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Free Press Head Start for July 7, 2025

Good morning.

The mayor of Thompson was advising residents to keep their vehicles ready Sunday as a wildfire raged outside the city. A new wildfire started about eight kilometres outside of the northern community on Friday. At 11 a.m. it was seven hectares; nine hours later it had grown to 3,000 hectares. The wildfire is burning past the Thompson Airport on Highway 280. Aaron Epp has the story.

— David Fuller

 

 

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Your forecast

A mix of sun and cloud. Becoming cloudy this morning with a 60 per cent chance of showers this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon. Local smoke. High 22 C. UV index 5 or moderate.


Environment and Climate Change Canada’s forecast predicts a warmer-than-usual summer with uncertain precipitation levels. Bill Merryfield, a research scientist with the weather office, recently said human pollution has been a key influence on hotter summers.

Tinder dry conditions have also created the fuel needed to start hundreds of wildfires across the country, forcing thousands in Manitoba and Saskatchewan to flee their communities earlier this spring. The Canadian Press reports.

Red lentils grow in a dry field on a farm in southwest Saskatchewan. (Quinton Jacksteit photo / The Canadian Press)

Red lentils grow in a dry field on a farm in southwest Saskatchewan. (Quinton Jacksteit photo / The Canadian Press)

Today’s must-read

The Kinew government spent more money promoting its universal school meal program this year than it did feeding students in some small divisions.

At the start of the 2024-25 school year, the province spent $94,617.50 on advertisements related to the expansion of breakfast, lunch and snack offerings in kindergarten-to-Grade 12 buildings.

The campaign — details of which were released to the Free Press via freedom of information request — included generic ads touting one of Premier Wab Kinew’s landmark policies. Maggie Macintosh has the story.

Education Minister Tracy Schmidt defended the 2024 ad campaign, citing the ads were made to ensure parents, teachers and communities understood that food is foundational to a child‘s education. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)

Education Minister Tracy Schmidt defended the 2024 ad campaign, citing the ads were made to ensure parents, teachers and communities understood that food is foundational to a child‘s education. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)

On the bright side

Pat Wally traces her concern about climate change to a conversation she had with one of her grandchildren.

The child, who was 10 years old at the time, envisioned a future where the environment would be degraded to such a degree that people won’t be able to go outside without wearing gas masks. “That really hit home for me,” Wally says.

The 76-year-old Winnipegger chairs Seniors for Climate MB, the provincial chapter of a national organization of seniors dedicated to facing the climate crisis and creating a livable future for Canadians. Aaron Epp has more here.

Jean Clipsham (left) and Pat Wally (right) volunteer their time with Seniors for Climate MB, a group of seniors dedicated to taking action related to the climate crisis. (Mike Deal / Free Press)

Jean Clipsham (left) and Pat Wally (right) volunteer their time with Seniors for Climate MB, a group of seniors dedicated to taking action related to the climate crisis. (Mike Deal / Free Press)

On this date

On July 7, 1921: The Manitoba Free Press reported forest fires raged in eastern Canada, with northern Ontario and Quebec being most seriously affected; hundreds of thousands of cords of pulp wood along the Temiskaming and Northen Ontario Railway had been consumed. In London, the conference of prime ministers from grappled with the distribution of German war reparations to the British Empire. Read the rest of this day’s paper here. 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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Top news

Jim Vertuno, Nadia Lathan And John Seewer, The Associated Press:

Death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend surpasses 100

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend surpassed 100 on Monday as search-and-rescue teams continued to wade into swollen river... Read More

 

Erik Pindera:

City tells court it isn’t responsible for man’s death in fire

The City of Winnipeg says a 45-year-old man didn’t tell a 911 operator he was suicidal in 2022, and a lawsuit launched by his family after he died in a house fire — which he started — should be thrown... Read More

 

John Longhurst:

City’s first Krishna temple opens in Weston

For Greg Crowe, the opening of Winnipeg’s first temple for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is like a homecoming. Read More

 

Massimo De Luca-Taronno:

‘My life is destroyed’

Victims of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 permanently memorialized in Winnipeg Read More

 
 
 

New in Sports

Free Press staff:

Fish still searching for .500

Goldeyes win once at home, once on road in six-game contest against RedHawks Read More

 

Mike McIntyre:

Playing in Winnipeg something Ehlers will ‘cherish forever’

Jets winger seeks new challenges in move to Carolina Hurricanes Read More

 

Mike Digiovanna, The Associated Press:

Short-handed Dodgers may be forced to make roster moves after Astros sweep

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts could do little to counteract Houston Astros left-handers Bennett Sousa and Bryan King in the seventh and eighth innings of Sunday’... Read More

 
 

New in Arts and Entertainment

Sabrina Carnevale:

Garden City grads pay it forward

School reunion inspires scholarships for Class of 2025 Read More

 

Deborah Schnitzer:

Learning to live differently, expand repertoire

I have just turned into a 75-year-old. In reviewing the landscape from this (ad)vantage, I discover surprises that will sustain for however many years I might have left in the galaxy. My first surp... Read More

 

David Sanderson:

Indelible passion

When it comes to stylophiles’ caches, only the write stuff will do Read More

 
 

New in Business

Aaron Epp:

‘We’re building a place that people want to stay long term’

Transcona Roofing raises focus on staff leadership skills, professional development Read More

 

Joel Schlesinger:

Actively managed but truly more profitable?

JP Morgan launches 5th such ETF in Canada in past year; ‘Demand is there,’ says advocates, while skeptics remain skeptical Read More

 

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press:

Politicians overstating benefits of scrapping internal trade barriers: think tank

OTTAWA - The federal government and Canada's premiers are greatly overselling the benefits of breaking down internal trade barriers, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives argues in a ne... Read More

 
 

Fresh opinions

Editorial:

Trump can’t see the forest for the trees

In addition to his ongoing tariff war, a successful budget bill that seeks to strip Medicaid and food benefits from millions, and an “anti-immigrant” crackdown which has seen legal-status American residents arrested and imprisoned abroad with little or no recourse, U.S. President Donald Trump has also had just about enough of all the trees cluttering up his country. Read More

 

Stephanie Paddey:

Elbows up, even when you’re holding a book

Canadian book buyers who happily hem and haw over labels at the grocery store seem blissfully unaware of the elephant in the room— that 95 per cent of the Canadian book market is already controlled by foreign-owned multinational publishers. Read More

 

Gregory Mason:

Racism and patients receiving emergency care

When elected in October 2023, the NDP identified reducing emergency room wait times as a primary goal for health system improvements. Read More

 
 

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