Free Press Summer Reading Challenge for kids returns with a trove of new titles

Calling all young readers — the Free Press Summer Reading Challenge for Kids is back in session!

A partner program to the Free Press Book Club since 2020, the summer reading challenge offers four titles for each of three reading levels based on age — 7 to 9 years old, 10 to 12 years old and 13 to 15 years old. McNally Robinson Booksellers staffers curated the reading lists, prioritizing a diversity of perspectives, formats and topics to make sure there’s something for everyone — and there’s even a few local authors on the list.

The Summer Reading Challenge also offers budding reviewers the opportunity to submit their thoughts on any of the books on the reading lists, with a rating out of five stars, and have their reviews published in the books section of the Free Press print and online editions. All kids registered for the reading challenge will also receive activities and reading resources for each book to encourage deeper learning and hopefully help spur some thoughts and reflections for those reviews.

More information about each book on the reading lists, as well as additional information about what to include in reviews, can be found here. All of the books are available for purchase at McNally Robinson, and almost all are also available at the Winnipeg Public Library.

Winnipeg police warn of nihilistic violent extremism targeting children

Winnipeg police have warned against the escalating threat of online nihilistic violent extremism that targets children and youth and said officers are investigating incidents in Winnipeg.

Police said Friday online predators, who reject societal values, are intent on causing destruction or chaos rather than achieving a defined ideological objective.

“It’s happening, it is real,” Const. Claude Chancy said. “That’s why we have this whole plan process in effect. But at this point, we just cannot speak to any type of specifics in regards to investigations.”

Const. Andrea Lefort, an expert in violent extremism, said the public must understand the scale of the problem, noting the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service are aware of cases across the country.

Online therapy developed in Montreal helps seniors sleep better, study finds

MONTREAL - For many older adults, a restless night can be an unwelcome part of aging, but new research suggests that help may be just a few clicks away.

Researchers at a Montreal-based institute of geriatrics found that participants who completed an online program designed to treat insomnia and anxiety slept better and reported fewer symptoms of insomnia compared with when they started the treatment.

The study, published in May in the peer-reviewed journal "Age and Ageing," followed 80 adults aged 65 and older with insomnia symptoms. Participants completed the therapy through an online platform called e-SPACE Aging Well.

Researchers found that the treatment program improved participants' sleep efficiency — the amount of time spent asleep while in bed — by 11.46 per cent. Five participants met the study’s criteria for remission and no longer met the threshold for insomnia, say the researchers with Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal.

Quebec health minister tables bill banning energy drink sales to youth under 16

QUÉBEC - Quebec’s health minister tabled a bill on Friday banning the sale of energy drinks to youth under the age of 16, describing the measure as an "extremely important" step to protect young people's health.

Sonia Bélanger's proposed legislation would also force youth to show a piece of ID proving their age in order to buy a drink having caffeine concentration of 150 milligrams per litre or more and containing other ingredients, such as taurine, vitamins or minerals.

"The risks associated with their consumption are too often trivialized," Bélanger told reporters at the legislature. "Yet, we are facing a real and worrying public health issue."

Calls to ban the sale of energy drinks to those under 16 years old grew after the death of 15-year-old Zachary Miron, who died in 2024 after drinking a can of Red Bull while on ADHD medication.

Louis Riel School Division embraces AI agents of change

End-of-year report cards will be drafted using a new digital assistant made by and for teachers working in St. Vital and surrounding communities in southeast Winnipeg.

The Louis Riel School Division’s data team has spent much of the 2025-26 school year designing and piloting secure artificial intelligence-powered tools to address common problems for staff and students.

Curriculum-Linked Assessment and Reporting Assistant is one of its five new “AI agents.”

“Teachers put in all their assessment data and it helps them create meaningful, curriculum-aligned, jargon-free comments for parents,” said Marnie Wilson, data strategy officer for the division.

Teaching, learning are unrealistic expectations in intolerably hot classrooms

There is something fundamentally wrong with a province that can find room for tax cuts yet still sends thousands of children and teachers into classrooms that feel more like saunas than places of learning.

Early childhood educators discuss First Nations students’ needs

Early childhood educators traded tips to improve attendance and well-being among First Nations students and their families at a first-of-its-kind event in Winnipeg.

The University of Winnipeg hosted an inaugural roundtable for ECEs to share their challenges and successes related to Indigenous education on Tuesday.

“The limited assessment data that we do have shows Indigenous children are not doing as well in life as other children and so we need to pick it up,” said Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk, a professor who oversees the developmental studies program.

The facilitator described the gathering of nearly 50 women, including front-line workers, centre co-ordinators and post-secondary instructors, as a momentous occasion for their shared profession.

Heat wave leaves schools sweltering

Classes are being cancelled as thermostats spike — up to 42 C, in one case reported to the teachers union — in schools without building-wide air conditioning.

Division unveils plans for transport and learning hub south of Perimeter

The Louis Riel School Division has released details outlining its multimillion-dollar plan to transform its new rural property into a transportation and land-based learning hub.

Its blueprint for 3280 St. Mary’s Rd. — a nearly 8.3-acre plot south of the Perimeter Highway in St. Germain — was shared at a public open house last week.

Attendees were “on board” and supportive of outdoor education on the grounds, but some neighbours voiced concerns related to noise, fumes and privacy, said Jamie Rudnicki, secretary-treasurer and chief financial officer of the division.

“We’re listening. We’re going to make some small modifications to our plans to address some of those concerns,” Rudnicki said, noting the redevelopment team is already discussing ways to adjust berms and fencing.

Impulsive kids easy prey for addictive-by-design content

The allure of the screen is powerful, and despite working full-time in the realm of media literacy education, my home is not immune to the siren song of social media.

Gov. Gen. Simon launches mental health project for North, Indigenous communities

OTTAWA - Outgoing Gov. Gen. Mary Simon has launched a project to fund community-based mental health services in Northern and Indigenous communities.

The legacy project will be run with support from the Rideau Hall Foundation.

It is called Ajuinnata, an Inuktitut word that means "never give up." The project will begin in Inuit Nunangat.

Simon launched a mental health learning and listening tour in 2024 as one of her priorities in the viceregal office. She said the people she met made it clear the shortage of stable services in the North is an acute problem.

Winnipeg author explores a child’s grief in latest picture book

In the latest picture book from Winnipeg author Anna Lazowski, a child who has lost a loved one heads out to the backyard to build a rocket ship out of cardboard, tape and tinfoil.

That’s what you need to do, after all, when someone feels “as far away as the stars.”

I Built a Rocket Ship, out Tuesday via Kids Can Press, explores the constellation of feeling that is grief through our unnamed narrator — a kid with a shock of white hair just like the person they are missing — who is processing the loss.

Lazowski wrote the first draft of the book in 2021, during the pandemic.

Chinese online retailer Temu hit with $232 million fine over unsafe toys and electronics

LONDON (AP) — Temu was hit with a 200 million euro ($232 million) fine Thursday after a European Union investigation found the Chinese online retailer failed to protect consumers from illegal products like toxic or hazardous toys and unsafe electronics.

The 27-nation EU's fine follows preliminary findings last year that Temu was exposing consumers to a high risk of products sold on its platform like baby toys and small electronics that didn't comply with EU consumer safety rules.

The bloc's executive arm issued the penalty under the Digital Services Act, or DSA, a wide-ranging rulebook that requires online platforms to do more to keep internet users safe from harmful content or dodgy goods, under the threat of hefty fines.

It's the second time Brussels has issued a fine under three-year-old DSA, following a $120 million penalty last year for Elon Musk's social media site X.

The Minneapolis immigration crackdown ended months ago. For these little kids, trauma remains

COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) — The little girl approached the therapy dog outside the school library, reaching out to touch her fluffy blond coat. Social worker Nicole Herje leaned in.

"How does it feel when you pet Sage?” Herje said.

“I like it," the girl said. “In Ecuador, I had a dog.”

A few months earlier, this girl and many of her classmates at Valley View Elementary were staying off the streets to avoid the immigration officers flooding their suburban Minneapolis community. Attendance plummeted as families kept their kids from school during the Trump administration’s enforcement surge.

System to address violence in schools a no-brainer

For too long, violence in Manitoba classrooms has been treated as an uncomfortable problem discussed quietly in staff rooms, but rarely confronted publicly.

That silence is beginning to crack.

As more teachers come forward with stories of classroom evacuations, physical assaults and workplaces increasingly defined by fear and disruption, the province can no longer dismiss these incidents as isolated or unavoidable.

Far more needs to be done to provide teachers — and students — with safe learning and working environments.

You should be dancing, yeah. Moving to music offers all kinds of benefits as you age

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Carol Ross can’t stop smiling at dance practice as she shouts out the steps of a routine to members of her tap and jazz troupe for women age 50 and older.

“I’ve been dancing my whole life, it’s the best,” said Ross, who founded the Rodeo City Wreckettes group 23 years ago at an age when many people are getting ready for retirement.

Now 87, Ross and her husband and lifelong dance partner John, also 87, have long known what more older adults are now discovering: Moving to music is one of the best ways to stay healthy. Medical professionals say it doesn’t matter if it’s Western line dancing, ballroom steps, salsa, tap, Zumba at the gym, or with a group like the Wreckettes.

“Dancing is one of the most powerful activities for older people,” said Julio Loya, a nurse and geriatric program coordinator at the Tucson Medical Center.

Combat in the classroom: Many Manitoba public school teachers are concerned violence is making their jobs more difficult

The majority of teachers in a new Probe Research study reported both the prevalence of violence and severity of incidents has increased since they joined the profession. Early years and veteran teachers, along with those working in Winnipeg, were the most likely to report worsening conditions.

Judge to determine if dismissal of man’s filing against police was unreasonable

A man who alleges two Winnipeg police officers illegally searched his room in a group home hopes a judge will agree it was unreasonable for his complaint against them to be dismissed.

Michael Filbert, 69, who has cognitive and physical disabilities, appeared before a provincial court judge Thursday to argue in favour of a judicial review. His complaint to the Law Enforcement Review Agency was dismissed in September.

He alleges the officers conducted a search without a warrant and threatened him with an electroshock weapon in 2025.

Deb Roach, a friend of Filbert’s, spoke to the Free Press on his behalf because he has hearing loss and difficulty speaking.