Apple has reached its first-ever union contract with store employees in Maryland

Premier, mayor voice support for decision to end police officers’ OT retail-security shifts

Premier Wab Kinew and Mayor Scott Gillingham are backing the police chief’s decision to end the option for officers to work overtime shifts providing security at retail stores.

Province announces phys-ed curriculum overhaul

Manitoba is overhauling phys-ed class and requiring all high school students to regularly work up a sweat on school grounds to graduate.

Premier Wab Kinew announced on Thursday that a new curriculum is being piloted across the kindergarten to Grade 12 system this fall.

Changes to phys-ed and health education — which apply to all grades, but Grade 11 and 12 students, in particular — will ensure these mandatory subjects are delivered entirely in-person, starting in the 2028-29 school year.

The policy is called “Every Body, Every Day.”

Apple has reached its first-ever union contract with store employees in Maryland

Apple has reached a tentative collective bargaining contract with the first unionized company store in the country.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, which represents the employees at a retail location in Maryland, announced Friday evening that it struck a three-year deal with the company that will increase pay by an average of 10% and offer other benefits to workers.

The agreement must be approved by roughly 85 employees at the store, which is located in the Baltimore suburb of Towson. A vote is scheduled for Aug. 6.

“By reaching a tentative agreement with Apple, we are giving our members a voice in their futures and a strong first step toward further gains,” the union’s negotiating committee said in a statement. “Together, we can build on this success in store after store.”

Five exceptional Manitobans reflect on what it means to be Canadian while bracing against Trump’s vitriol and economic upheaval

Canadians have been trying to make sense of a new reality since Canada-United States trade talks broke down on Aug. 21.

The following day, President Donald Trump’s administration imposed 50 per cent tariffs on US$20 billion worth of Canadian exports to the U.S.

The federal government responded in kind a few days later, rolling out tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of imports from the U.S.

The Free Press contacted five Manitobans who have been appointed to the Order of Canada and asked them for their thoughts on the status of Canada-U.S. relations and what is means to be a Canadian today. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Three hospitalized after house fire on St. Johns Avenue

Three people were sent to hospital after a fire at a two-storey home in Winnipeg’s St. Johns neighbourhood Thursday night.

The fire was reported at a home on the 300 block of St. Johns Avenue at 10:16 p.m., a city news release Friday said.

Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service crews found heavy smoke and flames coming from the home upon arrival and began a defensive attack. They were able to get inside the house once conditions allowed and declared the blaze under control by 11:01 p.m

The occupants of the North End home escaped before crews arrived. Paramedics treated three people at the scene. Two were taken to hospital in unstable condition and one was in critical condition.

Educating youth major priority for artist

It has to be among the biggest skateboard decks in the country, and it hangs in Peatr Thomas’s art studio on Donald Street in the Exchange District.

The four-metre deck’s artwork created by Thomas, depicts Cree skateboarder Joe Buffalo, spirit lines radiating from his airborne figure, as he becomes the first skater to jump over a massive gap (also four metres) in Montreal’s Peace Park.

“I like that idea and practice of falling and getting up again, over and over to achieve something,” says Thomas, 39.

It’s a lesson he applies to his art practice.