- Manitoba Hydro is "parting ways" with CEO Jay Grewal, according to the chair of Hydro's board. This seems to be related to Grewal's plans to buy privately generated power for the utility; the Tories accuse the NDP of being "ideologically rigid" on the matter.
- Some housing advocates are cautiously optimistic about a report from federal housing advocate Marie-Josée Houle; others see this as "just one more report" making similar recommendations to previous reports. It's worth noting that Finland is well on the way to eliminating homelessness with a "housing first" model; on the other hand the devil is in the details with these things; Houston and San Diego both tried such an approach at the municipal level, with widely differing success (and not in the way you'd expect, either).
- Legal Aid Manitoba hired Mainstreet Research to conduct a poll asking members of the public questions about what they know and believe about Jeremy Skibiki, who is facing murder charges in the deaths of four First Nations women in Winnipeg. Skibiki's lawyers are working with Legal Aid, and it's widely suspected that they're trying to find support for his request for a judge-only trial in the case. MMIWG advocates are decidedly uncomfortable with this; a representative of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says this "disregards the dignity of the victims and their families", though others argue that they're just trying to act in the interests of their client.
- The federal Liberals would be well advised to have a talk with their leader about whether he ought to stay on, if recent polls are any indication. I doubt that any replacement could prevent a Tory majority, but Trudeau's brand is so tarnished that the party could face virtual annihilation unless something changes.
- The Democrats have captured George Santos' old seat in the special election necessitated by Santos' ouster from Congress. This is a good sign for sure.
- The US House of Representatives has voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the Mexican border. Of course it won't go anywhere in the Senate. Meanwhile many Republicans in the House are admitting that tossing Kevin McCarthy as speaker in favour of Mike Johnson may have been a mistake.
- The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is cancelling plans to have controlled entrances to liquor stores, similar to those ubiquitous in Manitoba. Notably, this was only supposed to apply to northwestern Ontario, not the whole province; there were some privacy concerns raised, as well as concern by the union that they weren't consulted adequately.
- Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital is stepping up security, and police are investigating, following several incidents alleged to have occurred at a pro-Palestinian protest that spilled onto hospital grounds. While I generally support their cause, and tend to be skeptical when such protesters are accused of antisemitism, I have to question whether a hospital is an appropriate target for this, any more than hospitals were appropriate targets for the trucker convoy a couple of years ago. And given this particular hospital's historic connection to the Jewish community, in this case the charge of antisemitism just might be valid if the motivation for targeting it was what it looks like from the outside.
- A shooting incident at the Kansas City Super Bowl victory celebration parade has left multiple people injured. Whether this was actually an attack on the parade or a coincidence is not clear. One attendee was quoted as saying "It sucks that someone had to ruin the celebration, but we are in a big city". I have to wonder, though - if it really was politically motivated, it's far more likely that the shooter came from a small town.
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