As camp fees increase, Sunshine Fund delivers another summer of adventures

Dana Moroz is on the other end of the line and the manager of the Sunshine Fund can hardly contain her enthusiasm.

With the summer winding down and school on the verge of being back in session, Moroz was asked about the 46th season of the program that sent children in need to 31 accredited camps across the province and northwestern Ontario.

Although the final numbers are still being calculated, it was a banner year for the program, which benefited from the Free Press Sunshine Fund campaign that ran throughout the past several months.

“We had over 700 kids that we supported to go to summer camp,” said Moroz, noting the cost of doing so eclipsed $300,000.

City advised 275 people in 72 camps as of July

A tally by the City of Winnipeg shows the number of people in encampments has fallen by a few hundred since last September.

A Friday presentation to city council members shows 245 people lived in 72 encampments across the city in July, compared with about 100 encampments with 700 people in September 2025.

“There’s some good progress that’s being made … The number of people in encampments is less than half of what it was last year,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham.

The city did not provide numbers for July 2025. It has previously noted the number of encampments tends to increase in warmer months, which has happened each month since February 2026.

Mayoral candidate Vogiatzakis promises new express-lane permitting process

A mayoral candidate is promising a complete overhaul of the city’s permit processes, if elected.

Mike Vogiatzakis held his second of what he said would be weekly campaign pledges leading up to the Oct. 28 mayoral election. He pitched what he described as a “one-day green lane” model for approving small-scale permits: complete applications for “simple, low-risk projects” would be approved in one business day. Other residential permits would be guaranteed to be approved within five days and simple commercial permits would have a 10-day approval. Larger jobs, he said, would have a “written timeline.”

Vogiatzakis promised to open a permit hub dedicated solely to applications filed by small businesses.

“Business owners, of course, can spend months (paying) rent while waiting for permits,” he said Friday. “Homeowners and contractors can be left without clear decisions for a long time. Winnipeg has gone online with applications, but an online application is not an approval. A target is not a guarantee. My plan adds the missing link.”

U of M research role expands after $79-M federal injection

The University of Manitoba is playing in a new league.

A $79-million investment will bring five internationally recruited researchers to Manitoba to build “ambitious,” long-term research programs in areas of strategic national importance.

The five researchers will join the U of M thanks to the federal government’s $1.7-billion research talent initiative that’s designed to help Canadian universities compete globally for leading researchers.

The initiative’s flagship program, the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chairs of Canada, provides universities with the funding and resources to recruit world-class researchers, build research teams and pursue large-scale projects in fields considered important to Canada — from Arctic navigation and defence to sustainable mining, health equity and environmental law.

Manitoba introduces $100M in supports to combat U.S. tariffs

Manitoba is responding to the latest U.S. tariffs with more than $100 million in support for workers, businesses and producers to help them withstand the headwinds, but the opposition said it’s “too little, too late.”

“We will support workers, we will support businesses, we will ensure that we have market and trade diversification and build a stronger, more resilient economy,” Business Minister Jamie Moses said Friday at the legislature alongside Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn.

The United States imposed 50 per cent tariffs on $27.6 billion of Canadian exports as of Aug. 22 after trade talks fell apart. Canada has announced retaliatory tariffs on select U.S. products starting Sept. 8.

The latest escalation in U.S. tariffs is expected to affect a wide range of Manitoba industries, the ministers noted, including manufacturing, agri-food, transportation, construction, wholesale trade, aerospace, forestry, steel, machinery, beverages and related supply chains.

Police investigate after three sent to hospital in North End blaze

Three people were sent to hospital and a criminal investigation is underway after a historical home in the St. John’s neighbourhood was severely damaged by fire.

Fire crews were called to the blaze at 344 St. Johns Ave. at 10:16 p.m. on Thursday, the city said Friday.

Michael Block, who lives across the street, told the Free Press his wife called 911 after he and his son realized the house was ablaze.

“We heard some yelling from inside the house and then my son looked out the window and he could see fire coming out of the second-storey window,” Block said. “We went out (and) there was a gentleman who had walked out of the house, who was underneath that tree right there … and his pants were still on fire.”

Hydro announces CEO out after two years

Allan Danroth is out as Manitoba Hydro’s president and CEO — a departure that came as a surprise to some observers — just two years after he was hired.

Danroth left for personal reasons, the Crown corporation’s board chair, Jamie Wilson, said Friday, while announcing chief operating officer Hal Turner as interim president and CEO ahead of a national and international search for a replacement.

“Today’s one of those days where you have a lot of mixed emotions,” Turner told reporters at Hydro’s downtown Winnipeg headquarters. “I just want to say on behalf of all the employees in Manitoba Hydro, we very much appreciate Allan’s leadership over the last two years.”

Turner wouldn’t say whether he will apply to be the next permanent CEO.

‘Last chance’ clearance U.S. booze punted from Liquor Marts

American alcohol that returned to Manitoba Liquor Mart shelves in May as part of a “last chance” sale is headed back to storage or will be destroyed.

“We are removing U.S. liquor products from Liquor Mart shelves,” a spokesperson for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries said Thursday. The Crown corporation had been pushing to off-load its stockpile of U.S. booze.

Premier Wab Kinew launched a provincewide boycott of American alcohol in March 2025 to fight back against tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries has not placed new orders since the boycott began, but it still had inventory.

As of early May, the U.S. inventory had a value of roughly $3.4 million, which is roughly one-third of what was removed from shelves and placed in storage, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries has said. It was unable to provide an inventory update on Thursday.

Late founder of Canad Inns celebrated with honorary street name

The founder of Canad Inns will be remembered through an honorary street name, alongside his homegrown hotel chain’s Garden City location.

On Thursday, the city installed a sign to mark “Leo Ledohowski Way” on Jefferson Avenue between McPhillips and Watson streets.

“It is a lasting tribute … to a man who devoted so much of his life to this city and province and whose legacy will continue to inspire those who travel the road for years to come … From this day forward, Leo’s name will be part of Winnipeg’s landscape,” said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West), city council’s acting deputy mayor.

Ledohowski died last year at the age of 81. He started the Canad Inns hotel chain in the 1970s. At an event to unveil the street sign, he was described as a tireless entrepreneur, philanthropist and hospitality leader, as well as a cheerleader for both Winnipeg and Manitoba.

Doctor pays $500K to revamp courtyard at care home where he works

Fifty years after Dr. Pravinsagar Mehta began caring for residents at Actionmarguerite, a courtyard he had long watched deteriorate is getting a new life after he and his wife committed $500,000 to its redevelopment and long-term maintenance.

The renewed courtyard at Actionmarguerite St. Boniface on Despins Street will officially open Friday, giving its 299 residents an accessible place to spend time outside.

When Mehta, now 80, began working at St. Boniface Home in 1976, the new courtyard reminded him of a park near his childhood home in Uganda — one of the highlights of his upbringing.

“I said, ‘Wow, isn’t it amazing that I can go out, sit outside, and relax there?’” Mehta recalled.

Word test

TESTING

Premier Wab Kinew is an imported Manitoban, born in Kenora and raised on Onigaming First Nation in Treaty Three (in northwestern Ontario) before his family moved to Winnipeg. He’s the son of well-known Anishinaabe leader and traditional knowledge keeper Tobasonakwut Kinew and Kathi Kinew.

These are the words we provided feedback on: Boniface, Cockburn, Dauphin, Dene, Hellebuyck, Iafallo, Íslendingadagurinn, Kinew, Kildonan, Malak Abas, Métis, Newfoundland, Orlikow, Pembina, Portage la Prairie, Premier, Regina, St. Vital, Samyn, Schiefele, vínarterta, Wiebe, Generation Z.

Former care home nurse fined $8,000 for ‘disturbing in the extreme’ 2025 incident

A former nurse has been fined $8,000 and is facing numerous restrictions after making a mistake “no registered nurse should have made” by inserting 10 centimetres of gauze into a patient’s anus instead of dressing a nearby wound.

Kamaljeet Kaur Dherdi entered a guilty plea to professional misconduct as part of an inquiry committee panel of the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba on June 2.

The incident took place on March 6, 2025 at the Holy Family Care Home on Aberdeen Avenue.

The inquiry panel’s decision, posted online Thursday, called Dherdi’s behaviour “disturbing in the extreme.”