Queen is mourned with silence in the busy heart of London

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The moon is in Cancer.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Avoid heated discussions regarding kids, social plans, shared expenses or dealing with authority figures. (This covers a wide swath.) People are touchy! Pull in your reins and tread carefully. You don’t have to be right. You don’t even have to be wrong.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Meteorologist behind Rob’s Obs is moving weather station to Ontario

In a Winnipeg winter, there are always at least two certainties: it will be cold, and it will snow. A third certainty: the people will talk endlessly about how frigid the temperature is, and argue about how much snow is cloaking their driveways. Is it colder than it ever has been? Is there more snow today than the same time last year?

Rob Paola likely knows the answers to those questions.

Paola possesses no super powers. He is but a man with a metre stick and 40 years of professional meteorological experience, in the midst of a lifelong love affair with Mother Nature, a most turbulent mistress who rarely, if ever, reciprocates.

Each year when snow begins to fall, Paola heads outside his Charleswood home to figure out how much. He sticks his ruler in the ground, grabs his clipboard, and clicks his pen. In neat script, he records the temperature, what time precipitation began, how deep the powder is stacked. Then, he shares his data and insights online with thousands of followers who want a clear answer to the eternal questions: Why is this happening? When will it stop? How much snow has fallen in the city of Winnipeg?

A fond farewell to the Hercules

Fans at the NHL’s outdoor Heritage Classic game last weekend were no doubt thrilled by the sight and sound of two CF-18 Hornet fighter jets conducting a flyover at Princess Auto Stadium shortly before the puck was dropped for the much-anticipated Winnipeg Jets/Montreal Canadiens matchup.

Flyovers such as these always create a spectacular scene, as the speed and power of the jets are on full display for the brief moments they’re in view above the stadium bowl. But fans who maintained their skyward gaze for a few seconds after the Hornets’ blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance were treated to a much more poignant aeronautical exhibition, as a CC-130H Hercules aircraft passed over the stadium in the fighter jets’ wake.

Compared to the supersonic CF-18s, the massive, propeller-driven transport plane probably seemed to be doing more of a “crawl-over”; what most folks at the outdoor game probably didn’t realize, however, was that this was almost certainly the last time they’ll see one of these ubiquitous Canadian Forces aircraft in the sky.

The CC-130H is being retired after more than half a century as the RCAF’s combat, rescue and transport workhorse. The “Herc” will be replaced by more modern aircraft, including the smaller and more nimble CC-295 Kingfisher, which will be used for search-and-rescue missions out of 17 Wing Winnipeg, beginning next month.

City rec facilities crumbling

Throughout Winnipeg, decades-old community assets — pools, arenas and recreation and leisure centres — are deteriorating so quickly that service disruptions are inevitable.

Meanwhile, the city’s community services department, which is responsible for managing those assets, operates with an annual deficit of roughly $80 million, meaning there are scant resources to do little more than bail water on a sinking ship.

Soon, Winnipeggers will have a choice: fewer community services or higher costs.

“It poses a huge challenge because we have very limited dollars that we have to invest in our existing facilities. We also have growing demands for new amenities in new areas. We have to be very strategic,” said Ken McKim, manager of asset management for the department.

Neo-Nazi group members plotted to kill Free Press reporter

Disturbing details of a plan to kill a Free Press reporter who had infiltrated a white nationalist hate group were revealed for the first time Wednesday.

Trump touts USMCA win in state of the union

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump declared his scorched-earth political style an unmitigated success Tuesday in a fiercely partisan, made-for-TV state of the union speech that made it clear he expects to be back in the White House next year on the strength of the U.S. economy and his trade deals with Canada, Mexico and China.

Trump, addressing a joint session of Congress in the very chamber where House Democrats voted to impeach him less than two months ago, became only the second president in American history — Bill Clinton was the first — to deliver a state of the union while standing trial in the Senate.

Unrepentant, he pointedly refused to shake the offered hand of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the dais before singing the praises of what he billed as "the great American comeback," pointing to strong job growth, a soaring stock market and low unemployment as evidence of his leadership. And when he was done, Pelosi ripped up the speech in full view of the television cameras.

"America's enemies are on the run, America's fortunes are on the rise, and America's future is blazing bright. The years of economic decay are over," Trump declared, taking full credit for the country's "roaring economy," including what he billed as seven million new jobs and the lowest jobless rate in half a century — a "blue-collar boom" that he's counting on to help his re-election chances in November.