Today’s horoscope

Province declares state of emergency

The Manitoba government has declared a provincewide state of emergency to reduce the spread of COVID-19, giving legal force to social-distancing directives by provincial health authorities.

Effective 4 p.m. Friday, the province limited the size of indoor and outdoor public gatherings to no more than 50 people for a period of 30 days.

The order includes faith-based gatherings and family events, such as weddings and funerals. It does not apply to hospitals or areas where social services are provided.

What were once guidelines have now become orders, with those defying them susceptible to fines and possible jail sentences.

Canada crashes out of beach volleyball tournament

TOKYO - Melissa Humana-Parades couldn't explain it.

Along with veteran partner Sarah Pavan, the Canadian beach volleyball duo were rolling over its competition at the Tokyo Olympics.

Having never trailed at the event heading into Tuesday's quarterfinals, the defending world champions looked poised to make the semis — potentially against teammates Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson in what would have been a mouth-watering matchup.

But disaster struck for Canada. Not once, but twice.

Tangled up in blue

WHAT IT IS: Fade Into Blue is an enigmatic, evocative oil-on-canvas painting by Laura Lewis, a queer visual artist originally from Halifax and now based in Winnipeg. This large-scale work (183-by-152 cm) is currently on view at Plug In ICA as part of Lewis’s solo exhibition One eye filled with night.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: This is a show of paintings, often really gorgeous paintings, but Lewis is also using the medium in a conceptual way. Taken together, these pieces are in a tricky critical conversation with the long history of figurative painting. They explore the expressive and esthetic possibilities of the medium, while taking on subjects that have often been sidelined or oversimplified.

The people in these paintings aren’t passive objects but active collaborators. Lewis works with the sitters, who are friends, sometimes fellow artists and members of the LGBTTQ+ community, in long preparatory photo shoots. She shows them in their own private spaces, in poses and postures that simultaneously reveal and conceal. These are not definitive portraits but open-ended explorations, diving into questions about the construction of identity, especially queer identity.

Some of the works in the show make sideways references to historical artists such as Edouard Manet and Marcel Duchamp, but Lewis is also using painting to reference photography and film. Those three mediums have been in an “it’s complicated” relationship since the 19th century, and Lewis continues that productive tension. In style, her works are painterly, with brushy texture and sudden shards of colour. In terms of content, they often call up images associated with vintage film stills.

You don’t have to be whistleblower to call out lies

With Theranos Inc. back in the news thanks to the documentary You Can See Everything, it’s hard not to revisit one of the most extraordinary corporate scandals of our time.

A U.S. company that promised to revolutionize blood testing for medical diagnoses, a charismatic founder who convinced some very influential people to believe in her vision, and employees who eventually found themselves facing a difficult choice: stay quiet or speak up.

Whistleblowing exists for good reason. When there are serious breaches of conduct, fraud, abuse of power or wrongdoing that puts people at risk, having someone willing to step forward can be incredibly important. Sometimes, it takes considerable courage to tell the truth when an entire organization seems determined to avoid it.

But most of us will never work for another Theranos (which took some US$700 million from venture capitalists and private investors before flaming out in lawsuits, sanctions and fraud convictions). We will, however, work with people who lie.

Growing Western alienation fuels conspiracy theories

OTTAWA — An Alberta man’s angry outburst toward Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland could be something that becomes more commonplace as growing Western alienation fuels conspiracy theories.