We packed tons of flavour into our spinach dip with herbs

Cross Lake pro blueliner walks away from sport he loves to live and work in northern community he loves even more

CROSS LAKE — It’s a hot, hazy Tuesday evening in northern Manitoba, and Jericho Blacksmith and his buddies are gathered inside a baseball dugout.

There isn’t a glove or bat in sight.

Instead, the young men are engaged in a loud, good-natured race to see who can get blackout drunk the fastest, passing around bottles and cans purchased from the local vendor, which had just been restocked when the weekly truck rolled into town earlier that day.

“Honestly, everything can be pretty brutal around here,” says the 26-year-old lifelong resident, pointing to isolation, a lack of opportunity and relentless boredom.

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.”

Mountain View teacher stripped of licence over explicit messages

A Roblin teacher has been stripped of his professional licence after an undercover police investigation found he sent explicit messages to a social media user he believed to be a 15-year-old girl.

Manitoba cancelled Josh Braaksma’s credentials — listed in the province’s online registry under his full name, Joshua William Braaksma — on July 6. His certificate was suspended on an interim basis in the fall.

The misconduct case involving Braaksma, who has taught and coached in the Mountain View School Division over the last decade, is the first to be resolved via a “written hearing.”

“Having regard to the nature, content and context of (his) communications, the panel finds that the teacher’s conduct renders him unsuitable to be a teacher,” the disciplinary decision states.

Men cycling across Canada for charity have bikes stolen in Winnipeg

Thomas Clark and Valentin Duquenne were devastated after their bikes went missing outside CBC Manitoba’s headquarters, but uplifted by the outpouring of support from Manitobans afterward.

Vacant Bay store on road to redevelopment, St. Vital Centre owner says

Entertainment attractions are coming to fill the former Hudson’s Bay space in St. Vital Centre.

Montreal-based real estate firm Leyad, the south Winnipeg mall’s owner, says it is finalizing an agreement for the vacant property. Further details should appear in the next couple months, said president Henry Zavriyev.

“We’re looking at what other types of experiences we can bring to the mall that aren’t just typical retail,” he said during a visit to Winnipeg this week.

“We want to create an experience where you can just come to the mall, hang out here for hours, no matter if you’re a kid, an adult, a retiree.”

Daycare grapples with five-year-old’s outbursts, choking incidents

A Windsor Park child-care facility is weighing a five-year-old’s right to care versus the safety of other children who have been choked.

Little People’s Place expelled a pre-schooler in the spring in response to his aggressive behaviour toward other children and staff.

The child’s family has appealed to the province for him to be reinstated.

The case is raising concerns about inclusion support resources and measures to protect everyone at the Cottonwood Road daycare.