A few special touches can conjure connection

Wild weather uproots trees across city, leaves thousands in province without power

This summer’s latest barrage of severe thunderstorms caused widespread property damage and power outages for more than 30,000 Manitoba Hydro customers, mostly in Winnipeg, as winds of up to 133 km/h wreaked havoc.

Charleswood resident Ian Glover’s house had minor damage compared with a neighbour’s home, where a large, uprooted poplar tree crashed through the roof while the storm pummelled Winnipeg late Wednesday night and early Thursday.

“I opened the window after I woke up (around 6 a.m.) and the tree — oh my God,” Glover said. “I got my wife up and she couldn’t believe it. I was totally blown away. (Our neighbour) said the branch went right through the house into their living room.”

Glover was thankful his neighbours were not injured. Some of the tree’s outer branches clipped the corner of his home.

Brown goes down, so do Blue

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers suffered one of their most embarrassing and inexcusable losses in recent memory on Thursday night.

A one-win B.C. Lions team — featuring a rookie quarterback making his first career start, a rookie running back making his first career start and two backup offensive lineman in action — somehow, someway dealt the Blue and Gold a 35-19 defeat in front of 31,509 disgruntled fans at Princess Auto Stadium.

The Bombers, now 1-4 on home turf this season, have dropped back-to-back games to fall to 4-4. The Lions improved to 2-5.

While Kaidon Salter didn’t dazzle with his arm, the young Lions pivot played mistake-free football and was at the centre of a relentless ground attack.

Resilience, perseverance in pursuit of normal life

Roger McNeill says not much rattled his wife Pat — but miller moths terrified her.

“With a moth in the house, she would freak out,” he says of his wife, who died Oct. 22, 2020, at age 82.

That a tiny bug riled her always struck her husband as ironic, given all she had gone through.

Pat McNeill, after all, had survived polio — a disease that had a lasting impact on her life. Consequently, as a young adult, she often wondered if she would lead a life many took for granted: getting married and raising a family.

Unions’ battle over turf hurts health care

When the Progressive Conservative government announced a plan to massively consolidate unionized bargaining groups in the health care system, it claimed the goal was to improve efficiency and patient care.

The fact that it has pitted some of the province's largest public-sector unions against each other in gladiator-style combat is just a side benefit.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees has accused the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union of lying and fearmongering in a bid to win the support of health care workers in upcoming representation votes.

CUPE's letter focused on the issue of whether the province, through the regional health authorities, will force home care workers and hospital aides, slated to become part of one bargaining unit, to change where they work on a whim to meet staffing shortages.

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.

Granite housing project passes final council hurdle after appeal rejected

Critics of the proposed 12-storey housing project set for the parking lot of the Granite Curling Club were shut down at a city meeting Thursday as councillors allowed the development to proceed.

The 110-unit building at 30 Granite Way originally meant the loss of 45 of the 80 parking spots, which the long-running club said would ruin its financial viability.

In June, the city produced a plan to add parking spots around the club by removing a boulevard and adjusting spots at another parking lot, but the club’s management called the plan inadequate.

City council’s property and development committee discussed a number of proposed variances to the building plan Thursday, including allowing the building height to reach 126 feet even though regulations stipulate a maximum 100 feet, and shifts in the width of some parking spots allotted to the residential building and the curling club. Appeals against those changes, including those by management at the Granite Curling Club, were unanimously denied by the committee.