Britain’s Royal Mail celebrates Monty Python with stamps featuring iconic sketches and characters

Premier presses Bell Canada about ‘unacceptable’ 911 outages

Premier Wab Kinew said the province is doing all it can to ensure that Manitobans aren’t hit with another 911 service outage — including asking the head of Bell Canada to help.

“At the end of the day, when you dial 911, we need to get emergency services to you as quickly as possible,” Kinew said.

On July 22, an hours-long outage prevented nearly 90 calls to 911 from being routed to the public safety answering point in Brandon. Backup systems that reroute 911 calls when an outage occurs also experienced “issues” after a third party cut the cable during construction near Winnipeg, Bell Canada said earlier.

At the time, Kinew called the 911 outage “unacceptable,” and told reporters that Prime Minister Mark Carney assured him he would raise the matter with telecom executives.

City rescinds Balmoral Street property owner’s order to clean up encampment

A West Broadway landlord is off the hook for clearing a large riverbank encampment after the City of Winnipeg rescinded an order threatening to stick him with the cleanup bill.

Marvin Sharp, CEO of Astroid Management Ltd., which operates the Pen-Eve Apartments at 35 Balmoral St., said he received a call from the city Tuesday letting him know the order has been cancelled.

In a statement from the city, an official said the order was shelved due to an existing and active easement on the property.

“We have been communicating with the property owner throughout this process and they have been informed of this development,” a spokesperson said.

Britain’s Royal Mail celebrates Monty Python with stamps featuring iconic sketches and characters

LONDON (AP) — And now for something completely different: Britain’s Royal Mail has issued stamps celebrating the absurdist comedy of Monty Python.

The 10-stamp series announced on Thursday celebrates some of the troupe’s most iconic characters and catchphrases, from “Nudge, nudge” to “The Lumberjack Song.”

Six stamps depict scenes from the sketch-comedy TV series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” including “The Spanish Inquisition,” ”The Ministry of Silly Walks," “Dead Parrot” and “The Nude Organist.”

Another four mark the 50th anniversary of the cult classic 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” including one showing the limb-losing Black Knight insisting, “’Tis but a scratch.”

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.

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: After 3:45 a.m. today there are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Sagittarius.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

You might be interested in unusual, powerful ideas. They might be mystical and idealistic. They might even be related to improving yourself somehow. Nevertheless, be aware this is also a mildly accident-prone day for you. Pay attention to everything you say and do.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Pre-owned sets seller Romo’s Bricks seeks to click with Winnipeg’s Lego community

There’s no mortar in sight but there are certainly thousands of bricks at a new brick-and-mortar store in Winnipeg catering to Lego enthusiasts.

Ashton Romaniuk and Madison Froome opened Romo’s Bricks in late spring. Located at 955 Milt Stegall Dr., in the same building as CanCentral Sports Cards & Memorabilia, the store specializes in selling pre-owned Lego sets, minifigures and other Lego-related products.

“It’s something we’re both passionate about,” Froome said.

To stock the store, she and Romaniuk spent $50,000 on four large Lego collections, purchased from local collectors. Romaniuk estimates that since the store opened on June 2, inventory has grown to $250,000 worth of Lego.