Nitty Gritty Dirt Band final act at Countryfest

Baruchel soulful in role as frustrated Canuck daredevil

For better and worse, the name of the barely famous Canadian stunt driver Ken Carter (a.k.a. The Mad Canadian) will always be associated with the name of his much more famous American counterpart Evel Knievel.

Both men made their livings cheating death, jumping vehicles over a series of ever-more-daunting barriers, breaking records and bones in equal measure.

Carter’s career was, well, just more Canadian, which is to say obscure. After Knievel unsuccessfully tried to fly a motorcycle over Snake River Canyon in Idaho, Carter got the notion of flying a Lincoln Continental a whole mile over a stretch of the St. Lawrence River as the ultimate challenge of his career.

What followed was not so much a test of courage but endurance, as Carter kept cancelling the jump over a period of years, determined to do it without killing himself in the process.

Safety officers responded to three assaults in first 4 1/2 months at downtown Hydro HQ

Manitoba Hydro Place beefed up its security after an employee was assaulted in the main-floor gallery while leaving work in January leading the Crown corporation to close the building to the public for several weeks while it hired and trained institutional safety officers.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band final act at Countryfest

The band that helped put Dauphin’s Countryfest on the map will bid a fond farewell to the jamboree June 30.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which headlined the inaugural Countryfest in 1990, will be the windup act at the 2024 event, which runs June 27-30. The group said earlier this year that its 2024 tour will be its last.

Texas neo-traditionalist Mark Chesnutt, Nashville artist Jo Dee Messina and Winnipeg’s Don Amero are also on the bill for the Sunday night.

The mainstage shows begin Friday, June 28, with country crooner Clint Black headlining a lineup that includes Alberta singer Carolyn Dawn Johnson, the Great Canadian Road Trip — which brings together Portage la Prairie duo Doc Walker, Michelle Wright and Jason McCoy — and two other Manitoba acts, the C-Weed Band and Quinton Blair.

Three wait times, one patient: resources matter

Manitoba announced at least $127 million for a 60-bed hospital, with expanded emergency and surgical space, dialysis and chemotherapy. It will serve surrounding communities and a town with more than 5,600 residents of Neepawa.

The opening plan does not include a CT scanner.

Imagine a patient arriving at Neepawa’s new emergency department after its planned opening in 2027. A physician assesses the patient and orders a computed tomography scan, or CT. This diagnostic infrastructure is accessed in another hospital down the road in Brandon.

The patient needs monitoring during the journey, about 77 kilometres away, so staff arrange an ambulance.

Klein wants city-run, maintained ‘bridge’ space for homeless people

Mayoral candidate wants city to set up a 24-hour community space pilot project for homeless Winnipeggers