Time to replace your car? How to tell when repair bills are no longer worth it

TORONTO - Deciding whether to fix your aging car again or trade it in for a new one can be a tough calculation at the best of times, let alone when financing costs have significantly jumped and car prices have soared.

Whether to repair or replace your car comes down to balancing the cost and utility of the vehicle, according to Ben Mayhew, a financial planner and founder of Aergo Financial Planning in Halifax.

"But when you're in an environment where used car prices and new car prices are significantly higher, we need to go deeper on looking at that balance," he said.

He suggested finding a trustworthy mechanic who can help determine if an expensive repair could help defer acar purchase.

Esports competitions motivating force for First Nations students, educators say

Esports clubs are allowing First Nations students to play against peers from other on-reserve schools without the costly and time-intensive trips required for basketball, hockey and other traditional extracurriculars.

For teacher Karl Hildebrandt, one of the many motivators to grow Manitoba’s online gaming community is giving youth in rural and remote areas more competitive opportunities to represent their schools.

“When you tell kids they can play video games at school, their eyes open and when you tell them you can compete against another school in the province, their mouths drop,” said Hildebrandt, director of rural and northern esports for the Manitoba School Esports Association.

A handful of members of the Manitoba First Nations School System, including Lake Manitoba, Brokenhead, Fox Lake, Roseau River and York Landing, have started developing cybersport programs. Some teachers have also started integrating online games into their everyday lessons.

Manitoba auto repair shops in high gear amid lengthy MPI strike

Despite bumps in the road, Manitoba auto repair shops are chugging along as strike action at Manitoba Public Insurance drags into its seventh week.

“There are some delays, but we are hoping the (MPI) people can get back to work. We miss them. We miss the adjusters, but there is not much we can do about it,” said John Vernaus, owner of Vernaus Autobody in Winnipeg.

“Can you ask for more when (MPI is) operating with maybe one-10th of the staff?”

Around 1,700 walked off the job Aug. 28, after the Manitoba Government General Employees’ Union and the Crown auto insurer failed to reach a contract agreement. Many services have been halted, delayed or limited in the weeks since, as MPI works to maintain operations with reduced staff.

Flour & Flower plants roots with Waterloo Street location as demand for unique cakes, cookies decorated with edible flowers grows

Rachel Nedelec’s baking has reached the Grammys and Australia, an international fashion house and at least one yoga studio.

Next week, Flour & Flower will have a permanent home — its first brick-and-mortar bakery.

“I said, ‘I want it, I need it, this is my space,’” Nedelec recounted, laughing.

She and her real estate agent had heard the spot at 530 Waterloo St. was coming available. It was déjà vu: Nedelec first toured the site in early 2020, when her business was not yet half a year old.

Crave introduces ad tiers, including $9.99 plan

TORONTO - Crave is introducing two ad-supported tiers that each shave $5 or $10 off the monthly subscription fee.

Bell Media says its new Crave Basic with Ads costs $9.99/month, while Crave Standard with Ads costs $14.99/month. An unchanged ad-free option remains at $19.99/month, and is renamed Crave Premium Ad-Free.

Viewers can watch most shows and movies, including HBO and Max originals, on the ad-supported plans. About one per cent of titles won't be available due to licensing restrictions.

Ads will be 15 or 30 seconds long, totalling about five minutes per hour, and appear before and during some episodes and films.

Study shows ‘striking’ number who believe news misinforms

NEW YORK (AP) — Half of Americans in a recent survey indicated they believe national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting.

The survey, released Wednesday by Gallup and the Knight Foundation, goes beyond others that have shown a low level of trust in the media to the startling point where many believe there is an intent to deceive.

Asked whether they agreed with the statement that national news organizations do not intend to mislead, 50% said they disagreed. Only 25% agreed, the study found.

Similarly, 52% disagreed with a statement that disseminators of national news “care about the best interests of their readers, viewers and listeners,” the study found. It said 23% of respondents believed the journalists were acting in the public's best interests.

The joke’s on us as social media capitalizes on our base impulses in race to the bottom

The most important thing we can teach ourselves, and our children, about how to navigate social media is this: the algorithms want you to be angry. They want you to be angry, because it is good for business.

Leaving auto repair life in the rear-view

For decades, Cadillacs, Mustangs and Audis have overnighted in the Exchange District for repairs and transformations.

Now, a Winnipeg mechanic envisions a new use for his shop — one that sees it filled with milk and produce instead of wrenches and tires.

“There’s no groceries down here,” said Andy Baranowski, owner of J.W. McDonald Auto Service. “Where are you going to get your milk?”

The 189 Bannatyne Ave. building has been an auto repair garage for almost a century — since 1923, according to the Manitoba Historical Society.

Greenhouse sprouts in inner-city neighbourhood

AN inner-city greenhouse will soon burst with plants and people, and tackle food insecurity and unemployment.

The Spence Neighbourhood Association unveiled its community greenhouse at 689 Maryland St. Wednesday.

“In our neighbourhood, food access is a big issue,” said Mandalyn Unger, a co-ordinator with the non-profit.

The group regularlys accepts input from locals about their vision for the neighbourhood.

For a quarter-century, McNally Robinson's Grant Park location has tapped into local book lover's desires

Twenty-five years ago this week, the staff of McNally Robinson were frantically preparing, bounding about their Grant Park store, a 20,000-square-foot behemoth that had yet to welcome its first customer.

The grand opening was near, and so was Margaret Atwood.

Atwood, if not the country’s most famous author then at least its second or third, was in Winnipeg to promote her latest book, Alias Grace, and to lend her authoritative support to what was to become the country’s largest independent bookstore, with a reading and book signing. A large crowd was anticipated.

There was a wild push to get ready for Oct. 15: staff were shifted from the company’s smaller locations, shipments were arriving in rapid succession. Shelves still had to be set up when Atwood arrived a few hours early to discuss the details of her reading, where she would be joined by a local literary icon, Carol Shields.

Bright orange safety shirts now beacon of hope, thanks to young designer

Isaiah Binns, who graduated last spring from Elmwood High School, arrives at the downtown headquarters of Richlu Industries, the manufacturer of Tough Duck workwear, to see the logo he helped create for a line of the company’s reflective safety clothing ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Magnificent mentorship program

Sitting on a piano bench at the back of the St. Norbert Arts Centre gallery space Thursday, up-and-coming musician Tomiwa Omolayo is wearing rose-coloured glasses — literally.

It’s the same pair of tinted shades (accented by a rolled-up mustard-yellow toque) the self-proclaimed optimist wore for his first live show since the COVID-19 pandemic: a performance on the GerryFest 2021 stage.

“I was nervous because I wasn’t sure if the music would connect,” Omolayo said, thinking back to the August 13 show on a breezy outdoor stage at the arts centre. “I’m trying to make something that’s different, something that’s fresh.”

The Lagos-born 23-year-old is an Afrofusion artist who launched his career blending a variety of musical genres with the classic sounds of afrobeats in 2018, after moving from Nigeria to Winnipeg for school just a few years before.

Longtime attendee of Winnipeg Beach Jewish camp now program and planning director

It’s difficult for Drew McGillawee to pinpoint just one favourite part of his 18 summers at Camp Massad, but his biggest takeaway is that attending camp shaped him into the person he is today.

“Camp is the place that allowed me to be myself and allowed me to come out of my shell,” the 25-year-old Winnipegger said.

“Any job that I’ve had outside of camp is because of all the skills that I gained at camp, and all of my best friends are from my experiences at camp.”

This summer, McGillawee acted as director of planning and programming at the Jewish summer camp in Winnipeg Beach. The job allowed him to help attendees have the same formative experiences that he did.

New resto taps into Korean cuisine to amp up the humble 'corn' dog

Imagine a world full of corn dogs.

Think innumerable personal configurations — scores of sauces and seasonings, not to mention the variety of meats and cheeses that can be found inside these deliciously crispy concoctions.

Could it be the classic pairings of ketchup and mustard or the adventurous sweet mayo, teriyaki and honey butter? Is the batter just panko-crusted, or does it have potatoes on it? Perhaps it’s infused with squid ink?

Maybe on the inside, there’s a long pull of mozzarella cheese, with the choice of chicken, veggie, pork or beef for the meat. Perhaps, however, you want to scrap the sausage altogether and just go with oozing chocolate instead.

Pandemic isolation impacted our relationship with food, self-image

Food has been a global preoccupation during the pandemic. Home cooking became a necessary lockdown pastime and sourdough bread became shorthand for the many food trends that tore through social media. At the same time, one Winnipeg dietitian has seen a rise in emotional and disordered eating over the last year and a half.

“A lot of the things that people use to cope have changed,” says Raschelle Sabourin, a registered dietitian who runs a virtual nutrition counselling practice locally. “People were more isolated and there’s a lack of routine… and people’s relationships changed, so that caused more stress and people are sometimes using food to fill that void.”

Sabourin says that while using food as a coping mechanism can be a quick fix for quelling difficult emotions, the comfort of binge eating doesn’t last.

“For the short term, they might feel really good, but in the long term they’re not feeling good after emotional eating,” she says.

Manitoba youth concerned about mental health: survey

Young people surveyed by Manitoba's children's advocate say they need better mental health and addiction services, as well as anti-poverty programs.

The advocate, an independent office of the Manitoba legislature, consulted with almost 300 young people who live in various regions of the province. A report based on their feedback, “The Right to Be Heard”, was published Thursday.

Generally, youth in the north were more likely to say they are concerned about poverty and substance abuse, while those living in Winnipeg were more likely to select racism and mental health issues.

“A report like this allows us a really incredible opportunity to sit down internally and think about how the projects that we have underway, how the projects that we’re maybe considering embarking on, align with what youth want us to be focused on,” said acting children's advocate Ainsley Krone said.

Prominent fact-checker Snopes apologizes for plagiarism

A collection of breaking news briefs filed on August 19, 2021

• Trudeau, O’Toole to make campaign stops here Friday

• Twelve arrested, two at large after Norway House woman held against her will and sexually assaulted

• River East Transcona school board mandates masks for K-12 students, staff

• Missing teenage girl found in Portage la Prairie

• LRSD, teachers' association one step closer to implementing staff vaccine mandate

• Winnipeg police investigate 28th homicide of the year

• Twenty-seven new COVID infections, one death reported Thursday

• U of M, U of W, Red River announce vaccine mandates

• Two arrests made following June homicide

Auto detail shop poised to fight pandemic

Since COVID-19 has taught us to continually wash our hands, and many of us have already cleaned every corner of our homes, it's a sure bet a few of us have also turned our efforts to sanitizing our vehicles.

Your usual Saturday morning ritual of washing your car on the driveway with the garden hose and vacuuming the interior and wiping down hard surfaces with car cleaning products is likely all you'll need to keep your vehicle shiny and safe — but if you know or suspect your vehicle has come into contact with coronavirus, or just want to increase your peace of mind, it may be time to call in a professional.

The majority of auto detail shops, which fall under the same essential services category as automobile repair shops, have remained open during the pandemic.

Tom Segal, 45, the owner of Blue Ocean Auto Detailing in Headingley, has seen it all in the more than 25 years he's been cleaning cars, including dirty diapers, rotten food crammed between seats and rodent infestations, but this is his first pandemic.

Former mechanic gives a face to Rainbow Stage's Beast

It’s not exactly a tale as old as time.

About 20 years ago, Christian Hadley was an auto mechanic dissatisfied with the grind of machining auto parts and deflated at the prospect of repairing another tire.

He needed a change, and not the kind involving 5W30 motor oil.

His career pivot was, quite literally, dramatic. At the age of 25, he went to the University of Winnipeg to study theatre arts. He emerged with skills in both set-building and makeup design. And he brings those skills to fruition in the Rainbow Stage production of Beauty and the Beast.

‘Mistake’ leads to Canadian Forces ad on far-right website

OTTAWA — The Canadian Forces have been running a recruitment ad on the American website Breitbart — a digital force in far-right politics that’s among U.S. President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies and one of Canada’s biggest critics.

The military indirectly paid Breitbart, in violation of Ottawa’s advertising rules, but has since pulled its ad off the site.

The ad popped up several times across Breitbart. In one case, it appeared in an article about a Italian mosque, weighing into that country’s Sunday election, which was accompanied by an October 2016 photo showing scores of Muslims praying next to the Colosseum in Rome.

The military took down the ad after the Free Press asked how it was spending taxpayer’s money. But the fact it appeared on a far-right website speaks to the unpredictable nature of online advertising, with Ottawa using a system that provides no idea of exactly where its ads will appear.