Why not throw Hail Mary for your old love?

Housing the homeless safely, for all

It’s clear that finding homes for the homeless is not as simple as saying, “Here’s a homeless person, here’s a vacant apartment, match the two of them up and voila! One less person who is homeless.”

Why?

Because the reasons a person finds themselves on the streets can be the result of long-lasting trauma or mental health issues, and even the effects of homelessness on individuals can build its own issues.

That means the process of getting someone off the streets can be extremely involved — simply finding a home is not a magic solution all on its own.

Norway takes Olympic gold in 3-way sprint in biathlon relay

Online shopping: Alibaba vs. JD.com

Al Simmons releasing his Barber of Seville adaptation

Al Simmons needs an audience. To the beloved Manitoban children’s entertainer, butts in seats are almost as crucial as well-placed puns. Many performers make themselves the centre of attention or the ultimate decision-maker, but what’s made Simmons an icon for over 50 years is that he does precisely the opposite: he lets the audience participate, inviting five-year-olds to sing with him, heckle him, and sometimes, stage bomb him.

“In front of an audience, they become my directors. That’s what I’ve done my whole career: I hear when they laugh, and I hear where they don’t,” says Simmons, now 72. “I instruct the audience at the beginning that I expect them to yell things at me, to laugh at me, to have fun. I encourage hecklers. It just makes everybody remember: Hey, I’m watching a live performance.”

Take an archival clip from 1980. At Assiniboine Park, the Human Jukebox stands tall and attracts a dense crowd, wondering who or what is inside. A coin is dropped into a Rube Goldbergian slot, rolling through a tube. The audience is quiet, until a hand pops through to catch it. A child screams, a bell dings, and out pops Simmons. “Now for this tune, I’m going to use a very special horn,” he says. “The noise of this horn comes out of your mouths. When I squeeze it, you all go, ‘HONK.’” They oblige.

There’s real artistry at play when Simmons performs live, which is why the last 12 months have been such a strange, inexplicable era in his life. 2020 was supposed to be the busiest year of his career, but it came screeching to a halt with the pandemic, right after a run of his one-man production of Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville wrapped up in Manitoba schools. (He developed the show with Manitoba Opera in 2009, and has toured it for the organization since).

Close to 5,000 net new health-care workers added since 2023 election, province says

More doctors and nurses are working in Manitoba than ever before but health-care challenges remain, Premier Wab Kinew says.

The province has added 4,725 net new health-care workers to the provincial system since the NDP won the October 2023 election, Kinew told reporters Tuesday.

The government’s total includes 370 doctors, 1,464 nurses, 2,152 health-care aides and 607 allied health professionals, a group that includes physiotherapists, dietitians, paramedics, medical lab technologists and others.

Kinew said more doctors and nurses are working in Manitoba than ever before.