Trudeau stays mum on Sussexes’ security costs as Harry returns to B.C.

Winnipeg’s water woes

Bottled water flew off the shelves, public fountains were marked off-limits and restaurants closed-up shop Tuesday and Wednesday after the city and WRHA announced a boil-water advisory Tuesday evening.

Gwen Benaway wins Governor General's poetry prize

When Gwen Benaway found out she had won the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry, she said her immediate reaction was not joy, but "intense fear and panic."

The Toronto writer and scholar says she's shocked to be among the few transgender women to be recognized by a Canadian literary institution, even as she protests another.

News of the honour came as Benaway and others denounce Toronto Public Library for refusing to cancel an event featuring a speaker who has been critical of transgender rights. She's since been fielding a barrage of online attacks for her role in the outcry.

Benaway, who is of Anishinaabe and Metis descent, hopes the awards spotlight on her third poetry collection, "Holy Wild," will amplify her voice to reach other trans women, but fears the attention will also draw out a familiar chorus of people eager to silence her.

Skaters Kostornaia, Chen win at Internationaux de France

GRENOBLE, France - Alena Kostornaia left no doubt there's a new era in women's figure skating by a convincing win over Olympic gold medallist Alina Zagitova at the Internationaux de France, while Nathan Chen won the men's event on Saturday.

In a battle between the two Russians, 16-year-old Kostornaia landed two triple axels as she skated clean on her debut in the Grand Prix series to score 159.45 points in the free skate for a total of 236.

That was nearly 20 points more than Zagitova, who put a hand down on her opening triple lutz jump on the way to a score of 216.06.

Kostornaia is one of three young female Russian skaters, all working with Zagitova's coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who have stepped up to senior level this season. The trio has swept the first three Grand Prix events after Anna Shcherbakova took gold at Skate America and Alexandra Trusova won Skate Canada.

Piece of magic history disappears

A piece of Winnipeg’s magic history has vanished, and internationally renowned escape artist Dean Gunnarson is offering a $500 reward to anyone who can make it reappear.

The plaque marked the birthplace of what has become the world’s largest organization of professional and amateur magicians, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, which was founded in Winnipeg more than a century ago.

Gunnarson said fellow magician and local magic historian Bruce Thompson discovered the disappearance Tuesday while on his way to work.

Thompson returned to inspect the site and found what appeared to be evidence it had been forcibly removed.

Brown ponders life in his 71st year, warts and all, in thoughtful, fearless prose

Sequels are rarely as good as their originals. (The movie The Godfather Part II may be the rare exception.) That’s the main shortcoming of Ian Brown’s Seventy, a sequel of sorts to his popular and acclaimed Sixty.

Both works are diaries of pivotal years in his life. And while Seventy has fewer surprises, Brown is still writing at the peak of his powers. Luckily, there are new things to ponder, wonder and worry about from a slightly different perspective.

Brown is the widely respected features reporter for the Globe and Mail. He has several books to his credit, most notably The Boy in the Moon: A Father’s Search for His Disabled Son, the winner of too many awards to list in a short book review. He’s an immensely accomplished writer.

Brown is definitely not a typical septuagenarian. Not yet retired, he travels extensively, has a wide circle of friends with whom he stays in regular contact, bikes to work year-round, swims in the ocean, golfs, plays pickleball, rows and skis. And not just downhill skiing, but heli-skis — helicoptering into remote areas of the B.C. Rockies to blaze new trails.