No need to resent partner’s newfound talent

Cinderella story continues, Sea Bears bounce Bandits in Conference Final

Just days ago, the Winnipeg Sea Bears were at rock bottom.

The losses had piled up, and the star talent had dwindled. The noise around the club grew, and the confidence from outside the building faded by the day.

Players and coaches alike conveyed the belief that persisted internally, but you wouldn’t fault some fans if those words fell on deaf ears.

Less than a week later, the undermanned and underestimated Sea Bears find themselves two wins away from the tippy top of the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s mountain after a second-straight convincing playoff victory, this time a 107-96 decision over the Vancouver Bandits in the Western Conference Final at the Langley Events Centre in British Columbia on Saturday.

COVID-19 surge in the US: The summer of hope ends in gloom

WASHINGTON (AP) — The summer that was supposed to mark America’s independence from COVID-19 is instead drawing to a close with the U.S. more firmly under the tyranny of the virus, with deaths per day back up to where they were in March.

The delta variant is filling hospitals, sickening alarming numbers of children and driving coronavirus deaths in some places to the highest levels of the entire pandemic. School systems that reopened their classrooms are abruptly switching back to remote learning because of outbreaks. Legal disputes, threats and violence have erupted over mask and vaccine requirements.

The U.S. death toll stands at more than 650,000, with one major forecast model projecting it will top 750,000 by Dec. 1.

“It felt like we had this forward, positive momentum,” lamented Katie Button, executive chef and CEO at two restaurants in Asheville, North Carolina. “The delta variant wiped that timeline completely away.”

Ace of hearts

The sun hasn’t risen yet when Ace Burpee slips behind the microphone at 103.1 Virgin Radio’s headquarters on Pembina Highway.

It’s the morning after Winnipeg has been slammed with a heavy snowfall, which has led the affable longtime DJ to a realization of sorts.

“All of life’s problems can be solved if someone says, ‘You know what, just rock it back and forth,’” he intones to his listeners, just before 7 a.m. “You can apply this to almost any situation or obstacle that gets in your way. Think of all the situations in our lives that would have been dealt with easier had we realized that before today. Right?

“I would have got my degree. Rocked the prof back and forth. Right? That was a good time. Oh, well.”

As the world watches, Haiti’s hopes continue to fade

I wish that I had something uplifting and positive to say about the circumstances in Haiti today.

Maybe things will turn out better for the Haitian people in the coming months.

Maybe the United Nations-authorized and 5,000-strong Gang Suppression Force will change the facts on the ground.

Maybe the parliamentary and presidential elections will finally be held in mid-December.

Manitoba NDP secure star election campaign manager

The mastermind behind the historic 2011 “orange wave” that elevated the NDP to the official opposition in Parliament, then helped Rachel Notley in 2015 end 44 years of Tory rule in Alberta, is coming to Manitoba to join the effort to unseat Heather Stefanson’s Progressive Conservative government.

Tories’ bulletin on political activity has ‘chilling effect’ on civil service

The provincial government is being accused of casting a ‘really unnecessary’ pall on civil servants’ participation in the democratic process.

On Wednesday, CONNECT, the weekly bulletin for Manitoba’s public service, reminded employees that a byelection campaign is underway in Thompson and spelled out some obvious rules: not to engage in any aspects of the election process during work hours and not to use any government resources.

It also told workers they “may” have to declare a conflict of interest if they’re involved in any political activities aside from voting.

Brandon University political science professor Kelly Saunders said the directive was unnecessary and does nothing to smooth the province’s rocky relationship with labour.