Good morning!
Opening the door for Uber: A report for the Manitoba Taxicab Board recommended on Wednesday that Uber ride-sharing service be allowed into the Winnipeg market, a proposition local cab companies have long resisted. The report cited current cab customers who are unhappy about long wait times and insufficient cabs. Kristin Annable reports. READ MORE
Your forecast: We’ve all heard the weather whiners who have nothing good to say about winter. They might change their mind today because it will be a postcard-pretty winter day. The high will be -3 C and it will be mainly sunny, a wonderful day to walk outdoor and marvel at how snow granules can sparkle like diamonds.
In case you missed it
WAYNE GLOWACKI / FREE PRESS FILESIn Winnipeg ambulance fees will drop from an average of $522 to $475.
Ambulance fees drop: The province said on Wednesday it will reduce ambulance fees to $475 beginning Jan. 1, and mileage fees and other surcharges will be eliminated. In Winnipeg, ambulance fees will drop from an average of $522 to $475, or about nine per cent. In Thompson, a flat rate of $800 for a trip longer than 100 kilometres will be eliminated and replaced with the $475 fee. Nick Martin reports. READ MORE
Improving Internet service: Rural areas of Manitoba could get better Internet service. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Wednesday declared broadband Internet access a basic service, like landline telephone service. READ MORE
Up next
Weighty matter: Many people avoid public disclosure of their weight, especially during the Christmas season of recreational eating, but several professional athletes will lend their weight to a good cause today. Students of École Bonnycastle have set an ambitious goal of raising more food than the combined weight of three retired professional football players and a Winnipeg Jet. Today’s weigh-in at 9:30 a.m. will include former Winnipeg Blue Bombers Chris Walby, Bob Toogood and Jermese Jones. Winnipeg Jets’ Chris Thorburn will weigh-in via video.
Festival lineup announced tonight: You read it here first. The lineup for the sixth installment of the Big Fun Festival, which runs from Jan. 25 to 29, will include Julie Doiron and The Wrong Guys, Hannah Epperson, Living Hour, Mahogany Frog and Greg Macpherson’s new project Figure Walking. The full lineup of 50 acts will be announced tonight with a show at The Good Will Social Club featuring Ivory Waves, Viva Non and members of vinyl collectives The Vinyl Salon and The Jom Jom Club.
Around the water cooler
Checkstop cynicism: Columnist Gordon Sinclair Jr. believes police can build public goodwill by using the Checkstop holiday program exclusively to catch drinking drivers, and not as an excuse to pull over drivers at random and ticket owners for minor offences to increase city revenue. “Stop writing minor traffic tickets and start giving friendly warnings to innocents who hadn’t noticed their tail light wasn’t working.” READ MORE
Professional autograph seekers: Sports columnist Paul Wiecek says Winnipeg Jets don’t mind signing autographs for fans, but they resent the financial motivation of professional autograph-seekers, who Wiecek describes as “a motley bunch of mostly middle-aged men who hang around places they know professional athletes will be so they can ask those athletes to sign everything from cards to glossy photos, knowing the second an athlete signs his name the value of that item increases considerably.” READ MORE
Trending now
#wintersolstice: Still trending after Wednesday’s solstice, as Winnipeggers wake up from the longest night of the season.
On this date
On Dec. 22, 2002: The Winnipeg Free Press reported that Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Mathew Coon Come tried to mend fences between the aboriginal community and the Jewish community, speaking at a service at a Montreal synagogue and addressing the recent anti-Semitic remarks made by a Saskatchewan aboriginal leader. In Manitoba, the Wuskwatim dam project was touted as having less impact on the environment than its predecessors. READ MORE
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