What’s happening today
90 year old Margaret Keenan, the first patient in the UK to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, administered by nurse May Parsons at University Hospital, Coventry, England, Tuesday Dec. 8, 2020. The United Kingdom, one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus, is beginning its vaccination campaign, a key step toward eventually ending the pandemic. (Jacob King/Pool via AP)
First doses delivered: A 90-year-old woman whose husband died of COVID-19 became the first person in the United Kingdom to get a shot of a vaccine for the disease. The first 800,000 doses are being given to people who are over 80 and are hospitalized or already have outpatient appointments scheduled. The Associated Press reports. READ MORE
COVID-19 crisis: Manitoba’s chief public health officer will announce the latest COVID-19 numbers this afternoon. The province surpassed 400 deaths from the disease Monday. Meanwhile, the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine could arrive here next week, but it’s not clear who will get the first shots. Dylan Robertson reports. READ MORE
Forking out for food: Food prices will increase next year, with the average family paying up to $695 more, Canada’s Food Price Report states. The pandemic, wildfires and changing consumer habits are cited as reasons. The Canadian Press reports. READ MORE
AFN’s AGM: The Assembly of First Nations is set to urge Ottawa to do more to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its communities at the assembly’s annual general meeting. The Canadian Press reports. READ MORE
Set to name secretary: U.S. president-elect Joe Biden is expected to today nominate retired four-star army general Lloyd J. Austin as his secretary of defence. He would be the first Black person to fill the post. READ MORE
Weather
Your forecast: A mix of sun and cloud with a high of 6 C, a daytime low of 1 C, and wind from the west at 20 km/h decreasing to 10 km/h this afternoon.
In case you missed it
FILE – In this 1948 file photo, test pilot Charles E. Yeager, 25, poses for a picture in a jet’s cockpit. Yeager was first to fly faster than the speed of sound. Another Yeager feat, flying a jet under a Charleston, W.Va., bridge in 1948, was not reported by the local media. Yeager died Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, at age 97. (AP Photo/File)
Pioneering pilot: Chuck Yeager, the test pilot who became the first person to break the sound barrier and whose exploits were told in the book and film The Right Stuff, died Monday at 97. The Associated Press reports. READ MORE
A light amid ‘darkness’: In his latest column, Niigaan Sinclair says a bill to bring federal law in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples represents a light steering Canada toward a path to the future. READ MORE
Bright idea: Randall King has a preview of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre’s first production of the season. All Is Bright, a holiday show, will begin streaming for free Dec. 19. READ MORE
On this date
On Dec. 8, 1986: Sidewalk clearing, following a blizzard in November, was the source of most citizen complaints the city said; A small plane headed for landing at the airport developed engine trouble and was forced to make an emergency landing on Brookside Boulevard; and Winnipeg police investigated several reports of stores on Sunday that opened with more than four staff.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Winnipeg Free Press READ MORE
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