Giant Tiger decision creates giant void for desperate population

A lot of Winnipeggers may shrug, but the end of Giant Tiger’s downtown store is a giant problem for many of the people living in the centre of the city.

It would have been difficult for anyone going into or passing by the Canadian discount chain’s Donald Street and Ellice Avenue location Thursday to miss the red notices posted on the store’s windows advising it will close on Nov. 7.

According to a 2024 Downtown Winnipeg BIZ report, about 18,000 people live in Winnipeg’s downtown.

More than 60,000 people work there, and some days — when there’s a big concert or the Jets play at Canada Life Centre, for example — the number of people spending time in the area increases significantly.

UN, scientists warn that strong El Nino will add fuel to ‘a planet already on fire’

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A strengthening El Nino has already broken records for intensity at its early stages, and it likely will spark even more wild weather worldwide as it grows, “adding fuel to a planet already on fire,” United Nations officials warned Friday.

A key area of the Pacific Ocean used to measure the strength of El Nino this week reached its warmest and most intense level ever recorded for the 15th week since it formed, which is early in its lifetime, scientists at Columbia University reported.

El Nino — a natural warming of the Pacific near the equator that warps weather patterns worldwide — won't peak for several months and should last through spring 2027. The World Meteorological Organization, a U.N. agency, cautioned on Friday that it will likely trigger extreme heat, drought and rainfall well into next year.

“Two months ago, I warned that El Nino was arriving on our doorstep. Now it is inside the house — and turning up the heat,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Friday. “We have already endured a summer of extremes — record-shattering heat domes; apocalyptic wildfires raging in Spain, France and far beyond; thousands of lives lost in the scorching conditions.”

On eve of Folklorama, Ghana pavilion scrambles to replace stolen outfits

Volunteers from Folklorama’s Ghana pavilion scrambled to replace cultural costumes for about 40 young dancers after the outfits were stolen in Winnipeg days before the annual festival begins.

Two plastic storage bins containing the costumes, to be worn by children and teenagers, were taken from the trunk of a parked car on Banning Street, near Notre Dame Avenue in the West End, likely late Wednesday or early Thursday.

“I felt sad that this has happened. I felt completely devastated for the mother who had them in her car,” said pavilion co-ordinator Abigail Larson. “The initial feeling of sadness changed to, ‘OK, how do we make this a positive?’”

The costumes belong to the Ghana Union of Manitoba Dancers, whose members have rehearsed for months for Folklorama, which begins Sunday.

France’s forest management may need to change to prevent more wildfires in Les Landes

PARIS (AP) — History keeps repeating itself in the smoldering forests of southwest France, now ash-covered and charred.

Devastated by previous blazes in 2022 and 1949, when 82 people died, the largest human-made woodland in Western Europe has again been ravaged by wildfires which burned an area four times the size of Paris.

The forests of Les Landes — covering 10,000 square kilometers (3,860 square miles) — were created in the 19th century for timber and resin production. They comprise endless rows of pines in neat, close lines, which works against them in a wildfire, with flames jumping easily from one tree to another.

Blazes loom as a growing danger for the timberland because Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent. But climate change isn't its sole vulnerability, experts say. They also point to the very nature of such industrial plantation, whose origins date back to the Second French Empire.

The bountiful harvest: Thousands of visitors flock to St. Norbert Farmers’ Market every Saturday

While most of Winnipeg is still sleeping, or perhaps just starting to think about making the morning coffee, a patch of shade and sun just south of the Perimeter Highway is already humming with life.

Giant Tiger to close downtown, area residents bemoan dwindling grocery options

One of the only remaining grocery-store options for people living downtown and in the Exchange District is closing its doors.

Manitoba law meant to aid survivors of child sexual abuse imagery has never been put to the test

A Manitoba law meant to provide financial support to survivors of child sexual abuse that was recorded and distributed online has never once been used in its 15 years of existence, the Free Press has learned.

Minister says changes to Nutrition North program set to roll out in the fall

OTTAWA - Northern Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand says changes to the Nutrition North program are coming this fall, but they won't be limited to subsidies to reduce the cost of food in the North.

Instead, Chartrand said, the federal government is looking at all options to help reduce food insecurity in the region, including strengthening local supply chains and supporting harvesters.

Nutrition North provides money to retailers to help bring down the high cost of groceries in 124 communities. Some retailers have been accused of not applying the full subsidy to the items they sell.

The federal government says it has been reviewing the program to strengthen the food economy, restructure governance and reform subsidies.

Get a little culture: Folklorama celebrates 55 years

You never have to wait more than a week in Winnipeg during summer for the next major festival.

And you never have to venture very far during Folklorama, which begins Sunday, before running into another church, community centre or curling club humming with music, food and cultural dress.

In sheer scale, it’s the most transformative festival Winnipeg has.

Featuring 45 pavilions this year, its 55th, Folklorama launched Wednesday at a news conference at The Forks. (The official kickoff is Sunday at Assiniboine Park’s Lyric Theatre and Field at 4 p.m., the only chance to see all the Pavilion Ambassadors in one spot.) The event also featured a citizen ceremony for several dozen new Canadians, presided over by Canada’s first Métis citizenship judge, Suzanne Carrière.

Shoppers flock to the frozen aisle as fresh vegetable prices soar: Loblaw

Consumers are looking for savings in the frozen vegetable aisle at Loblaw banners as prices of fresh produce have spiked in recent months.

"It's more than (five percentage points) growth in the frozen veg in our hard discount banner," Loblaw Cos. Ltd. chief executive Per Bank told analysts on a second-quarter earnings call on Thursday. Hard discount largely refers to the company's No Frills and Maxi chains.

"Those customers who shop there, they are trying to mitigate their inflation."

Affordability continues to drive buying decisions as consumers contend with high gasoline and food prices.

Between prices and a diarrhea-causing parasite, lettuce is causing hard times at some restaurants

It’s been a choppy year for restaurants that lean into lettuce.

Lettuce prices rose sharply in the first half of 2026 due to hot weather in Arizona, where about one-third of America’s lettuce is grown. Now, restaurants are dealing with the fallout from a cyclospora outbreak linked to shredded lettuce that has sickened thousands of Americans.

Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, said Thursday that Taco Bell's U.S. same-store sales are down 2% so far in the July-September period due to customers' concerns over the outbreak. That compares to a 7% same-store sales increase in the April-June period.

Federal health officials first tied the diarrhea-causing outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Later, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said customers in Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania were also affected.

Gaps in homecare leave Winnipeg man in perilous situation

Tom Landy fears he won’t live long enough to receive adequate homecare.

The 49-year-old Winnipegger has spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative disease, and requires 24-7 homecare, but gaps in his care leave him sitting in one spot for hours and lately he’s developed bed sores.

Landy was approved for around-the-clock care in June 2025, but staffing issues and an investigation into a homecare worker’s workplace injury have left him without help for periods of time throughout the day and forced his 76-year-old father to fill in.

“This is what they’re here for, to take care of me, and now it feels like I’m a burden,” he said from his home in the Maples.

Ceremony heralds growth of active transportation network in city’s north

North Winnipeg’s active transportation network is set to grow, with construction planned for a nearly two-kilometre extension of the Northwest Hydro Corridor Multi-Use Path later this summer.

A few community members, Mayor Scott Gillingham and other representatives from the city and province and Trails Manitoba gathered Tuesday at Daylan Marshall Gate Park for a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of Phase 2 of the project, which will extend the existing multi-use pathway north and south.

The original Northwest Hydro Corridor opened in 2023 and runs nearly three kilometres along the hydro right-of-way from Leila Avenue to Church Avenue, just west of McPhillips Street.

Phase 2 will extend the corridor north from Leila Avenue to the greenspace behind Daylan Marshall Gate and south from Church Avenue to Selkirk Avenue. Once completed, the pathway will stretch approximately 4.2 kilometres in length.

What to know about postpartum psychosis, which can affect a new mom’s sense of reality

A key question in a Massachusetts murder trial is whether postpartum psychosis drove a mother to kill her three children.

On Monday, a jury heard opening statements in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital. Both sides agree she strangled her children aged 5 and younger in 2023. But they disagree over whether she should be held criminally responsible.

Clancy and her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, filed lawsuits accusing her medical providers of failing to properly diagnose and treat her condition.

Here’s what to know about the disorder.

City has plenty of frozen dessert oases to discover

No matter the weather, ice cream is always a welcome addition to the day.

It’s a rite of passage as, at the slightest hint of a thaw, Winnipeggers descend in droves, heeding the siren call of institutions such as Sargent Sundae (2053 Portage Ave.) and Bridge Drive-In (766 Jubilee Ave. and 1680 Main St.) that slide open their shutters any time from late March to early April, ready to welcome dedicated connoisseurs seeking their first taste of the season.

We’re blessed with an abundance of ice-cream joints in this city, ranging from brick-and-mortar storefronts to mobile carts and pop-up stalls, all serving generous scoops of childhood faves alongside rather more innovative flavours.

With so many dairy bars and frozen dessert parlours dotted around, there’s no need to choose just one spot to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Together Project helps newcomers feel at home

When refugee families first arrive in Winnipeg they are plunged into an alien culture.

Often fleeing dangerous circumstances, discrimination or war, displaced families are forced to navigate bewildering societal norms and cultural expectations in an unfamiliar environment.

It can often feel utterly overwhelming.

And while government settlement agencies are an invaluable foundational resource, nothing can replace human connection and peer-to-peer guidance.

An eroding Winnipeg neighbourhood looks to new foundations

The lot Jesse Bettcher lives on in Winnipeg's North End used to be a pile of burnt rubble. Same with the one next door. And the one across the street. But he's now the proud owner of a two-storey house with blue-grey siding and white trim.

Automation reaches new heights on farm

LANGHAM, Sask. — The thousands of farmers from across the Prairies who flock to the annual Ag in Motion show every July seem oblivious to the possibility the technology on display could one day replace many of them.

Families with children in tow, Hutterite colony workers, grandparents and young couples just starting out roamed through the 600 or more exhibitor displays, amazed at how everything about farming just keeps getting bigger, more efficient and increasingly more automated.

It’s now possible to seed using a 100-foot-wide drill — a 12-foot jump over the widest available a few years ago — provided the farmer can afford a tractor with enough horsepower to pull it. Those sell for around $850,000 and up.

Granted, the number of farms with enough acres to justify that kind of width and drawing power is still relatively small, but farms continue to grow. And it’s no secret the number of people who have the interest, skills and financial wherewithal to run them continues to shrink.

Banks seek to implement AI tools for customers … who love them until they don’t work

Few consumer-facing industries illustrate the potential and pitfalls of artificial intelligence more than the financial services sector.

Generative AI — the technology powering chatbots that can seemingly think and provide reasonably correct, if not insightful, answers to our questions — is arguably a wonder of the modern world.

The potential for providing financial advice is indeed palpable. Then again, it’s not hard to imagine the technology running amok especially with people’s money.

A recent report on digital banking services provides insight on the risks and opportunities.