Sweet voice, salty language

‘Frustrated’ Selkirk nurses plead for help

The province must take immediate action to increase low staffing levels that are putting Selkirk emergency room nurses at risk, a letter sent to the premier and health minister says.

The letter, sent by the Manitoba Nurses Union and signed by 35 ER nurses, detailed multiple recent incidents at the Selkirk Regional Health Centre. In one case, a nurse was stabbed with a pen by a patient who had been waiting 24 hours for care. In another case, a nurse was bitten by a patient.

“Nurses in that emergency department are extremely frustrated,” said Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson. “This is not something that happened in the last month — or overnight — these are problems that have been growing.”

The five-page letter was sent Tuesday to Premier Wab Kinew, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara and leaders of the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority. It contained 10 requests to improve safety inside the emergency department, including establishing safer nurse-to-patient staffing levels, eliminating the practice of “single physician coverage” in the emergency department and implementing an institutional safety officer around the clock.

U.S. tariffs pause elicits relief, frustration in Manitoba

Fifty per cent tariffs weren’t the only thing paused in the Canada-U.S. trade dispute.

Rural Manitoba homeowner charged with shooting at accused thieves

A homeowner in southern Manitoba has been charged after he fired shots at a group of people accused of stealing from his property, police say.

Officers were sent to the Rural Municipality of Dufferin Saturday after a report of a theft in progress. RCMP said four people went to the property, located about 95 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, and returned later the same day driving two vehicles stolen from Watrous, Sask.

The owner of the property, a 66-year-old man, saw the suspects on a motion-activated camera and saw someone transferring fuel from a portable container into one of the stolen vehicles. The man confronted the group and fired shots towards the vehicles, police said.

Three people stayed at the scene until officers arrived and took them into custody, RCMP said. Various items believed to have been stolen from the property were found in the back of a truck. A fourth suspect fled in the other vehicle.

Canada, U.S. both say they made gains in new trade deal that averted tariffs

WASHINGTON - Canada-U.S. Minister Dominic LeBlanc smiled widely beside U.S. President Donald Trump's trade czar in Washington on Wednesday as they touted a draft deal which appears to have averted a new round of punishing tariffs on Canada.

United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he feels confident the agreement will protect American workers and jobs while strengthening the North American market, making the continent a manufacturing and energy powerhouse.

"We certainly, I think, have eliminated some of the irritants that we've had over the past year," he said, "We also are taking a strong foot forward."

Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement that the new deal reinforces and builds on Canada's existing trade advantages with the U.S.

Costco breaks ground on new West St. Paul store

Construction has begun on the American retailer's newest Manitoba location which developers expect will open in August 2027.

Sweet voice, salty language

Don't get taken in by the honey-blond wholesomeness of Shirley Gnome, the Vancouver singer-songwriter's angelic voice or her down-home congeniality.

She may look like a fetching cross between Joni Mitchell and LeAnn Rimes in her rose sequinned cowgirl hat and black boots, but her tunes are downright R-rated, as in raunchy and risqué. The 31-year-old free spirit is a little bit country -- she spells country without the letter "o" -- and a whole lot of smutty.

"I certainly like to play with people's expectations, because some people really think this blond girl in cowboy boots is going to be their male fantasy and it never turns out the way they want it to," says Gnome.

The self-described "chanteuse-provocatrice" is making her Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival debut with her solo show, Shirley Gnome: Real Mature, an hour-long series of original music and hardcore musings.