A look at the details of the new COVID-19 related travel restrictions

New COVID treatment drug painless experience: recovered patient

One of the first Manitobans to receive the antiviral COVID-19 pill that became available in the province last month has fully recovered, with no side effects.

Mary McIntosh, 72, lives in Victoria Beach and is among the 83 Manitobans recently issued Pfizer Inc. drug Paxlovid to treat COVID-19.

She reached out to Health Links when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Jan. 30. McIntosh has autoimmune hepatitis (a chronic liver disease), thus qualifying her to receive the new treatment.

“I did have to advocate for myself with respect to treatment options,” said McIntosh, who is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including a booster.

Today’s horoscope

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

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Avoid disputes about shared property, inheritances, taxes, debt and insurance issues. This might also include shared expenses. Just coast. Parents should be vigilant about their kids. Social plans might suddenly change. It’s a good day to make art.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Deluxe apartment tower taking shape in Tuxedo

The owners of a shopping strip in the city’s wealthiest neighbourhood have identified the site of a longtime gas station on Corydon Avenue as an untapped residential resource.

The ‘Gang of Nine’ and business as usual at city hall

In the early 1990s, after the province reduced the number of municipal wards in Winnipeg to 15, critics spoke at length of how a theoretical “Gang of Eight” could control all decision making at city hall. In subsequent years, there were various incarnations of a Gang of Eight, although it was never conclusively shown that eight members of city council could consistently stay on the same page long enough to dominate civic affairs.

That is an apt tale to consider now, as Winnipeg city hall welcomes nine rookie councillors, the largest number of non-incumbents elected in more than 30 years.

Theoretically, this new group of councillors could band together and push through various reforms. It’s a highly intriguing scenario for anyone who has watched the city, on occasion, shun riskier strategies in favor of status quo politics.

However, as was the case in the early 1990s, the chances of that happening begin to fall apart once you consider the work of building and sustaining a coalition of rookie councillors who come from a broad array of backgrounds.

Second plant-based protein plant planned in Manitoba to meet vegan meat demand

Manitoba is about to become a key production centre for plant-based protein with a second pea-protein production plant about to break ground.

Merit Functional Foods Corporation is building a $65-million, 65,000-square-foot facility that will produce both pea and canola protein.

The French company, Roquette, is building a $400-million pea protein plant in Portage la Prairie.

Merit is a 60-40 partnership between an investor group made up of Shaun Crew, Barry Tomiski and Ryan Bracken -- all veteran senior management and founders of Hemp Oil Canada Inc./Manitoba Harvest -- and Burcon NutraScience Corp., a publicly traded Vancouver company with strong links to Winnipeg where it has had a research lab for 20 years.