Province accuses mining company of negligence in Lynn Lake wildfire

Manitoba Conservation investigators believe a massive wildfire that prompted an evacuation of Lynn Lake started at the nearby Alamos Gold Inc. mining site, accusing the company of negligence because it did not use water to extinguish burn piles.

The allegations are outlined in court documents filed by a sergeant working for the conservation service. They stem from an investigation into the wildfire, which is said to have started May 7 after a burn pile reignited at the Toronto-based gold producer’s MacLellan mine site, located about 7.5 kilometres northeast of Lynn Lake.

The blaze burned more than 85,000 hectares and got to within five kilometres of Lynn Lake later that month. The community, home to nearly 600 residents and located about 800 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, was evacuated and dozens of properties were destroyed.

“The investigation showed that Alamos Gold Inc. was negligent in ensuring that the fires that occurred on May 7, 2025, from burn piles on the MacLellan Mine site set on earlier dates were properly extinguished,” allege the documents, obtained by the Free Press.

Equatorial Guinea enforces yearlong internet outage for island that protested construction company

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — When residents of Equatorial Guinea's Annobón island wrote to the government in Malabo in July last year complaining about the dynamite explosions by a Moroccan construction company, they didn't expect the swift end to their internet access.

Dozens of the signatories and residents were imprisoned for nearly a year, while internet access to the small island has been cut off since then, according to several residents and rights groups.

Local residents interviewed by The Associated Press left the island in the past months, citing fear for their lives and the difficulty of life without internet.

Banking services have shut down, hospital services for emergencies have been brought to a halt and residents say they rack up phone bills they can't afford because cellphone calls are the only way to communicate.

Local engineer was a real game changer

Forty-seven years ago, George Klassen had an idea that improved the lives of millions of people in Bangladesh. It was for a hand-powered rower pump, a classic piece of simple, inexpensive and appropriate technology that poor farmers could use to irrigate their crops.

Today, an estimated 500,000 rower pumps are still in operation, benefitting more than 2.5 million people in that southeast Asian country — a legacy to Klassen’s vision, curiosity and ingenuity.

Klassen, who died on April 15 in Steinbach, spent his early years in Blumenort (near Gretna) before moving with his parents and 10 siblings to a farm near Steinbach. After graduating from the University of Manitoba with a B.Sc., he taught science and math in Nigeria with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) for three years.

There, he became convinced the best way he could serve people in the global south was by assisting them with practical skills and knowledge. With that in mind, when Klassen returned to Canada he decided to go back to the University of Manitoba to study engineering.

Residents pour cold water on proposed development in St. Vital

Some south St. Vital residents hope to stop a development proposal to build 23 new homes over fears the construction would put their well water at risk.

The proposal aims to add the homes at 45 Daman Farm Rd., 100 Jean Louis Rd. and 2974 St. Mary’s Rd., a 57-acre property on the west side of St. Mary’s Road in the St. Vital Perimeter South neighbourhood. The area is located within city limits but does not have city water and sewer service.

“This particular property lies in a sensitive groundwater area and every well that’s drilled in this area just contaminates the water even further by adding more salt,” said Michelle Olivson, who lives in the area.

City staff recommended the housing application be rejected over the groundwater concerns but city council’s property and development committee voted in favour of the project Friday, echoing a previous community committee vote.

Deadly attack renews calls to fix cellular gaps in, around Hollow Water

A mass stabbing and head-on crash that killed two people, including a suspect, and injured eight has renewed concerns about cellular coverage gaps in and around Hollow Water First Nation.

Residents said there is no cellphone service in Hollow Water and some surrounding areas, leaving people vulnerable if they’re in a location or circumstance where there’s no other way to call 911 or an emergency service directly.

“I don’t get any service in Hollow Water. It’s difficult to communicate,” said Brook Monkman, who lives south of the First Nation near Lake Winnipeg.

Monkman said he was driving on a road about 40 kilometres north of Hollow Water in 2023 when he came upon a crash that killed a mother and young son, and left a father and young daughter seriously injured.

Hydro rejects generator option for evacuated community

The chief of an evacuated northern First Nation that is still without electricity has demanded the provincial and federal governments spend $8 million on a generator so residents can return home, however Manitoba Hydro says the proposal is unrealistic.

Carney announces supports for sectors affected by U.S. tariffs

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday a suite of new measures to support sectors of the economy hit hardest by U.S. tariffs.

The announcement includes $5 billion for a fund to help companies pivot to new products and markets and keep skills and production in Canada, and to make them more competitive globally.

At a press conference at an aerospace plant in Mississauga, Ont. Friday morning, Carney said that the fund would be open to "all sectors, given the fact that the tariff impacts are wide-ranging across Canadian industries." He said that heavily affected sectors like steel, automobile, lumber and aluminum would have priority.

Carney also announced a “Buy Canadian” policy for the federal government.

Unemployment rate climbed to 7.1 per cent in August as economy lost 66,000 jobs

OTTAWA - The Canadian economy lost jobs for the second month in a row and the unemployment rate climbed to its highest level since May 2016, excluding the pandemic period, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.

The weaker-than-expected reading of the labour market prompted financial markets to increase the odds the Bank of Canada will cut its key interest rate target later this month.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.1 per cent in August as the economy lost 66,000 jobs for the month. The monthly jobs report comes after the July labour force survey that showed a loss of 41,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 6.9 per cent.

A poll of economists heading into the release had expected August to show a gain of 10,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to rise to seven per cent for the month, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Getting word out in face of AI-made messaging

Manitoba marketing aficionados have named their new agency Plain Language — a nod to what they say they’ll speak.

There’s a lack of plain language around algorithms and outcomes found in online advertising, agency co-founders said. They’ve spent decades working in digital media, placing ads in an ever-changing online landscape.

“There’s a lot of different platforms, and the way that people talk about it can be quite obtuse,” said Anthony Kowalczyk, Plain Language’s chief executive. “I think that’s what we’re trying to move away from.”

He and Jason Hachkowski, Plain Language’s vice-president of digital ad operations and strategy, have worked together for more than a decade. A mutual colleague suggested the pair meet — both men were experts in digital marketing and advertising.

CentrePort Canada-based ClearSecure Manufacturing & Distribution pitches protection premier product RockGlass

RURAL MUNICIPALITY OF ROSSER — It’s not unusual for staff at ClearSecure Manufacturing & Distribution to encourage people to take a baseball bat or sledgehammer to the company’s signature product.

As far as visuals go, it’s a striking one. The company manufactures and distributes crystal clear security panels for windows and doors known as RockGlass.

“We’re a solution for broken glass,” says Colleen Munro, the company’s founder and president. “That’s kind of our catchphrase.”

People who visit the company, located just north of Winnipeg in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, can don protective gear and swing a sledgehammer at a door-sized panel to see if they — like the legend of Arthur removing Excalibur from the stone — might be the first to successfully reduce RockGlass to pieces.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution to stop printing as it transitions to all-digital news

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will stop providing a print edition at year's end and go completely digital, a dramatic change for a storied newspaper founded shortly after the Civil War.

The decision will make Atlanta the largest U.S. metro area without a printed daily newspaper, although some smaller metro Atlanta newspapers continue printing.

Publisher Andrew Morse said in his Thursday announcement that the news organization will aim to expand its audience as it continues to report the news using online, audio and video products.

“The fact is, many more people engage with our digital platforms and products today than with our print edition, and that shift is only accelerating," Morse wrote in a letter to subscribers posted on the Journal-Constitution's website. The AJC has about 115,000 total subscribers, of whom 75,000 are online only; Morse has set a goal of gaining 500,000 online subscribers.

Winnipeggers’ pride bruised by crime, broken infrastructure: poll

Life in the big city on the Prairies isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, suggests a new poll that shows Winnipeggers are much less positive about their community than other Manitobans are about theirs.

The poll shows 76 per cent of Winnipeggers agree the city is a great place to live, but a contradictory finding is that they believe conditions in Manitoba’s capital are as bad as they have ever been. Those sentiments are highlighted in a Probe Research poll that found Winnipeggers are “proud, yet profoundly frustrated” about crime and aging infrastructure and their faith in public officials has dwindled.

“We definitely see that there is a palpable sense of frustration with some things, especially for younger folks,” Probe partner Curtis Brown said Tuesday

“This says that there’s work to do. The public expects work to be done to fix some of these big, ongoing challenges that Winnipeg — and all communities, frankly — have been grappling with for years.”

‘You’re planting your brand flag’: The power of brand building in the women’s sports boom

On a cold day in the beginning of 2024, Alastair Merry and Mary Lou Bunn had a few questions for a public librarian in Ottawa, Ontario.

“If you could describe Ottawa and what it means to you in a couple words, how would you do it?” they asked. “What do you think of the spirit of the city?”

Merry and Bunn, along with the design firm Flower Shop that they co-founded, were hired by the then newly minted Professional Women’s Hockey League to create the nicknames and logos for the league’s inaugural six teams. They were traveling around North America to figure out what made those six cities tick.

As the ever-growing crop of new women’s leagues — at least eight have launched in the past three years — all aim for longevity, one of the cornerstones of any sustainable foundation is team branding. It encompasses everything from the nicknames to the color schemes and logos, and the PWHL has set a high bar there that other up-and-comers would love to emulate.

Generators proposed as wildfire-affected communities face weeks — or months — without power

Some wildfire-stricken communities in Manitoba won’t have power restored for months, leaving evacuated residents in the lurch as to when they’ll be able to return home.

Manitoba Hydro estimates Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, also known as Pukatawagan, won’t have power back until the week of Sept. 28.

As AI becomes part of everyday life, it brings a hidden climate cost

Marissa Loewen first started using artificial intelligence in 2014 as a project management tool. She has autism and ADHD and said it helped immensely with organizing her thoughts.

“We try to use it conscientiously though because we do realize that there is an impact on the environment,” she said.

Her personal AI use isn't unique anymore. Now it’s a feature in smartphones, search engines, word processors and email services. Every time someone uses AI, it uses energy that is often generated by fossil fuels. That releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and contributes to climate change.

And it's getting harder to live without it.

Mise à l’épreuve pour le grand écran

Le 48-Hour Film Festival retourne au Centre culturel franco-manitobain (CCFM) pour célébrer sa 10e édition. Un événement unique en son genre.

Le 26 août, le CCFM accueillera une projection spéciale et la remise des prix du 48-Hour Film Festival, un événement qui célèbre la créativité cinématographique en un temps record. Ce festival fait suite à une première présentation au Festival International de Film de Gimli (FIFG) en juillet. Tout a commencé le vendredi 27 juin, lorsque des cinéastes et passionnés de cinéma ont relevé le défi de créer un court métrage en seulement 48 heures. James McLellan, président du conseil d’administration du 48-Hour Film Festival, nous en dit plus sur cette initiative estivale qui unit la communauté autour de l’amour du cinéma.

Cinéaste et professeur de cinéma à l’école secondaire immersion Oak Park, James McLellan, explique que son implication dans le festival — qui faisait alors partie du Winnipeg Film Group — a commencé grâce à ses élèves. “J’avais des étudiants qui participaient à l’événement et connaissaient Ben Williams, fondateur du 48-Hour Film Festival. Ben m’a contacté et m’a fait part de son idée de créer un festival distinct du groupe cinématographique Winnipeg Film group et j’ai immédiatement accepté. J’ai trouvé que ce défi de 48 heures était tellement bien pour le développement des étudiants en tant que jeunes créateurs de films.”

C’était lors de son parcours au secondaire que Adam Yarish, l’ancien étudiant de James McLellan dans le programme immersion à Oak Park, a aussi découvert le 48.

Green chemist and musician on fighting climate change

There’s no shortage of doom and gloom associated with the words “climate change” these days. As a result, many people are stressed out and feeling helpless.

Particularly concerning is that, more than ever, younger people are experiencing considerable distress with environmental anxiety, also known as eco-anxiety or climate anxiety. The Journal of Mental Health and Climate Change, an open-access publication that features interdisciplinary scientific research on mental health and climate change, continues to write extensively on this subject.

While prominent environmental activists, including well-known science broadcaster David Suzuki, paint a bleak picture of the future, many other professionals in various fields are working tirelessly to educate, inspire and fight the good fight for the next generations.

Born and raised in Lynn Lake, Man., Devin Latimer is one of those professionals. The faculty member in chemistry at the University of Winnipeg is also a long-time musician, bass player with local band Leaf Rapids and the Juno award-winning Nathan Music Co.

Graphic novelist to lead free workshop for aspiring artists

Jonathan Dyck’s most monumental piece of advice? Start small.

Decade of pride in custom power products for Strong Electric

If there’s one thing Darrell Driedger likes, it’s a challenge.

“I’m a custom guy all the way,” he says of his interest in creating unique products. “I’m in my glory when I get a set of plans from a client, can offer suggestions on the design and build and then figure out how we can make it work.”

Driedger is the chief operating officer at Strong Electric Manufacturing Inc., a Winnipeg business that provides standard and custom engineered solutions for the electrical industry.

Located at 906 King Edward St., beside its sister company, SCT Welding, Laser & Manufacturing Co., Strong Electric focuses on electrical distribution products of up to 25,000 volts for the commercial, industrial, utility and mining markets.

Program offers a promising future

As soon as Anfernee Clarke learned about the Pre-Apprentice Bricklayer Program being offered by First Peoples Development Inc. he was intrigued.

A decade ago an 18-year-old Clarke started working in the construction industry doing concrete work. He loved the physical nature of the work but a back injury he suffered five years ago forced him to temporarily put that career on hold and seek out other employment opportunities.

Now fully healed, he learned about FPDI’s bricklayer program late last year and wasted no time applying. He was one of 12 people who were part of the program’s initial cohort of students when it was launched this past January.

“I made up my mind pretty quickly (about applying),” he says.

The penny costs nearly 4 cents to make. Here’s how much the US spends on minting its other coins

NEW YORK (AP) — The impending “death” of the U.S. penny has spotlighted the coin's own price tag — nearly 4 cents to make and distribute each, or quadruple its value.

Months after President Donald Trump called on his administration to cease penny production, the U.S. Mint announced this week that it had made its final order of penny blanks — and plans to stop making new 1 cent coins after those run out.

Coin production costs vary thanks to different raw metals used, complexity of their designs, labor needed and more. Many of those expenses have been on the rise — and the penny isn't the only coin entering our wallets today that costs more to make than it's worth (enter the nickel debate).

Here's a rundown of U.S. Mint production costs from the government's latest fiscal year.

Toronto Zoo warns of extinctions if Ontario mining bill becomes law

TORONTO - Species could go extinct if Ontario passes a controversial mining bill that is set to transform its approach to endangered species and the environment, the Toronto Zoo warned the province.

Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, would strike a blow to the recovery of several species the institution has been trying to save, said Dolf DeJong, the zoo's CEO, at a committee hearing at Queen's Park on Thursday.

If and when the bill becomes law, DeJong wants the province to step up with funding so it can dramatically increase its biobank with Ontario species that could die off as a result of the legislation.

"We're concerned this act will result in the erosion of biodiversity and the loss of species at risk," DeJong said.

Homeowners spend on renovations and repairs despite the uncertain economy and higher prices

LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. homeowners are spending more on home renovation projects, bucking a broader pullback by consumers amid diminished confidence in the economy.

Sales at building materials and garden supply retailers rose 0.8% last month from March, the biggest gain since 2022, and were up 3.2% from April last year. At the same time, U.S. retail sales overall rose 0.1%, a sharp slowdown from March.

The trend comes even as prices for home improvement products have been rising.

The cost of home repairs and remodeling climbed by nearly 4% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Verisk’s Remodel Index. The strategic data analytics firm tracks costs for more than 10,000 home repair items, from appliances to windows.