Jealousy no basis for a lasting relationship

Too close to call in Assiniboia

The Winnipeg constituency of Assiniboia was too close to call Tuesday, with the NDP candidate leading over the incumbent Tory minister of seniors and long-term care.

At 11:15 p.m., Elections Manitoba, reporting just seven of 18 polls, had the NDP’s Nellie Kennedy with a 562-vote lead over Progressive Conservative incumbent Scott Johnston in the swing riding on the western edge of the city.

Losing the seat would be a blow for the Tories, but it would be a moral, rather than a functional, one. A win for the PC incumbent would do little to dent the NDP’s majority victory. Liberal Charles Ward was running a distant third.

A NDP win would be a reversal. In the 2016 and 2019 elections, the party lost Assiniboia to the PCs by roughly 16- and nine-point margins, respectively. Johnston won with 44 per cent of the vote in 2019.

Confusing rules leave business owners anxious

Dino Camiré is counting down the days before the province makes his business a “pandemic scapegoat” again.

He said it happened before when restrictions were loosened last fall, and believes it’ll happen again after updated public-health orders come into effect this Friday.

“It won’t be my fault or any other businesses included in these reopenings,” said the operator of One Family Fitness Centre in Winnipeg. “But what happens when COVID-19 cases start rising again? It’ll be so much easier to blame us, even though we’re the ones stuck following and trying to understand their confusing rules.”

Camiré’s frustrations are among many from business owners in the province, who the Manitoba government is allowing to reopen — but with stringent capacity limits and with regulations they described to the Free Press as vague, confusing and “frankly, offensive.”

Excited Goldeyes fans buzz over Manitoba Mosquitoes’ name change

BITE club has entered the ball park for a single game, filling the stands with mosquitoes — just not in the way you may think.

The Fish are participating an alternate identity takeover, one that many other teams in the minor baseball leagues have been having some fun with. The Winnipeg Goldeyes re-branded to pay homage to the province’s beloved summer creatures, the Manitoba Mosquitoes.

The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks had some fun with its alternative identity, doing a five-game name change to the Woodchippers, a fun reference to the 1996 film Fargo.

Other honourable mentions are the Chicago Dogs, who switched over to the Chicago Wieners, the Sioux Fall Canaries transformed into the Minnehaha Martians, Milwaukee Milkmen became the Franklin Benjamins, and the Lake Country Dockhounds swapped to the Wisconsin Dive Bars.

Each of city's historic bridges has unique story

They span the muddy waters from which Winnipeg derives its name. They connect neighbourhood to neighbourhood. They’re a fundamental feature of our city.

Winnipeg has a reputation as a “River City,” but many don’t know the stories behind the bridges they use every day.

While a bridge may seem to be a boring piece of basic infrastructure, many of Winnipeg’s have fascinating histories that go back more than 100 years.

Local brother act cut their teeth working with the late Jerry Lewis

One of the toughest tasks for the Steiner Brothers, a former kid tap dancing act from Winnipeg, was performing with Jerry Lewis at hospitals for sick kids.

“Oh my, you’d be trying not to cry,” recalled Rob Steiner, 72.

And Lewis, who would go on to help raise over US$2 billion for muscular dystrophy over his career with his annual telethons, would admonish the boys.

“He’d say, ‘What are you crying for? You’re making them happy. Why are you crying?’”