Man arrested on Vancouver’s Main Street over axe threats and plate-smashing on patio

Manitoba’s own Summer Howell takes on biggest role yet as Stephen King’s telekinetic teen Carrie

From the tender age of eight, actress Summer Howell has made her presence known in a series of horror films shot in her home province of Manitoba.

Her first film was Curse of Chucky (2013), director Don Mancini’s continuation of the venerable killer doll series he started (as a screenwriter) in 1988 with Child’s Play.

“Even then, it was obvious she was very talented, intelligent and delightful,” Mancini said of Howell.

Though she has worked in other genres, Howell gravitated to horror repeatedly, with credits in Shawn Linden’s harrowing Hunter Hunter (2020) and the 2023 possession thriller All Fun and Games. Earlier this year, she shot the horror film Sundown in Winnipeg with director Rebekah McKendry, which premièred last week at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles and is headed for a streaming berth on Shudder.

Ferraro gets call-up to the Jets

Landon Ferraro vividly recalls the moment his NHL career came to an extremely painful end — Oct. 20, 2017, in downtown Winnipeg.

“My last play was a breakaway on Connor Hellebuyck,” Ferraro told the Free Press this week.

“I tried to poke the puck past the first D. It was me and (Dustin) Byfuglien chasing it down. I thought he was going to throw me across the ice, so I tried to cut in on him, and he moved. I overextended, and I literally ripped my abductor off the bone and gave myself a hernia.”

Ferraro — at the time playing forward for the visiting Minnesota Wild — said he managed to get off a weak shot that hit the Jets goaltender square in the chest. But his 77th appearance in the big leagues would be his last following previous stops with Detroit (which drafted him 32nd overall in 2009) and Boston.

Kent Monkman debuts beaver sculpture in Toronto’s ambitious new waterfront park

TORONTO - Kent Monkman’s first-ever public art installation is dam good.

The celebrated Cree artist’s new permanent sculpture, dubbed “The Colony,” debuts Wednesday in Toronto’s east end.

The 15-foot-high bronze structure features beavers dancing, feasting and celebrating, evoking Indigenous ceremonies.

It highlights the vital role of beavers in the natural, Indigenous and colonial histories of Turtle Island, says a release.

Gillingham talks trash, pledges big bin boost

Scott Gillingham says he would add hundreds of locked garbage bins downtown to prevent unsightly trash piles if re-elected as mayor.

Man arrested on Vancouver’s Main Street over axe threats and plate-smashing on patio

VANCOUVER - Police in Vancouver have arrested a man after he allegedly threatened people with an axe, smashed plates and threw cutlery on a restaurant patio.

Police say in a release that the alleged attack happened Thursday evening near Main Street and East 24th Avenue.

Witnesses told police the man was threatening passersby with an axe and smashing plates on the patio of the restaurant.

Officers arrested a 29-year-old suspect at the scene.

Province putting $8M into safe space for Thompson Indigenous women and families

An $8-million provincial investment in the Mino’Ayaawag Ikwewag Northern Lodge in Thompson fulfils the NDP’s 2023 election promise to establish three new 24-7 safe spaces for Indigenous women and their families in that city, Winnipeg and Brandon.

The lodge is expected to be up and running in 2028, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine, who is also responsible for women and gender equity, said at a news conference in Winnipeg. It builds on a 2025 investment of $3.5 million to establish a first-of-its-kind 24-7 safe space for Indigenous women and their children in Winnipeg, and a 2024 investment of $500,000 to support the creation of Franny’s Place, a new 24-7 safe space in Brandon.

The Mino’Ayaawag Ikwewag (Anishinaabemowin for “all women doing well”) Northern Lodge will operate as a community of care, offering culturally grounded supports that help individuals and families heal, stabilize and rebuild lives at risk of violence.

It will include 10 short-term private studio suites, a communal kitchen and living area, counselling and program space, laundry facilities and a dedicated child-minding area with Indigenous cultural teaching and play-based learning. Residents will have access to trauma-informed supports, cultural programming, parenting supports, peer support and supported connections to housing, health, education, employment and legal services.