Folks’ miserable marriage shouldn’t be benchmark

Free Press invests $10 million in new presses

As it marks its 150th anniversary this year, the Free Press Tuesday signaled its commitment to the future with the announcement that it is investing $10 million in new presses and mail room equipment.

Valour FC match will feature Winnipeg fans in stands for first time in 16 months

Yes, three points are at stake, but Valour FC's match Wednesday night at IG Field will be significant for a much more important reason.

For the first time since March 9, 2020 when the Winnipeg Jets hosted the Arizona Coyotes at their downtown rink, Winnipeggers have an opportunity to purchase a ticket and watch a professional sports game in person.

The vast majority of the seats will remain empty as only 2,000 spectators — six per cent of IG Field's capacity — are permitted, but it's a sign the sports scene, and more importantly, day-to-day life for Manitobans, is getting closer to normalcy.

The night will begin with Pacific FC taking on Atlético Ottawa at 6 p.m. followed by Winnipeg's Valour FC squaring off against York United at 9 p.m. Fans must be fully vaccinated to attend the matches.

Scheer on 'seek and destroy': no comment

TORONTO - With election day less than 48 hours away, Andrew Scheer suddenly found himself in the hot seat Saturday as reports linked the Conservative party to a co-ordinated effort to smear former caucus colleague Maxime Bernier and his nascent populist People's Party of Canada.

The Globe and Mail reported that strategist Warren Kinsella and his firm Daisy Group were hired to "seek and destroy" Bernier's party and portray its supporters as racist. A source with direct knowledge of the project said the client was the Conservatives, the Globe reported.

The Conservative leader, whom polls suggest is locked in a neck-and-neck duel with Liberal rival Justin Trudeau, refused to confirm, deny or even acknowledge the report during a news conference in Toronto that featured few questions about anything else.

"We don't offer comments on contracts that may or may not exist on vendors we may or may not have a relationship with," he said, repeatedly.

Police chief promises drug crackdown data will be made public

Winnipeg police Chief Gene Bowers said Tuesday data from the recent 10-day drug enforcement campaign will be released to the public, but he won’t say when.

Speaking at a news conference, Bowers said police have met several times with outreach providers and have another meeting scheduled this week to work through the “logistics” of a collaborative approach on the problem of open drug use on city streets.

“Once we have figured that out, I think we’re going to have a media release on what it is, what we found, and what we we’re going to do moving ahead,” Bowers said.

He declined to provide a timeline, saying only it would happen “sooner rather than later.”

Supervised consumption site to open Aug. 11

The province’s first supervised consumption site is set for an official launch on Aug. 11, a provincial spokesperson has confirmed.

The 366 Henry Ave. site, which is being run by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre of Winnipeg, will have two days of training for staff members later this week, before opening for full operation in the parking lot in two weeks.

The building is still undergoing renovations, and operations will eventually be moved inside the former Western Fabrics building.

In the interim, mobile units will be set up in the parking lot, which has been fenced off for privacy reasons.