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Teacher misconduct, power in Pimicikamak, AI-generated media, time running out for the Jets
Plus: Ukrainians' keepsakes in Manitoba, and Manitobans' history in Ukraine

Happy New Year! All the best to you and yours in 2026.

Here’s a look at what our newsroom has been working on today:

 

'The grooming, we were told, was not a crime'

Jeff Hamilton:

Alone, afraid and betrayed

Family shattered as teacher’s obsession with young girl went unnoticed, unpunished Read More

 
 
 

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Savour Manitoba Spring issue cover featuring colourful mixed drinks on a table.
 

'It’s been survival mode for us'

Chris Kitching:

‘Everything we predicted’: pipes burst for some Pimicikamak residents, sparking new worries after outage

Manitoba Hydro said all customers had power again as of 1:30 p.m. Friday after the phased return began Thursday, while Pimicikamak Chief David Monias expected some homes with water damage to be temporarily uninhabitable. Read More

 

Niigaan Sinclair:

Response to Pimicikamak’s four-day outage an improvement, sadly

For virtually every citizen in Pimicikamak, it’s been a frustrating, angering, and very challenging start to this new year. But the brutal reality is this has been one of Manitoba Hydro’s better responses to a crisis in a Manitoba First Nation. Read More

 
 

'Visibility is a big factor in safety'

Malak Abas:

Giving pedestrians a head start on vehicles improves safety, has no effect on traffic, city finds

City staff are working to expand pedestrian head starts to locations further from the core. Read More

 
 

Are you sharing AI slop?

Ben Waldman:

Truth, lies and video fakes

Fewer than one in five Manitobans are sure they know fabricated online content when they see it, Probe-Free Press survey on media literacy reveals Read More

 

Rebecca Chambers:

Defending democracy with fluency in finding fact amid all the fiction

We’re hard-wired to gather information, and to use that information to strengthen ourselves and our communities. But what happens when that information has been created specifically to fracture the ties that bind? Read More

 
 

Why action must be taken

Ken Wiebe:

Time running out for Chevy to salvage Jets’ season

Changes must be made if underachieving club is going to climb out of league basement Read More

 
 

'We have felt the cold, but not as much as here'

AV Kitching:

Snowballs and warm welcomes

Family from the Democratic Republic of Congo navigates chilly firsts alongside IRCOM supports Read More

 
 
 

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Iced drink with lime on a wooden surface beside the Savour Manitoba magazine cover.
 

Local

Tyler Searle: Family, SCO call for review of Dauphin hospital protocols after death of nine-year-old with broken arm
Joyanne Pursaga: Police-to-population ratio increases for first time since 2013
Tyler Searle: Gunman pointed weapon at police, threatened teen hostages’ lives before officers opened fire in fatal shooting: IIU
Nicole Buffie: Manitoba makes strides on poverty, but EIA rates must increase: report
Tyler Searle: Police watchdog clears off-duty Mountie who handcuffed teen after prank
Maggie Macintosh: City taking steps to reduce speeding in 30 km/h school zones
Carol Sanders: Health group slams province after latest Dynacare deal
Free Press staff: Town hall to be held in Manitoba’s measles hot zone
Chris Kitching: Tesla Canada takes province to court over EV rebates
Dean Pritchard: Lawyer accused of smuggling drugs into jail breaches release conditions, subject of warrant
 

Opinion

Dan Lett: A decision to fight from outside, rather than surrender to party politics
Bryan Oborne: Considering a unified prairie time zone
Kyle Volpi Hiebert: Putin’s imperial dream is crumbling
Editorial: Teens, social media and doctors’ advice
Deborah Schnitzer: The summer at home that spawned my manifesto
Free Press: Letters, June 1
Noah Fry and Stuart Trew: Winnipeg can buy local
Niigaan Sinclair: Peace, justice and bringing this country together
Niigaan Sinclair: Someone call the PM: next governor general doesn’t speak a single Indigenous language
Scott Montgomery: Think you can beat the game? Don’t bet on it
 

Arts & Life

Jen Zoratti: Robert Pasternak's show offers big inspiration in small packages
Craig Macrae and Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press: ‘Heated Rivalry’ sets record at Screen Awards with 16 wins including best drama
Jen Zoratti: Even after decades in standup, comedy legend Rita Rudner never stops writing new jokes
Free Press Arts & Life staff: What's up: Flatlander’s Beer Fest, RWB's On the Edge, Josiah Koppanyi, Prairie Spirit and Detective! and more
Ben Waldman: Finding family, finding truth: New play unfolds in the shadow of ’60s Scoop
Marsha McLeod: Even residential school couldn’t erase who Christina Henderson was
Conrad Sweatman: What feathered creatures signify for the health of the herd
Maureen Scurfield: Titillated titters could leave intimacy in tatters
Georgia Nicols: Today’s horoscope
 

Sports

Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press: Serena Williams is coming back to tennis at 44, returning to the sport she dominated for decades
The Associated Press: Claude Lemieux’s brain will be donated to Boston University’s CTE Center, his family says
George Williams: Raise a glass to My Kinda Delite
Taylor Allen: Randolph among Bomber cuts
Joshua Frey-Sam: Spurr claims first individual win, Lafleche holds off Hayden at Match Play Championship
Joshua Frey-Sam: Sea Bears bit by Mamba late, drop back-to-back games
Taylor Allen: Better showing for Bombers backup Elgersma
The Canadian Press: ICC suspends Cricket Canada membership, national teams still eligible to compete
Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe: Potential Jets homecoming in the works for Doan
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press: ‘His ascension was remarkable’: Davies evolves from teen phenom to Canada’s captain
 

Business

Gabrielle Piché: Key construction at new Lynn Lake gold mine begins after fire-driven delay
Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press: Basic materials stocks weigh on TSX, as U.S. markets gain and oil prices rise
Aaron Epp: Doors Open to Winnipeg’s mystery, history
Aaron Epp: Do It Differently leadership event centred on creativity, curiosity
Aaron Epp: Robinson Lighting prepares to celebrate 90 years as family-run business with gala event in glittering showroom
Malak Abas: Winnipeg acknowledges ‘generous, philanthropic’ family with honorary road renaming
Free Press staff: Archangel Fireworks packs up longtime Pembina location for new home on McGillivray
The Canadian Press: Scotiabank buying U.S. commercial bank MapleMark
Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press: Tech stocks send TSX higher, U.S. markets also up amid hopes of U.S.-Iran deal
Craig Lord, The Canadian Press: Economists pour cold water on recession talk after Canada’s economy stalls in Q1
 

Canada

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press: Racism is a risk when Vancouver hosts World Cup, but measures exist: B.C. AG Sharma
The Canadian Press: Police investigate vandalism of rainbow crosswalk in Surrey, B.C., captured on video
Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press: Carney says national unity council will study surge in antisemitism
Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press: Separatism and energy: Alberta’s Smith to meet with counterpart in Quebec this week
The Canadian Press: Invasive mosquitoes and brain-swelling virus detected in B.C.’s Sea-to-Sky region
Charlotte Glorieux, The Canadian Press: Quebec opens investigation into police response after officer shot and killed teen
Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press: Congolese Montrealers have plans upended by Canada’s Ebola travel restrictions
The Canadian Press: Alert for shooter at health clinic in northern Saskatchewan: RCMP
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press: Canada Post workers vote overwhelmingly to accept new contract
Craig Lord, The Canadian Press: Poilievre accuses Carney of ducking questions about Canada’s sluggish economy
 

World

Mauricio Muñoz, The Associated Press: Peruvian shamans perform a blessing ritual ahead of a presidential runoff
Joey Cappelletti And Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press: Sen. Bernie Sanders stands by Graham Platner after controversy over sexually explicit texts
Ben Nuckols, The Associated Press: Congress asks NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to testify about league’s embrace of streaming services
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press: Pentagon bars journalists from its press office, saying it has become a ‘classified space’
Eric Tucker, Seung Min Kim And Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press: Trump reconsidering $1.8 billion fund, AP source says, as Justice Department temporarily pauses it
Jessica Hill, The Associated Press: Teenage girl arrested after competition horses were stabbed in Las Vegas
Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press: Lawyers for Lively and Baldoni battle in a New York court despite settling claims weeks ago
Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press: Iraqi national pleads not guilty in 18 attacks in Europe, calling himself a ‘prisoner of war’
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press: Scott Pelley of ’60 Minutes’ accuses CBS News head Bari Weiss of ‘murdering’ the show, report says
Michael Kunzelman And Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press: Pentagon policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, appeals court panel rules
 

Try our Year-End News Quiz!

Test your news savvy with 12 questions about local events in 2025.

2025: The Year In News Quiz

Twelve questions — one per month — about the news in 2025. Take the quiz

 
 
 

One last thing...

As the calendar turns over to 2026, we’re looking back at some of the best Free Press writing in 2025.

In February, ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Eva Wasney talked to three Ukrainian newcomers about the stories behind the precious belongings they brought with them to Winnipeg.

And in March, Melissa Martin reported from the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, where she finds traces of the Hutterite and Mennonite farmers who worked the land a century ago, before they moved to the Canadian Prairies.

 

Eva Wasney:

Keepsakes provide vital connection

Tangible pieces of lives left behind help sustain Ukrainians making new homes in Manitoba Read More

 

Melissa Martin:

The land remembers

Nearly all Hutterites in Manitoba can trace their ancestry to a small area in Ukraine. Writer Melissa Martin visits the Zaporizhzhia region to see if any signs of their history can still be found Read More

 
 

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