The latest numbers on COVID-19 in Canada for Wednesday, July 8

Mayoral candidates Klein, Vogiatzakis continue to snipe over inducement allegations

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Mike Vogiatzakis told reporters Monday he will contact the city clerk to report his allegation that rival Kevin Klein offered him a job to drop out of the race.

Vogiatzakis and Klein both doubled down a day after accusing each other of offering the other a position at city hall, if they were victorious in the Oct. 28 election, in exchange for a withdrawal.

“Do I want to get him charged? Not really. I don’t want to destroy anybody’s life,” Vogiatzakis told reporters.

“Kevin’s a good guy. I thought he was a friend of mine, but he’s not. Kevin uses leverage to get ahead, and he tried to use me as leverage.”

Ducks Unlimited makes province’s largest-ever conservation-land purchase

A Manitoba landscape that helped save the Giant Canada goose from extinction has now been permanently protected in the province’s largest conservation land purchase in history.

Ducks Unlimited Canada announced Tuesday in a virtual press conference that it has acquired a conservation easement for East Meadows Ranch, a more than 8,000-acre property near Lundar in Manitoba’s Interlake region, about 80 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, that includes wetlands, native prairie and bur oak savannah.

Ducks Unlimited called the property, now known as the Kennedy Field Station at East Meadows, one of Manitoba’s most ecologically diverse landscapes and said protecting it will contribute to the long-term health of Manitoba’s wildlife, biodiversity and natural heritage.

“The sheer size of the property is not that common in private ownership here in Manitoba, and to have that in a complete connected tract is just something that we’re not likely to see again or come available anytime soon,” said Mark Francis, Ducks Unlimited Canada’s manager of provincial operations.

Not making the grade: rethinking student assessment

As most students in B.C. began the new school year without traditional grades, a former Manitoba teacher living in that province is urging colleagues here to do their homework on modern assessment and experiment with marking.

Starting this year, public and private school teachers in British Columbia are assessing kindergarten through Grade 9 with a scale describing a student’s level of understanding — “emerging,” “developing,” “proficient” or “extending” — instead of letter grades.

Grade 10, 11 and 12 students will continue to receive traditional letter grades and percentages.

“What’s wrong with percentages? There’s nothing wrong with them. They are a wonderful little tool, as long as they stay in their lane,” said Myron Dueck, an education consultant who was born in Winnipeg, where he graduated from teachers’ college in 1994.

Stuck ship thrusts sleepy Suez Canal village into limelight

I yearn to see the man at the helm. Does he resemble the overgroomed Francesco Schettino, the captain who steered the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia onto the rocks off Tuscany in 2012 and then hastily hopped off the ship? Are they the same man?

Figure skating coach Callaghan banned by SafeSport

Richard Callaghan, who coached Tara Lipinski to Olympic gold, has been banned from figure skating by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for sexual misconduct.

Callaghan, who also coached six-time U.S. champion Todd Eldredge, was ruled "permanently ineligible" on Wednesday for actions involving a minor. Callaghan was accused by a former student, Adam Schmidt, in a lawsuit. Schmidt alleged that Callaghan sexually abused him from 1999-2001. Schmidt was 14 in 1999.

Also in 1999, Callaghan was investigated for sexual misconduct involving another coach, Craig Maurizi, but U.S. Figure Skating dismissed those charges. Maurizi said the incidents began in 1976 when he was 13, and continued for years.

Now 73, Callaghan was suspended in March 2018 by SafeSport and by the federation. He sued SafeSport, but the lawsuit was dismissed.

Osborne Village violence sends two people to hospital, one in critical condition; two people arrested

Two people are in hospital and another two are in police custody after a serious assault in Osborne Village early Monday morning.

Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Pat Saydak said officers were called to the assault scene on Osborne Street near River Avenue just after midnight.

Two people were rushed to hospital, one in critical condition and the other in stable condition.

Two individuals, both adults, were arrested by police. There’s no word yet on charges.