Manitoba bans cellphones for K-8 students

Manitoba has announced a ban on cellphones in elementary schools and strict rules to silence devices and keep them out of sight during Grade 9-12 lessons next month.

Kindergarten to Grade 8 students will be barred from using phones at any point in the school day, including during lunch and recess.

High schoolers will be asked to leave their phones in their locker, with a teacher or at the principal’s office when classes are in session.

Teenagers can access their devices on breaks and when a classroom teacher approves usage for educational purposes.

Canadian news engagement down significantly one year after Meta’s ban: study

MONTREAL - A new study is painting a grim portrait of how local Canadian news outlets are struggling to reach audiences one year after Meta began blocking Canadian news content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

The Media Ecosystem Observatory study published today finds that Canadians’ total engagement with news content on social media has been reduced by 43 per cent, despite efforts to increase social media engagement on other platforms.

The social media giant banned Canadian news content after Ottawa passed the Online News Act in June 2023, which compelled tech companies to enter into agreements with news publishers for the use of their content.

Local news outlets, many of which rely on Facebook, have been especially hit hard — 30 per cent of them are now inactive on social media, the study found.

Study shows ‘striking’ number who believe news misinforms

NEW YORK (AP) — Half of Americans in a recent survey indicated they believe national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting.

The survey, released Wednesday by Gallup and the Knight Foundation, goes beyond others that have shown a low level of trust in the media to the startling point where many believe there is an intent to deceive.

Asked whether they agreed with the statement that national news organizations do not intend to mislead, 50% said they disagreed. Only 25% agreed, the study found.

Similarly, 52% disagreed with a statement that disseminators of national news “care about the best interests of their readers, viewers and listeners,” the study found. It said 23% of respondents believed the journalists were acting in the public's best interests.

Charleswood residents fume over destroyed trees

Frustrated residents are calling on the city and province to get to the root of the problem that led to the destruction of nearly two dozen mature trees in Charleswood on the weekend.

Early Saturday morning, a building moving company began to move a display home near the corner of Roblin Boulevard and Scotswood Drive. The home was too wide to clear mature trees along Roblin’s median.

When Winnipeg Police Service officers arrived to provide a previously scheduled escort for the movers at about 7 a.m. they discovered 17 trees had been cut down, allegedly by the driver of the vehicle hauling the house, police spokesman Const. Rob Carver said.

“Immediately, upon determining that the trees had been cut and linking it to this move, the move was halted and, ultimately, the driver (was) arrested,” said Carver.

Investors behaving badly

Finance professor Chi Liao’s background in mathematics often comes in handy in her line of work.

After all, both corporate and investment finance are built upon numbers. Yet financial reporting — balance sheets and cash-flow analysis — is not her area of interest.

In fact, her expertise has less to do with the numerical side of money and more to do with how our emotions affect how we manage our hard-earned cash.

“I’ve always been fascinated by people-watching and why it is we do what we do,” says Liao, who studied mathematics and finance before completing a PhD in behavioural finance from the University of Toronto in 2014.

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.

Infrequent lunar eclipse performs Copper Side of the Moon early Tuesday morning

Stargazers in Manitoba have the chance Tuesday to watch the last total lunar eclipse on this side of the world until 2029.

The number of impoverished children is growing

Canada is, unfortunately, beginning to look like the land of poor prospects for its children.

The country saw an increase in child poverty for the third straight year in 2023 — the most recent available public data — according to an annual child poverty report card recently released by Campaign 2000, a non-partisan coalition dedicated to ending child poverty in Canada.

It doesn’t matter which measuring stick you use: according to the official Market Basket Measure, child poverty has more than doubled since 2020, to 10.7 per cent — or 802,000 children. Meanwhile, the Census Family Low Income Measure, After Tax — which Campaign 2000 uses and claims is a better indicator — put the number at 18.3 per cent, or 1.4 million children.

According to 2023 data, Manitoba was the second-highest in child poverty rates based on the CFLIM-AT measure, at 26.9 per cent (Saskatchewan had the highest, at 27.1 per cent). Winnipeg was sixth-highest among large urban centres for the same year, at a rate of 22 per cent.

A total lunar eclipse will turn the moon blood red on Tuesday across several continents

NEW YORK (AP) — A blood-red moon will soon grace the skies for a total lunar eclipse — and there won't be another until late 2028.

The spectacle will be visible Tuesday morning from North America, Central America and the western part of South America. Australia and eastern Asia can catch it Tuesday night. Partial stages of the eclipse with small bites taken out of the moon can be seen from Central Asia and much of South America. Africa and Europe will be shut out.

Solar and lunar eclipses happen due to a precise alignment of the sun, moon and Earth. There are between four and seven a year, according to NASA.

The eclipses tend to follow each other, taking advantage of the sweet spot in the celestial bodies' orbits. Tuesday's total eclipse of the moon comes two weeks after a ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse that dazzled people and penguins in Antarctica.

Almost 12% of city parks, open spaces in poor condition: report

Nearly 12 per cent of the city’s parks and open-space assets are in poor or very poor condition and it would cost $108.5 million to replace them, a new city report says.

Data centres and Manitoba: a cautionary tale

Alongside the rapidly expanding use of AI in everyday life, there’s a growing awareness that the technology also comes with extreme, big-picture threats to the things we need more: fresh water, affordable clean energy and a healthy information ecosystem.

Growing more complex by the day: How should journalists govern use of AI in their products?

Like so many sectors of the economy, the news industry is hurtling toward a future where artificial intelligence plays a major role — grappling with questions about how much the technology is used, what consumers should be told about it, whether anything can be done for the journalists who will be left behind.

These issues were on the minds of reporters for the independent outlet ProPublica as they walked picket lines earlier this month. They're inching toward a potential strike, in what is believed would be the first such job action in the news business where how to deal with AI is the chief sticking point.

Few expect this dispute will be the last.

AI has undeniably helped journalists, simplifying complex tasks and saving time, particularly with data-focused stories. News organizations are using it to help sift through the Epstein files. AI suggests headlines, summarizes stories. Transcription technology has largely eliminated the need for a human to type up interviews. These days, even a simple Google search frequently involves AI.

New football chinstrap designed to lessen force of blows to facemask

Erin Hanson wants to make taking it on the chin in football much safer in Canada.

Guardian Sports officially launched the Guardian Flex chinstrap on Thursday for individual and team sale, with the CFL being among the leagues to have reviewed the item. The product has been engineered to reduce the impact of blows to the facemask.

According to the company, the chinstrap reduces Head Acceleration Response Metric (HARM) scores by up to 35 per cent and targets facemask impacts, which research suggests account for about half of all hits and are an area where traditional helmets underperform.

The chinstrap will be far less noticeable to fans than the Atlanta-based company’s Guardian Cap. Introduced 14 years ago, the soft padded shell fits over a football helmet and is secured by elastic straps attached to the facemask.

Eight of 10 people using bus to get downtown unhappy after system overhaul, BIZ survey reveals

“The level of dissatisfaction — that is dire,” said Coun. Sherri Rollins. “Winnipeggers are… voting with their feet. They’re not taking transit anymore. We’re losing revenue.”

Winnipeg School Division proposes 9.3 per cent tax increase

Manitoba’s largest school division has tabled a draft budget that raises local property taxes by upwards of nine per cent.

The Winnipeg School Division has released a $549.7-million blueprint for its 82 schools, which are attended by 32,000 children.

The plan freezes staffing at current levels, upgrades information technology systems and resumes full-day kindergarten.

“What we’re proposing is basically a stand-pat budget where we want to maintain (our roster of) teachers, EAs and clinicians, ” chief superintendent Matt Henderson told a public budget meeting on Tuesday. “With that, though, comes some pressure.”

Housing affordability challenges remain despite recent improvements: CMHC

A new analysis from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. shows housing affordability challenges have eased in recent years but still remain at historic highs, and have even spread to other major cities.

The national housing agency says affordability issues are no longer limited to Canada's largest cities and have spread to other areas such as Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. One of the key factors, CMHC said, was the impact of labour mobility brought on by remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has persisted even as the job market has changed.

"Affordability started recovering slightly since 2023, when it reached historical lows. For home ownership, we observed improved affordability, while for renters we saw stabilization over the last two years," said Mathieu Laberge, CMHC chief economist and senior vice-president of housing insights, in a news release Wednesday.

"Even with these improvements, we cannot overlook how much housing affordability has eroded in recent years, especially in Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, clearly demonstrating that Canada's housing affordability crisis is no longer limited to Toronto and Vancouver."

Councillor calls for permanent bike lanes on Wellington stretch

The chair of Winnipeg’s public works committee wants the city to scrap plans for temporary bike lanes on part of Wellington Crescent and immediately proceed with a permanent protected route.

Coun. Janice Lukes wants permanent lanes to be installed in 2027 if her proposal is approved, although some proponents worry there will be more delays if plans change for a road they consider unsafe.

“I know this is frustrating and it’s challenging, but we’ve got the money — move it up and let’s just do it right the first time,” Lukes told reporters.

The city on Wednesday published a staff report and design for temporary lanes on a one-kilometre section between Academy Road and Stradbrook Avenue, after getting public input on a proposed $436,000 pilot project.

First Nations awaiting Hydro consults

With licences for two major Manitoba Hydro projects set to expire later this year, affected First Nations await consultation — and want to see change.

Licences for the Churchill River Diversion and Lake Winnipeg Regulation projects, first issued in the 1970s, expire Sept. 1 and Aug. 1, respectively.

The diversion directs water to five stations accounting for roughly 75 per cent of Manitoba’s power generation. The latter project allows Hydro to generate power by manipulating Lake Winnipeg’s water levels.

There is no timeline for the licence renewals, said Environment Minister Mike Moyes. He said that would be dependent on consultations with impacted First Nations.

Organizations join forces to make First Nation kids’ dreams a little sweeter

Nearly two dozen children in Pukatawagan will be able to sleep in their own new beds this week, thanks to the Manitoba chapter of the Knights of Columbus and Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

The Knights, an organization that helps Catholic men live out their faith through service to their parishes and the community, has partnered with Sleep in Heavenly Peace to provide 22 beds for the children.

The beds, which are being shipped in pieces, will arrive this week by truck and train, together with 500 donated coats and seven wheelchairs. The cost of all the items, along with transportation, has been covered by the Manitoba chapter of the Knights.

A group of volunteers, led by Mark Desjardins, who leads the chapter, will leave Wednesday, driving to the community located about 200 kilometres north of The Pas to assemble and install the beds.