What pressure? Biles soars to lead at U.S. Olympic Trials

Brandonmeat packer thriving on its own

BRANDON — Canada Packers has strengthened its business and laid the foundation for future growth during its first year as an independent company, its president says.

The Brandon-based pork producer, separated from Maple Leaf Foods in October 2025, established its own leadership, strategy, systems, culture and identity while continuing operations across its hog production farms and regional hog barns in southern and eastern Manitoba.

The company’s first year was focused on building a successful standalone business while continuing to serve customers, communities and shareholders, president Dennis Organ said.

“Market conditions over the past year have been more challenging than we anticipated when we became a separate entity,” he said in an email. “Despite that, we continued to execute against our priorities, including increasing processing volumes, maintaining disciplined operations and strengthening the business.”

Confidence vote was gamble for MLA, Tories: political expert

BRANDON — A Progressive Conservative MLA’s decision to put forward a confidence motion against the party’s former leader carries a lot of risk for her and the Tories, a political science expert says.

Obby Khan resigned as leader of the PCs on Monday after Jodie Byram (Agassiz) initiated a confidence vote against him the previous week.

The majority of the PC caucus voted in favour of Khan, but he resigned a few days later, citing continued efforts to undermine him by a minority of MLAs.

Brandon University political science Prof. Kelly Saunders said while she doesn’t know what Byram’s motivations were for triggering the vote, such a move carries a lot of risk.

Province has provided $20M in flood relief so far, infrastructure minister says

The province has sent out $20 million in relief to Manitobans and municipalities affected by severe flooding in several communities in June and July, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor told MLAs Thursday.

Naylor said the government received more than 2,400 applications for financial assistance from residents and businesses, plus applications from 64 local authorities.

Provincial staff have so far processed more than 2,000 applications, she said.

Manitoba offered financial assistance after many homes and businesses were inundated, swathes of farm land were submerged and municipal roads and provincial highways were washed out by overland flooding from western Manitoba to the Interlake.

Bigger story: Jets’ playoff run or Bombers’ Cup victory?

Steve Lyons: Hello there. How’s it going? Hope you are staying warm. Guess winter is here now. Man, it’s been nice so far — especially, the lack of snow. Thought we were in for a long one after that dump of white stuff in October. I bought a new shovel on the weekend just in case. I’m sure it will show up at some point. Yes, I’ve been doing my own shoveling.

So, lots going on since we last chatted. Like the whole world changing with the Bombers winning the Grey Cup! More on that in a bit…

The Jets won AGAIN on Tuesday night, beating the Red Wings. The team is now 19-10-1-1, good for 40 points. As we chat on Wednesday morning, they are just two points behind the Blues, who hold down top spot in the Central. Heady stuff. They certainly look like they are going to make me eat my words about not making the playoffs.. I think.. maybe.. haha

One caution: Since Nov. 1, the Jets have won 13 games, but only four of those victories have been against current playoff teams — Vegas, Florida, and the Dallas Stars twice. They’ve certainly made hay in this soft spot in their schedule, but it will be interesting to see how they fare once they start playing the Caps, Bruins, Isles, Blues and Avs of the world. The one game they had against a top tier team in November, they got whacked 4-0 at home by Colorado.

Community’s support sways judge in sentencing drunk driver who killed friend

Spinning “doughnuts” in his truck at high speed on the family farm was something Kyle Nolan Devos told police he “did for fun.”

Broadening prediction-market gambling a bad idea

Let’s make a prediction: sooner or later, when Canadian governments find a way to take their own cut of the action, prediction-contract gambling on everything from sports to entertainment to political decisions is going to come to Canada.

And that’s a horrible, dangerous, pernicious idea.

Unless you have particular access to information — either inside information or strategic information based on skills or education — you’re not likely to make money at it. In fact, structurally, you’re likely to lose. In prediction markets, you basically pay an amount, plus fees from the company involved, to bet on whether something will or will not happen within a certain time frame. The amount you pay for your contract depends on how other people are also betting.

As Wealthsimple describes it, “You buy whichever side you think is right. Prices move with demand, so if the market leans towards one outcome, the more that side costs. If a lot of people are backing the TSX to finish above 38,000, yes gets more expensive and no gets cheaper.”