New In Paper: May 21-11

Winnipeg artist’s solo exhibition invites viewers on a disorienting, rewarding journey

Ryan Smoluk’s Maze City, on now at WAG-Qaumajuq, is a full circle moment.

North and east to Hudson Bay: Port Nelson

Who in Canada doesn’t like the beaver? It’s a Canadian symbol that represents hard work and ingenuity and using the resources around you to build up what you need.

AC/DC leaves Winnipeg crowd thunderstruck

AC/DC proved once again that rock ‘n’ roll ain’t noise pollution.

A rowdy stadium of about 35,000 people at Princess Auto Stadium couldn’t agree more as the Australian rock legends made their first trip to the city since 2015 on their PWR/UP tour, cranking out two hours and 20 minutes of raw and raunchy high-voltage material, a mix of blues, crunchy power chords, melodic riffs and double entendres that spanned five decades.

Their wide-ranging appeal was apparent in the demographic makeup of the crowd, which ranged from young children to seniors, many clad in $30 glowing devil horns from the well-stocked merch booth that also offered posters, banners, beer koozies, lanyards, tour books and T-shirts.

There is no one in music quite like guitar god Angus Young. He is 71, but onstage he is ageless, a hyperactive teenager dressed in his signature blue schoolboy uniform and yellow and blue cap, running around, duck-walking and leaping in the air while cranking out riff after riff and extended solos on his trusty black Gibson SG.

Disgraced former law dean arrested, facing extradition to Canada: report

Jonathan Black-Branch, the disgraced former dean of law at the University of Manitoba, has been arrested in Europe and is awaiting extradition to Canada on fraud charges, according to a media report.

Black-Branch, who failed to defend himself in a lawsuit filed by the U of M and his disbarment proceedings, was ordered in May 2025 to repay more than $682,000 in misspent expense funds.

Winnipeg police confirmed his arrest and pending extradition, CTV Winnipeg reported Tuesday.

Black-Branch left the university in 2020 amid allegations he had misspent public dollars and schemed to evade oversight while running Robson Hall from 2016 to 2020.

Decorated business vet Spiring announced as NSL Winnipeg president

Manitoba’s own Dayna Spiring is no stranger to the sports world, but her latest venture into the world of football — this time of the kick-about variety — is a whole new ball game.

“I’m getting up to speed on that as quickly as I can,” Spiring told the Free Press Tuesday, shortly after the accomplished business leader was announced as Northern Super League Winnipeg’s president.

Spiring joins an already stacked roster on the first women’s professional sports team in the Keystone province alongside the likes of NSL Winnipeg’s decorated co-founders Desiree Scott and Rob Gale.

And her own stats sheet is just as historic. Spiring was one of the first women to serve on the CFL’s Board of Governors and was the first woman to serve as chair of the Winnipeg Football Club’s board of directors. She is also the first woman to have her name engraved on the Grey Cup when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers captured back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2021.

Kinew, NDP rise to new heights in Free Press-Abacus Data poll; support for Khan, Tories falls further

Buoyed by a bump outside Winnipeg, support for Premier Wab Kinew’s NDP climbed to its highest level yet, while the Tories lost some ground.