A large, harmless asteroid will zip past Earth this weekend

Firefighter’s death fuels cancer fight

The United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg is mourning the loss of Winnipeg firefighter Darrel Maynard while continuing its work to raise awareness of occupational cancer and improve health protections for firefighters.

Maynard, a senior firefighter II and acting lieutenant with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, died Aug. 5 at age 41 after a three-year battle with occupational cancer.

He served Winnipeg for nearly two decades and leaves behind his wife Francine and sons Colin and Christian.

“Darrel was an incredible, incredible person, an incredible firefighter, and really, really special to all of us,” said Nick Kasper, president of UFFW.

West Kildonan Industrial residents call for speed bumps after child hit by truck

Residents in the West Kildonan Industrial neighbourhood are calling on the city to install speed bumps in their area after a child was hit and dragged by a vehicle Thursday.

Katelyn Bemister lives near the area where the child — who was hospitalized as a result of the incident and has been upgraded to stable condition — was struck. She says people frequently speed in the area.

“They’re going really fast, and they’re not really paying attention at all to the pedestrians in the area,” says Bemister.

In video supplied to the Free Press by a resident, the child can be seen riding a bike down a sidewalk along the 500 block of North Point Boulevard.

Men’s recovery home dedicated to ‘homeless hero’ Faron Hall’s memory

Faron Hall never got the chance to begin recovery. Once heralded as Winnipeg’s “homeless hero” after twice plunging into the Red River to save strangers from drowning, Hall told St. Boniface Street Links executive director Marion Willis shortly before his death in 2014 that he wanted help for his alcoholism.

Could renewed interest in strategically critical rare earth elements finally make sub-sector profitable?

Rare earth elements are among the most critical of mined resources for modern economies.

They’re essential in manufacturing specialized magnets used in a host of technologies from wind turbines and electric vehicles to hard drives, smartphones, television screens, and fibre optics. Most notably, however, rare earth minerals are increasingly vital to the defence industry.

These 17 elements — closely related chemically and usually found all together in mineral deposits — have indeed been growing in geopolitical importance as the United States, Canada and other Western nations recognize their dependence on production from China.

It is the world’s largest producer and processor of rare earths, including the most in-demand elements neodymium and praseodymium used to manufacture very light and powerful magnets for an array of technologies, including the most advanced weapons of modern warfare.

Oliveira shines in win over Redblacks, Collaros rocked again

It wasn’t a stellar performance by any stretch.

But at this point, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will take a win no matter what it looks like.

The Blue and Gold outlasted the winless Ottawa Redblacks 33-21 on a rainy Friday night at Princess Auto Stadium to improve to 5-4.

“It’s great to finally get a win at home for our fans and to go out and play a better game is very encouraging,” said right guard Patrick Neufeld.