Ga. Christmas display featuring mannequin clinging to ledge prompts emergency response

Canada being side-swiped by Trump’s Cuba policy

Canada’s decades-long relationship with revolutionary Cuba has always been a three-country affair — with the United States frequently settling for the spurned third-wheel.

Since the early 1960s, successive U.S. governments have strenuously objected to Canadian trade and commercial engagement with the island. Officials in Washington have always believed that the Canadians were trying to make a “quick buck” at America’s expense, while simultaneously seeking to undermine the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

For almost 70 years now, Canada has had to negotiate the thorny issue of the U.S. trade embargo. Added to that was the anti-Cuba Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and the still active 1996 Helms-Burton Law. Complicating matters further for Ottawa have been the various additions and subtractions to the unrelenting U.S. efforts to strangle the Cuban economy — particularly during the presidency of Barack Obama.

In January, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a near-ironclad (some Russian oil is getting through), illegal fuel embargo against Cuba, using American naval vessels and U.S. Coast Guard ships. Additionally, he signed an executive order in early May to expand U.S. economic warfare, or what some call “secondary sanctions,” against those materially assisting the Cuban government.

Liquor authority fines True North $12K after minors with fake ID served at Jets White Out party

True North Sports and Entertainment was hit with a $12,000 fine for serving minors with fake IDs during a Winnipeg Jets White Out street party in 2025.

The company was fined by the Liquor, Gaming & Cannabis Authority of Manitoba on May 13, 2025 after liquor inspectors attended the May 9 street party and witnessed two two minors in possession of and consuming liquor. One was visibly intoxicated, according to a compliance order dated May 15, 2025.

Both minors had security-issued “18+” wristbands and were using identification that was expired and “clearly not their image.”

The compliance order, provided to the Free Press by the LGCA, said inspectors also noticed inadequate identification checking by security before issuing the wristbands, which identify the people wearing them as being of legal drinking age.

Housing the homeless safely, for all

It’s clear that finding homes for the homeless is not as simple as saying, “Here’s a homeless person, here’s a vacant apartment, match the two of them up and voila! One less person who is homeless.”

Why?

Because the reasons a person finds themselves on the streets can be the result of long-lasting trauma or mental health issues, and even the effects of homelessness on individuals can build its own issues.

That means the process of getting someone off the streets can be extremely involved — simply finding a home is not a magic solution all on its own.

Canadian figure skating coaching couple boasts astonishing 11 Olympic ice dance teams

The post-career success of Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon has been nothing short of dazzling and surely immensely lucrative.

Sisters among 137 to begin doctor journey at U of M

Not everyone enters medical school with a built-in study buddy.

Sisters Maya and Dana Jalal joined 135 of their classmates to don white coats and mark the beginning of their journey through the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine Wednesday morning.

Maya, 22, and Dana, 21, were accepted into medical school at the same time.

“Thankfully, we both got accepted in the same area, same time. So we decided we’d rather go together than apart,” Maya said. “It’ll be nice seeing different perspectives during our studies. We are siblings, but we each have our own perspectives, our own lived experiences.”