Vince Fontaine’s Indian City scores seven nominations

Gillingham says Portage and Main underground should stay open

Scott Gillingham said he hopes to keep the circular concourse beneath Portage Avenue and Main Street open, if he’s re-elected mayor next week.

“I would like to find a way for it to stay,” said Gillingham during the mayoral debate hosted by CJOB Wednesday.

The downtown intersection reopened to pedestrians at street level in June 2025.

When he first supported that hotly debated reopening in 2024, Gillingham called for the underground mall to be closed. At the time, the city estimated it would take $73 million and up to five years of traffic-snarling construction to repair the leaking membrane under the street that protects the properties below.

Outbreak should never have happened

The headline offered a vague sense that something had been accomplished, but it most certainly did not describe anything worth celebrating:

“Manitoba declares measles outbreak over.”

The news item in the Oct. 17 Free Press noted provincial public health officials had confirmed Manitoba’s last laboratory-confirmed case of measles was identified in August, and that the absence of any new cases since had allowed for the aforementioned declaration.

The end of the outbreak — which began in February 2025 and included a significant stretch this year during which Manitoba experienced more measles cases than any other province — is certainly worth noting. But it bears reminding that the real story here is that this province, and others across Canada, experienced a resurgence of this highly communicable but successfully eradicated disease in the first place.

Hutterite colonies embrace the manufacturing business – while staying faithful to their way of life

Tucked away at Oak Bluff Hutterite Colony, past rows of communal housing and farm buildings, Aaron Maendel tinkers in a laboratory.

Black-and-white sheets smeared with grey-test formulas cover a counter. A Thermotron — a refrigerator-looking machine — is powered off but standing by to simulate any desired temperature.

Maendel moves to a worktop littered with partly full mixing cups. He pulls out a small, rectangular sample — a sheet showing the drying time of his new fixation, floor coatings.

“Very simple, actually. Very simple machine. Drags a stick through the mud,” Maendel says.

Movie preview: Winnipeg-shot biopic on Arthur Rimbaud as daring as its subject

Simultaneously huge in its biographical breadth and intimate in its scale, Patrick Wang’s film A. Rimbaud is a portrait of the 19th-century poet Arthur Rimbaud, a grand, 175-minute biopic that eschews the genre’s convention with the adventurous spirit Rimbaud applied to the written word.

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: Avoid shopping (except food and gas) and important decisions until after 3:30 p.m. today. After that, the moon moves from Pisces into Aries.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

This is a passionate, powerful day. Romance is blessed. It’s a great day to socialize with romantic interests. In fact, it’s the best date day of the week! It’s also an excellent day for financial discussions about shared property, inheritances, taxes and debt.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)