Let the credits roll on publicly gropey guy

Shelley Cook

Shelley is a born and raised Winnipegger. She is a proud member of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.

Travellers who took refuge in Winnipeg during 9/11 give thanks for the kindness of strangers

Twenty years ago on Sept. 11, Bruce and Kathryn Fleming were walking through Logan International Airport in Boston at the same time as 10 terrorists who were hell-bent on destruction and death.

The couple had just visited his parents and were on their way home to West Vancouver via a direct Air Canada flight to Vancouver.

Instead, their pilot was forced to land in Winnipeg after two planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City and North American airspace was shut down to non-military planes.

“Parts of that day could have been yesterday,” said Fleming, who now lives in San Antonio. “I can still see the fall in Winnipeg, the leaves falling off the trees. I can picture walking down to the river and the collection of stores at The Forks.

A better approach, but not yet enough

In late June, when the Winnipeg Police Service launched a 10-day ‘crackdown’ on open drug use and illegal drug sales in areas in and around downtown, it did so without consulting or informing community outreach and social services agencies working in the targeted areas.

Inevitably, the WPS action drew criticism from several front-line agencies, which issued a collective statement just two days after the police operation began, pointing out that heavy-handed policing would drive vulnerable people away from the help they desperately need.

“Every day we work to build trust with people who have experienced trauma, discrimination, and barriers to care,” Kate Sjoberg, executive director of Resource Assistance for Youth, said at the time. “Actions that create fear around accessing services can undo months or years of relationship-building and place people at greater risk of preventable harm.”

At the time, WPS Chief Gene Bowers held up his hand and said, “That’s on me.”

Takagi wins 1st individual Olympic gold, Bowe breaks through

BEIJING (AP) — Karma was working overtime at the Ice Ribbon.

Miho Takagi claimed a gold medal two days after losing one on the final turn when her older sister fell in team pursuit.

Brittany Bowe took the bronze, which seemed a fitting reward for her generosity toward American teammate Erin Jackson.

“We have a lot to celebrate,” Bowe said.

Aide: Trump dismissed Jan. 6 threats, wanted to join crowd

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump rebuffed his own security’s warnings about armed protesters in the Jan. 6 rally crowd and made desperate attempts to join his supporters as they marched to the Capitol, according to dramatic new testimony before the House committee investigating the 2021 insurrection.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a little-known former White House aide, described an angry, defiant president who was trying that day to let armed protesters avoid security screenings at a rally that morning to protest his 2020 election defeat and who later grabbed at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV when the Secret Service refused to let him go to the Capitol.

And when the events at the Capitol spiraled toward violence, with the crowd chanting to “Hang Mike Pence,” she testified Tuesday that Trump declined to intervene.

Trump “doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” Hutchinson recalled hearing from her boss, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

‘Got it done… it’s off the list’: two-time cancer survivor, 62, trades blows with angry Lake Winnipeg in epic 12-hour fundraising swim

After 12 hours of wind, waves and a painful shoulder, Jonathon Fenton has finished what he started, making it across Lake Winnipeg.

The 62-year-old two-time cancer survivor completed the roughly 26-kilometre swim Sunday, a year after shoulder problems forced him to stop 16 kilometres into his first attempt.

The swim was the second year of Fenton’s Jonny’s Big Swim fundraiser, which supports the Alberta Cancer Foundation, CancerCare Manitoba Foundation and Health Sciences Centre Foundation.

He raised roughly $48,000 this year, bringing the two-year total to about $90,000.