Flab jabs just bumps in the road to the new you

The women’s 100 metres in Tokyo ended with Elaine Thompson-Herah’s celebration. It might have cost her a world record

Thompson-Herah beats compatriot Fraser-Pryce and leads a Jamaican sweep of the podium.

Police seize cocaine valued at $1.5M, about $750K in cash in raid on St. Vital house

A St. Vital homeowner and her husband were going about their business during an afternoon last month when police officers in tactical gear suddenly appeared, walking across their front lawn.

The target was a few doors down: a maroon split-level home on a quiet stretch of Satinwood Place, within earshot of children playing outside at a nearby school.

The homeowner, who asked not to be named to protect their privacy, said the police presence caught the couple by surprise in the Southglen neighbourhood, where they weren’t accustomed to seeing that kind of activity.

“We never heard the (police) cars pull up, but there were cars blocking the entrance to the street from both sides,” said the neighbour. “They had a shield, a battering ram — everything. Just not used to seeing that.”

Duo accused in random Osborne Village attacks no strangers to police

A man arrested following a violent, random attack on two men in Osborne Village late Sunday night was released from jail a week earlier after a dozen charges, including crimes of violence, were stayed against him, court records show.

A man in his 40s was sent to hospital in critical condition and another man in his 20s in stable condition following separate attacks shortly before midnight in the vicinity of River Avenue and Osborne Street.

Police have charged Reginald Owen, 26, and Meaghan Owen, 32, both from Little Grand Rapids, with assault with a weapon and aggravated assault. They both remain in custody.

Court records show Reginald Owen was sentenced Sept. 24 to 30 days time served after pleading guilty to simple possession of magic mushrooms. Owen remained in custody until the following day when he was set to apply for bail on charges including assault, sexual assault, choking to overcome resistance, pointing a firearm, and carrying a concealed weapon.

With a bang, B.C. applauds health-care workers

VANCOUVER - At the same time each night, Rev. Gary Paterson and about half a dozen other neighbours have begun gathering at least two metres apart on the rooftop patio of their building in Vancouver's west end.

They don't know who will signal the beginning, and everyone's clocks are slightly different, but just before 7 p.m., they hear clapping in the distance.

"It's usually at about two minutes to seven, like people can't restrain their enthusiasm, and then it starts to move like a wave," he said on Wednesday.

The applause is for health-care workers and other essential service providers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Report calls for schools to add more ‘sensory rooms’

Manitoba schools are being urged to set up more “sensory rooms” and use the spaces — which can feature mood lighting, flexible seating and fidget toys — to address growing concerns about student outbursts and related injuries.

A new report from the Manitoba Federation of Labour is renewing calls to better protect educational assistants, teachers and other public-sector employees.

One of its 10 recommendations, published on Monday, focuses on tackling overcrowding in community facilities and establishing “safe spaces in schools to respond to violence.”

“It’s become the norm: kids having meltdowns that require you have to evacuate the classroom,” said Jane Allison, an educational assistant in Winnipeg.

Banning controversial songs is a tone-deaf solution

Along with sipping egg nog and trimming trees, Canadians engaged in another reliable holiday tradition this week: debating whether or not Baby, It’s Cold Outside promotes date rape.

On Tuesday, three of the country’s major broadcasters — CBC, Rogers and Bell Media — announced they’d be putting the chill on the contentious duet, written by American songwriter Frank Loesser in 1944, and would not be playing it on their radio stations this year.

Several American radio stations have also put the song on their naughty lists, arguing it has no place in the #MeToo era. 

Through a modern lens, it’s not hard to see how some people might view this song as a woman being pressured into sex by a guy who won’t take no for an answer.