Winnipeg-based organization injects federal funds into innovative, women-powered business in Bolivia

With practised grace, Antonia Olpo slides down the bank of the long, shallow pond and plunges fully clothed into the muddy water. On the grass above, other women and their male helpers unfurl the net, stretching it across the pond from edge to edge, and let it sink below the surface.

A friend is a friend is a friend

My mother has a friend she does not know. For privacy’s sake I’ll call her Peggy, but that is not her name.

Black-led non-profit developer gets federal funds for affordable housing units in north part of city

A Black-led real estate developer has become the first in Canada to secure federal funding, paving the way for 30 affordable housing units within a new 72-unit development in north Winnipeg.

Non-profit Inuka Community Inc. received $23.3 million through the Affordable Housing Fund, administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. The CMHC set aside $50 million specifically for Black-led organizations to help create more than 500 units.

The new rental complex at 1510 Main St., will include 30 one-bedroom, 30 two-bedroom and 12 three-bedroom units. Thirty of those units, in a mix of sizes, will be designated affordable and aimed at newcomers to the city, with available supports such as debt management, credit building and driver training.

“Lots of sleepless nights to get here,” said Naomi Gichungu, Inuka’s chief executive officer.

Most refused to listen then, more understand now

An open letter, to the children:

It’s late September in Manitoba and the leaves are turning golden. Autumns are beautiful on this land. I hope that, wherever you were, you were able to enjoy it. I hope that there were moments, and maybe more than moments, where you were able to leap face-down in the fallen leaves, to gather them to your nose, to breathe their earthy perfume of red and orange.

There is more orange in Winnipeg now. I wish you could see it. The signs and flags, dotted around the city, staked into lawns and hung over doors and posted as stickers in shop windows. That orange means people care about you and they remember. Even those who didn’t know you, because you lived your whole lives before we were born.

Some of those lives were long, some far too short, and most were somewhere in the middle. Some found joy, whether in spite or because of everything that happened. Some were imprisoned by the pain, haunted by the memories and the grief for what was taken away. There, too, perhaps most were somewhere in the middle.

This is what I want you to know

I sometimes stand on the third floor of the former Portage la Prairie Residential School, where hundreds of children stood before me, and look out over the grounds and the lake beyond.

Deepening and complex homelessness crisis pushing city neighbourhoods to tipping point

On a calm summer day, the Red River serves as a mirror, its glass-like surface masking the muddy bottom below.

Look closer and you’ll see a reflection of the city along its banks. Towering cottonwoods and elms, riverside homes, iconic postcard backdrops.

Look closer still, and the city’s scars — from the physical and psychological of individuals to the enabling and failings of institutions — are laid bare.

What begins as a trickle near Kildonan Park grows into a flood the further south you travel along the river.

Lice concerns rise as children return to school. Here’s what parents can do

Children have returned to school and are bringing home stories about the things they learned and the friends they made. But some parents are concerned they could also be bringing home a tiny nuisance — lice.

Though schools are not the only place transmission occurs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says head lice infestations in the U.S. are most common among preschool and elementary-age children.

Since the middle of August when students began returning to school, more people have searched Google for information about the blood-sucking parasites and are seeking answers to common questions about how to prevent and treat infestations, according to Google Trends. The CDC estimates there are up to 12 million head lice infestations annually in the U.S. infecting children between 3 to 11 years old.

Experts say there is a lot of misinformation about lice. Here are the experts' answers to commonly asked questions:

Setting the record straight on Reading Recovery

When I read the op-ed Empire of illiteracy in a recent Winnipeg Free Press (Think Tank, Sept. 9), I wasn’t just frustrated, I was deeply disappointed.

Minister says law on sign language services in works

Manitoba’s accessibility minister hinted her office is drafting legislation to increase access to and recognition of American and Indigenous sign language services.

Three months after she was caught complaining about an ASL interpreter on a “hot mic,” Nahanni Fontaine gave members of the deaf community an update about her office’s work on the file.

Fontaine, whose portfolio includes families, gender equity and accessibility, said efforts are underway to make real-time captioning and other interpretation services more available, consistent and reliable across local governments.

“We are exploring ways to support recognition of ASL and Indigenous sign languages as important parts of Manitoba’s cultural and linguistic landscape,” Fontaine said Tuesday at Memorial Park following a first-of-its-kind flag raising. “These are steps forward.”

Foster parents charged, accused of assaulting children in their care

Two foster parents in north Winnipeg are accused of abusing children in their care, including one who was in critical condition Tuesday, in a case that has Manitoba’s children’s advocate seeking answers.

Small changes, big impact

Are you a climate champion or climate destroyer? Ecological quizzes and carbon-footprint calculators can help you find out.

St. Boniface residents drained after demolition of Happyland pool

As demolition continues at one outdoor pool in St. Boniface, a city councillor hopes to take a second look at extending the life of another one.

When self-doubt creeps in at work, pause and reframe your negative thoughts. Here’s how

NEW YORK (AP) — When we make mistakes at work, it can lead to a cycle of negative thinking.

The damaging thoughts swirl: “I’m an impostor.” “I’m not smart enough.” “I’m failing at my job.”

Feeling like an impostor — doubting one’s own abilities despite a track record of success — is common, especially among women and members of marginalized groups. Even on days when everything’s going right, it can be hard to shift out of a cycle of self-doubt.

But there are ways to interrupt that downward spiral.

Age isn’t everything when deciding if a child is ready to be home alone

School is back in session, bringing new routines — and new milestones for students.

For some, this is the year they are allowed to go home to an empty house instead of an after-school program or day care. It’s a decision faced by many parents whose work or other obligations keep them from coming home until long past school release time.

With after-school care often expensive and hard to find, parents have reason to encourage independence. But how can they be sure their child is ready to navigate home on their own, even if only for an hour or two?

A handful of states have set age minimums. Maryland law, for example, makes it a crime to leave a child younger than 8 years old unattended.

Councillors call for better communication, wands, metal detectors to protect staff

Another Winnipeg workplace — this time the seat of civic government — is under a cloud of security concerns as the city’s largest union considers the next step of a grievance over staff safety at city hall.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500 filed the grievance about city hall in February 2024, noting staff had reported experiencing verbal abuse, racist remarks, threats and harassment at the property.

“The grievance is still open (now) because they haven’t shown us that there’s been any kind of adequate solution… We’re thinking if (the city hasn’t) done anything to redress (this), maybe we’ve got to move to the next step of the grievance process,” said Gord Delbridge, president of CUPE Local 500.

Delbridge said the union is discussing what its next step would be.

The big meaning behind micro-relationships, and why we should talk to strangers more

VANCOUVER - Psychology Prof. Gillian Sandstrom was a lonely graduate student in Toronto when she began what she calls "a tiny, tiny micro-relationship."

She and a woman who ran a hotdog stand on her way to university around 2007 would wave hello and smile at each other. Their interactions were so small that Sandstrom uses air quotes to even describe them as a "relationship."

And yet "it really meant something much bigger than it seemed like it should, and it made me feel like I belonged there," said Sandstrom.

"I felt very out of place and she, more than anyone else, is who made me feel OK, which was a bit puzzling."

Early childhood educators give high marks to job satisfaction: poll

Despite eight in 10 early childhood educators reporting high levels of job satisfaction, many employers in the sector continue to struggle with staffing shortages.

The Manitoba Child Care Association has released the results of an online survey of its members that took place between Feb. 4 and 18.

Probe Research Inc. led the project — a decade after the Winnipeg-based polling firm conducted an initial workforce survey for the association.

This time around, 830 people, including front-line early childhood educators, centre directors and family child-care providers, submitted responses.

Neighbours complain of crime, drugs, trash near supportive housing units

Residents and business owners say they’re concerned supportive housing complexes for the homeless are bringing further crime and drug use to their neighbourhoods.

Main Street Project, which operates a pair of supportive housing buildings in the West End, has initiated an “action plan” after receiving repeated complaints about drug use, reckless behaviour and litter near the buildings.

Two housing units at 777 Sargent Ave. and 583 Furby St., which are run by Main Street Project under the province’s Your Way Home strategy, are guided by plans that aim to “promote safety for residents, staff and neighbours.”

Executive director Jamil Mahmood said he received complaints from Coun. Cindy Gilroy and several residents and businesses that prompted the acceleration of the strategy.

Why Winnipeg needs low-fare transit

Picture a single mother choosing between groceries and bus fare, or a youth not being able to access recreational activities because transit is too expensive. In a city where costs continue to rise, access to public transit shouldn’t be a luxury, but a daily necessity for survival.

Most US adults think individual choices keep people in poverty, a new AP-NORC/Harris poll finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most U.S. adults think personal choices are a major driver of poverty and homelessness, according to a new poll, while fewer blame a lack of government support.

However, just over half also think the government spends too little on those in need, the new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows.

The poll comes as homelessness is on the rise and as officials across the country, including Republican President Donald Trump in the nation's capital, push to clear encampments where unhoused people live. At the same time, the GOP tax and spending cut bill signed into law by Trump in July is expected to reduce benefits for low-income people.

“It seems like people are a little conflicted,” said Bruce Meyer, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School who helped craft and analyze the poll. “I think people probably realize, in part at least, the complexity of what leads people to get in trouble in terms of their economic circumstances. And I think a lot of people are generous at heart and will help people out and think the government should as well, even when individuals aren’t blameless.”

Onslaught of sports betting ads make gambling seem enticing to youth, doctors say

TORONTO - Doctors are calling for restrictions on sports betting ads, saying they are setting youth up for a future of problem gambling.

An editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday says the ads are everywhere during sports broadcasts and that the legalization of online gambling has made every smartphone a potential betting platform.

Editor Dr. Shannon Charlebois says even though betting sites say they're only for people 19 years of age and older, youth are being inundated with advertising that equates enjoying sports with betting.

She says child and teen brains are still developing and the constant exposure to gambling messages normalizes harmful behaviour that they can carry into adulthood