Not just a blip in the news cycle

It wasn’t, as is said, “a good look.”

When the U.K. tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail published a report on its website last week that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had issued a travel advisory for visitors to Manitoba, warning of a hepatitis A outbreak, there were likely audible groans in several Winnipeg offices.

The dailymail.com website gets over 35 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. alone, making it one of the most popular news sites in the world.

So, when America’s leading public health agency issued a notice telling people to be mindful of their interpersonal interactions in Manitoba and to be vaccinated against hepatitis A before visiting, officials with tourism agencies and government ministries knew they had a job to do.

Confronting the scourge of polio

From 1928 to 1953, polio epidemics occurred in Manitoba every three to five years. The pain for the young victims was often excruciating. The vast majority of children recovered, yet many experienced lifelong disabilities from the disease.

Significance of soil, water management

The day six inches of rain fell one early July afternoon is etched in my memories of growing up on a southern Manitoba grain farm in the mid-1960s.

While we merrily played in the overflowing ditches, our parents watched helplessly as the surrounding fields went under. Within days, it became clear that the crop of 1966 was a write-off.

Rather than watching it rot, Dad went to work retrofitting the family van so all six of us could sleep in it, and we set off on an extended camping trip to the mountains. We didn’t see much of him that winter, however. He commuted 50 kilometres to Winnipeg with the grain truck to make department store deliveries to help pay the bills.

Excess rainfall of that magnitude happened once in their 40 years of farming, but it informed lasting changes to how fields were drained and soil was managed.

Elementary students develop friendships with care home residents

Nine-year-olds and seniors in their ’90s regularly bond over bocce in Tuxedo.

École Tuxedo Park and Extendicare Tuxedo Villa are marking a decade of Senior Buddies, a partnership that began to build intergenerational friendship and understanding in their neighbourhood.

“It’s opening (students’) eyes to different parts of being a human and humanity and the community that they live in,” said Diana Stahl, a school counsellor at the kindergarten-to-Grade 4 building in Winnipeg.

Stahl and her students made the 350-metre trek to the long-term care home on Thursday for their final visit of the school year.

For nimble nonagenarian, there’s been no looking back since exercise epiphany six decades ago

It’s been 46 years since Ray Elliott completed his first Manitoba Marathon but the spry-looking 91-year-old father of three, grandfather of four and great-grandfather of two remembers the occasion like it was yesterday.

Back then, the annual Father’s Day race ended at Winnipeg Stadium near Polo Park. Elliott vividly recalls turning right as he entered the venue and hearing a thunderous roar erupt from the thousands of onlookers who had packed the stands to encourage participants to the finish line.

“It was quite the experience being cheered on by a crowd that large and after witnessing that I got really serious about running, maybe because I wanted to recreate the moment again,” Elliott says, seated in his third-floor Henderson Highway condo, which overlooks a meandering section of the Red River.

Elliott’s marathon days are long gone. Still, he reserves time for physical activity of some sort, every single day. The former Great-West Life manager typically gets up at 5:45 a.m. to go for a brisk walk through his neighbourhood. Then, after he has breakfast with his wife Lillian at her personal care home next door to where he lives, he heads to the YMCA-YWCA to jog around the track for an hour or so. He also bikes, swims and golfs — last week he shot one stroke better than his age at Kildonan Golf Course — and in April set a new provincial record for men ages 90 to 94, when he bench-pressed 42.5 kilograms at a powerlifting competition held at Glenlawn Collegiate.

National Science Foundation reverses decision to dismantle oceans-monitoring network after outcry

The U.S. National Science Foundation on Thursday reversed a decision to dismantle a sprawling ocean monitoring network after vigorous objections from Democratic lawmakers and scientists who rely on it to track everything from ocean circulation to extreme weather.

FDA panel backs first-of-its-kind flu vaccine using mRNA technology

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new kind of flu vaccine moved a step closer to the U.S. market Thursday as federal health advisers recommended approval of the first made with the same mRNA technology that was key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating Moderna's new shot, dubbed mFlusiva, for older Americans ahead of the winter flu season. Moderna is seeking full approval for the vaccine's use in people ages 50 to 64 — along with authorization for use in those 65 and older while it conducts additional testing.

The FDA's independent advisory committee evaluated Moderna's studies of the vaccine and voted unanimously that its benefits appear to outweigh any risks for both age groups. The FDA will consider that recommendation in making a final decision by early August.

Tens of thousands of Americans die from influenza every year, and older adults are among the most vulnerable. There are various types of flu vaccines already available in the U.S., including three specifically recommended for people 65 and older. But vaccines made with the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology are faster to manufacture than other types — something experts say might help if the shape-shifting flu virus mutates in a way that requires suddenly brewing new doses to match.

An ancient oak tree said to have sheltered legendary Robin Hood has died

LONDON (AP) — A massive ancient oak tree linked to the legend of Robin Hood may have been loved to death.

The 1,200-year-old Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is believed to have died after it didn’t sprout leaves this spring, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said Thursday.

Visitors over the past two centuries who viewed the tree's gnarled limbs and sprawling canopy in Nottingham compressed the soil, making it difficult for rain to reach its roots, the conservation group said.

The forest has been under threat for years and the tree had been rumored to have died in the past — only to have the group confirm it was still alive.

Travel Manitoba says it’s business as usual despite warning issued by U.S. agency

Travel Manitoba says it has received no questions or concerns from American tourists about a recent U.S. travel alert concerning the hepatitis A outbreak in Manitoba.

“We’re not getting any messages on our social media,” Louise Waldman, vice-president of communications for the Crown corporation said Wednesday. “Obviously, it’s something that we’re going to keep watching and we want to keep an eye on.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on June 4 issued a Level 1 notice advising travellers to Manitoba to “ensure that you are vaccinated,” practise good hand hygiene, avoid sharing syringes and practise safe sex to avoid getting the vaccine-preventable liver infection.

As of June 4, there were 784 reported cases of hepatitis A in Manitoba, including 186 in Winnipeg, the province reported this week. There have been 165 hospitalizations, eight admissions to intensive-care units and four deaths since the outbreak was first reported in April 2025.

Federal Trade Commission sues leading transgender health group

The Federal Trade Commission and four states sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on Wednesday, in the latest push by President Donald Trump’s administration and others to limit gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

The suit alleges the group, known widely as WPATH, made deceptive claims about gender-affirming care for minors and its members profited off the claims. Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas filed along with the FTC.

“Parents have a right to make informed decisions about their children’s health,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said on X. “The FTC will not allow parents and children to be deceived by medical organizations and providers who are prioritizing profit over children’s health and safety.”

The suit also alleges the group didn't disclose the side effects of certain pediatric medical transition services, including those related to hormone treatments, and doctors then repeated to consumers "false, misleading or unsubstantiated statements about safety and efficacy found in WPATH guidelines.”

CDC issues travel advisory for Manitoba

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising travellers to Manitoba about a hepatitis A virus outbreak in the province that’s killed at least four people.

On June 4, America’s leading public health agency issued a Level 1 notice warning travellers that the virus that infects the liver is contagious and spread though close person-to-person contact and by eating contaminated food or drink.

To prevent catching hepatitis A, the CDC advises travellers to Manitoba to “ensure that you are vaccinated,” practise good hand hygiene, avoid sharing syringes and practise safe sex.

As of June 4, there have been 784 reported cases of hepatitis A in Manitoba — up from 658 cases reported May 6 — with 186 in Winnipeg, up from 143 a month earlier, a provincial government spokesperson said Tuesday. There have been 165 hospitalizations, eight intensive care unit admissions and four deaths since the outbreak was first reported in April 2025.

WeCook meals service expands to Winnipeg

The company sells ready-to-eat meals, from small to family portions.

Ebola stretches weakened global aid system

The WHO has declared the current outbreak an international public health emergency.

Manitoba’s role in a distant Ebola outbreak

Across parts of Central and East Africa, a familiar threat has returned. The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, one of the rarer and generally less fatal variants of the virus, has emerged again in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

‘Fentanyl fold’ on city streets stresses prompt need for supervised consumption site: premier

Alarmed after seeing the “fentanyl fold” on city streets, Premier Wab Kinew promises a supervised drug consumption site will open this month — despite concerns essential staffers have yet to be hired.

In a sit-down interview with the Free Press Friday, the premier reinforced that the site — announced in the summer of 2024 — would be operational by the end of June.

“The urgency of the drug crisis is so visible in a way that everyone sees it,” Kinew said.

The province received approval from Health Canada for the Indigenous-led site, at 366 Henry Ave., in May.

CancerCare MDs, staff call attention to specialist’s resignation, warn of dire consequences

A group of doctors and medical staff has warned the possible departure of a highly specialized Health Sciences Centre physician would be “devastating news” that could spark an exodus of skilled medical professionals from Manitoba.

The 14 doctors and medical staff at CancerCare Manitoba wrote a letter May 7 about the pending resignation of interventional radiologist Alessandra Cassano-Bailey.

The document, which was addressed to three members of the organization’s senior leadership, said Cassano-Bailey tendered her resignation after efforts to introduce a liver cancer procedure — which is available elsewhere in Canada — were ignored for years.

“It will be a huge loss to the province if such an excellent and compassionate doctor leaves,” reads the letter, obtained by the Free Press.

Northern First Nation purchases popular tourist lodge in Seal River watershed

The Sayisi Dene First Nation has purchased one of the largest hunting and fishing lodges in Manitoba’s Seal River Watershed, marking a return to the community’s traditional lands and an economic development opportunity for the northern nation.

The Lodge at Little Duck is nestled between Neganilini and Little Duck lakes, more than 1,000 kilometres north of Winnipeg. It is located in the Seal River watershed, a 50,000-square-kilometre subarctic ecosystem relatively untouched by industrial development, and centred on the last major river in northern Manitoba without a hydroelectric dam. A network of provincial and federal parks has been proposed to protect the region.

“The Sayisi Dene people have a real connection to the lands, especially around where the lodge sits,” Chief Kelly-Ann Thom-Duck said in an interview. “We have plans to use the area and see where it goes.”

The fly-in hunting, fishing and eco-tourism destination has its own airstrip, lounge and cabins. Manager Shawn Paul said it regularly welcomes more than 100 guests every summer and fall for guided caribou hunts and fishing trips.

Tory MP says 4,000 letters sent urging Carney to amend Indian Act status rules

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP says more than 4,000 letters have been sent to the House of Commons committee on Indigenous issues demanding that the federal government immediately change the way First Nations status works under the Indian Act.

MP Billy Morin, the former chief of Enoch Cree Nation who serves as the Conservative party's critic of Indigenous Services, echoed those calls in a letter he sent to Prime Minister Mark Carney this week.

The committee, known as INAN, is studying legislation that would change the rules establishing who is entitled to First Nations status under the Indian Act. It was introduced in the Senate as S-2 and initially had support from the governing Liberals.

The legislation was drafted to eliminate some gender inequities in the Indian Act and allow some 3,500 people to become eligible for First Nations status.

Health experts tell Quebec politicians there are no benefits from energy drinks

Health experts told Quebec's legislature that there are no health benefits to consuming energy drinks as Health Minister Sonia Bélanger hopes to pass a bill banning the sale of the beverages to those under 16.

The Quebec government has until Friday to pass a slew of bills, including the energy drink ban, before the parliamentary session ends. It will be the last session before the general election scheduled for October.

Pharmacists, cardiologists, public health and lobby groups spoke to the elected officials in Quebec City on Tuesday after the Conservative Party requested special public consultations.

The health experts said they support a ban, adding that it must be accompanied with other measures like awareness campaigns and marketing regulation.

Rabies vaccination program for skunks, raccoons in effort to stop spread to Montreal

MONTREAL - The raccoons that roam Montreal’s alleys, parks and backyards are a familiar part of city life. But as raccoon rabies cases mount south and east of Quebec, wildlife officials are making efforts to ensure the deadly virus doesn’t reach them.

Across parts of southern and eastern Quebec, 25 teams of wildlife technicians, professional trappers and animal health specialists are trapping raccoons and skunks, vaccinating them and releasing them back into the wild.

The operation began May 12 and runs until June 23, covering roughly 750 square kilometres. The goal is to create a barrier against the disease before it reaches the Montreal region.

Since the beginning of the year, Quebec has confirmed 71 cases of raccoon rabies and three cases of bat rabies. By comparison, 93 cases of raccoon rabies were recorded during all of 2025.