Comforting connection cools as danger abates

Fortunus finds satisfaction inspiring Black children to play hockey

A weekly series in honour of Black History Month, Taylor Allen highlights the stories and incredible accomplishments of Black athletes and coaches in Manitoba.

Lemonade Stands for Hope raises funds for CancerCare Manitoba

It’s hard to miss the bright yellow balloons on the lawns of many Winnipeg homes this weekend.

Over in St. Vital, those balloons marked the spot of nine-year-old Myla and seven-year-old Elsie’s first-ever lemonade stand, where the sisters are spending a sunny Saturday morning serving cups of lemonade to neighbours and raising money for CancerCare Manitoba.

Their stand is one of more than 300 taking place across the province this summer as part of Lemonade Stands for Hope, a CancerCare Manitoba Foundation campaign supporting local cancer research and patient care.

“It’s summertime, and we thought, why not take advantage of the hot weather and do something good for CancerCare?” said their mom, Monica de Leon.

Anti-doping agency imposes 4-year ban on Russia

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - Russia was slapped Monday with a four-year ban from international sports events, including next summer's Tokyo Olympics, over a longstanding doping scandal, although its athletes will still be able to compete if they can show they are clean competitors.

The ruling by the World Anti-Doping Agency's executive committee means that Russia's flag, name and anthem will not appear at the Tokyo Games, and the country also could be stripped of hosting world championships in Olympic sports.

The sanctions are the harshest punishment yet for Russian state authorities who were accused of tampering with a Moscow laboratory database. Russia's anti-doping agency can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days — an action it has signalled it would take.

“Russia was afforded every opportunity to get its house in order ... but it chose instead to continue in its stance of deception and denial,” WADA president Craig Reedie said.

Weed control increasingly important part of harvest

We often think of harvest as an annual “rush,” but in reality, it moves at more of a rhythmic pace, especially when the sun is shining, the fields are ripe, and the equipment is running smoothly.

Operators and machinery steadily grind away at the unharvested crops, moving from field to field as needed. Grain carts and trucks roll back and forth, hauling the grain into storage, often sidling up to the moving combine so it can unload on the fly.

Of course, the equipment needs servicing, and the people need food, but every operation has a system that minimizes the downtime and maximizes the effort. So far this season, Manitoba farmers are running ahead of the five-year average for harvest progress.

However, a brief reference in the latest crop report urges producers to break up that synchronicity and pause to closely examine patches of weeds in their fields before they push them through with the combine.

Golden boys

The idea that Winnipeg's new NHL team in 2011 might have been called something other than Jets was real.

Was Falcons the favourite? Likely not. Still, it may well have been the best fit of all, based on the story of the very first Olympic gold-medal-winning squad, all but one of them castoffs of Icelandic heritage from then-mainstream Winnipeg.

Were those 1920 Falcons and the new Jets underdogs to do what they did? Maybe not in the final chapter of the story, but considering the entire picture of each, absolutely.

Overcoming rejection as part of their history? In spades.

Trump’s graceless own goal sabotaged World Cup’s spirit of fair play

Like many Canadians, I have avoided crossing the U.S. border in the last couple of years. For me, it was a mixture of defiance and uncertainty. What if border guards ask me what I think about President Donald Trump? I would fail the lie detector test.

But the World Cup is going on, and I had a pass for the Seattle stadium. I needed to take advantage of it. After all, I love soccer and I love the World Cup. I see it as one of the great peace movements of our time.

But the irony of travelling to the U.S. for the World Cup wasn’t lost on me. Led by their FIFA Peace Prize-winning president, the country is dropping bombs on World Cup participant Iran. Referee Omar Artan was refused entry into the U.S., where he was to become the first Somali to referee at a World Cup. Fears of ICE raids sent shivers through international communities. Even players were harassed at border points.

It was fair to wonder: what would my experience be like?