Exchange Sessions featuring Olivia Lunny

Jets hold first practice since Covid-19 shutdown

Walking out of Rogers Place in the wee hours of March 12, I had no idea when the Winnipeg Jets might skate again — or what it might look like when they did. After all, the world was changing due to COVID-19, and a big win over the Edmonton Oilers earlier that night was quickly rendered meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Now, 124 days later, we finally have some answers, along with a whole host of new questions. What went down Monday morning inside Bell MTS Iceplex, as the most unique training camp in club history got underway, was like nothing anyone associated with the sport has ever experienced before.

There were mandatory nasal swabs up the noses of all Jets players, along with health questionnaires and digital temperature checks for those of us entering the facility. Masks were required at all times. The rink lobby, normally a hub of activity whenever the hometown team hits the ice, was a ghost town and closed to the public. Handshakes among colleagues I haven't seen for four months were replaced by distant waves and muffled, socially distant pleasantries, just as hugs and high-fives among players were a no-no.

A workspace was created in the Press Box Restaurant, with tables spaced out against against glass that fogged up every few minutes. It didn't take long to remember why hockey and hot summer weather don't typically work well together. Forget the wind chill, does anyone know the humidex?

Exchange Sessions featuring Olivia Lunny

Olivia Lunny performs “In my bones“ during an Exchange Sessions for the Winnipeg Free Press.

HSC nurses concerned info hacked in cyberattack

Health Sciences Centre workers are concerned their personal information has been compromised after a ransomware attack at Manitoba’s largest hospital.

Shared Health said Monday a cyberattack had affected certain facility maintenance systems, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning, as well as door access at HSC.

While Shared Health said patient information hasn’t been compromised, it has not assured workers that their information is secure, the president of the Manitoba Nurses Union said Wednesday. She noted employee badges allow HSC staffers to access different parts of the hospital.

“Those (identity) badges hold a lot of information — personal information,” Darlene Jackson said. “This is all their personal information, their date of birth — their everything is on there.”

PM visit a chance to rectify Tofino mistake: chief

KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Justin Trudeau's visit was a chance to move forward, Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir said Monday, even as she rebuked the prime minister for ignoring her first invitations to join the community for Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

With Trudeau sitting beside her and the former Kamloops Indian Residential School looming in the background, Casimir said his visit was "bittersweet." She said she hoped he'd been there on Sept. 30 to interact with survivors and "show his commitment to rectifying the historical wrongs of residential school and to grieve with our residential school survivors."

"Instead, in the middle of truth telling, cultural grounding and sharing that unfolded as part of the commemoration of the very first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, in this arbour, a journalist quietly informed us that the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was on vacation in Tofino," Casimir said.

"The shock, anger and sorrow and disbelief was palpable in our community."

Salvation Army trio focuses on others' well-being during frigid overnight shift in pandemic

The night begins with a prayer, an incantation from the lips of three faithful members of the flock, standing in dim light with clasped hands as they implore God to direct them where help is needed most.