Concerts, cooking, crackers, kids and choirs

Alberta’s gopher museum closed until further notice as owners find new facility

A quirky Alberta roadside attraction that has delighted travellers for decades with its stuffed rodents in tiny costumes is closed until further notice. 

The World Famous Gopher Hole Museum, located in Torrington, a hamlet about 120 kilometres north of Calgary, made the announcement online earlier this week.

Laural Kurta, museum director, said she was forced to close the doors because the two historical buildings that house the exhibits need to be replaced. 

"We have done every patch repair, staple, spackle, everything we could possibly do, and it is just at its end," Kurta said in an interview Tuesday. 

Fraser Institute report places Manitoba near bottom of all provinces, states in productivity, income advancement

Manitoba trails behind most Canadian provinces and American states in economic well-being, according to a new study.

The Fraser Institute, a right-leaning think tank, compared provinces’ and U.S. states’ GDP per person, among other economic measures, in a report released Thursday.

It places Manitoba 56th of 60 jurisdictions. Most provinces and every state except Mississippi had a higher GDP per person in 2024 than Manitoba, the Fraser Institute calculated.

It used data from Statistics Canada and the United States Census Bureau.

Province to fund livestock cop to cut down on theft

BRANDON — The Manitoba government will fund a new RCMP position dedicated to investigating livestock theft.

The province made the announcement Thursday.

Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn said the investigative role will fill a pressing need.

“Personally speaking, I think this has been a long time waiting for this to come to reality,” the Dauphin MLA said Wednesday. “We are doing a great thing for the industry.”

Concerts, cooking, crackers, kids and choirs

Social distancing means a lot more time on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like.

Need some entertainment? A distraction? Here are five fun things to see on social media right now.

Fred Penner goes liveOne of Winnipeg’s favourite children’s performers is taking the show on to social media this weekend — and he’s taking requests. Fred Penner, who has postponed most of his upcoming 40th anniversary tour, will be playing a live concert on Facebook and Instagram this Sunday beginning at 2 p.m. Song requests can be submitted on either social media account before the show; unsurprisingly Sandwiches and The Cat Came Back have been popular choices.

Jets goaltender quickly taking on folk hero status with hot start

Stuart Skinner is giving the hometown crowd plenty to cheer about.

The Winnipeg Jets new No. 1 netminder came up with another brilliant performance, making 32 saves — including several of the highlight-reel variety — to propel his team to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night at Canada Life Centre.

With each save he makes and each win he records, Skinner is doing what he can to help turn the page on the Connor Hellebuyck era.

“I would say that they are big shoes to fill 100 per cent, but I’m not looking into the scenario of filling his shoes,” said Skinner, who lowered his goals-against average to 2.62 and raised his save percentage to .920 through three starts. “My job’s the same job as any other goalie in this league. So it’s a little bit of a difficult question for me to truly answer.”