Your forecast
Cloudy with a 60 per cent chance of flurries. Wind up to 15 km/h. High -11 C, wind chill -24 this morning and -16 this afternoon.
What’s happening today
🏒 The Winnipeg Jets host the Boston Bruins at Canada Life Centre, starting at 7 p.m.
Today’s must-read
Lorraine Goudie stepped out of her warm car and into the first spot in a line at the Crestview Liquor Mart — a queue that soon stretched south along the L-shaped strip mall’s corridor on a frigid Wednesday morning.
“I’m here for the Kraken Rum,” she said outside the location, at 3393 Portage Ave. “It’s my son’s favourite. He’s in Victoria, B.C., and he’s coming for Christmas, so it will be a gift for him.”
It’s the first time since March that the American-made spirit has returned to Manitoba shelves, after Premier Wab Kinew pulled dozens of American products off Liquor Mart shelves in response to tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The province announced last week it would release about $1 million worth — a list of about 100 items — of the more than $8 million in products still sitting in warehouses. Half of the proceeds will go to charities distributing food and holiday gifts in Winnipeg, Brandon and Thompson, including the Christmas Cheer Board. Scott Billeck has the story.
Customers line up waiting for the Crestview MLCC store open at 10 a.m. for an opportunity to pick up some American liquor. (Mike Deal / Free Press)
On the bright side
It’s time for one of the strongest meteor showers of the year.
The Geminids peak this weekend and are visible through mid-December, according to the American Meteor Society. The meteors tend to be yellow in colour and can be seen across the globe, but the best viewing happens in the Northern Hemisphere.
Skygazers could see up to 120 meteors per hour under dark skies during the peak Saturday night into Sunday’s predawn hours, according to NASA. The Associated Press has more here.
A meteor streaks over an Orthodox church during the annual Geminid meteor shower near the village of Zagorie, Belarus, in 2017. (Sergei Grits / The Associated Press files)
On this date
On Dec. 11, 1950: The Winnipeg Free Press reported in Washington, D.C., unofficial reactions in the U.S. state department pointed to a rejection of the conditions Communist China had suggested for a negotiated settlement to conflicts in the Far East. The last of a 25,000-man U.S. escape force reached the coastal plain leading to Hamhung after two weeks breaking out of a series of Communist Chinese traps in northwestern Korea. Search our archives for more here.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Free Press.
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