Drawn to their unique grain pattern, carver gravitates to trees’ ungainly outgrowths

There’s more to a burl than meets the eye. On the surface the flawed wood is a gnarly, lumpy mess. But beneath the scars hides something rather special.

“Burls are an unappealing wart-like growth on a tree,” artist Gary Foidart, 69, explains.

“They are horrific looking on the outside. Some of them look terrible. You never know what you are going to hit when you cut a burl open but the wood inside is the most beautiful wood there is. Each one is totally unique.”

Bulbous and rough, a wood burl forms when a tree experiences stress or disruption to its growth. Burls can also develop from insect infestation, bacterial or fungi growth, and environmental injuries.

Deadly attack renews calls to fix cellular gaps in, around Hollow Water

A mass stabbing and head-on crash that killed two people, including a suspect, and injured eight has renewed concerns about cellular coverage gaps in and around Hollow Water First Nation.

Residents said there is no cellphone service in Hollow Water and some surrounding areas, leaving people vulnerable if they’re in a location or circumstance where there’s no other way to call 911 or an emergency service directly.

“I don’t get any service in Hollow Water. It’s difficult to communicate,” said Brook Monkman, who lives south of the First Nation near Lake Winnipeg.

Monkman said he was driving on a road about 40 kilometres north of Hollow Water in 2023 when he came upon a crash that killed a mother and young son, and left a father and young daughter seriously injured.

Offhand insult in 2003 gave rise to the Banjo Bowl — one of CFL's most-colourful and enduring rivalries

It was the verbal shot heard ’round the world. Or at least, across a pair of Prairie provinces.

Canadian Football League fans in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are well familiar with the origin of the Banjo Bowl, the annual tilt that pits the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers against their principal rival, the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Followers of both teams can tell you that the match evolved out of a comment uttered by former Bombers placekicker Troy Westwood in September 2003, when he sarcastically referred to Saskatchewaners (Saskatchewanites? Saskatchewians?) as “banjo-picking inbreds.”

Then, how he doubled down on that jibe a few weeks later when, at a scheduled news conference, he told members of the media that he had misspoken, as “the vast majority of the people in Saskatchewan have no idea how to play the banjo.” (For the record, Westwood’s mom was born in the Land of the Living Skies, and his aunts and grandmother were living there when he was spouting off.)

Collective encourages BIPOC networking

It’s a warm weekday morning and Saintuary Café is filled with strangers chatting about their work and passion projects over lattes and croissants.

This has become a regular scene for the co-working café club hosted by the Value Able, a growing grassroots community designed to help BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) creatives in Winnipeg meet and collaborate.

The idea started percolating when founders Star Tactay and Daezerae Gil met at a networking event in February.

Tactay — a marketing professional and software development student from the Philippines — had recently moved to the city from Texas and was looking to meet other people of colour working in creative fields. Gil, a Winnipeg-born photographer, realized she was looking for the same thing.

YouTube using creators to enhance broadcast of the NFL game between the Chiefs and the Chargers

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs face Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers in the most accessible game to viewers on Friday night in Brazil.

It’s the first NFL game streamed on YouTube and there will be plenty of unique elements surrounding the broadcast.

The league and YouTube have assembled a lineup of content creators to enhance the viewing experience.

Cam Newton, Brandon Marshall, Derek Carr and Tyrann Mathieu will be part of a pre-game and post-game shows hosted by Kay Adams.

Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion to settle lawsuit over pirated books used to train AI chatbots

NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit by book authors who say the company took pirated copies of their works to train its chatbot.

The landmark settlement, if approved by a judge as soon as Monday, could mark a turning point in legal battles between AI companies and the writers, visual artists and other creative professionals who accuse them of copyright infringement.

The company has agreed to pay authors or publishers about $3,000 for each of an estimated 500,000 books covered by the settlement.

“As best as we can tell, it’s the largest copyright recovery ever,” said Justin Nelson, a lawyer for the authors. “It is the first of its kind in the AI era.”

Carney announces supports for sectors affected by U.S. tariffs

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday a suite of new measures to support sectors of the economy hit hardest by U.S. tariffs.

The announcement includes $5 billion for a fund to help companies pivot to new products and markets and keep skills and production in Canada, and to make them more competitive globally.

At a press conference at an aerospace plant in Mississauga, Ont. Friday morning, Carney said that the fund would be open to "all sectors, given the fact that the tariff impacts are wide-ranging across Canadian industries." He said that heavily affected sectors like steel, automobile, lumber and aluminum would have priority.

Carney also announced a “Buy Canadian” policy for the federal government.

Carney delays electric vehicle sales mandate by one year, launches review

OTTAWA - The federal electric vehicle sales mandate will not be implemented in 2026 as planned, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday, pushing back by at least a year a policy that would have set minimum sales targets for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Introduced by the Liberals under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, the mandate would have required 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Canada next year to be electric.

The standard as written is to rise steadily each year until 2035, by which point all new light-duty vehicles sold in Canada were to be fully electric or plug-in hybrids.

But at a press conference in Mississauga, Ont., Carney said he is suspending the mandate for 2026 and launching a 60-day review of the program to help find "future flexibilities and ways to reduce costs."

Unemployment rate climbed to 7.1 per cent in August as economy lost 66,000 jobs

OTTAWA - The Canadian economy lost jobs for the second month in a row and the unemployment rate climbed to its highest level since May 2016, excluding the pandemic period, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.

The weaker-than-expected reading of the labour market prompted financial markets to increase the odds the Bank of Canada will cut its key interest rate target later this month.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.1 per cent in August as the economy lost 66,000 jobs for the month. The monthly jobs report comes after the July labour force survey that showed a loss of 41,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 6.9 per cent.

A poll of economists heading into the release had expected August to show a gain of 10,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to rise to seven per cent for the month, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

American Eagle counts new customers after Sydney Sweeney ad frenzy and shares soar

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters spiked 34% Thursday after the teen clothing retailer said the frenzy surrounding its Sydney Sweeney ad campaign drew new customers during its most recent quarter.

American Eagle rolled out its new new ad campaign starring 27-year-old actor over the summer. The fall denim campaign sparked a debate about race, Western beauty standards, and the backlash to “woke” American politics and culture.

Negative reactions centered on ads that used the word “genes” instead of “jeans” featuring the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor known for the HBO series “Euphoria” and “White Lotus.”

But American Eagle did get noticed, executives said late Wednesday in a call after the Pittsburgh retailer posted second quarter earnings.

Oakland Ballers to use artificial intelligence to manage Saturday home game against Great Falls

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Oakland Ballers manager Aaron Miles will leave it to artificial intelligence to decide when to pinch hit or replace his pitcher.

The playoff-bound Ballers of the independent Pioneer League are turning to AI to manage most aspects of Saturday's home game against the Great Falls Voyagers at Raimondi Park. So it might feel almost like a day off for the skipper, whose lineup and in-game decisions will even be made for him — from a tablet he will have in the dugout providing instructions.

The starting pitcher is already set.

“Luckily it’s only game. Maybe we've done so well that the AI will just keep doing what we're doing,” Miles joked Wednesday. “Being a 70-win team we've got a very good bench. It's hard to write a lineup without leaving somebody out that's really good. This game I'll be like, ‘Hey, it’s not on me for not writing you in there, it's on the computer.' It won’t be my fault if somebody’s not in the lineup, I guess I’ll enjoy that.”

Getting word out in face of AI-made messaging

Manitoba marketing aficionados have named their new agency Plain Language — a nod to what they say they’ll speak.

There’s a lack of plain language around algorithms and outcomes found in online advertising, agency co-founders said. They’ve spent decades working in digital media, placing ads in an ever-changing online landscape.

“There’s a lot of different platforms, and the way that people talk about it can be quite obtuse,” said Anthony Kowalczyk, Plain Language’s chief executive. “I think that’s what we’re trying to move away from.”

He and Jason Hachkowski, Plain Language’s vice-president of digital ad operations and strategy, have worked together for more than a decade. A mutual colleague suggested the pair meet — both men were experts in digital marketing and advertising.

C-SPAN announces deal for its service to be carried on YouTube TV, Hulu

NEW YORK (AP) — C-SPAN said Wednesday that it had reached a deal to have its three channels air on YouTube TV and Hulu's live television feed, ending a dispute that had led to a revenue squeeze for the public affairs network in the cord-cutting era.

The network said the streaming services would pay the same fee as cable and satellite companies, roughly 87 cents a year per subscriber, and that C-SPAN would continue its no-advertising policy on television.

Congress involved itself in the issue, passing a resolution this spring calling on the services' parent companies — Alphabet for YouTube and Disney for Hulu — to add C-SPAN to their programming mix. Because congressional sessions and hearings represent a big portion of C-SPAN's programming, the politicians faced diminished airtime without a deal.

At its peak a decade ago, C-SPAN was seen in some 100 million homes with television. The number of homes paying for TV has since dropped to some 70 million, with roughly 20 million of those consumers now getting television through services like YouTube and Hulu, and they weren't showing C-SPAN.

AI chatbots changing online threat landscape as Ottawa reviews legislation

OTTAWA - Wrongful death lawsuits citing the activities of artificial intelligence chatbots are underway in the United States, as reports emerge of mental health issues and delusions induced by AI systems.

These incidents are drawing attention to the changing nature of the online threat landscape — just weeks after the Liberal government said it would review its online harms bill before reintroducing it in Parliament.

"Since the legislation was introduced, I think it's become all the more clear that tremendous harm can be facilitated by AI, and we're seeing that in particular in the space of chatbots and some of the tragedies," said Emily Laidlaw, Canada research chair in cybersecurity law at the University of Calgary.

The Online Harms Act, which died on the order paper when the election was called, would have required social media companies to outline how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, and would have imposed on them a duty to protect children.

The defunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting will get one of TV’s biggest prizes

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will be honored with one of the television's top prizes even as it winds down its nearly 60-year work after the U.S. government withdrew funding.

The organization, which has helped pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and TV stations as well as programs like “Sesame Street” and “Finding Your Roots,” will be awarded the Television Academy's Governors Award, which honors those who have "made a profound, transformational and long-lasting contribution to the arts and/or science of television.”

It will be handed to Patricia de Stacy Harrison, the longest-serving president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony on Sept. 7.

“For more than half a century, CPB has been a steadfast champion of storytelling that informs, educates and unites us and ensures public media remains a vital space where diverse voices are heard and communities are served,” Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego said in a statement Tuesday.

Coming price cuts at McDonald’s may signal a broader fast food price war

McDonald’s is cutting prices on some combo meals to woo back customers who’ve been turned off by the rising costs of grabbing a fast food meal.

The price drop may induce its rivals, who have run into some of the same pricing issues, to follow.

Starting Sept. 8, McDonald’s will offer Extra Value Meals, which combine select entrées like a Big Mac, an Egg McMuffin or a McCrispy sandwich with medium fries or hash browns and a drink. Prices will vary by location, but McDonald’s said Extra Value Meals will cost 15% less than ordering each of those items separately.

To kick off the promotion, McDonald’s will offer an $8 Big Mac meal or a $5 Sausage McMuffin meal for a limited time in most of the country. Customers in California, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam will have to pay $1 more for those meals.

CentrePort Canada-based ClearSecure Manufacturing & Distribution pitches protection premier product RockGlass

RURAL MUNICIPALITY OF ROSSER — It’s not unusual for staff at ClearSecure Manufacturing & Distribution to encourage people to take a baseball bat or sledgehammer to the company’s signature product.

As far as visuals go, it’s a striking one. The company manufactures and distributes crystal clear security panels for windows and doors known as RockGlass.

“We’re a solution for broken glass,” says Colleen Munro, the company’s founder and president. “That’s kind of our catchphrase.”

People who visit the company, located just north of Winnipeg in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, can don protective gear and swing a sledgehammer at a door-sized panel to see if they — like the legend of Arthur removing Excalibur from the stone — might be the first to successfully reduce RockGlass to pieces.

Not-for-profit Student Catalyst Gateway launches with career focus on equity-deserving backgrounds

Tinotenda Mashavave chuckles when he thinks about his first winter in Winnipeg.

“The shock on my face with how cold this place is was unbelievable,” he said. “(Someone) should have told me what it was going to be like.”

Mashavave moved to Manitoba from Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, in 2016 to study business administration at the University of Winnipeg. Today, he has a job as a sales representative at Western Financial Group, but the path that led him there had obstacles.

Navigating finances, learning how to network with professionals and finding a job after graduation can be challenging for anyone, but for newcomers like Mashavave, it’s especially difficult.

Manitoba LGBT* chamber starts entrepreneur development program

A new program aims to support LGBTTQ+ entrepreneurs in Manitoba.

The Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce is accepting applications for Emerge, the queer entrepreneur development program it’s launching next month. The six-month program is designed for members of the LGBTTQ+ community to gain essential business skills and strategies, and to build a supportive network of mentors and colleagues in the process.

The program is the first of its kind for the chamber, said Jenny Steinke-Magnus, executive director. “There’s really some unique challenges that queer entrepreneurs face, so we wanted to address those challenges and offer this tailor-made program for queer entrepreneurs in Manitoba.”

Steinke-Magnus cites findings from Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC) that shows one in four LGBTTQ+ entrepreneurs have lost business opportunities because of their identity. Two in five have difficulty obtaining financing for their business because of their identity, and one in three have been unable to access mentoring and coaching.

Second summer of motorized boat ban, uncertainty going forward raise longer-term concerns for tourism-driven economy inside Riding Mountain National Park

WASAGAMING — As the sun shimmers over Clear Lake’s still waters, everything appears smooth. But there is an undercurrent of uncertainty running through Manitoba’s most popular national park.

Riding Mountain, and other national parks across Canada, are increasingly facing difficult environmental challenges.

For Riding Mountain, it’s the invasive zebra mussel species. In Alberta’s Jasper National Park, it was 2024’s devastating wildfire that caused more than $1 billion in damages. In Nova Scotia, tinder-dry conditions this summer led to the controversial decision to close back-country access in two national parks — Cape Breton Highlands and Kejimkujik.

This is the new reality for places such as Wasagaming, Riding Mountain’s picturesque townsite that borders on Clear Lake — where bureaucratic decisions to address environmental threats run counter to the desires of residents and tourists who want to enjoy popular summer destinations to the fullest.

Increasing restrictions could silence culture critics

It’s getting harder to see where reviews and other forms of cultural criticism fit in the current media ecosystem. Arts writing positions are being axed at outlets all over North America — but a landscape of all influencers and no critics means all promotion and no journalism.

Landlords can hike rent by 1.8 per cent in 2026, province announces

The Manitoba government will allow landlords a marginal rent increase when new rent guidelines take effect in January.

The province announced its updated rent-increase guideline for 2026, setting the maximum rate landlords can increase rent at 1.8 per cent — up from a rate of 1.7 per cent in 2025.

Landlords must send written notices of rent increases at least three months before they takes effect. For a rent increase on Jan. 1, therefore, renters must be notified of the change by Sept. 30, the province said in a news release Friday.

The guideline is updated annually and calculated using a formula based on Manitoba’s consumer price index, the province said. It applies to most residential rental properties, including apartments, single rooms, houses and duplexes.