Indigenous partnerships key to wildfire preparation

More than 5.3 million acres in Manitoba burned — second only to Saskatchewan — as wildfires raged across Western Canada last summer, and 32,000-plus residents, most of whom were Indigenous, were evacuated from their communities.

In Winnipeg, air quality due to the smoke was so terrible that by August, the year’s poor conditions had broken a 65-year record.

In northern places such as Thompson, the smoke was life-threatening. For most of the summer the city was engulfed in smoke, causing wide-scale lung irritation. Anyone with respiratory conditions like asthma and heart disease was forced to stay indoors.

The fires began after the May 10-11 weekend, when temperatures rose above 35 C, drying the underbrush and creating dangerous conditions.

Speed limits and safety — follow the science

The premier of Manitoba recently appeared hesitant about collaborating with Winnipeg City Council on a public works proposal to lower the city’s default residential speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h. Without a provincial amendment to the Highway Traffic Act, the city says implementing the change would require installing signs on hundreds of streets, at a cost of up to $10 million to taxpayers.

Government data shows extent of truancy issue

You start to deal with a problem by admitting that you actually have one, not by burying it because you’re concerned about how it might look.

Maple 2.0: Quebec syrup-makers turn to automation and expansion as demand grows

ROXTON POND -

Visitors to the main building of the Côté et fils maple farm in Quebec's Eastern Townships region will be greeted by a wall of screens with the views from dozens of security cameras, showing an array of tubes and troughs filling up with clear, foamy sap.

Through a door, inside the production area, noise-cancelling headphones are needed for the deafening hum of the gleaming machines transforming thousands of litres of maple sap into syrup each day.

Mikael Ruest acknowledges that the process is far removed from the folksy images of buckets and horse-drawn sleighs that still grace the company's syrup cans.

NDP bill aims to strengthen renters’ protection

The Manitoba government says it will carry out the largest expansion of rent control in decades.

Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu called the measure “historical action” that will affect thousands of units in the province.

Under the proposed legislation, which was introduced by the NDP Thursday, suites that rent for at least $2,000 a month won’t be subject to rent control. Currently the threshold is $1,670 a month.

The proposed law leaves intact the exemption for complexes that are less than 20 years old.

Tired of theft, local businesses consider IDing customers, making diners pre-pay

Fed up with shoplifting or dine and dashes, the owners of two Winnipeg businesses are considering asking customers to show identification when they enter, among other extra security measures.

NASA clears its Artemis moon rocket for an April launch with four astronauts following repairs

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA cleared its moon rocket on Thursday for an April launch with four astronauts after completing the latest round of repairs.

The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket will roll out of the hangar and back to the pad next week at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, leading to a launch attempt as early as April 1. It will mark humanity's first trip to the moon in more than 50 years.

The Artemis II crew should have blasted off on a lunar flyaround earlier this year, but fuel leaks and other problems with the Space Launch System rocket interfered.

Although NASA managed to plug the hydrogen fuel leaks at the pad in February, a helium-flow issue forced the space agency to return the rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs, bumping the mission to April.

No time for stolen hours

I’m a time zone and time change veteran.

I spent almost two years living in Saskatchewan, where the clocks never change from Central Standard Time, and you just learn to live with it.

I also spent many years living in a province knocked askew from the top of the clock, where, when everyone else was celebrating New Year’s at midnight, we were already at 12:30 a.m.

I’ve lived in the Newfoundland time zone, along with Atlantic, Eastern, Central and Mountain zones, along with every one of their spring-forward, fall-back time changes.

15,000-plus students regularly skip school across Manitoba, leaked documents show

Leaked government documents expose a troubling state of truancy in elementary and high schools across the province.

King penguins are the rare species benefiting from a warming world. But that could change

WASHINGTON (AP) — The warming world has disrupted the timing for plant and animal reproduction, and it's usually bad news for species that depend on each other — like flowers blooming too early and pollinating bees arriving too late. But researchers have found the rare critter that's getting a boost from the change: King penguins.

A new study of 19,000 king penguins in a sub-Antarctic island chain found their breeding is starting 19 days earlier than it did in 2000. Mating earlier has increased the breeding success rate by 40%, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Science Advances.

The study of timing in nature is called phenology. It's been a major concern for biologists because predators and prey and pollinators and plants are mostly adapting to warmer climates at different rates. And that means crucial mismatches in timing.

It's especially common in birds and pollinating species such as bees. Most birds, especially in North America, aren't keeping pace with changes in phenology, according to Clemson University biological sciences professor Casey Youngflesh, who wasn't part of the study.

Lower colorectal cancer screening age to 45 from 50, Canadian Cancer Society urges

TORONTO - Michael Groves thought he had appendicitis.

In January 2021, he went to the emergency department with abdominal pains, but after testing, medical staff ruled it out and he went home.

A couple of days later, Groves, who lives in Ottawa, saw blood in his stool, so he told his family doctor.

Both the pain and bleeding stopped, but his doctor decided to schedule the 49-year-old for a colonoscopy for that April to be on the safe side.

Two-thirds of Manitobans using AI, but a lot aren’t happy about it, survey reveals

Manitobans admit they rely on artificial intelligence for daily activities, but are troubled by the emerging technology’s impact on the environment, job security and beyond.

How the Iran war and surging oil prices are affecting consumers at the gas pump and beyond

NEW YORK (AP) — As the war in Iran ratchets up, the price of crude oil has been swinging sharply. Consumers are already feeling the effects of the war and its destabilizing effect on worldwide energy production.

Gasoline prices are climbing, and many people will find some of the most immediate economic pain at the pump.

But you don't have to drive a car to be affected. Nearly all goods — including food — that are bought and sold must travel from where they’re produced. Those costs will climb with higher gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices.

And the spike in oil prices — surpassing $110 a barrel, then retreating — will likely be a big factor for U.S. inflation. As the war continues, some experts say the price of, well, everything could be affected.

Newcomer school to close amid immigration clampdown

English-language teachers are warning the consequences will be far-reaching when a school for newcomers — called “a beacon of hope”— closes its doors.

Winnipeg’s Enhanced English Skills for Employment is shutting down March 31.

“It’s sad for the students. It’s sad for the teachers, but it’s also sad for the community, Manitoba at large,” said Allyn Franc, a longtime teacher at the school that rents space on the Canadian Mennonite University campus at 500 Shaftesbury Blvd.

For more than 20 years, the school has been running free intermediate-level language classes on literacy and workplace etiquette.

Transfer program adds to Manitoba First Nation’s bison population

The herd of bison that calls Chitek Lake Anishinaabe Provincial Park in Manitoba home just grew a little larger.

Proposed law would create committee to probe intimate partner violence

The Manitoba government plans to launch a committee to review intimate partner violence, years after a similar group stopped operations.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe introduced proposed legislation Thursday that would require the committee to examine cases to identify trends in an effort to recommend ways to prevent intimate partner violence.

“The bill is a step toward… changing the culture to protect vulnerable Manitobans,” Wiebe said.

The Intimate Partner Violence Death Review Committee Act doesn’t specify how many cases the committee must review or a timeline for completion.

Farmers again caught in geopolitical crossfire

A week ago, things were looking up for Prairie farmers.

Canola prices were rising on news China would follow through on its promise to reduce its 75.9 per cent anti-dumping tariff on canola seed after Canada eased steep tariffs on imported EVs.

Those canola tariffs have now dropped to 5.9 per cent, plus the nine per cent standard import tariff already in place. While not zero, tariffs of just under 15 per cent make it possible to restore trade flows and maintain China as Canada’s second-largest canola customer.

As well, Canada’s prime minister was in India on another diplomatic defrosting mission with positive implications for agricultural exports. Any time the world’s largest exporter of pulse crops such as peas, lentils and chickpeas can make inroads into the world’s biggest market for those commodities, the sun shines a little brighter.

What to know: Downtown Anchorage braces for a canine takeover as the Iditarod’s 54th run begins

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Hundreds of barking dogs took over downtown Anchorage as the ceremonial start of the world’s most famous sled dog race got underway Saturday. As snow fell, fans lined up near the starting line in frigid, 19 degree F (minus 7.2 degree C) weather to see and cheer their favorite mushers. The competitive start to the race begins Sunday.

Here’s what to know about the 54th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which features a new amateur category and financial support from a Norwegian billionaire.

What is the Iditarod?

The Iditarod was conceived by co-founders Dorothy Page and Joe Redington Sr. as a long-distance sled dog race to honor both Alaska’s mushing tradition and the Iditarod Trail. That was a 938-mile (1,510-kilometer) freight and mail route that ran from Seward on Alaska’s southern coast to Nome, on the Bering Sea on Alaska’s western coast.

Tories say high-earners could flee if NDP targets province’s wealthiest in upcoming budget

Premier Wab Kinew’s suggestion that the provincial budget on March 24 may squeeze the the “top one per cent” — the richest Manitobans — was met with both positive and negative responses Friday.

Kinew, who dropped the hint in a local radio interview without providing more details, wasn’t made available Friday to clarify who or how, “We’re going to have some help in the budget on the education property tax front, and we might be asking the top one per cent to help us out with that.”

The NDP government is staring down a $1.6-billion deficit while vowing to balance the province’s books in its first term. If the plan is to lean on some of Manitoba’s top earners, how big are those incomes, and will that drive those people away?

To get into Manitoba’s top one per cent of income earners in 2023 required an income of $235,100 or about $244,000 in inflation-adjusted terms, University of Manitoba economics professor Jesse Hajer said Friday.

Google settles with Epic Games with offer to lower its app store commissions

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google will lower the lucrative fees imposed on its Android app store and offer a way for rival options to gain its stamp of approval, ending a bruising legal battle that led to one of several rulings condemning its tactics as an illegal monopoly.

The proposed changes filed Wednesday with a federal court in San Francisco mark the latest twist in a case that began in August 2020 when video game maker Epic Games filed an antitrust case seeking to make it easier for alternative payment options to compete against Google's Play Store system, which charges 15% to 30% commissions on a wide variety of in-app transactions.

Google's concessions come five months after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the company's attempt to overturn a federal judge's order requiring a far more extensive overhaul of the Play Store following a 2023 trial that culminated in a jury declaring the setup an illegal monopoly.

Backed into a legal corner, Google is now prepared to decrease its baseline commissions for subscriptions and e-commerce transactions into the 10% to 20% range. It's also offering an optional 5% payment processing charge that would be applied in addition to the other service fees for apps that prefer to keep everything within the Play Store.

Manitobans will continue to spring forward, fall back

Premier Wab Kinew has rejected the idea Manitoba would make daylight time permanent.

British Columbia has announced it will adopt year-round daylight time. The one-hour time change this Sunday — a shift forward — will be the last for most people in that province.

“Not right now,” Kinew said after being asked whether Manitoba would follow suit.

“Everybody’s got an opinion on it, but we only have so many hours in a day, and we’re going to spend those hours on health care and lowering your cost of living.”

Survey results crystal-clear: transit system overhaul a disaster

When more than eight in 10 of your core customers say you’ve made things worse, that’s not a minor hiccup. That’s a collapse in confidence.

And it’s exactly where Winnipeg Transit finds itself after its sweeping network overhaul launched last year.

The redesign was billed as a bold modernization — a smarter, more efficient system built around frequent primary routes and timed connections.

Instead, it has produced a level of dissatisfaction among downtown riders that is as striking as it is alarming.

High-tech snowplows and AI help cities clean up from big storms

Residents of Syracuse, New York — America’s snowiest city — once barraged a service hotline with street neglect complaints during blizzards, even if plows had passed two hours earlier but the work was hidden by fresh snow.

Now public trust seems to be rising as Syracuse and other cities across the U.S. integrate upgrades such as video monitoring, GPS mapping and artificial intelligence into snow operations that once relied almost entirely on manual planning.

Syracuse was one of the first to revamp the way it deploys its snowplows, and complaint calls have dropped by 30% under the new system, said Conor Muldoon, the city’s chief innovation officer.

“People will look out their window and say, ‘Hey, you guys are doing a terrible job,’” Muldoon said. “And we can point to a public map and say, ‘Here’s all the breadcrumbs for when that plow was there.’”