Introductory course on Islam offered

Telecom on defensive after about 90 emergency calls fail over several hours

Bell Canada — Manitoba’s 911 service provider — is facing questions about reliability and redundancy measures after an hours-long outage outside Winnipeg, caused by a severed fibre optic cable, prevented dozens of calls from getting through Wednesday.

Bell spokeswoman Elise von Scheel said backup systems that reroute 911 calls when an outage occurs due to equipment damage also experienced “issues” after a third party cut the cable during construction “near Winnipeg.”

“Manitoba’s 911 system relies on legacy architecture that does not support the failsafes that newer systems have, which is why Bell is in the process of upgrading the ecosystem to next generation 911,” von Scheel wrote in an email.

“All Manitoba public safety answering points are planned to be migrated to the new system by the end of 2026. Migration to NG911 is the fastest and most effective remediation to prevent instances like this in the future.”

In an apartment above the Sherbie, famous local artists line the walls

Directly above the West Broadway vendor and noisy bar now known as the Kyoto Kat Club, amid a primly kept wardrobe and dirty coffee mugs, Josh Peterson’s bachelor suite is bursting with coveted Manitoba art.

Longtime Assiniboine Park Zoo resident Blizzard the bison dies

Blizzard, the white bison that became one of Assiniboine Park Zoo’s most recognizable residents during nearly 20 years at the facility, has died, the zoo announced Friday.

The zoo said Blizzard’s health declined in recent weeks, so a diagnostic exam was recommended to better understand his condition. He died during the procedure.

Blizzard arrived at Assiniboine Park Zoo in 2006 and went on to become a favourite among visitors, inspiring “millions of visitors with his remarkable presence,” the zoo said in a social media post.

“While all animals in our care are deeply valued, Blizzard held a special place in the hearts of many people and carried profound cultural and spiritual significance for many Indigenous peoples,” the post reads.

Long may you scamper, sweet little Jimothy

We desperately needed a folk hero this summer, with its wildfires and storms and diarrhea lettuce. Someone to unite us, to inspire us, to get us through.

Enter Jimothy.

Jimothy is an off-kilter raccoon with an appropriately off-kilter name from Seattle who has gone viral for his short, round body — likely the result of a congenital condition called short spine syndrome.

I have seen various creative descriptions of Jimothy online: “a child’s rendering come to life,” or “a raccoon drawn from memory,” or not a raccoon but a “rcn,” owing to his truncated spine.

Automation reaches new heights on farm

LANGHAM, Sask. — The thousands of farmers from across the Prairies who flock to the annual Ag in Motion show every July seem oblivious to the possibility the technology on display could one day replace many of them.

Families with children in tow, Hutterite colony workers, grandparents and young couples just starting out roamed through the 600 or more exhibitor displays, amazed at how everything about farming just keeps getting bigger, more efficient and increasingly more automated.

It’s now possible to seed using a 100-foot-wide drill — a 12-foot jump over the widest available a few years ago — provided the farmer can afford a tractor with enough horsepower to pull it. Those sell for around $850,000 and up.

Granted, the number of farms with enough acres to justify that kind of width and drawing power is still relatively small, but farms continue to grow. And it’s no secret the number of people who have the interest, skills and financial wherewithal to run them continues to shrink.