I have lived on or within a block of Wellington Crescent for 35 years.

I drive my vehicle on the Crescent almost every day, and cycle regularly on the Crescent in the summertime. Not once have I felt unsafe driving or cycling on the Crescent. However, that could soon change.

The city is voting on whether to approve bike lanes on Wellington Crescent, which would reduce vehicular traffic to one lane each way from Academy to Stradbrook and reduce speed to 40 km/h.

If the botched bike lanes on River and Stradbrook avenues are any indication, drivers on Wellington Crescent are in for a rough ride.

U.S. President Donald Trump didn’t invent insulting people but with his latest comment about Robert Mueller, he has taken American politics to a new low.

According to former president George W. Bush, Mueller “dedicated his life to public service.” As a marine in Vietnam, he earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. Former president Barack Obama referred to Mueller as “one of the finest directors in the history of the FBI … it was his relentless commitment to the rule of law and his unwavering belief in our bedrock values that made him one of the most respected public servants of our time.”

What did Trump say about Mueller?

“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I am glad he is dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people.”

When people hear the word “respite,” they often imagine a break — a little time off for parents caring for a child with disabilities.

For single-parent families like mine, respite is not a break.

It is survival.

My son was born with cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy. His seizures began when he was still a baby and escalated to the point where he was having multiple seizures an hour. Over the years he has required intensive care admissions, emergency interventions, and constant monitoring. He is nonverbal, requires a feeding tube for nutrition, and needs assistance with mobility and daily care.

“We’re making these decisions not for the 60, 70-year-olds. No disrespect, because a lot of them do use these facilities, but we’re trying to make the decisions what infrastructure is needed for the 30-year-olds, the 25-year-olds, and that future generation.”

That was Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham at the executive policy committee on March 17, defending the decision to cancel the Wellington Crescent bike lane pilot project.

My parents downsized to a condo on Wellington Crescent. My wife, our three-year-old daughter, and I walk or bike along Wellington Crescent to visit them at least once a week… or we used to.

Since a driver going, at minimum, 159 km/h killed Rob Jenner on this street nearly two years ago, we take a longer route to avoid Wellington entirely. We shouldn’t have to be afraid just to visit my parents.

Still not four full weeks into the war, and already Donald Trump’s “short-term excursion” — decapitate the Iranian regime with a surprise attack and impose harsh terms on the defeated survivors — has morphed into a global economic crisis and a region-wide war that could destroy the wealth of all the countries on both sides of the Gulf. At the very least.

Back in January, Trump was high on his success in changing the regime in Venezuela (just a bit), so he was an easy mark for Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s suggestion that he could do the same to Iran. Netanyahu probably knew better than that himself, but his life’s goal has been to inveigle the United States into a joint attack on Israel’s greatest enemy.

Trump swallowed the plan hook, line and sinker, and they cobbled together a story about a new nuclear threat from Iran.

Even if untrue, the Israeli-American allegations and threats were grave enough to frighten the Iranians back to the negotiating table, and this time they surprised the American team by offering major concessions. The new offer didn’t meet every U.S. demand in full, but it certainly warranted further discussion and the next meeting was fixed for March 3.

Manitoba’s government recently introduced Bill 13, the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act, paired with regulatory changes described as the “largest expansion to rent controls in decades.” Lost in the political messaging is what these changes will actually mean for tenants, workers, and an economy that cannot afford another deterrent to investment.

The accompanying regulation proposes two significant changes.

First, the claimable portion of capital expenses in above-guideline rent increase applications would be cut by 50 per cent, meaning a landlord who spends $100,000 on a qualifying project could only claim $50,000.

Second, the monthly rent exemption threshold would rise from $1,670 to $2,000, bringing thousands of additional units under rent control. The government’s own regulatory document acknowledges landlords will see reduced revenue as a result but characterizes the impact on financial viability as manageable.

Roughly a month into America’s latest war of choice and the consequences are already profound.

U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have destroyed 15,000 targets inside Iran. Supreme leader Ali Khamenei is dead, replaced by his even more extremist son. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a vital artery for global energy supplies and other commodities — is paralyzed.

And yet the full butterfly effect of the conflict is only starting to sink in.

Even as U.S. and Israeli officials claim Iran’s missile launchers and munitions stockpiles lay in ruins, Gulf states’ energy infrastructure is still being targeted. Iran’s military regime has told the world to brace for oil prices to hit US$200 a barrel.

The Free Press editorial Government data shows extent of truancy issue (March 16) notes that “More than 15,000 students were chronically absent in the 2023-2024 school year, a staggering number” which was also broken down by school division and Aboriginal status. An MLA previously expelled from the NDP caucus presented this information from a leaked government briefing note some time after filing an unsuccessful freedom of information request on the topic.

The editorial holds that “Obviously, work should be done immediately to find ways to bring down truancy rates” and posits that “…data exists to be seen and to be used, and to act as clear justification for what should be, in this case, immediate action.”

Education Minister Tracy Schmidt is quoted as saying that “Data in decision-making is very, very important but we have to balance that with our concern about not stigmatizing any particular community or school division” while not conceding to the release of such information in the future.

First, for clarity, it is not data at issue; it is summaries, tabulations and reports — let’s call them STRs — generated from data. STRs are idiosyncratic, specific to a purpose and audience. Data — person-specific in the current context — are collected with the understanding of responsible management, use and confidentiality. Neither exists “to be seen”; they are for specified use and to be handled with care and discretion.

While I mostly agree with Dan Lett’s analysis (Councillors brace for impact when provincial education property tax hikes hit mailboxes, March 19), there are some significant reasons to challenge his statement about education funding being “a hot mess.”

As for the suburban councillors’ despondency, I find it hard to be sympathetic. My experience has been that most homeowners, even if they do not understand fully the purposes of all property taxes, do understand that some of them go to fund city services and some to the school division they live in. This has been made clear repeatedly by the separation of the taxes on the tax notices.

In my view, councillors should be pleased that some citizens might actually consider them an essential part the adequate funding of children’s education. The issue is not, as implied, lack of accountability or ownership — nothing is hidden and trustees are quite willing to take credit for their decisions. The councillors’ complaints seem more self-serving than conscientious leadership.

What is a hot mess is what the current government was left with at the end of the last Conservative era, akin to what they were left with after the previous one — the Conservatives would do well to rethink several aspects of their political strategies. Manitobans have repeatedly let them know that they are less concerned about tax savings than they are about support for public education.

I’m wondering whether the Cuban government is presently angling for some sort of Delcy Rodríguez-like arrangement with the Trump Administration. There has been some reporting that Havana has approached Pope Leo XIV to act as an interlocutor between the U.S. and Cuba.

It is unclear at this time what role the current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel is playing in any ongoing diplomatic negotiations between the two sides. He could well be marginalized and pushed to the side. Most of the focus appears to be on those Cuban officials who are close to former president Raúl Castro.

In fact, it was widely reported that Castro’s grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, had recently met privately on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts with American officials from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s inner circle. It is still unknown if any substantial progress was made, but the secretive talks are said to be continuing.

Additionally, there are credible reports that high-level discussions are taking place between senior Trump administration officials and the small coterie of advisers associated with Raúl Castro. In the words of Florida Republican House member and Cuba hardliner Mario Díaz-Balart: “There have been conversations with multiple people around Raúl Castro, basically with everyone around Raúl, at the highest level, but they aren’t negotiations.”