Grand enhancement for Jeep

Late, wet spring delays sporting events

Kent Kamenz has been the regional director for Slo-Pitch National in Manitoba for more than 20 years. But owing to the province’s never-ending winter, this season will begin later than in any other year he can recall (the 2020 pandemic year not included, of course).

Thanks a lot, Mother Nature.

“Truthfully, we were supposed to have our very first tournament this weekend. Obviously, that was cancelled about three weeks ago because we saw the writing on the wall,” Kamenz told the Free Press.

“So, this weekend and next weekend were supposed to be our first two weekends for tournaments, you know, get the teams out there and get them kind of ready for their leagues. We’ve obviously cancelled those two and now we’ve pushed everything back to May 14 and May 15 for tournaments.

FAQ: Winnipeg’s boil-water advisory

To boil water: Fill a pot with water from the cold-water tap. Heat it until bubbles come from the bottom of the pot to the top. Once the water reaches a rolling boil, let it boil for one minute (kettles with an automatic shutoff feature may not boil for a full minute).

No end in sight to Ottawa’s pandemic spending

A crucial caveat expected in Monday's fiscal statement from Ottawa failed to manifest: there is no end in sight to federal spending amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Canada stares down a nearly $400-billion, record-high deficit for 2020, the Liberal government plans to spend up to $100 billion over the next three years, along with a further $25.1 billion in immediate measures to support workers and businesses affected by the novel coronavirus.

That's not all.

In a long-awaited speech from the House of Commons, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland did not provide a spending cap to draw any red lines around the limit to which the feds will continue funnelling toward an economic recovery she acknowledged is still well-off the horizon.

FIFA president overshadowing the good of the game

There is a big London Derby on Sunday (Arsenal-Chelsea), and the weekend schedule also features marquee matches in Turkey (Feherbahce-Besiktas) and the Netherlands (Ajax-PSV Eindhoven), as well as a showdown between the Italian teams with the last four Scudetti between them (Inter Milan-Napoli).

Then there’s the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, which is set to kick off in Poland (Canada plays England on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.).

And yet, clouding it all — and the world of football is a massive thing to overshadow — is the figure of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who suddenly finds himself facing a protracted legal battle over his scheme to sell off the World Cup’s commercial rights.

Specifically, UEFA — the sport’s governing body in Europe — is “preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino…for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code.” So reads its recent filing in a Florida court.

Paper trail

WHAT IT IS: Copy Paperis a 2014 textile-based piece by Ontario-born, Winnipeg-based artist Kristin Nelson, currently on view at WAG-Qaumajuq as part of the exhibition Terra Cognita/Incognita.

Of the 125 works in the show — which uses historical and contemporary pieces from WAG-Qaumajuq’s permanent collection to explore how artists have represented the landscape over time and across cultures —probably the most attention-getting are the beautiful paintings of Canada’s lakes, plains, forests and mountains.

So, how does this seemingly modest, somewhat enigmatic work connect to Terra Cognita/Incognita’s larger themes?

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: In the middle of the exhibition, an antique desk holds several objects of beauty and utility, and this is where Copy Paper sneaks in, as something both “cognita and incognita,” known and unknown.