Superhero names popular with pets

New women’s senior champ to be crowned

They may as well re-name the Manitoba Women’s Senior Championship the “Rhonda Orr Open” at this point, given the way she has dominated the annual event.

The 64-year-old, who plays out of Southwood Golf & Country Club, has won 10 straight titles — and 12 of the past 13 — to etch her name in local sports history.

Unfortunately, Orr’s incredible streak is coming to a screeching halt this week. Rather than teeing it up on Monday at Breezy Bend for the start of the 54-hole event, she was home recovering from a recent medical procedure which quickly put everything into perspective.

“Very disappointing that I wasn’t able to recover enough to play. That was my goal, but it didn’t work out. I definitely had a few tears over it,” Orr told the Free Press.

‘Eight credible threats’ against Hydro employees: CEO

Manitoba Hydro president and CEO Allan Danroth took aim at critics and revealed he and staff members have been threatened while defending the Crown corporation’s plan for three new combustion turbines Monday.

Without identifying individuals, Danroth said “constant, uninformed criticism” of Hydro and misinformation has eroded public trust and contributed to hostilities and an unsafe workplace for employees.

“Manitoba Hydro is currently managing eight credible threats against our employees, five of them directed at me personally,” Danroth told a Public Utilities Board hearing in Winnipeg.

“More troubling is these threats are increasingly affecting our front-line workforce. In the last year, my employees have been threatened with weapons, including guns, while performing their duties, and in one recent incident a homeowner directed his dogs to attack one of our meter readers.”

CMHR ‘fans flames of antisemitism,’ Asper says, ending support from family that led effort to create it

The Winnipeg family that led the effort to build the Canadian Museum for Human Rights will not provide support going forward, philanthropist and honorary board member Gail Asper says.

Visitors from across Canada make Somerset restaurant’s social media challenge a success

There may not be another restaurant in Manitoba that can say it has welcomed visitors from as many communities across the province and beyond as the Somerset Food Bar & Lounge has this summer.

In just over a two week span, visitors from more than 100 towns have come out to the family-owned restaurant tucked away in Somerset, a community of roughly 450 people in the Pembina Valley 130 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

It started as a challenge, “60 Towns in 60 Days,” where the restaurant wanted to document how many different places they could reach, as it often sees people travelling across Canada stop at the restaurant. The goal was also to encourage people to make a drive they normally wouldn’t.

“The more we started sharing, the more people really started getting behind it, and it turned into this really big thing fairly quickly,” said Jay Friesen, restaurant manager.

Vacant Bay store on road to redevelopment, St. Vital Centre owner says

Entertainment attractions are coming to fill the former Hudson’s Bay space in St. Vital Centre.

Montreal-based real estate firm Leyad, the south Winnipeg mall’s owner, says it is finalizing an agreement for the vacant property. Further details should appear in the next couple months, said president Henry Zavriyev.

“We’re looking at what other types of experiences we can bring to the mall that aren’t just typical retail,” he said during a visit to Winnipeg this week.

“We want to create an experience where you can just come to the mall, hang out here for hours, no matter if you’re a kid, an adult, a retiree.”

City has plenty of frozen dessert oases to discover

No matter the weather, ice cream is always a welcome addition to the day.

It’s a rite of passage as, at the slightest hint of a thaw, Winnipeggers descend in droves, heeding the siren call of institutions such as Sargent Sundae (2053 Portage Ave.) and Bridge Drive-In (766 Jubilee Ave. and 1680 Main St.) that slide open their shutters any time from late March to early April, ready to welcome dedicated connoisseurs seeking their first taste of the season.

We’re blessed with an abundance of ice-cream joints in this city, ranging from brick-and-mortar storefronts to mobile carts and pop-up stalls, all serving generous scoops of childhood faves alongside rather more innovative flavours.

With so many dairy bars and frozen dessert parlours dotted around, there’s no need to choose just one spot to satisfy your sweet tooth.