West Broadway winter carnival sets the standard, says volunteer

Children and adults in West Broadway celebrated winter with games, skating and even horses on Saturday.

The 22nd annual West Broadway Snoball Winter Carnival brought dozens of area residents together both outdoors and indoors at the centre and park just south of Broadway at Young Street.

“It is definitely a joyful activity,” Kelly Frazer, executive director of the West Broadway Community Organization, said on Saturday.

“Winter can be isolating for people. We want people to get out and see their neighbours and enjoy their time. This is a great event because everything is free. You can come and ride in the horse-drawn carriages, you can get a good meal, you can play lots of games, and everything is free.”

Predator used Snapchat to lure children for sexual abuse; girls struggling now, court told

A Winnipeg man who used the social media app Snapchat to lure his young victims into having unprotected sex with him filmed some of the encounters.

Low/no alcohol drinks officially a movement

An increasing number of lounges and eateries are offering more (and more innovative) mocktails, as well as alcohol-free beers and wines. The number of dealcoholized options at grocery stores, beer vendors, Liquor Marts and the like has never been higher. In short, the low/no-alc phenomenon is here to stay.

Donning the vest: Young crossing guards take up safety tradition

Georgia Donachuk and the rest of her all-girls squad have given up their lunch hour for the greater good.

Equipped with flags, vests and, at this time of year, lots of layers, five girls can be found scanning the perimeter of Isaac Brock School on weekdays.

What motivates them to clock in daily for the 12:30 p.m. shift, even when it’s -25 C?

“I like keeping people safe when they cross the street,” Georgia, 10, said after shedding her CAA vest and hanging it on a hook in her school’s front lobby on a recent weekday. “Also, every time we go out, we see a cat!”

Attention-grabbing screens demean us, bit by bit

The first time I read Oryx and Crake, Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s haunting dystopic novel, I couldn’t put it down. I devoured it in just days, engrossed by the fictional world Atwood wove from the most discomfiting new threads of our own.

Over the years, I returned to the book many times, always finding new depth in its pages. Each time, I finished it at the same brisk pace. I was a fast reader as a child, and for most of my life, that didn’t change.

Until now. In November, as part of an effort to calm my restless mind, I put Oryx and Crake on my nightstand, and made a pledge to myself to read a little bit every night. This time, it’s been over two months, and I’ve made it through only 92 pages.

It would be easy to say I’ve been too busy, but that would be a lie. I’ve had time to read. The problem is now, unlike when the book came out in 2003, I struggle to read more than a page without checking my phone quickly; and checking it once means falling into the chasm of raw content the internet has become.

Glacial glamping: Riding Mountain woos in winter

As they say, it was so cold it’d freeze the nuts off an iron bridge. Margie and I slept in a prospector-style tent, or what Riding Mountain National Park calls an “oTENTik,” at -39 C.

Province hunting for web-based system to better assess and help youth with mental-health, addiction issues

As a drug crisis rages in Manitoba, the province is looking for a better web-based mental-health and addictions assessment tool for youth to help connect them to the services they need.

Shared Health said it’s seeking an evidence-based assessment system that focuses on mental health and substance use challenges in youth. On Monday, it posted on the public-sector tendering site MERX that it’s looking for systems and tools that are secure and ready to go.

A spokesperson for Shared Health said the authority is trying to determine whether there are any stronger screening tools and digital platforms than what is currently in use. The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth has sounded the alarm over substance use among children and youth, and the need for the province to do more and better.

Shared Health currently has a screening tool and digital platform — the Child Behavior Checklist and the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA-Web), the spokesperson said.

Open AI, Microsoft face lawsuit over ChatGPT’s alleged role in Connecticut murder-suicide

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for wrongful death, alleging that the artificial intelligence chatbot intensified her son's “paranoid delusions” and helped direct them at his mother before he killed her.

Police said Stein-Erik Soelberg, 56, a former tech industry worker, fatally beat and strangled his mother, Suzanne Adams, and killed himself in early August at the home where they both lived in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The lawsuit filed by Adams' estate on Thursday in California Superior Court in San Francisco alleges OpenAI “designed and distributed a defective product that validated a user’s paranoid delusions about his own mother.” It is one of a growing number of wrongful death legal actions against AI chatbot makers across the country.

“Throughout these conversations, ChatGPT reinforced a single, dangerous message: Stein-Erik could trust no one in his life — except ChatGPT itself," the lawsuit says. “It fostered his emotional dependence while systematically painting the people around him as enemies. It told him his mother was surveilling him. It told him delivery drivers, retail employees, police officers, and even friends were agents working against him. It told him that names on soda cans were threats from his ‘adversary circle.’”

Denmark plans to severely restrict social media use for young people

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — As Australia began enforcing a world-first social media ban for children under 16 years old this week, Denmark is planning to follow its lead and severely restrict social media access for young people.

The Danish government announced last month that it had secured an agreement by three governing coalition and two opposition parties in parliament to ban access to social media for anyone under the age of 15. Such a measure would be the most sweeping step yet by a European Union nation to limit use of social media among teens and children.

The Danish government's plans could become law as soon as mid-2026. The proposed measure would give some parents the right to let their children access social media from age 13, local media reported, but the ministry has not yet fully shared the plans.

Many social media platforms already ban children younger than 13 from signing up, and a EU law requires Big Tech to put measures in place to protect young people from online risks and inappropriate content. But officials and experts say such restrictions don’t always work.

Safety concerns force city to close East Kildonan arena for extensive repairs

Structural problems forced the city to suddenly close an east Winnipeg arena Wednesday, leaving hockey teams and other users scrambling to find vacant ice just weeks into their seasons.

City community services chair Coun. Vivian Santos said staff told her that internal deterioration of “glulam” — glued, laminated wood — beams was discovered at Terry Sawchuk Arena.

“The beams were found to be hollow,” Santos said. “It’s uncommon, but it does present a concern.”

She said the city is looking at the remediation work that is required, the cost and a timeline to reopen the arena. The city’s website said the temporary closure is expected to last until Dec. 31, which Santos described as an early estimate.

Canadian sprinter Brendon Rodney helping with hurricane relief aid in Jamaica

Brendon Rodney knows even helping a few people is enough to make a big difference.

The three-time Olympic medallist sprinter from Toronto lives in Jamaica where Hurricane Melissa caused significant damage, mainly in the northwest and southwest parts of the country. The Category 5 hurricane hit the island last week and took a number of lives as well.

"It's always tough because it's my home, ... I live here, but it's my home away from home," he said. "And the people that have been affected are not just people that I don't know. But of course my training partners, the students at the school and many different people that I interact with on a day to day, month to month basis.

"So for me, this is difficult because you can't help everybody, but as long as you can help one, two or three people then it does make a big difference. So for us, it's just finding ways that we can help in any possible way."

It’s never too brisk to bike — once you get in gear with winter

Excerpt from That’ll Never Work Here: Challenging the Myths Around Biking in a Winter City, by Patty Wiens (Great Plains Press). A book launch will be held Nov. 8 at McNally Booksellers. It is the second book in The City Project, which examines ways to create a happier, healthier more sustainable Winnipeg.

When someone asks me, “How did you become a cycling advocate?” I usually say, “I rode my bike in winter one day and now I’m here.” Bicycle stories usually have a gap in the middle. There’s a well-known joke that says that the beginning of your life is all about bikes, then there’s a bunch of BS with cars in the middle, then you get older and get back to bikes.

That’s true for me.

Local Buddhist Temple teaches true meaning of karma; promotes positive living

A popular misconception about the Buddhist idea of karma is that it’s about punishment — a kind of cosmic “what goes around comes around.”

While Buddhists believe actions have consequences, karma is a much deeper idea than that, said Kyle Rathgaber, a board member of the Manitoba Buddhist Temple.

“Karma is not about retribution,” he said. “It’s not about being punished for something you did wrong.”

While there are elements of negative consequences in the idea of karma — if you are angry at others all the time, you may feel stress and anxiety in your own life — for Rathgaber, 34, it’s more about how people can peacefully and helpfully engage the world around them.

Seven Oaks pool closing at least a year for repairs, renovations; parents worry about dried-up swim-lesson opportunities

Parents in northwest Winnipeg say they’re worried about losing access to swimming lessons after the city announced it will close Seven Oaks Pool for more than a year in order to complete extensive repairs.

Thousands mark Truth and Reconcilation Day

As a sea of thousands clad in orange waited, Helen George braids her son’s long, straight hair.

They’re at the RBC Convention Centre, preparing for the grand entry ceremonies hosted by the Southern Chiefs’ Organization to mark the fifth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Tuesday afternoon.

Originally from Ochapowace Cree Nation in Saskatchewan but living in Winnipeg, George is helping her son, Houston, get dressed for the upcoming powwow. For her, seeing so many families coming together to recognize the impact of the residential school system and celebrate Indigenous resilience is touching.

“It’s meaningful,” she said.

Walk across Manitoba raises funds for first responders dealing with mental health issues

Andrew Cherkas deals with his mental health struggles one step at a time.

The 43-year-old firefighter lives with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the tragedies he’s witnessed on the job and contemplated suicide in 2021.

Since then, medication and therapy have helped him get to a better place. The daily walks he takes with his dog, Charlie, along the trails near his home south of Portage la Prairie, are also healing. No headphones, no music — just Cherkas, Charlie and the outdoors.

Last spring, Cherkas came up with an idea to raise awareness and funds for first responders struggling with mental health issues. He launched Steppin’ in Support for 1977 earlier this month with the goal of walking across Manitoba while inviting people to donate to the Preston Heinbigner Memorial Fund.

Police investigating fires, vandalism at NDP cabinet ministers’ North End constituency offices

Broken windows, four blazes started in two months

Winnipegger’s artwork chosen for Walmart’s national Orange Shirt offering

As she walked into the Unicity Walmart department store, Indigenous artist Brooklyn Rudolph-Nicholas felt her excitement levels rising.

She headed towards the racks of instantly recognizable orange T-shirts, smiling as she glimpsed the familiar image on the front.

It was a pinch-me moment: her work was emblazoned on Walmart Canada’s National Day for Truth & Reconciliation orange shirts stocked in stores across the country.

The granddaughter of two residential school survivors, Rudolph-Nicholas made her T-shirt art in honour of her late grandparents.

Reimagining the garden

Next week, close to 100 horticultural professionals from botanical gardens and conservatories across Canada and the U.S. will be in Winnipeg for the American Public Gardens Association’s 2025 Horticulture, Greenhouse, & Facilities Symposium, which will be hosted by Assiniboine Park Conservancy at The Leaf.

‘You gave him purpose… gave him his freedom’: grateful mother from Colombia celebrates Sunshine Fund

Freedom for the Recio family, in their native Colombia, was tied to an unexpected emblem.

“Our children watched The Parent Trap at least 50 times, dreaming of canoes and lakes and cabins in the woods,” Angela Recio told a crowded room at the Caboto Centre on Thursday.

“But in Colombia, where we lived in South America, that kind of freedom was unimaginable. Sending our child off into the wilderness was not just unthinkable, it was unsafe.”

Recio was addressing donors, nature lovers, Manitoba Camping Association staff and friends at the organization’s appreciation luncheon for supporters of its Sunshine Fund.

Bus riders, drivers welcome police safety initiative; two arrests made on day plan rolled out

The announcement of a new police strategy — placing both uniformed and plainclothes officers on Winnipeg Transit — was welcome news for riders Friday.

The Winnipeg Police Service announced the initiative’s first arrests were made on Wednesday, when the plan was unveiled.

“I love it,” said one elderly woman who was waiting for her bus at Unicity. “I love it for the bus drivers as well, because they take the brunt of it.”

She said she had already noticed more police nearby, pointing out that she saw multiple cruisers pull into the parking lot while she ate breakfast at a nearby Burger King.

Read and research, before engaging your rage

It looked like Liberal arrogance of the first degree, deliberately blowing off a meeting of a major Parliamentary committee.

Conservative MP Larry Brock on X: “UNBELIEVABLE. Parliament is back, but Liberal members of the Justice Committee are MISSING IN ACTION. Crime is out of control, Canadians are terrified, but Conservatives are ready to restore safety to our streets.”

Ditto, Conservative MP Roman Babar: “It’s 3:30 pm on a Tuesday. The Standing Committee on Justice is supposed to be meeting right now. Crime is out of control and justice reform is desperately needed. The Committee’s Conservative members are ready to work, but Liberal members refuse to show up. Unbelievable!”

You get the point. Problem is, there was no meeting. No staff. No translators. Just four Conservative MPs.