Eby says it looks like OpenAI could have prevented ‘horrific’ Tumbler Ridge killings

VICTORIA - British Columbia Premier David Eby said it "looks like" OpenAI had the opportunity to prevent the recent mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., in which nine people died, as pressure piled on the artificial intelligence firm over its handling of interactions with 18-year-old shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar.

The firm has been summoned to Ottawa on Tuesday to explain why it didn't go immediately to police after its internal safeguards flagged worrisome interactions between the shooter and its ChatGPT chatbot at least seven months ago.

Eby — who is also calling for national standards for AI companies on reporting potential threats — said Monday there would be a public accounting by the company to explain why it only reported its concerns to police after the Feb. 10 killings by Van Rootselaar, who shot dead her mother, half-brother, five school pupils and a teacher's aide, then herself.

"From the outside, it looks like OpenAI had the opportunity to prevent this tragedy, to prevent this horrific loss of life, to prevent there from being dead children in British Columbia," he said. "I'm angry about that."

She woke up to ‘We’re at war’ in Ukraine. Now Mariia Vainshtein is a New York City tennis champion

NEW YORK (AP) — Mariia Vainshtein never heard the noise and slept straight through that horrible night four years ago.

She didn’t have her phone near bed when she woke the next morning — it probably had been taken by her parents for some teenager's misbehavior, she suspects now with a laugh – so couldn’t scroll around for the news of the day. Instead, she just asked her mother when she could get a ride to school.

Anzhelika Kotliantseva knew they weren’t going anywhere in Ukraine that day. Not after she had been awake for hours, listening to the nearby explosions that began when Russia launched its invasion.

“My mom was like, ’What do you mean? We’re at war! There’s no school, no nothing!'" Vainshtein said.

Schools’ internet use spikes as students, teachers pull for Canadian — and local — athletes

Manitoba schools broke a record as students and staff tuned in to cheer on athletes — and in some cases, alumni — at the Winter Olympics.

The organization that connects the province’s 37 public school divisions to the internet saw historic spikes in activity this week.

Bandwith usage more than doubled what’s typical on a weekday for the Manitoba Education, Research and Learning Information Networks when Canadian hockey teams competed in the medal rounds in Milan Cortina.

MERLIN revealed usage spiked to 71.25 gigabits per second during the gold-medal game for women’s hockey, which Canada lost 2-1 to the U.S. in overtime, on Thursday.

Province, treaty commission develop new Grade 12 course

Manitoba’s newest Grade 12 elective investigates the meaning of the phrase: “We Are All Treaty People.”

The education department teamed up with the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba to co-create a social studies curriculum.

Ahead of the winter term, the duo unveiled a new 40S credit: Land and Treaties: Relationships and Responsibilities.

“I don’t know anywhere else in Canada where this has happened,” said Connie Wyatt Anderson, treaty education lead for the commission.

Social media companies face legal reckoning over mental health harms to children

For years, social media companies have disputed allegations that they harm children’s mental health through deliberate design choices that addict kids to their platforms and fail to protect them from sexual predators and dangerous content. Now, these tech giants are getting a chance to make their case in courtrooms around the country, including before a jury for the first time.

Some of the biggest players from Meta to TikTok are facing federal and state trials that seek to hold them responsible for harming children's mental health. The lawsuits have come from school districts, local, state and the federal government as well as thousands of families.

Two trials are now underway in Los Angeles and in New Mexico, with more to come. The courtroom showdowns are the culmination of years of scrutiny of the platforms over child safety, and whether deliberate design choices make them addictive and serve up content that leads to depression, eating disorders or suicide.

Experts see the reckoning as reminiscent of cases against tobacco and opioid markets, and the plaintiffs hope that social media platforms will see similar outcomes as cigarette makers and drug companies, pharmacies and distributors.

Fossilized vomit provides insight on predator that lived 290 million years ago

BRANDON — A Brandon University paleontologist has helped identify prehistoric barf that’s nearly 290 million years old — and could be the oldest known example of fossilized vomit from a land-dwelling predator.

Mark MacDougall, an assistant biology professor, was part of a research team that identified 41 bones from at least three animals inside the regurgitated cluster by using CT scans and chemical analysis, the university said in a news release.

Signs point to the vomit coming from a top predator — likely an early relative of mammals — that gulped down a mixed meal that included a small reptile, a fast-moving lizard-like animal and part of a much larger plant-eater, and later coughed it back up.

“It’s rare to get such direct evidence of who was eating whom nearly 300 million years ago,” said MacDougall, co-author of the international study published last month in the journal Scientific Reports.

City library visits up 28 per cent from 2022

Visits to Winnipeg libraries have increased, but changing habits may prevent them from reaching pre-pandemic levels, new data show.

In-person visits to the city’s 20 library branches in 2025 increased 28 per cent from 2022, the first year visits began to rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have yet to return to the “before” times.

There were 2.14 million visits in 2025, up from 2.08 million in 2024, but still down from 2019’s 2.4 million visits. The library’s highest year since 2012 was in 2016 when the branches saw 2.77 million visits.

During the pandemic, visits plummeted; there were only 622,000 visits in 2021 and 804,000 in 2020.

Making the most of Winnipeg’s biggest opportunity

The critical moral test for any community is the world it leaves for its children.

Without a doubt, Winnipeggers want all their city’s young people to have successful lives. Here are things we know make success possible: graduating from high school and avoiding disasters like addiction to drugs, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and becoming involved with the criminal justice system.

Most citizens understand this. And if they were told there are proven ways to make it much more likely for our wishes for Winnipeg’s young people to come true, they would probably say “Hey, let’s do more of that!”

But mostly, we don’t.

Movement, proper sleep crucial for brain health

Winter in Winnipeg has a way of forcing us indoors.

Short days. Long nights. More sitting. More screens. Less movement. More “I’ll get back on track in spring.”

That seasonal slowdown doesn’t just stiffen joints and pad waistlines. It quietly affects the brain, too.

When most people think about Alzheimer’s or dementia, they picture something that shows up late in life — 70s, 80s, maybe a parent or grandparent.

Elmwood students’ clothing venture instils pride, breaks down stereotypes in blue-collar neighbourhood

Xander Woodley is spending his fourth period filling orders.

The Grade 12 Elmwood High School student pulls a blank sweatshirt from the supply closet and double-checks the customer’s purchase: one double-extra-large GPS Crewneck in navy.

He walks over to the heat press at the back of the graphics lab and flips through a stack of transfer sheets to find the correct design.

“It’s a map of our community of Elmwood; these are all of the streets, as well as the Red River and co-ordinates of where we are,” Woodley says, pointing to the line-art rendition of the northeast Winnipeg neighbourhood, the ward boundaries of which run from McLeod Avenue to the Canadian Pacific mainline and from the eastern bank of the Red River to Lagimodiere Boulevard.

Canada’s university funding system is broken

For decades, Canadian universities have delivered a world-class education at a remarkably accessible cost. Nationally, Manitoba has among the lowest tuition fees in the country. However, like many universities across Canada, the University of Manitoba is facing a new reality that can no longer be ignored.

School nutrition program prompts student trash talk

One student’s trash has become another student’s research sample at Robertson School.

Arviat, Nunavut chosen as main campus location for Inuit Nunangat University

OTTAWA - The main campus of the new Inuit Nunangat University will be located in Arviat, Nunavut, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed announced Wednesday.

The school also moved a step closer to being built with the announcement of a $50 million investment from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., and another $85 million through the Nunavut Agreement Implementation Contract.

The Mastercard Foundation previously committed $50 million toward the development of the university.

The university, expected to open in 2030, will be the first based in the North and the first in Canada operated by and for Inuit. It will be tasked with promoting Inuit language retention and revitalization and supporting economic and cultural opportunities in the region.

Parent group urges funds to help spot reading disabilities sooner

It may be too late for their children, but parents are appealing to school boards to fund teacher training to spot struggling readers sooner.

Caregiver Advocates for Literacy Equity is launching a new campaign this week, against the backdrop of I Love to Read Month.

The coalition represents dozens of families, many of whom have children with dyslexia. It is planning a series of presentations for trustees across Manitoba.

“The damage has been done to my son, sadly — we’re trying to propel things forward for him — but I just want to make a change for other kids,” said Allison Guercio, a mother of two in Winnipeg.

Sturgeon Heights students fight to keep backpacks in class

An iconic symbol of student life has become embroiled in controversy at a Winnipeg high school.

Sturgeon Heights Collegiate announced a change in protocols last week, banning backpacks from classrooms in an effort to limit clutter.

School administration issued a bulletin informing students they’d be required to store their bags and coats in their lockers from now on.

Calling it a “backpack ban,” teenagers are lamenting the rules they say are upending routines and making them late for classes.

Full-day kindergarten returning to city’s largest school division in the fall

Manitoba’s largest school division is bringing back full day, every day kindergarten in the fall.

Four years after scaling back early years options, the Winnipeg School Division — now under new leadership — has confirmed the U-turn.

Chief superintendent Matt Henderson said he’s “not convinced” an internal study used to justify cuts in 2022 was afforded the time or energy it required to be conclusive.

The results zoned in on academics rather than holistic benefits, such as how full-time instruction builds a young student’s confidence and gives parents more flexibility to work, he said.

Building up engineers: RRC Polytech, U of M celebrate collaboration

The University of Manitoba and Red River College Polytechnic are making it easier for engineering technologists to earn a degree.

City rejects one-minute school-zone limit

The City of Winnipeg won’t try to impose a one-minute time limit for school drop-offs and pickups.

Council’s public works committee opted to take no action on the idea Wednesday, which would have directed city staff to develop a “Stop, Drop and Go” program with the strict time limit at elementary schools. The vote is final.

The committee’s chairwoman predicted the tight time limit would be tough to follow.

“I don’t think it’s feasible… I had three kids. Kicking them out in one minute is not going to happen,” said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West).

Teen newcomers hope powerful poem opens minds

Escaping Syria as a child, Fawwaz (Ali) Al Hassan knows a thing or two about global conflict.

“I’ve gone through war, genocide, poverty, myself firsthand, and I know how bad and terrible it is for anyone, not just for people of my kind, but anyone across the world,” the 17 year old who immigrated to Canada 10 years ago said.

The Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute student co-wrote the spoken-word poem What We’re Meant to Be, along with Sami Suliman, 16, and Tobilola (Tobi) Olorunsola, 17. The trio recited it Monday at the Manitoba legislature as part of the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation’s international development week.

The teens, all newcomers to Canada, brought their own personal experiences to the poem, a journey across the globe.

Beloved drop-in centre remains a haven for youth after 50 years

Some children are never given the foundational tools at home to ease their way into this world. For a long list of complex reasons, home is not always a haven. And it’s not assured to be a safe place for kids.

But there is a building at the corner of Ross and Sherbrook that serves as both a home and a refuge, where young people find safety, acceptance and love, 365 days a year, anytime, all the time.

“I wouldn’t be alive today if it hadn’t been for Rossbrook House,” is an often-repeated phrase.

In 1976, Sister Geraldine MacNamara (Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary), with the help of other sisters and a group of young men from Winnipeg’s Centennial neighbourhood, founded Rossbrook House as an alternative to the streets.

Children’s Museum forced to tighten financial belt, fundraise

The Children’s Museum is a home away from home for the Maes family.

“We come all the time,” says mom Rachel Maes, while watching four of her six kids explore the centre’s toddler zone on a cold Monday afternoon.

“We’re a Métis family, so we can come for free, which is amazing.”

The young family visits the colourful museum at The Forks several times a month during the depths of winter, but that may soon change.

Quebec civility rules won’t be adopted in Manitoba schools

Manitoba teachers are embracing the freedom to be called whatever they’d like at work while their colleagues elsewhere in Canada adjust to new civility rules.

Starting this month, Quebec has begun requiring students of all ages to address teachers as “Mr.” or “Ms.”

The new rules aim to foster civility and renew a culture of respect in kindergarten-to-Grade 12 classrooms in that province.

Manitoba has no plans to follow suit — much to the relief of Winnipeg teachers who’ve become accustomed to informal titles.