2021 Countryfest to feature all-Canadian lineup

A year later, it’s nearly spring again

Was it like this, in the beginning? The same stirring in the air, the same gently blown kiss of an incoming spring? It must have been, because one of the last normal things I did was go out for drinks with a friend and, at the moment we hugged in parting, I dropped my coat on the sidewalk and savoured the night breeze on my skin.

He picked up the coat and handed it back. I slung it over my shoulder. When he left, I walked home with bare arms and sat on the stone steps of an old church, thumbing through my phone, full of hope for the year ahead. 

So yes, it must have been like this, the same hopeful weather. But it’s hard to remember what it felt like back then. 

Days after that night, everything began changing. Slowly, at first, because it was early March 2020 and we still had the luxury of not paying too much attention. The headlines were escalating, but in Manitoba; they still had the air of something that was happening somewhere else, just like so much of the news we get from the world. 

Tories’ bulletin on political activity has ‘chilling effect’ on civil service

The provincial government is being accused of casting a ‘really unnecessary’ pall on civil servants’ participation in the democratic process.

On Wednesday, CONNECT, the weekly bulletin for Manitoba’s public service, reminded employees that a byelection campaign is underway in Thompson and spelled out some obvious rules: not to engage in any aspects of the election process during work hours and not to use any government resources.

It also told workers they “may” have to declare a conflict of interest if they’re involved in any political activities aside from voting.

Brandon University political science professor Kelly Saunders said the directive was unnecessary and does nothing to smooth the province’s rocky relationship with labour.

Former Selkirk teacher convicted of sexual assault denies latest abuse claim

A former private school teacher convicted of sexual assault against several students has denied he abused the Manitoba man who’s now suing him over different claims of sexual violence.

Kenneth MacKinnon Mealey, a former teacher at St. John’s Cathedral Boys’ School in Selkirk, is named in a sexual abuse lawsuit filed in Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench earlier this year by a man who was once a student at the school.

Mealey was convicted more than 20 years ago of sexually assaulting several boys at the Anglican private school.

The school in Selkirk — known for its harsh discipline and physically gruelling outdoor exercises — closed more than 30 years ago.

Return to class hasn’t spiked COVID cases

Five weeks of classes, two incubation periods, and a single severe COVID-19 outbreak at a school later, medical experts suggest the return of tens of thousands of students this fall hasn’t had a remarkable effect on the growing COVID-19 caseload.

Dr. Brent Roussin has cited bars, restaurants, post-sports game gatherings and personal care homes as sites in which the virus has rapidly spread. The province's top doctor has yet to say that public or independent schools are concerning hot spots.

So far, 61 COVID-19 cases have been linked to schools in Manitoba, but community transmission has only been identified at John Pritchard School in North Kildonan.

“The (school-aged children) cases that have been identified have been primarily cases where the child was infected outside the school,” said Dr. Sergio Fanella, an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba.

Energy, materials cushion blow to S&P/TSX

Heardle is the new daily music guessing game taking the internet by storm, joining a growing list of spinoffs inspired by the viral game Wordle.