WEATHER ALERT

Misinformation, disinformation and malinformation: how to determine what's real

Please review each article prior to use: grade-level applicability and curricular alignment might not be obvious from the headline alone.

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Jada Rifkin and Dov Mickelson perform in the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre (WJT) season opener, Job: The Play, and are photographed at a media call Tuesday, September 9, 2025. Reporter: ben
No Subscription Required

Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s therapy-set two-hander plays with reality

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview
No Subscription Required

Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s therapy-set two-hander plays with reality

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Monday, Sep. 15, 2025

The public and private perils of online engagement crash through the screen and into a therapist’s office in Job, a nervy drama that explores the power of posts and the ethical responsibilities inherent to our respective postings.

Written by New York’s Max Wolf Friedlich and directed by Calgary’s Jack Grinhaus, the opening production of the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s season heads to the races with the brandishing of a starter’s gun in the warped offices of Bay Area psychotherapist Lloyd (Dov Mickelson).

Lloyd’s description of his typical patient — young people who are “hopeless and beyond help” — isn’t exactly inspirational.

Blundstone-booted Jane (Jada Rifkin) seems to have made the cut, having been placed on paid administrative leave after a viral meltdown by her employer, an unnamed tech giant on whose campus she’s enrolled as an adjudicator.

Read
Monday, Sep. 15, 2025
Crystal Heald Photo Lilith Fair finale show in 1998, feauring Diana Krall, Sarah McLachlan, Angelique Kidjo, Lisa Loeb, Sam Bettens, Tara Maclean
No Subscription Required

New documentary revisits Lilith Fair, gives it the overdue kudos it deserves

Jen Zoratti 8 minute read Preview
No Subscription Required

New documentary revisits Lilith Fair, gives it the overdue kudos it deserves

Jen Zoratti 8 minute read Monday, Sep. 15, 2025

In the opening moments of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a new documentary about the pioneering all-women touring festival co-founded by Canadian icon Sarah McLachlan in the late 1990s, there’s a series of TikTok videos fronted by gen Z women expressing wonder and astonishment that something like that ever even existed.

“There was an all-female music festival from 1997 to 1999 — and I am shook to my core,” one woman says.

Ally Pankiw, the film’s director, is not surprised younger generations have never heard of Lilith Fair.

“It was not celebrated for how massive it was,” says the Canadian film/TV writer and director (Feel Good, Shrill). “It was so commercially successful. It changed so many artists’ trajectories and careers. It raised so much money for charity.

Read
Monday, Sep. 15, 2025
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Stacey Soldier, the first Anishinaabe woman to serve as president of the Manitoba Bar Association, has been mentoring young Indigenous law students.
No Subscription Required

First Anishinaabe woman Bar Association president prioritizes mentorship, protecting the rule of law

Melissa Martin 8 minute read Preview
No Subscription Required

First Anishinaabe woman Bar Association president prioritizes mentorship, protecting the rule of law

Melissa Martin 8 minute read Sunday, Sep. 14, 2025

In 1991, when Stacey Soldier was just 15 years old, Manitoba marked a watershed moment. After three years of hearings, the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry released its final report, a searing reckoning with how the province’s police and justice system had failed Indigenous people.

At home in Thompson, Soldier watched news of the inquiry unfold on TV. (“We were only allowed to watch the news in our house,” she says with a laugh.) The Anishinaabe teen was inspired to see an Indigenous judge, then-Justice Murray Sinclair, co-presiding over the proceedings, and was transfixed by the findings.

It felt “thrilling for justice,” she recalls. But it was also a stark lesson in the challenges her people faced to obtain it.

“One thing that the AJI made clear is that this is a system that wasn’t designed to help Indigenous communities and people in any way,” she says, chatting at her law firm Cochrane Sinclair’s Exchange District offices last week.

Read
Sunday, Sep. 14, 2025
The casket containing the body of Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA who was shot and killed on Wednesday is removed from Air Force Two at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
No Subscription Required

Blame game after acts of political violence can lead to further attacks, experts warn

Nicholas Riccardi, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview
No Subscription Required

Blame game after acts of political violence can lead to further attacks, experts warn

Nicholas Riccardi, The Associated Press 7 minute read Friday, Oct. 10, 2025

DENVER (AP) — From the moment conservative activist and icon Charlie Kirk was felled by an assassin’s bullet, partisans began fighting over which side was to blame. President Donald Trump became the most prominent to do so, tying the attack to “the radical left” before a suspect was even identified.

It was part of a new, grim tradition in a polarized country — trying to pin immediate responsibility for an act of public violence on one of two political sides. As the nation reels from a wave of physical attacks against both Republicans and Democrats, experts warn that the rush to blame sometimes ambiguous and irrational acts on political movements could lead to more conflict.

“What you’re seeing now is exactly how the spiral of violence occurs,” said Robert Pape, a political scientist and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago.

On Friday, authorities announced they had arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Washington, Utah, in the shooting. While a registered voter, he was not affiliated with any party and had not voted in the last two general elections. Even so, officials said Robinson had recently grown more political and expressed negative views about Kirk.

Read
Friday, Oct. 10, 2025
A man paddles a canoe in Annobón Island, Equatorial Guinea, Sunday, June 12, 2022. (AP Photo)
No Subscription Required

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

Ope Adetayo, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview
No Subscription Required

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

Ope Adetayo, The Associated Press 6 minute read Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025

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.

Read
Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025
A well-wisher adds flowers to a makeshift memorial set up at Turning Point USA headquarters after the shooting death at a Utah college on Wednesday of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old founder and CEO of the organization, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP - Ross D. Franklin

Bewildered and ‘in horror,’ Toronto man fights fake news that he shot U.S. influencer Charlie Kirk

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Bewildered and ‘in horror,’ Toronto man fights fake news that he shot U.S. influencer Charlie Kirk

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Friday, Sep. 19, 2025

TORONTO - Michael Mallinson had never met Charlie Kirk, nor had he ever heard the name of the American right-wing commentator who was shot dead in broad daylight at a Utah college event on Wednesday.

But the retired Torontonian has done some research about him after his death.

"I gather that he appeals to young conservatives. I'm an old socialist. I guess that's the best way I could put it," Mallinson said in a phone interview.

They would never have come across each other, but a piece of viral online misinformation has tied Mallinson to Kirk's story. Now the former banker, 77, is fighting to make the truth understood: he is decidedly not the person who put a bullet in the controversial commentator's neck.

Read
Friday, Sep. 19, 2025
Bell Canada is launching Bell Cyber, a new brand under its growing tech services umbrella which it says will offer AI-powered cybersecurity solutions. Bell Canada signage is pictured on a building in Ottawa on Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Bell launches Bell Cyber, building on AI and tech services umbrella

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Bell launches Bell Cyber, building on AI and tech services umbrella

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025

TORONTO - Bell Canada is launching Bell Cyber, a new brand under its growing tech services umbrella which will offer AI-powered cybersecurity solutions.

The company made the announcement Tuesday at its inaugural Bell Cybersecurity Summit in Toronto, which heard from Bell Cyber's leadership, government and law enforcement officials, as well as other industry stakeholders.

It said Bell Cyber unifies all of the company's cybersecurity capabilities under a single brand. It also complements Bell's other recent tech announcements, such as the launch of Bell AI Fabric and tech services brand Ateko.

Bell Cyber is the branding successor to Stratejm, a Mississauga, Ont.-based security services provider acquired by Bell in July 2024. The company has specialized in providing end-to-end security solutions with the use of artificial intelligence, including real-time threat detection and response.

Read
Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025
FILE - This combination of photos shows logos of X, formerly known as Twitter, top left; Snapchat, top right; Facebook, bottom left; and TikTok, bottom right. (AP Photo, File)
No Subscription Required

Nepal internet crackdown part of global trend toward suppressing online freedom

Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview
No Subscription Required

Nepal internet crackdown part of global trend toward suppressing online freedom

Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press 5 minute read Friday, Oct. 10, 2025

Nepal's crackdown on social media companies, which led to protests and police killing at least 19 people, is part of a yearslong decline of internet freedoms around the world as even democracies seek to curtail online speech.

The Himalayan country’s government said last week it was blocking several social media platforms including Facebook, X and YouTube because the companies failed to comply with a requirement that they register with the government. The ban was lifted Tuesday a day after the deadly protests.

What's happening in Nepal mirrors “this broader pattern of controlling the narrative and controlling of stories emerging from the ground,” said Aditya Vashistha, an assistant professor of information science at Cornell University. “This has happened several times in the neighboring countries India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. So this is nothing new — in fact, I would say this is taken from the playbook, which is now very established, of trying to control social media narratives.”

Not just Nepal

Read
Friday, Oct. 10, 2025
FILE - Tom Hanks arrives at the 15th Governors Awards Nov. 17, 2024, at The Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Trump celebrates West Point alumni group canceling award ceremony to honor Tom Hanks

Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Trump celebrates West Point alumni group canceling award ceremony to honor Tom Hanks

Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press 5 minute read Monday, Sep. 15, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump celebrated news on Monday that an alumni group from West Point canceled an award ceremony set to honor Tom Hanks, with the president calling the famous actor “destructive” and “WOKE.”

Hanks was scheduled to receive the 2025 Sylvanus Thayer Award on Sept. 25, but the U.S. Military Academy's alumni association canceled the ceremony last week, according to news reports.

“Important move!” Trump said in a post on his social media network Monday. “We don’t need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American Awards!!! Hopefully the Academy Awards, and other Fake Award Shows, will review their Standards and Practices in the name of Fairness and Justice.”

West Point, its alumni association and a representative for Hanks did not immediately respond to messages and calls seeking comment Monday.

Read
Monday, Sep. 15, 2025
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) throws a pass under pressure from Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith Jr. (3) in the second half of an NFL football game Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
No Subscription Required

Onslaught of sports betting ads make gambling seem enticing to youth, doctors say

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview
No Subscription Required

Onslaught of sports betting ads make gambling seem enticing to youth, doctors say

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025

TORONTO - Doctors are calling for restrictions on sports betting ads, saying they are setting youth up for a future of problem gambling.

An editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday says the ads are everywhere during sports broadcasts and that the legalization of online gambling has made every smartphone a potential betting platform.

Editor Dr. Shannon Charlebois says even though betting sites say they're only for people 19 years of age and older, youth are being inundated with advertising that equates enjoying sports with betting.

She says child and teen brains are still developing and the constant exposure to gambling messages normalizes harmful behaviour that they can carry into adulthood

Read
Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025