Don’t let shame prevent you from reaching out

Beijing behind the scenes: On women’s hockey’s biggest stage, it’s not just the players under pressure

Alex Clarke of Weyburn, Sask., is a Canadian linesperson who isn’t part of Team Canada at the Olympics.

Graham Avenue street art gets a refresh

After a year of weather, wear and foot traffic, the colourful murals that brightened Graham Avenue have been given a refresh — but the artists behind them say the fading was not necessarily a failure.

The Graham Avenue murals were installed as part of the city’s pedestrian plaza pilot project, funded through Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative. The city said the murals created a temporary pedestrian plaza to test how people would use the downtown space.

Shortly after the street art was completed in July 2025, paint began chipping away from the designs between Carlton and Garry streets.

At the time, Cool Streets Winnipeg organizer Stéphane Dorge told the Free Press that the wear appeared sooner than expected, and cited challenges including the condition of the street, oil embedded in the pavement from decades of bus traffic and the quick timeline for completing the project.

Broadway Social: when public art gets it right

Great civic sculpture does something to us.

It might delight or irritate, intrigue or confuse. It can make us stop, look up, move closer. Sometimes we wonder who approved it, who paid for it, or what on Earth it is supposed to be. We photograph it, argue about it, give directions by it. Eventually, the best becomes part of a city’s mental map.

Indifference may be the one response it cannot afford.

I have been thinking about this since spending time with Broadway Social, Eduardo Aquino’s remarkable public sculpture on Broadway, directly across from the Fort Garry Hotel.

Despite midterm setback, Trump remains defiant

One might have thought Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections, which saw the Democratic party regain majority control of the House of Representatives, would have sufficiently humbled President Donald Trump to prompt a prudently tactical muting of his usually raging rhetoric and perhaps even a more conciliatory approach to governing.

One could not possibly have been more completely, categorically and comprehensively incorrect.

Mr. Trump was in full battle mode on Wednesday, engaging in angry confrontations with media members during a briefing in the East Room of the White House and then later effectively firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions and installing as his interim replacement a loyal underling who, prior to joining the Trump administration, was an occasional news-network commentator who described in several television interviews the strategy he would use to shut down the Russian-collusion investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller.

The day started with the ever-combative Mr. Trump declaring Tuesday’s electoral result — in which Republicans slightly expanded their majority in the Senate — as “very close to ­complete victory.” After mocking several defeated Republicans whose losses he attributed to their failure to “embrace” him and his policies, Mr. Trump took questions from the media, and the event slid quickly into utter chaos.

Ramifications of the high cost of pet care

They are widely considered to be, as the timeless adage reminds, our best friends. In most cases and contexts, there’s almost nothing we wouldn’t do to ensure they’re safe, healthy and happy.

But caring for a pet has become decidedly more complicated and burdensome of late, owing in part to the rising cost of the veterinary care that is now an inevitable element of the pet-ownership experience.

Recent reporting shows a sharp increase in the number of pets being surrendered to animal shelters as a result of their owners’ inability to cover the costs of veterinary bills while dealing with the overall increase in the cost of living.

A spokesperson for the Winnipeg Humane Society said 150 animals were surrendered there in July alone, primarily because their owners could not afford vet care. The Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter reports at least 200 pets surrendered this year by owners who cited finances as the reason for their difficult decision.

Transit driver, supervisor assaulted in separate incidents

TWO people are facing charges after Winnipeg Transit employees were assaulted in separate incidents within a 10-hour span Tuesday.

A 51-year-old man is accused of randomly throwing a beer can at a driver while exiting a bus at Dunkirk Avenue and Kingston Row at about 6 a.m.

The driver was bitten while trying to restrain the suspect, police said. A man was charged with assault and held in custody.

A supervisor was punched in the face at about 3:40 p.m., by a rider who refused to pay bus fare at Main Street and Pioneer Avenue, police said.