This morning
Failing our kids: Manitoba children are among the worst-educated students in Canada, ranking eighth provincially in math and ninth in both reading and science. Those grim statistics are part of a massive study released today that tests the knowledge of children in Canada and around the world. Nick Martin reports. READ MORE
Your snowcast forecast: After a November that was eerily mild, Manitoba is being walloped with the type of winter weather that we know snow well. Twenty to 30 cm of snow is expected in Winnipeg today, blown around by wind from the north at 50 km/h, gusting to 70 (the official definition of blizzard includes wind stronger than 56 km/h). The temperature today will fall to -5, but parka alert: The daytime high is expected to drop to -17 C by the end of the week.
In case you missed it
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS8,000 Manitoba Hydro customers were without power Wednesday.
Paid extra to work downtown: Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Public Insurance have both warned they expect financial problems, yet new figures show their employees have sweet deals. For example, staff gets nearly $2 million in yearly allowances above their salaries as compensation for having to work downtown. Kristin Annable reports. READ MORE
No ice, no ice fishing: It’s the first time in at least 55 years that fishers haven’t been able to get on the ice of Lake Winnipeg during the first week of December. They’re usually out there by the middle of November, a month that was the warmest on record this year. Kristin Annable reports. READ MORE
Up next
Violence against women: A sunrise memorial at 8 a.m. today in the Rotunda of the Legislative Building will honour women who died in acts of violence. Today marks the anniversary of the murders of 14 young women at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal in 1989. Today’s ceremony will also commemorate five Manitoba women who have died as a result of violence in Manitoba.
Politicians hoop it up: Premier Brian Pallister, a Brandon University Bobcat back in the day, and MLA Kevin Chief, a former Wesmen Basketball star, will don sneakers today and show their ball handling skills to kick off the 50th Wesmen Classic basketball tournament. The fun starts at 10 a.m. at the U of W RecPlex.
Around the water cooler
MARK ALLAN / INVISION / THE ASSOCIATED PRESSAxl Rose of Guns N’ Roses. The band is bringing its renunion tour to Winnipeg in 2017
Guns N’ Roses: The raucous rockers are scheduled to play in Winnipeg on Aug. 24. The band traditionally has more behind-the-scenes drama than a middle-school sleepover, so the quality of the Winnipeg gig will likely depend on which band members are in detox and whether band stalwarts Axl Rose and Slash agree to act harmoniously. READ MORE
Awaiting legal weed: Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said the federal government should delay introducing legislation to legalize marijuana until the provinces are prepared to deal with its legal and social implications. “I don’t think a lot of people, particularly young people who I have consulted on this, have the same sense of concern about driving stoned as they do about driving drunk. That bothers me,” said the premier. Mia Rabson reports. READ MORE
Trending now
#AddASongRuinAMovie: Sometimes, the hits just don’t keep on coming: consider Smells Like Teen Spirited Away, The Hills Have Bette Davis Eyes, It’s Raining Grumpy Old Men and When I Think of You, I Touch Me, Myself and Irene.
#MBStorm: Trending in Winnipeg as heavy snowfall and high winds continue.
On this date
On Dec. 6, 1972: The Winnipeg Free Press reported that Manitoba courts and police were expected to keep records of criminal offenders who received conditional or full discharges in court, according to the federal justice minister, but that such records were not to be available to the public. Apollo 17, the last such U.S. flight to the moon, launched from Cape Kennedy. Cold temperatures in Manitoba reached (or broke) previous records, including -46 F in Gillam. READ MORE
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