Stoking sexual heat shouldn’t involve real risks

Volunteer pop-up library axed from Manitoba Youth Centre

Manitoba Corrections has cancelled a pop-up library program at the Manitoba Youth Centre, leaving inmates without librarian services and fewer options to borrow certain books.

The Prison Libraries Committee, part of the non-profit Manitoba Library Association, operated and funded the volunteer program since 2024 before it was shut down by the province last month. The group previously partnered with the province to offer the service because the facility has no dedicated library of its own.

“It is concerning that community members who are incarcerated, especially youth, are losing out on meaningful programming, access to information and rehabilitation efforts, which are offered at no cost to (Manitoba) Corrections. We urge Manitoba Justice to promote more library services and programming, not less,” said a Sept. 24 letter from the non-profit addressed to the justice minister.

Ashley Huot, chair of the Prison Libraries Committee, said she was puzzled when she received an email last month from Manitoba Corrections stating that the pop-up library was no longer needed.

Tibial tray connected to aerospace sector …

There are thousands — perhaps tens of thousands — of people in the United States who are walking around with Manitoba-made metal parts in their bodies.

After Winnipeg-based manufacturing solutions provider Precision ADM Inc. got started in 2015, one of its first jobs was fabricating U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved tibial trays — a critical component for knee replacement surgery that transmits loads from the femur to the tibia, ensuring stability, alignment and durability over millions of cycles of use.

Manufacturing the tibial trays for a client in the U.S. stands out as a vivid memory for Martin Petrak, the company’s co-founder and president.

“We made something that could go into a human, that should be there for the rest of their life,” he says. “We thought, we’ve finally done something significant here as an organization, as a company, with staff that believed that we could do this.”

Educational drone survey of canopy targets sick trees

Drones could help save Winnipeg’s elm trees from being tagged with a fatal orange mark, owing to the work of experienced pilots and their student assistants.

Throughout the 2021-22 school year, Volatus Aerospace Corp., a so-called “drone solution company,” has recruited high school students to take part in a research project that aims to streamline canopy surveillance in Winnipeg.

City employees typically survey trees for Dutch elm disease either on foot or by driving past them. It’s a laborious process — and by the time a human eye can spot wilting, curling or yellowing leaves, it may be too late to reverse the damage caused by the fungal infection.

In partnership with the City of Winnipeg, University of Winnipeg and Seven Oaks School Division, Volatus is using drone technology to try and speed up the diagnosis process.

Community’s support sways judge in sentencing drunk driver who killed friend

Spinning “doughnuts” in his truck at high speed on the family farm was something Kyle Nolan Devos told police he “did for fun.”

The idea of Alberta separation viewed through a faith lens shows further fracture lines

CALGARY — One morning in May, John Pentland, a minister at Hillhurst United Church in Calgary, opened his newspaper and read about a group of Albertans who were trying to divide his country.

Something inside of him felt like it cracked open. He started to weep.

“I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t breathe,” he said. He called a friend and told him: “I think I’m losing my mind.”

Pentland has always believed in Canada — flawed as it might be — as a nation gifted with diversity and welcoming of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants. But recently that belief has been shaken as he’s witnessed right-wing ideologies charged with anti-immigrant sentiment take root in his province. It makes him angry and embarrassed for the country he loves.

Around the NSL: A corner to remember; De Filippo’s boot; a highlight-reel brace

You better believe the race to the finish line is on and this weekend’s action proved just that.

The standings picture didn’t get any clearer — aside from the Roses securing their playoff ticket in a 2-2 road draw against the Rise last Saturday — with five of the league’s six club’s still very much in the post-season race.

Words of advice? Embrace the chaos of the final four weeks. But first, here’s the highlights and storylines out of an eventful Week 22.

Highlight of the week