Your forecast
Increasing cloudiness early this morning, with a risk of freezing rain late this morning and this afternoon. Wind from the north 30 km/h gusting to 50. High 0 C, wind chill -14 this morning. UV index 2 or low.
A special weather statement is in effect as a late season winter storm is poised to impact southern Manitoba Thursday morning through Friday. The highest concern with this system is the freezing rain risk along and south of the Transcanada highway corridor through southwestern Manitoba, and through the Red River Valley.
What’s happening today
🏒 The Winnipeg Jets host the San Jose Sharks at Canada Life Centre, starting at 7 p.m.
🎮 Fresh off its Juno win for group jazz album of the year, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra presents An 8-Bit Big Band to transport audiences into the musical galaxy of video games, filled with powerful mushrooms, rainbow roads and mustachioed plumbers.
WJO has added some star power: YouTuber Ben Kidd, a jazz studies grad whose 8-bit Music Theory Channel has more than 600,000 subscribers. West End Cultural Centre, 586 Ellice Ave., 7:30 p.m. Tickets $22- $45 available online
Today’s must-read
In a small park nestled against the Provencher Bridge, the burned-out remnants of a new encampment are blocked off by caution tape.
The Joseph Royal Park camp has been deserted — or taken down by city bylaw officers — but on Wednesday, the acrid smell of smoke hung in the air. Charred items are scattered on the ground, proof that people once called the St. Boniface park home: food and drink containers, clothing, bicycle parts, naloxone kits, a mattress.
The burned out remains of an encampment at the Joseph Royal Park off of Tache Avenue next to the Provencher Bridge. (Mike Deal / Free Press)
A sign that warns loitering isn’t allowed remained upright — one of the steps in the city’s encampment response protocol — and a laminated note attached to the caution tape says the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service has deemed the site vacant and officers would make arrangements to clean the space if no one returned.
As the weather warms up and more people pitch tents and hang tarps in public areas, city council has been advised to abandon the idea of a “managed encampment” pilot project owing to time constraints and high operational costs. Malak Abas has the story.
On the bright side
Cleanup crews will be blitzing Winnipeg’s downtown over the next month to beautify the city’s core.
As an addition to the annual citywide spring clean up, four neighbourhood action teams will spend the next four weeks in downtown Winnipeg removing graffiti and picking up garbage.
“We’re going to have hundreds of crew members in our downtown and across Winnipeg, and hundreds of pieces of equipment to get our downtown and our entire city cleaned up,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said from Old Market Square Wednesday morning, where crews were sweeping and picking up litter. Nicole Buffie has more here.
Mayor Scott Gillingham is all smiles as he operates a Toolcat outfitted with a broom, with the help of neighbourhood action team member Blair Stewart, during the spring clean-up launch in Old Market Square Wednesday. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
On the dark side
For the first time, scientists have measured the instantaneous mind-blowing power of jets blasting from a black hole.
The jet power from this relatively close black hole-star system is equivalent to 10,000 suns, an international research team reported Thursday. They also tracked the jet speed: roughly 540 million km/h — half the speed of light.
Located 7,200 light-years away, Cygnus X-1 features not only a black hole — the first one ever identified more than a half-century ago — but a blue supergiant star, its constant companion. The Associated Press has more here.
The visible light component of Cygnus X-1, centre, a rich source of X-rays in the constellation of Cygnus. (NASA / ESA / Digitized Sky Survey 2 / Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble) / The Associated Press)
On this date
In April 16, 1971: The Winnipeg Free Press reported the Pembina River had overflowed its banks and 25,000 acres of U.S. farmland were underwater. Charges of robbery and abduction were laid against an inmate of Stony Mountain Penitentiary after an escape that took place during an outing in Winnipeg during which a Protestant minister was taken hostage.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Free Press.
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