This morning
Belt-tightening at city hall: Firefighters and paramedics are cut 2.9 per cent, and funding is flat for libraries, parks and recreation, insect control, animal services, planning, arts and cultural grants and heritage conservation. Columnist Dan Lett says the 2018 budgets at city hall released Wednesday are “a symphony in old-fashioned, belt-tightening austerity.” Aldo Santin reports. READ MORE
Your forecast: It could get messy outdoors later today with a 30 per cent chance of flurries late in the afternoon and a risk of freezing rain. Wind becoming south 30 km/h in the afternoon. The high will be -1. There is a 40 per cent chance of showers overnight.
In case you missed it
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILESMaria Mitousis
Lawyer testifies: Lawyer Maria Mitousis told court on Wednesday how a package at her law office exploded. As columnist Melissa Martin says: “Her body itself became a form of testimony, its scars the terrible legacy of the bomb that blew up that day.” Katie May reports. READ MORE
Manitoba homicides: Manitoba’s homicide rate was the second-highest among the provinces last year, according to Statistics Canada. There were 42 homicides in Manitoba in 2016. Alexandra Paul reports. READ MORE
Up next
Dixie Baker / SoVic Designs
Festive circus: An all-new holiday production by U.S. Entertainers Cirque Musica, accompanied by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, comes to Bell MTS Place on Friday at 7:30. The family-friend show, called Believe, includes traditional acrobats and aerialists as well as a Christmas theme. Leesa Dahl reports. READ MORE
Grey Cup week: While Winnipeg Blue Bombers have cleaned out their lockers, the Canadian Football League season is rushing to an exciting climax with Grey Cup festivities in Ottawa, culminating with the game on Sunday between the Calgary Stampeders and the Toronto Argonauts. READ MORE
Around the water cooler
WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
Health care without boundaries: The province should consider shifting some health-care funding from where people live to where they get their primary care — especially for southern Manitobans coming into Winnipeg for care, say the authors of a study released Wednesday. It found 40 per cent of Manitobans cross health-care boundaries to see a family doctor, nurse practitioner, or walk-in clinic. Nick Martin reports. READ MORE
Lighting up: The swanky Manitoba Club is planning to build a private cigar room that will include a 1,000-square-foot cigar-testing and sampling lounge, reports columnist Gordon Sinclair Jr.: “One can imagine a private club cigar room as a place where gentlemen could go back to being among gentlemen.” READ MORE
Trending now
#NetNeutrality: Trending in the United States as the FCC takes steps critics say would lead to privatization of access to content on the internet and curtail the sharing of information and free speech. READ MORE
On this date
On Nov. 23, 1977: The Winnipeg Free Press reported that Winnipeg police would be out in force ticketing and towing cars that were illegally parked or abandoned, strictly enforcing a city bylaw aimed to facilitate snow removal for the first time since it had been passed on Nov. 1. Municipalities in Manitoba were urged to practise fiscal austerity. At the time of his death, Elvis Presley had more than $1 million in a chequing account with a Memphis bank, and $39 in a savings account at another bank. READ MORE
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