Good morning!
Your forecast: Finally, in mid-December, it’s going to start looking and feeling like winter in southern Manitoba. But we ease into it this week. Today, expect a mostly cloudy day with a 30 per cent chance of flurries, a high of -1 C and an overnight low of -8 C. Tuesday’s forecast calls for plenty of clouds, a high of -5 C and an overnight low of -9 C with snow falling into Wednesday. The white stuff keeps coming Wednesday and Thursday, with daytime temperatures hovering around -7 C. Prepare to bundle up Friday night if you’re head out for a holiday party, as the mercury plummets to -21 C.
In case you missed it
BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSManitoba RCMP has been using drones for the past four years. Cpl. Kenneth Pinsent demonstrates a drone flight at Beaudry Park near Headingley.
Droning on: Unmanned aerial vehicles are becoming a new tool for Manitoba RCMP investigations. The force has 15 drones, at a total cost of about $150,000, that have flown on 314 missions to collect photographs overlooking the aftermath of motor vehicle crashes and crime scenes in the province. Now, the RCMP is hoping to expand its use of drones into search-and-rescue investigations. READ MORE
Doctors not on call: A controversial plan by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba to force doctors to establish an on-call service for patients outside work hours has been delayed. The new policy was to have taken effect on July 1. Now, it’s not certain a revised policy will be ready for implementation in 2016. Physicians had mobilized last winter in opposition to the directive from the college’s leadership council. More than 250 of them formed the group Physicians for the Future to fight the measure. READ MORE
CFS slow to change: Key child welfare reform recommendations from the Phoenix Sinclair inquiry have yet to be made, nearly two years after they were released. Average caseloads are still well above the 20-case cap recommended by commissioner Ted Hughes, who headed up the inquiry into Phoenix’s death and the state of Manitoba’s child-welfare system. It’s unclear whether any progress has been made to ensure a child in care has just one worker, instead of many. The province has, however, introduced legislation to bolster the role of the children’s advocate, although the changes fell short of Hughes’ recommendations. READ MORE
Up next
Mail maelstrom: For people who still think Santa delivers all those Christmas parcels, the Free Press will reveal the truth behind that festive fallacy. Today, we’re sending a reporter and photographer to the Canada Post South West Depot, 1100 Wilkes Ave. It’s the busiest delivery day of the year for postal workers and we’ve made arrangements to meet employees getting their mail and parcels ready for delivery, loading up and heading out on their routes.
Made of memories: A major art installation, created as a national monument to First Nations children affected by residential schools, officially opens today as part of a new exhibition in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights — the day before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada submits its final report to Ottawa. Witness Blanket, by Vancouver Island artist Carey Newman, is a visually powerful, 12-metre-long installation that is literally made of memories. Cedar frames resembling a woven blanket support over 800 items: pieces of residential schools, survivor mementos, and objects of reconciliation gathered from 77 communities in every corner of Canada.
Around the water cooler
Determined foodies stood in line for hours to purchase tickets for RAW:almond, the restaurant that sets up on the river ice near The Forks. Tickets for the river restaurant’s fourth season, which runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 13, went on sale for $120 a head on a first-come, first-served basis at Deer + Almond, 85 Princess St.
Lining up to eat outside: Winnipeggers lined up before dawn in the Exchange District on Sunday for their pick of seats this winter at Raw: Almond, the pop-up restaurant on the river ice near The Forks. By the time the $120-a-plate tickets for five-course meals went on sale at 9 a.m., the line of would-be patrons stretched for a block and a half from Princess Street restaurant Deer + Almond. By the end of the day, only 156 seats went unsold for the river restaurant’s fourth season, which runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 13. Some 31 chefs from Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, Nashville, Houston and Portland, Ore., are taking part in the 2016 edition. The remaining 156 seats go on sale today after 9 a.m. at www.raw-almond.com. READ MORE
Bike-building bonanza: About 275 volunteer mechanics from across the city came together from noon Saturday to noon Sunday for a 24-hour bike-building marathon at the Explorer’s Children Centre on Elgin Avenue West. The event was organized by WRENCH (Winnipeg Repair Education and Cycling Hub) which works with 20 different daycares, schools and social agencies to put 376 bikes into the hands of inner-city children who would otherwise not have one. WRENCH rounds up anywhere from 700 to 1,100 discarded bicycles throughout the year and none goes unused, as parts are salvaged and bikes built. READ MORE
Dabbling with ‘D’ changes: Coming off another defeat to a Central Division foe and preparing to face another, the Winnipeg Jets are changing up their defensive pairings. Head coach Paul Maurice had Dustin Byfuglien practising with Jacob Trouba, while Trouba’s usual partner, Mark Stuart, was with Ben Chiarot. The third duo of Toby Enstrom and Tyler Myers remained together. But maybe the Jets brass should focus on trying to fix the club’s scoring troubles. The Jets, blanked 2-0 by the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night, have just two lines that can score, it seems. Winnipeg hosts the powerful St. Louis Blues on Tuesday evening. READ MORE
Trending now
John Salangsang / Invision / The Associated Press FilesKourtney Kardashian
Kourtney Kardashian: The reality TV star is reportedly dating Justin Bieber. A source told Us Weekly that the 36-year-old star of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” has been spotted out with the 21-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter.
Wonderful Christmastime: A cover of that awful Paul McCartney song “Wonderful Christmastime” is now the most-played holiday tune. A list compiled by PlayNetwork, based on the playlists from 400 North American retail stores, ranks The Shins’ version as the No. 1 most-played holiday song shoppers are subjected to — knocking off Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you” for the first time in 20 years.
On this date
On Dec. 14, 20017: The Winnipeg Free Press reported that former prime minister Brian Mulroney said “the second biggest mistake in my life, for which I have no one to blame but myself, is having accepted payments from Karlheinz Schrieber for a mandate after I left office.” Mulroney had taken $225,000 in cash from Schrieber for such services as lobbying Russian president Boris Yeltsin on behalf of Thyssen Industries towards the sale of armoured cars.
|
