Healthy food subsidy might be on table over gas tax cut: Kinew

Premier Wab Kinew says he is still considering relief for Manitobans struggling with the high price of fuel but it may not be in the form of a gas tax holiday.

Trump gives go-ahead to major new Canada-US oil pipeline

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — President Donald Trump granted a key approval Thursday for a major new oil pipeline from Canada into the U.S. that’s been dubbed “Keystone Light” over its similarities to a contentious project blocked by the Biden administration.

The three-foot-wide (1 meter) Bridger Pipeline Expansion would carry up to 550,000 barrels (87,400 cubic meters) of oil a day from Canada through Montana and Wyoming, where it would link with another pipeline.

The pipeline needs additional state and federal environmental approvals before construction, which company officials expect to start next year. Environmentalists hope to stop the project over worries that the pipeline could break and spill.

At peak volume, the 650-mile (1,050-kilometer) pipeline would move two-thirds as much oil as the better-known Keystone XL pipeline that got partially built before President Joe Biden, citing climate change, canceled its permit on the day he took office in 2021.

Toy company Spin Master bracing for rising production, shipping costs from war

TORONTO - The war in the Middle East will soon make your kid's favourite toys more expensive to produce and deliver to store shelves.

Spin Master Corp., the Toronto-based firm behind Paw Patrol, Gabby's Dollhouse and Ms. Rachel toys, said Thursday that a blockage of one of the region's key shipping routes is pushing up its freight, resin and packaging costs.

The impact has so far been minimal because the company had several contracts with suppliers that locked in commodity prices before the conflict began on Feb. 28.

But chief financial officer Jonathan Roiter said that will soon change.

Supreme Court hollows out a landmark law that had protected minority voting rights for 6 decades

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Lyndon B. Johnson knew the legislation he was about to sign was momentous, one that took courage for certain members of Congress to pass since the vote could cost them their seats.

To honor that, he took the unusual step of leaving the Oval Office and going to Capitol Hill for the signing ceremony. It was Aug. 6, 1965, five months after the “Bloody Sunday” attack on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, gave momentum to the bill that became known as the Voting Rights Act.

In the six decades since, it became one of the most consequential laws in the nation's history, preventing discrimination against minorities at the ballot box and helping to elect thousands of Black and Hispanic representatives at all levels of government.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked out a major pillar of the law that had protected against racial discrimination in voting and representation. It was a decision that came more than a decade after the court undermined another key tenet of the law and led to restrictive voting laws in a number of states. Voting and civil rights advocates were left fearful of what lies ahead for minority communities.

Ottawa outlines plans to tackle financial crime, ban crypto ATMs

OTTAWA - The federal government plans to ban cryptocurrency ATMs as part of a suite of measures in its spring economic statement targeting financial crimes.

The government says scammers use the ATMs to defraud victims, while criminals use them to convert the proceeds of crime.

There are currently just under 4,000 cryptocurrency ATMs in Canada — the most per capita in the world, finance officials speaking on background said. The document says Canadians will still be able to buy cryptocurrencies from "brick-and-mortar" businesses.

The financial update outlined other measures to tackle criminal use of businesses that provide services like currency exchanges and digital payments. They include new powers around ministerial directives, stricter rules on registration and more criminal record checks for those businesses.

Antisemitism on the rise, becoming normalized, B’nai Brith warns

Canada is in the throes of a national antisemitism crisis, says B’nai Brith Canada.

The organization’s annual audit of antisemitic incidents reports 6,800 in 2025, 6,248 of which involved online hate.

That is a 9.3 per cent increase over 2024, when the total was 6,219, and it represents the highest total since 1995, said B’nai Brith, the country’s oldest human rights organization dedicated to eradicating racism, antisemitism and hatred.

The biggest spike in antisemitism occurred in 2023, when the number of incidents rose from 2,769 in 2022 to 5,791 following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Lots of accolades, little details in Kinew’s proposed social media ban

Premier Wab Kinew made national news headlines on the weekend when he promised to institute a ban on social media use by youth. Although Ottawa and several other provinces have promised similar efforts, the industrious Manitoba premier beat them to the punch and the accolades.

Manitoba education minister says social media ban could start in schools

WINNIPEG - Manitoba could turn to classrooms as the first place to ban children from using social media and artificial intelligence chatbots, and one young advocate is urging the province to work with those it's aiming to protect.

Tracy Schmidt, the province's education minister, says Manitobans can expect to see the ban's first phase rolled out in schools, likening it to when the government first banned cellphones in classrooms in 2024.

"This is very early days. A step like this is going to certainly take legislative and regulatory processes," Schmidt said at an unrelated event Monday.

"But I know that something we're talking about right away is how we can roll this out in schools as soon as possible."

Advocates praise move to ban social media use among youths

Child advocates are praising the Manitoba government for announcing its intention to ban the use of social media and artificial intelligence chatbots for youths.

Premier Wab Kinew told a crowd at a party event Saturday night the NDP government will move to restrict children from using social media accounts and artificial intelligence chatbots. The proposal is intended to protect kids from technology platforms that he says hurt their development.

Details on the plan are scant, like the age limit he is considering or how a ban would be enforced. He did not speak to reporters after his speech and was not available for comment Sunday.

Kinew’s director of communications, Amy Tuckett-McGimpsey, said the premier will likely speak more about the idea in the coming days.

‘We finished the foundation’: Northern Soccer League looks to build on first season

For those at the forefront of Canada's first women's professional soccer league, the goalposts are shifting heading into the second season.

Season one was all about launching the Northern Super League, said Diana Matheson, the league's founder and chief growth officer.

Now, on the cusp of season two, the focus shifts from making history to creating a legacy.

“From our perspective at the league and all the clubs, it just feels really, really stable," Matheson said.

Meta slashes 8,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, as Microsoft offers buyouts

Meta is laying off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, the company said Thursday as it continues to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires.

The company said it was making the cuts for the sake of efficiency and to allow new investments in parts of its business, as first reported by Bloomberg, which also said the company will leave about 6,000 jobs unfilled.

Also Thursday, Microsoft said it was offering voluntary buyouts to thousands of its U.S. employees.

The software giant plans to make the offers in early May to about 8,750 people, or 7% of its U.S. workforce, according to two people familiar with the plan who were not authorized to speak about it publicly.

High fuel prices driving up shipping costs for northern grocers

Whether it's Florida oranges, Colombian coffee or even homegrown items from another province, food has often travelled a long way before it reaches grocery stores in Canada.

The supply chain gets even longer for communities in the Far North.

Typically, groceries are loaded onto a truck and taken to a launch point in cities like Ottawa or Winnipeg. They're then flown, or shipped by sea, to finally reach the shelves of remote northern grocery stores.

It's an expensive journey. By the time groceries reach northern communities, the added transport costs mean items are priced significantly higher than what most Canadians pay at the grocery store — and even more for fresh and perishable produce.

After facing the death of its dominant newspaper, Pittsburgh’s media has a surprising turnaround

PITTSBURGH (AP) — In the space of a couple of weeks this spring, Pittsburgh media has lived through a near-death experience and a resurrection.

Owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week announced the newspaper's sale to a nonprofit foundation that said it was committed to keeping it open. A news outlet that predates the U.S. Constitution was due to close on May 3, which would have made the Steel City the nation's largest community without a city-based paper.

Weeks earlier, the alternative Pittsburgh City Paper, whose staff learned on New Year's Day that it was closing after 34 years, roared back to life under new ownership.

They were rare positive developments for a local news industry that has seen its share of the opposite over the past two decades — newsrooms shuttered or thinned out, journalists thrown out of work, consumers drifting away. No one is pretending that a true turnaround will be easy in Pittsburgh. One thing that may help is that the city faced a news abyss and was forced to prepare for it.

Tesla leader believes Shanghai factory operations will play a role in robot mass production

SHANGHAI (AP) — A Tesla Inc. leader said Tuesday he believes its Shanghai factory operations will help resolve the challenges in achieving mass production of the company's humanoid robots as the U.S. electric vehicle giant pivots to robotics.

Wang Hao, Tesla's vice president, said the Shanghai facilities, like other Tesla factories, will contribute after the company enters an era of robots.

Wang, who also serves as president of Tesla China, told reporters on a government-organized tour of one of its Shanghai factories that CEO Elon Musk once noted having production at scale is a critical challenge in manufacturing humanoid robots.

Wang said he believes the Shanghai manufacturing arm “is a golden key to solving this challenge," but did not specify how the operation will support the company's robotic business.

A project to save rural synagogues grows from Maine to Montana

WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — Rabbi Rachel Isaacs spent the days leading up to Passover overseeing the preparation of ceremonial foods at Beth Israel Congregation, a synagogue in central Maine where membership has quadrupled over the last 15 years.

These days, growing congregations is very much on Isaacs' mind, as she's leading a movement to strengthen rural synagogues and Jewish communities around the country. They've reached dozens, and they're hoping for many more.

“Rural Jewish life is important for the Jewish people and it’s important for rural America,” Isaacs said. “Those people deserve to be served and shepherded.”

Isaacs is executive director of the Center for Small Town Jewish Life at Colby College, a liberal arts school in Waterville, Maine. The center began a decade ago with a goal of supporting Jewish congregations that are far from big cities and it has grown to run programs for more than 60 communities in 22 states.

Why one Las Vegas newspaper just stopped printing its rival

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las Vegas Review-Journal announced Friday that it will no longer print its rival the Las Vegas Sun for the first time in decades, sharpening their legal dispute over the nation’s last joint operating agreement stemming from a 1970 law designed to preserve newspapers.

Readers “will not find a printed Las Vegas Sun insert inside,” the Review-Journal wrote in an editorial, noting the Sun maintains a website, has a few hundred thousand followers across social media platforms, and is free to produce its own newspaper.

“We encourage them to do so. The Review-Journal competes with countless sources of news and entertainment, but we would welcome one more. We just don’t want to foot the bill. It is time the Sun stood up on its own two feet,” the editorial said, without specifying the cost.

It was the first day in 76 years the Sun hasn’t been printed, Sun attorney Leif Reid said in an email.

On schedule: provincial minimum wage to rise to $16.40/hr in October

Manitoba’s minimum wage is set to rise 40 cents in October, leaving labour and business advocates split on the benefit of continuing to tie the baseline to the rate of inflation as the cost of living grows.

The minimum wage will rise to $16.40 per hour from $16/hr on Oct. 1. (The provincial government is required to announce the incoming minimum wage by April 1 each year.)

Provincial legislation ties the mark to inflation — the 40-cent increase is in line with Manitoba’s 2.7 per cent inflation rate in 2025 — and in 2022, the former Progressive Conservative government amended the rules to allow minimum wage be boosted beyond inflation, but only if inflation exceeds five per cent.

However, that same legislation prevents the province from closing the gap between the minimum wage and the cost of living, said Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck.

West Broadway drop-in offers supports, programs, safety for people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

West Broadway has become home to the first drop-in centre in the city to support people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Construction work officially begins on $3-billion wind farm northeast of Quebec City

BEAUPRÉ - Construction on a major wind farm northeast of Quebec City has been officially launched, with an investment of $3 billion.

The first two phases of the Des Neiges wind farm — the southern sector and the Charlevoix sector — will comprise a total of 114 turbines and generate 800 Megawatts of wind energy, enough to power 140,000 homes.

The project by Quebec's hydro utility, Boralex, and Énergir — the largest natural gas distributor in the province — is to be located on the grounds of the Séminaire de Québec in the Charlevoix region.

The third phase, if completed, will bring the farm's output to 1,200 Megawatts and contribute Hydro-Québec's goal of adding 10,000 MW of wind power to its current portfolio of 4,000 MW by 2035.

Four local Toronto-area Metroland newspapers make a print comeback

TORONTO - Torstar and Metroland Media Group say print editions for four local newspapers in the Greater Toronto Area are making a comeback.

A monthly print edition of the Burlington Post debuted last week, while the Oakville Beaver will be available for pick up at public locations and local businesses starting Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Whitby This Week and Oshawa This Week are set to have print relaunches on April 8 and 15, respectively.

Metroland says it is also relaunching its journalism internship program with 20 new editorial intern positions for the summer and year-long positions across Ontario.

Canada not worried U.S.-Mexico trade talks will upend trilateral deal, LeBlanc says

OTTAWA - Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on Monday he isn't worried Mexico will sign a trade agreement with the Americans that excludes Canada.

LeBlanc told reporters at a news conference that the Mexicans are also committed to a trilateral deal as the countries work to renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA.

"We've also said all along that there will be a bilateral element to these discussions and there will also be a trilateral element," he said.

"The American administration and our government and the Mexicans have also been clear that there are bilateral issues that properly will be worked on together by two countries and it will necessarily form part of the discussion around the trilateral review of CUSMA as well."

City hiring consultant to plan for cleanup after future weather disasters

When the next disaster hits, the City of Winnipeg hopes to have a detailed plan in place to clean it up.

The city is seeking a consultant to create a disaster debris management plan, noting the risk of such disruptions is increasing.

“Winnipeg is known for extreme weather conditions, including winter storms and spring floods. Climate change is anticipated to intensify these conditions and frequency of events,” a request for proposals states.

The document notes hazards such as tornadoes, floods, storms and fires can damage trees, buildings, infrastructure and homes, while producing a large amount of debris.

Brazilian inmates find relief and reduce sentences through reading

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — When 33-year-old Brazilian woman Emily de Souza heard about a program allowing her to shave off four days from her prison sentence by reading a book, she seized the opportunity to reconnect with a cherished habit.

Like tens of thousands of detainees across the country — including former President Jair Bolsonaro — she signed up for a sentence reduction program that encourages inmates to immerse themselves in literary works in exchange for reducing their sentences by up to 48 days per year.

The possibility of reuniting earlier with her 9-year-old autistic son, who her mother and aunt are looking after, only ramped up her motivation to participate in the project.

“One day is an eternity because it feels like it’s never going to end,” said de Souza, who is incarcerated at the Djanira Dolores de Oliveira Women’s Prison in Rio de Janeiro, which houses approximately 820 female detainees.