Delirium is often missed by health providers. Could an AI risk predictor help?

TORONTO - Bruce MacLeod never thought he would forget his own birthday.

But a couple days after a heart valve replacement in February 2025, he did.

"It was strange. It was just out of reach, like, if I reached a little further, I could have pulled those memories back, but I was unsuccessful at the time," MacLeod, 65, said.

His partner, Harry Ennis, recalls coming into the hospital room one day to find MacLeod had ripped off his heart monitor, and his belongings were packed up to leave.

Long journey to home ownership for Eritrean couple

Solomon Ghebru and his family have been building a life together in Winnipeg for the past three years after years of living apart in various countries. Now, they are working toward a new goal: owning a home.

Their story is the focus of this year’s Habitat for Humanity Manitoba Cycle of Hope fundraising ride, a seven-day cycling event through southern Manitoba that begins Monday. The ride aims to raise $150,000 to support Ghebru, his wife, Mehret Awate, and their two daughters as they work toward affordable homeownership.

The couple’s journey to Canada started in Eritrea, where they grew up and attended the same church together. They left Eritrea separately, hoping to build a better life together out of the country. Ghebru travelled through Sudan and Libya before reaching Malta, while Awate travelled to Sudan and then Uganda.

After he found work in Malta, he tried to have his family join him, but government policies prevented them from reuniting. The couple married in Uganda in 2016, and their first daughter, Peniel, was born there the following year.

Climate change threatens events we wait for all year

I can’t be the only one feeling some existential dread about our summers, and the things that make them special, in the face of a changing climate.

Making water safety a priority

The headlines persist.

Every summer, across Canada, people learn of drownings and deaths that could have been prevented if the people involved had taken water-safety precautions — learning to swim, supervising children, observing boating safety rules, wearing personal flotation devices (PFDs) or being cautious in and around fast-moving waters.

Also every summer, the Royal Lifesaving Society of Canada — which runs the Swim for Life program of swimming lessons across the country — designates the third week of July as National Drowning Prevention Week, as July is when Canadian water-incident rates peak.

The aim of Drowning Prevention Week is to promote water safety of all kinds — and the need is real. According to the Lifesaving Society, over 450 Canadians die annually in preventable water-related incidents. In Manitoba, there are 22 fatal drownings, on average, every year.

Rushing to Rushing River

Every summer, Manitobans go rushing to Rushing River. I told Margie, “And that explains the name!”

Although 240 kilometres from Winnipeg, Ontario’s small Rushing River Provincial Park reports 51,000 annual visits by ’Tobans, about two-thirds of total entries. On some days, I’ve only seen Manitoba vehicles in the campground.

Yup, my new pastime is vacationing to survey licence plates.

This boreal beaut awaits down Ontario Highway 71, shortly after the Trans-Canada Highway’s clever sign explaining “Large vehicles need more room” — and after the intersection where Margie yelled, “Stop! A turtle is crossing!”

Plot an effective ‘retirement plan’ for your body

Every few months, someone tries to sell us the next big anti-aging breakthrough. A supplement. A peptide. A detox. A device that looks like it belongs in a spaceship and costs more than your first car did.

I get the appeal. Nobody wants to age poorly and we’re wired to wish for a shortcut. And if you’re a parent over 40, you don’t need a study to tell you energy, sleep, stress and your waistline all feel a little harder to keep in check than they did at 20.

But when you look at what actually helps people age well, the answers aren’t flashy. They’re annoyingly simple. Lift weights. Walk more. Sleep enough. Eat enough protein. Don’t over-eat or carry too much extra body fat. Manage stress. Build good relationships. Stay optimistic enough to keep pushing.

Not exactly headline-worthy clickbait type stuff. But probably the closest thing we have to an anti-aging plan that works.

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.”

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.

Measure twice… and try not to hurt yourself

Changing speeds. It’s a hard thing to do. A hard thing, because it’s also an admission that the speed you once had just isn’t really there anymore.

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.

Real-life heroes commended for bravery

In a situation where other people might freeze, Preston Houle took action.

He recalls being at Delta Beach on July 18, 2025 when he heard a cry for help from a mom in distress, her two-year-old son in the water unresponsive after going under while playing with friends.

“I leaped into action,” Houle said. “I grabbed the young man, took him back to the shore, performed CPR until he kind of came back, and waited until EMS got there.”

Houle’s wife, too shy to speak, agreed that her husband was the kind of man you could rely on.

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.

Young Quebec sailor, 17, aims to challenge gender stereotypes in sailing

MONTREAL - At 17, Jasmine Pernot is set to become the youngest skipper and one of only three women leading crews in Quebec's new offshore sailing race, hoping to show other young women they belong at the helm.

Jasmine Pernot will lead a crew of seven in the inaugural St-Laurent 400, a 400-nautical-mile race that begins in Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay River on Quebec's North Shore, on Aug. 6 and finishes in the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"Everyone has been looking forward to this race because it's a format we haven't had yet in Quebec," Pernot said Thursday before a training session at the Deux-Montagnes sailing club, northwest of Montreal.

Unlike shorter races where crews return to shore at the end of the day, competitors will spend more than 24 consecutive hours at sea.

Toba Centre here to help kids who’ve suffered the unimaginable

The abuse of a child is one of the most horrific things imaginable. And for the victims of such a nightmare, facing time being questioned repeatedly by multiple people in an emergency room about what happened makes a traumatic situation even more unbearable. That’s exactly what kids and youth had to deal with before the Toba Centre for Children and Youth existed.

Formerly known as Snowflake Place, the Toba Centre was created in 2013 to provide a safe, child-friendly setting for children aged two to 17 who have been impacted by abuse or have witnessed violence. Services expanded in 2020 with the addition of case navigation support services aimed at ensuring the well-being and recovery of children and their families.

In 2023, the move to the current location in Assiniboine Park made things better for everyone. There, police, social workers, medical and other support services work together to serve children and families with a co-ordinated response, in a building that is welcoming in a child-centred way.

Dr. Megan Cooney, pediatrician in the field of child maltreatment, sees children and adolescents where disclosures of physical and/or sexual abuse have been made. The section head of the Child Protection Centre, a division within the Department of Pediatrics with Shared Health, she’s worked at a satellite clinic at the Toba Centre since 2024.

Inner City Youth Alive changes lives, one program at a time, in city's North End

Inner City Youth Alive has worked in Winnipeg's North End neighbourhood, running programs including a drop‑in centre, summer camps, school support and a wilderness program, for 40 years. The Free Press spent a day following the organization’s work.

A foodborne parasite and government efficiency

Week-long explosive diarrhea. There. Now that we’ve got your attention, here’s a cautionary tale about red-tape reduction and public health.

New graphic images are rolling out on cigarette packs in Canada. Could more be done?

TORONTO - A baby swarmed by smoke. A toilet of bloody urine. A cancerous colon.

These are among the new series of 13 graphic images that are required to be printed on cigarette packages across Canada by Aug. 1.

This is the fourth set of warnings mandated by Health Canada since 2000, aiming to reduce tobacco use to less than 5 per cent by 2035.

According to the federal health agency’s latest projections, Canada appears on track to reach that goal. Tobacco use was down to an estimated 13 per cent in 2024, compared to 29 per cent in 2001. Approximately 300,000 Canadians who smoked in 2023 quit in 2024.

Sea Bears Dance Crew takes athleticism to the next level

Many grow up believing dance can only be a hobby and never a career. The Sea Bears Dance Crew defies the notion by showing there can be a professional side of dance in Winnipeg.

Tasha Farmer and Kersey Sarao lead a team of 18 dancers from different backgrounds and styles. Together, they create a high-energy game-day experience — one that encourages everyone in the arena to get up and boogie.

Farmer started dancing at a young age, experimenting in all that was offered.

“I trained in ballet, lyrical, hip hop, musical theatre — every single style you can think of,” she said.

Blueberry First Nations says native plant orchard to help restore B.C. industry sites

FORT ST. JOHN - A First Nation in British Columbia says a new native plant orchard established in its territory could help reclaim and restore thousands of industrial sites around northeastern B.C.

The Blueberry First Nations near Fort St. John unveiled the orchard last week, and Chief Sherry Dominic said it will produce native plants for sale to industry partners in the oil and gas sector, as well as Indigenous communities.

The nation says in a statement the garden will eventually have 1.7 million seedlings from a representative supply of grasses, shrubs, wildflowers and trees to reflect various layers of a healthy forest system.

"So, eventually, (the orchard) will be putting the land back to its natural form," Dominic said in an interview.

Court orders Alberta prison to take steps to protect inmates from extreme heat

OTTAWA - As the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal prepares to hear a separate case about extreme heat in prisons, the Federal Court has directed an Alberta prison to take steps to install air conditioning to protect inmates.

The court said Correctional Service Canada has failed to put an effective solution in place at the Edmonton Institution for Women's secure unit, despite complaints about extreme heat that go back two decades.

"The excessively high temperatures have caused inmates to suffer panic attacks, psychological distress, and sleep deprivation. It is a long-standing problem: CSC has known of design problems with the temperature regulation equipment in Secure since as early as 2012," Justice Meaghan Conroy wrote in the July 16 decision.

One affidavit from an inmate housed in 2018 in a corner cell nicknamed "the oven" said a maintenance worker recorded a temperature of over 40 C in her cell.

Parents praise water-safety education

Winnipeggers at Kildonan Park Pool were offered education about water safety on Sunday and one parent who had a previous drowning scare said the lessons could save a life.

One of several events this summer hosted by the Manitoba Coalition for Water Safety as part of National Drowning Prevention Week, the poolside event saw volunteers from the Lifesaving Society educating people on things like how to throw a rescue line and how to “swim to survive” which requires participants to fall in a pool, tread water for one minute and then swim 50 metres to safety.

Ashley Shepherd said she and her six-year-old son Logan, who was taking part in some of the exercises Sunday, had a close call at Birds Hill Park in 2024, with the incident happening in seconds.

She recalled how she turned around to help her young daughter who had lost her footing. A second later, her son fell off a floaty into the water and was quickly swept away. She went after the boy in a flash, but found herself tangled in seaweed and panicked, going under herself, a nearby couple coming to their rescue.