- The City of Winnipeg is still considering the possibility of a pedestrian scramble somewhere, though probably not at River and Osborne thanks to the report that concluded that the price of pedestrian safety could be as much as 30 extra seconds on suburbanites' commute. On a related note, at a meeting of Winnipeg's Standing Policy Committee on Public Works yesterday, Mark Cohoe, executive director of Bike Winnipeg, was presenting on behalf of the organization regarding the proposals for the intersection of Osborne and River when Transcona councillor Russ Wyatt showed up late and berated Cohoe and other delegations, calling them "bike Nazis". The organization is outraged, and is calling for Wyatt to be removed from the committee. Based on that and other aspects of his character I have to assume that if he follows through on his threat to run federally in Elmwood-Transcona he'll run for the Tories.
- At Manitoba's largest hospital, University of Manitoba medical and nursing students have better security than working nurses at the same institution. The security guards employed by the university are equipped with batons and pepper gel, but those employed by the hospital itself (e.g. in the emergency room) are not. The nurses' union is naturally lobbying for changes following a number of incidents including the stabbing of a security guard in February; the union wants weapon scanners and armed security. Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara says that the training of additional security is a top priority but is uncomfortable with some aspects of the union's demands, saying "Some people maybe feel nervous or anxious or have a reaction based on their trauma when they see people who look like security or look similar to police". Now the minister is not wrong about that, however in order to properly evaluate this it's necessary to also factor in the fact that some people may be made more comfortable, especially given what's been going on there of late, and to choose a course of action that leads to the lowest overall amount of anxiety - not that it's necessarily easy to do that, of course.
- In the US, a federal court has upheld the right of California to set its own emission rules that are stronger than federal standards, following a challenge by several Republican-held states.
- Toronto is now less affordable than New York City or Miami. At the same time, commercial landlords are freaking out about the high vacancy rate for offices in the city. It seems to me that the second problem could be turned into a solution to the first, although converting an office building to an apartment building isn't always easy.
- Arizona's Supreme Court has reinstated an 1864 law that outlaws abortion in nearly all cases. You might expect Republicans to be rejoicing at this, but in fact they're freaking out, with even Sen. Kari Lake having suddenly changed her mind on the merits of this old law. Trump also says that the law goes too far. Of course in Trump's case it's likely partly because he's no doubt been spared huge amounts of money in child support payments by the availability of abortion, but the fact that there's going to be a referendum on abortion in the state in November probably has a lot to do with it too, given the potential increase in Democratic turnout that could result. The fact that shortly before the court ruling a Republican legislator brought in a delegation to pray and speak in tongues probably doesn't help their image either.
- Parks Canada is considering a temporary ban on boating on Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park in order to limit the spread of Zebra Mussels. The premier is uncomfortable with that due to the popularity of the lake, but it seems like it may be a necessary evil to protect the lake.
- There was a big spike in Google searches for the phrase "my eyes hurt" following Monday's eclipse. Whether this is a result of people actually damaging their eyes from not following precautions, or just psychosomatic pain due to people second-guessing whether their precautions were adequate, is not clear.
