Your forecast
Mainly cloudy, with fog patches dissipating this morning. Wind becoming northeast at 20 km/h early this afternoon. High 2 C, wind chill – 7 this morning. UV index 4 or moderate.
What’s happening today
Learn flower arranging at The Floral Fixx, 9B-1585 Kenaston Blvd. today at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Guided by an expert floral design team, you and three other participants will be taught how to create a garden-style arrangement using in-season blooms and thoughtfully selected foliage. Each session runs 60 to 75 minutes.
Admission ($85 at thefloralfixx.ca) includes all materials and supplies (vessels, seasonals blooms and greenery and design tools). Tickets must be purchased online to reserve your spot.
Learn to arrange flowers at the Floral Fixx workshop. (Supplied)
Today’s must-read
Law enforcement and child protection officials are warning that “sextortion” scams targeting victims in Winnipeg and elsewhere in Canada have skyrocketed in recent years.
Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer said the department is seeing a “continuous rise” in reports of the sexually exploitative blackmail scheme.
“These numbers are quite concerning,” Spencer told a news conference Wednesday. “Beyond these numbers, I know that there’s other (police) agencies that are experiencing the same issues, all across Canada.”
City police received 223 reports of extortion last year, almost all of which were incidents of sextortion, said Spencer. That’s up from 213 in 2024, 165 in 2023, 56 in 2022, 31 in 2021 and just 19 in 2020, he said. He did not have statistics on charges related to sextortion to provide Wednesday. Erik Pindera has the story.
Public information officer with the Winnipeg Police Service Stephen Spencer. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)
On the bright side
Seated in his St. Boniface home Wednesday evening with his four-year-old son by his side, Adam Gear was preparing to watch a group of NASA astronauts make history as they embarked on the first crewed mission to the moon since 1972.
“I think it’s going to be really exciting, and hopefully it opens the eyes of many people to consider the bigger picture of what’s going on in the world,” Gear said, speaking a few hours before the four-astronaut Artemis II crew — including Canadian Jeremy Hansen — lifted off atop their 32-storey-transportation from Cape Canaveral, Fla., at about 5:35 Winnipeg time.
Once in orbit, the plan involves a 10-day journey in which the crew will travel around the moon and then head back to Earth to land in the Pacific Ocean. Tyler Searle has more here.
NASA’s Artemis II mission is being streamed live online allowing Adam and Oliver to watch every moment. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
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