Thailand braces for more rain as death toll from recent flooding hits 31

Province looks to seize notorious drug den

Provincial justice officials are trying to seize a Dominion Street drug den that has been the source of trouble in the West End for years.

The owner of 982 Dominion St., 45-year-old Robert Edward Johnson, was most recently arrested in June along with several others after a lengthy Winnipeg Police investigation into thefts and illicit drug sales connected to the house.

“The residence has a reputation within the neighbourhood as being a location where individuals habitually attend for the purpose of purchasing and/or consuming controlled substances,” reads a statement of claim filed by the province’s director of civil forfeiture in the Court of King’s Bench last week.

“For several years, the residence has been associated with criminal activity, violence, and disorder, resulting in numerous police attendances and complaints from members of the surrounding community.”

Thailand braces for more rain as death toll from recent flooding hits 31

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai authorities on Monday warned of more rain and flash flooding as the death toll from floods across the country since mid-September rose to 31.

Thunderstorms, strong winds and heavy rain are expected across much of upper Thailand from Monday through Wednesday, increasing the risk of flash flooding, particularly in low-lying areas, the Thailand Meteorological Department said.

Very heavy to heavy rains are also forecast in some areas in the central, eastern and southern regions, including the capital, Bangkok, over the weekend.

Many areas in Bangkok were inundated last week after days of torrential rain, forcing thousands to evacuate and causing severe disruptions. The city’s conditions have largely improved, although floodwaters remain in some lower-lying areas.

Former host/VJ Rick Campanelli revisits his gambling addiction in new memoir

To many Canadians, veteran media personality Rick Campanelli is better known as Rick the Temp, the energetic, baby-faced intern-turned-VJ on MuchMusic in the 1990s and early 2000s.

But behind that winning smile was a much darker reality.

In his new memoir, Tempted: My Story, released last month via HarperCollins Canada and co-written with John Meyer, Campanelli, 56, opens up for the first time about his struggles with a serious — and secret — gambling addiction, which reached its nadir in 2008 when the then-host of Entertainment Tonight Canada was detained by U.S. Homeland Security for unpaid casino debts on a flight back from Las Vegas.

The Free Press caught up with Campanelli in advance of his Winnipeg launch Monday evening at McNally Robinson Grant Park. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Record number of school trustees win by acclamation

A historic number of school trustees have automatically won their bid to draft classroom budgets and make public education policy in Winnipeg.

Living the dream

DETROIT – As Tyrel Bauer took a left turn out of the tunnel from the Winnipeg Jets dressing room and into the stands, he was met with a hearty round of applause from the 25 friends and family members who had made the trek from various points around North America.

Bauer had just realized a childhood dream and the significance of the moment was not lost on some of his biggest supporters.

“It was a special walk, for sure. A special walk,” Bauer said on Saturday afternoon before the Jets departed for a two-game road trip that begins on Sunday in Detroit against the Red Wings. “Those people who came – and many more that weren’t there and were cheering on from afar – they’ve always been there.

“I wanted that for my family, maybe even more than I wanted it for me. They’ve been through thick and thin. I’ve stressed mom out quite a bit over the years doing my job. That meant a lot for them and I’m really happy they could be there for it.”

Modern myths: RWB updates classic Slavic folk tales as part of Stravinsky-based double bill

Two stories, two choreographers, one composer: the Royal Winnipeg Ballet opens its 2026/27 season with a double bill that celebrates the influential works of Igor Stravinsky.

Stravinsky Stories, which runs Thursday to Sunday at the Centennial Concert Hall, pairs veteran Russian-Ukrainian choreographer (and former RWB principal dancer) Alexei Ratmansky’s The Fairy’s Kiss with the world première of emerging Chicago-born choreographer Houston Thomas’s Firebird.

Much like Tchaikovsky before him, Stravinsky was a composer who took commissions for ballets, but there are actually no definitive versions of either of these works, says RWB artistic director Christopher Stowell.

“Unlike Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty, where there’s sort of a blueprint of a classical production that most people follow, there have been famous productions of both The Fairy’s Kiss and Firebird, but there isn’t one that everyone’s following at all,” he says.