Residents pour cold water on proposed development in St. Vital

Some south St. Vital residents hope to stop a development proposal to build 23 new homes over fears the construction would put their well water at risk.

The proposal aims to add the homes at 45 Daman Farm Rd., 100 Jean Louis Rd. and 2974 St. Mary’s Rd., a 57-acre property on the west side of St. Mary’s Road in the St. Vital Perimeter South neighbourhood. The area is located within city limits but does not have city water and sewer service.

“This particular property lies in a sensitive groundwater area and every well that’s drilled in this area just contaminates the water even further by adding more salt,” said Michelle Olivson, who lives in the area.

City staff recommended the housing application be rejected over the groundwater concerns but city council’s property and development committee voted in favour of the project Friday, echoing a previous community committee vote.

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.

Anything but sweet: outage spoils dozens of litres of parlour’s ice cream

The owner of an ice cream shop was licking her wounds Thursday after dozens of litres of icy treats melted away, causing profits to go down the drain.

Patty Mikos, the longtime co-owner of Dairy Delight on St. Anne’s Road, arrived at work to find 10 tubs of 11.4 litres of hard ice cream melting inside a freezer that had been off for hours because of a hydro outage.

The ice cream was tossed into a garbage bin with other perishable food products, including hamburger.

“We had to throw out all the meat — about 50 pounds today,” Mikos said. “You don’t want to risk it when it comes to meat.”

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.”

Number of private agency nurses rises

As the province tries to move away from its reliance on private agency nurses, data show the practice continues to increase in Manitoba.

A report Thursday from the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba shows there were 1,611 nurses working for private agencies in 2024, up from 1,418 in 2023.

“Our fundamental mandate as the professional regulator is to ensure public protection and provide the conditions that work towards supporting and ensuring patient safety,” said college spokesman Martin Lussier.

“When there is a significant shift in the practice of (nurses) that we regulate, part of our work is to assess: does that create new challenges or risks.”

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

Alberta bans sexual images in school library books under revised order

EDMONTON - The Alberta government made good Monday on its promise to revise its school book ban, stating that from now on written descriptions of sex are OK, but images and illustrations of sex are not.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides told reporters that visual depictions had been the government's main concern from the start.

When asked by reporters why the government wasn't concerned with written descriptions of explicit sexual material, he said, “An image can be understood and conveyed at any grade level with any degree of comprehension.

“Whereas, of course, vocabulary and understanding progresses and develops throughout the school year."

Health officials declare ‘Queen of Canada’s’ compound a threat to public safety

RICHMOUND - Provincial officials in Saskatchewan say parts of a former school that was serving as a compound for the self-proclaimed "Queen of Canada" and her followers have been declared unfit for human habitation, and the residents have been ordered out.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority says in an email that occupancy of the building in Richmound is prohibited under Section 22 of the Public Health Act, on the basis that the premises is a multi-person residence and is not connected to the municipal sewer system.

The email says an order was issued for anyone who was currently occupying the building to vacate, although it notes the order covers the building only, and not trailers on the site.

Police arrested the group's leader, Romana Didulo, property owner Ricky Manz and 14 others on Wednesday in the village west of Regina, after obtaining a search warrant to enter the site.

Setting aside money for post-secondary education shouldn’t slip through budgeting cracks

Back-to-school time is hectic and costly for many families with fees, new clothing, supplies and extracurricular activities.

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.

Hydro rejects generator option for evacuated community

The chief of an evacuated northern First Nation that is still without electricity has demanded the provincial and federal governments spend $8 million on a generator so residents can return home, however Manitoba Hydro says the proposal is unrealistic.

Worse-for-wear riverwalk a victim of total neglect

Partway down my well-beaten path from West Broadway to The Forks, I feel a bit like Dorothy navigating Oz. The path ahead is lined with Winnipeg’s version of dancing poppies and flying monkeys: hazards, confrontations and ghostly spectres to which we’ve become perhaps far too accustomed.

Attorneys general warn OpenAI and other tech companies to improve chatbot safety

The attorneys general of California and Delaware on Friday warned OpenAI they have “serious concerns” about the safety of its flagship chatbot, ChatGPT, especially for children and teens.

The two state officials, who have unique powers to regulate nonprofits such as OpenAI, sent the letter to the company after a meeting with its legal team earlier this week in Wilmington, Delaware.

California AG Rob Bonta and Delaware AG Kathleen Jennings have spent months reviewing OpenAI's plans to restructure its business, with an eye on “ensuring rigorous and robust oversight of OpenAI’s safety mission.”

But they said they were concerned by “deeply troubling reports of dangerous interactions between" chatbots and their users, including the "heartbreaking death by suicide of one young Californian after he had prolonged interactions with an OpenAI chatbot, as well as a similarly disturbing murder-suicide in Connecticut. Whatever safeguards were in place did not work.”

Alberta government postpones release of revised school library book ban

EDMONTON - The Alberta government has postponed the release of its revised school library book ban to Monday.

The government had promised the new ministerial order for Friday afternoon, with a technical briefing for reporters set earlier in the day.

After the briefing was supposed to start, media were informed by email that it had been rescheduled.

“We are taking the time needed to ensure that the revised ministerial order is clear for all school boards," Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides later said in an email in response to questions about the postponement.

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.

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.

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.

Hotel-weary evacuees guests at powwow

SIOUX VALLEY DAKOTA NATION — Evacuees displaced from their communities in northern Manitoba were invited to Sioux Valley Dakota Nation on Friday for what the chief called a mental health day.

A hundred people were at the afternoon event when the Brandon Sun visited.

The event, which included live music, games and children’s entertainment, was a way to give a day of fresh air to evacuees, Chief Vince Tacan said.

“We thought we’d give our relatives from the north a mental health day, because staying in hotels gets hard after a while,” Tacan said.