bragging rights but because stories are either distractions or inspiration and both are now more valuable than ever. Here are a handful of worthy-looking new series and docs.

● Phony Series premières today (Oct. 20) on Disney+/Hulu

High schooler Sonny (Sam Nivola, The White Lotus) has every reason to be faltering in his perception of reality.

Province looks to keep nearly $1M from traffic stop

The RCMP constable could see that Alireza Haghgoo was nervous. The 22-year-old, seated as a passenger in a rental Nissan SUV the Mountie pulled over for speeding outside Brandon in late July, was breathing heavily and tapping his foot constantly.