Whale breach seen during Paris Olympics surfing semifinal competition in Tahiti

Ladies and gentlemen of voting age, please turn your attention to the centre ring…

If there’s one thing that we in the news business wish for any election, it’s that the campaign is competitive and voters have multiple, viable options when it comes time to cast their ballots.

That is certainly what I wished for in this year’s Winnipeg mayoral election: a ballot with two or more competent candidates — including incumbent Scott Gillingham — that offered contrasting visions for the future of the city.

Unfortunately, this time we didn’t get competent or viable. Instead, we got a clown show stuffed with candidates for mayor who have demonstrated a stunning capacity for self-inflicted wounds.

It all started when mayoral candidates Kevin Klein and Mike Vogiatzakis both alleged they had been asked by each other’s campaign to step down to give the remaining candidate a better shot at defeating Gillingham.

Estate of woman who died from local anesthetic injected into blood vessel sues Morden dentist, his business, clinic

The estate of a 23-year-old woman who died after receiving a local anesthetic during a wisdom tooth extraction at a Morden dental clinic has filed a lawsuit over her death.

Virginia Blatz never returned home after she went to Boundary Trails Dental Centre to have her wisdom teeth removed on Nov. 27, 2024. An autopsy later confirmed she died from local anesthetic systemic toxicity caused by an inadvertent injection into a blood vessel, her family has previously said.

Her father, Dulaney Blatz, filed a lawsuit in the Court of King’s Bench on behalf of her estate late last month, naming Ronald David Janz — the dentist who performed the procedure — his dental corporation and the dental corporation that operates the clinic as defendants.

None of the defendants have filed statements of defence in response to the claim, which has not yet been heard in court.

Gov. Gen. Arbour embarks on first official visit to Manitoba

Arbour’s three-day stop in Winnipeg and Gimli will focus on activities related to civil engagement, youth and reconciliation

Michael Douglas comes to terms with fears, fame, father

NEW YORK — Michael Douglas, the award-winning actor and producer, recently turned 82. He is a cancer survivor, a recovered addict, a married man, the father and son of actors.

He is also an author, who begins his memoir with a message of thanks to his family — past and present and future — for the “sense of immortality.”

“Many times my father was asked, ‘Kirk, are you jealous of your son?’” he said during a recent interview at a Manhattan hotel, referring to his late father, fellow actor and sometime combatant Kirk Douglas.

“And he said, ‘Jealous?’ This is a sense of immortality, a continuity of generations.’”