Free Press Head Start for Thursday, August 20

Good morning!

Your forecast: We’re basically being promised a couple of dandy days — before the dung hits the fan, as it were. Environment Canada is calling for a mostly sunny Thursday, with a high of 26 C. Winds could gust to 50 km/h tonight and there’s a chance of showers by midnight. On Friday, play golf, take a long bike ride or hit the beach as the temperature hits 26 C under a mostly sunny sky. The weekend, you ask? Ugly, sorry to say. Rain and temperatures in the teens are expected.

In case you missed it

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Files
Fresh caught walleye, also known as pickerel.

Hooked on a bad feeling: We sure like our Manitoba pickerel, so news that commercial fishing is draining the prized catch from Manitoba’s lakes is definitely cause for concern. A provincial official believes the pickerel population in Lake Winnipeg is on the decline. But at least one long-time commercial fisherman in the Interlake figures it’s only a temporary dip. READ MORE

Facility for high-risk girls: A new $2-million secure treatment facility aimed at helping girls with high-risk and complex needs will open in September. The province made the announcement Wednesday at Marymound, a social services agency on Scotia Street. Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross said the program will help protect vulnerable young women like Tina Fontaine, who was killed a year ago. An arrest in her slaying has not been made. READ MORE

Up next

DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair

It’s Tom’s turn: Winnipeg’s welcome mat is being well trod during the initial stage of the federal election campaign. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was here last week, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was here Wednesday and, this evening, Tom Mulcair will host a rally at the RBC Convention Centre for the NDP faithful. Where else can people wear their orange outfits and fit in? READ MORE

CEOs meet homeless people: Some of the city’s most powerful business executives will meet some of the city’s least powerful people today. More than 100 people will participate in the fifth annual CEO Sleepout, where executives forgo their homes for a night and sleep outdoors to raise funds to give employment opportunities to people living on Winnipeg streets. At today’s press conference, the executives will gather for a group picture and meet people who have been previously helped by the program. This year’s Sleepout is Sept. 24.

High-priced health: When we’re seriously ill, good health care is priceless. But it does have a cost, of course, and today the Fraser Institute will present the bottom line. The right-wing think tank will release a new study spotlighting how much Canadians pay for health care through all levels of government.

Around the water cooler

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
Ali Fontaine

Talent on the rise: Ali Fontaine is just 21, yet the local music artist has garnered plenty of awards and the headlines that go with them. The Anishinaabe singer-songwriter made a big splash with her first two albums and is hard at work producing her third. Fontaine performs this weekend at the Austin Street Festival as part of Aboriginal Music Week.

Ex-Subway pitchman going to jail: Jared Fogle, the man who claimed in commercials to have lost major weight on a diet of Subway sandwiches, agreed Wednesday to plead guilty to allegations he paid for sex acts with minors and received child pornography. He could face a 10-year prison sentence. Investigators in Indianapolis allege he offered to pay adult sex-trade workers a “finder’s fee” if they could connect him with minors for sex acts. READ MORE

Bombers trying to get better: The struggling Winnipeg Blue Bombers have signed former Mississippi State quarterback Tyler Russell, and they’re also reportedly hot in pursuit of controversial linebacker Jasper Simmons, who was released this week by the Calgary Stampeders. Free Press columnist Gary Lawless was the first to report Winnipeg’s interest in Simmons, who could ink a contract as early as today.

Trending now

DANNY JOHNSTON / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
Josh Duggar in 2014.

Josh Duggar: It seems the former reality TV star was looking to ‘step out’. Duggar is the first high-profile person revealed as having an account with the cheating website AshleyMadison.com. Customer data stolen by hackers from the website was posted online Tuesday. Duggar, once the star of the TLC show “19 Kids And Counting,” was accused earlier this year of molesting five young girls, including his sisters.

#mbpoli: With federal party leaders dropping by the province this month while out on the Canadian election campaign trail, and with provincial politicians already jockeying for position with an election here on the horizon, Manitoba politics is trending locally.

On this date

On August 20, 1982: The Winnipeg Free Press reported that the garment industry was facing layoffs of up to 50 per cent. Canada ranked 12th place, tied with Switzerland, in quality of life among countries of the world. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, travelling with his three sons, was greeted with a rain of rocks, eggs and tomatoes at a trains station in Sudbury, Ont. Survivors of the Dieppe raid gathered in the English Channel city to mark the 40th anniversary of the failed Second World War operation. Playing in Winnipeg theatres: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Porky’s, The Thing, Rocky III, E.T., Tron and An Officer and a Gentleman.

Head Start