‘Creative way to make a point’: Alberta premier defends using slap meme of actor

Time to let the capital crocus bloom

In the rest of the world, the crocus symbolizes new beginnings. Not in Manitoba, where the “Crocus” remains a noxious word-weed in our investment-capital ecosystem, choking out new growth.

The damage related to the Crocus Investment Fund wasn’t related to its investment track record, but still that damage continues, through the atrophy of entrepreneurial spirit and investment skills Manitoba needs to realize its potential.

Fifteen years ago, in an article titled “Crocus was too healthy to kill,” Free Press columnist Dan Lett wrote that “Crocus was an unparallelled success story that created jobs and wealth … when it ran into trouble, there were more than enough people willing to turn their backs and let it slide into oblivion.”

Crocus investments include our downtown arena, National Leasing, Pollard Banknote and Wow Hospitality.

Parcel Pizza delivers familiar favourite wrapped up with a saucy twist

Good ideas come to those who wait (for the right location).

Parcel Pizza, a new restaurant from the owners of the Roost and Oxbow, is a case of food inspired by its surroundings. The pizzeria, located on the main floor of a new residential building on Stradbrook Avenue — although it’s equidistant from Osborne Village, downtown and The Forks — is one of the only eateries in the neighbourhood. Choosing a cuisine that would draw people in was the first order of business.

“We thought that something that is universally beloved, like pizza, would be really beneficial for the area,” says co-owner Elsa Taylor. “Another reason, what with the plague and all, is that we wanted something that would be conducive to takeout and delivery.”

In addition to the location, Parcel represents several firsts for Taylor and business partners Caiden Bircham and Isaac Hedenstierna, who make up the Oddlot Collective restaurant group.

Leaked data prompts news backlash in Canada, U.S.

WASHINGTON - Journalists in Canada and the United States, veterans of a daily grind that entails tracking down and chatting up newsmakers, politicians and ordinary citizens by whatever means necessary, are encountering a very different — and hostile — world as they work to learn more about supporters of the protests in Ottawa.

Reporters are being harassed, spammed, "doxxed" and even threatened for reaching out to donors to an online crowdfunding campaign that was targeted last week by hackers who disclosed the contact details of thousands of pro-trucker contributors.

"I actually had someone come to my door and leave a threatening note," said Bryan Schott, a political reporter with the Salt Lake Tribune who used the list to send emails to donors with Utah zip codes.

In Schott's case, along with countless others, people have been using social media to post screen shots of emails they've received from reporters — usually innocuous queries asking for confirmation that they had donated to the protesters and whether they'd agree to an interview.

After 20 years, Planet of Sound is still in its own orbit around the world of music

According to a press release issued last week by the Recording Industry Association of America, for the first time since 1986 — the year songs such as Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach, Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus were topping charts all over the globe — sales of vinyl records outstripped sales of compact discs for the initial six months of the year.

Hey, Mr. Mister, it wasn’t even close. The RIAA report stated that between January and June, audiophiles doled out US$232.1 million on vinyl albums as compared with just less than US$130 million on their digital counterparts. And while that bit of news was music to the ears of Planet of Sound owner Dave Wright, it certainly didn’t come as some big surprise.

“Vinyl is definitely on the upswing and has been for a while, which is precisely why we started carrying it in the store about 10 years ago,” says Wright, whose cosy, 800-square-foot shop at 1109 Henderson Hwy., which stocks a healthy number of LPs in addition to CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, even an assortment of long-considered extinct LaserDiscs, will celebrate its 20th anniversary in November.

“It’s not just people who grew up listening to vinyl, either,” he goes on, sporting the office uniform: sneakers, dark jeans and an aquamarine-coloured, zip-up hoodie, the latter of which only partially conceals a well-worn, Joy Division T-shirt. “The other day there was a gal in here who I would have put at around 14. She picked up the Tea Party’s Edges of Twilight plus an album by the Wallflowers, the one that had their first big hit on it (we think he means Bringing Down the Horse). As she was taking out her debit card to pay I was like, how do you even know about these groups? Don’t they predate you by at least 10 years?”

Paralympics open in empty stadium - just like Olympics

On Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET, Toronto Star baseball columnist and Deep Left Field podcast host Mike Wilner will answer your questions about the Blue Jays and anything else baseball-related.

As camp fees increase, Sunshine Fund delivers another summer of adventures

Dana Moroz is on the other end of the line and the manager of the Sunshine Fund can hardly contain her enthusiasm.

With the summer winding down and school on the verge of being back in session, Moroz was asked about the 46th season of the program that sent children in need to 31 accredited camps across the province and northwestern Ontario.

Although the final numbers are still being calculated, it was a banner year for the program, which benefited from the Free Press Sunshine Fund campaign that ran throughout the past several months.

“We had over 700 kids that we supported to go to summer camp,” said Moroz, noting the cost of doing so eclipsed $300,000.