The Wrap: Moving for knee surgery, city diversity, road-repair frustration, Preservation Hall closes, CFL rundown

A For Sale sign has gone up outside Dan and Roseanne Milburn’s home in Elie, Man. The couple are moving to Alberta in hopes of receiving an appointment to get Roseanne a double knee replacement — a procedure she’s been waiting six years for in Manitoba.

Reporter Nicole Buffie talks to the couple about the stress and pain of the long wait and the difficult decision to move.

For at least the fifth straight year, the portion of women within the City of Winnipeg’s workforce dipped lower in 2023 — and the city continued to fall short of most of its other diversity targets.

Initiatives aimed to attract more workers are in place for all six “equity groups” identified by the City of Winnipeg, as it tries to ensure its workforce is as diverse as the city itself. The groups include Indigenous, racialized and LGBTTQ+ people, as well as women, newcomers and people with disabilities.

City hall reporter Joyanne Pursaga looks at the latest numbers.

Fed up with a pothole marking the street in front of his home, a St. Norbert man took it upon himself to fix the problem — filling the hazard with concrete after years of City of Winnipeg delays.

Efforts to officially fix the damage on the street began Tuesday morning — one day after the Free Press reached out to the city with questions about the issue.

Reporter Tyler Searle was on the scene as city workers filled the pothole.

Preservation Hall, which launched near CF Polo Park in the heart of the pandemic, has closed its doors amid a mountain of debt and rising costs.

General manager Melanie Foucault and her chef husband Tristan signed a lease at a former Kelsey’s location in December 2019.

Amid COVID-19, they delayed opening their French eatery until June of 2020, but were then forced to deal with renewed lockdowns — while the business was too new to qualify for most pandemic-era supports — followed by operating cost inflation and interest rate hikes.

The “perfect storm” came to a head last week, writes business reporter Gabrielle Piché.

Sunday’s Blue Bombers game just got more interesting.

Nathan Rourke, whose dynamic 2022 CFL campaign netted him the league’s top Canadian honours, signed a three-year contract with B.C. Lions after a two-season stint in the NFL.

Rourke is expected to take starters snaps in practice on Wednesday. If all goes well he will start Sunday when the Bombers visit the Lions at B.C. Place.

Sports reporter Jeff Hamiton looks into the signing and digs into the league’s other top stories in the latest edition of CFL Rundown.