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Circling back quickly to Health Minister Mark Butler and the continuing reaction to Healthscope ending its contracts with Bupa and the AHSA. Butler told a Perth press conference that the government doesn't involve itself "in the usual course in commercial negotiations" in the health sector or otherwise. "Simply walking... Tessa Flemming , Peter Usted , Evelyn Manfield , Krishani Dhanji , Courtney Gould , Tom Crowley
Canada Post may have no option but to drastically change its service delivery model after its labour dispute is settled, a University of Manitoba professor argues. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Canada Post may have no option but to drastically change its service delivery model after its labour dispute is settled, a University of Manitoba professor argues. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Canada Post may have no option but to drastically change its service delivery model after its labour dispute is settled, a University of Manitoba professor argues. Barry Prentice, a professor of supply chain management, said fewer mail deliveries per week, layoffs and a switch to community mailboxes may be in the cards so the Crown corporation can save costs while maintaining the public service. Otherwise, it risks privatization. Canada Post will have to adapt to changing consumer habits and remain competitive with private couriers, says Barry Prentice. (The Canadian Press files) “There’s a fundamental change that’s needed in this whole arrangement, as far as I can see,” Prentice said Friday. “It’s technology-driven, the demand for mail delivery is certainly not what it used to be.” Canada Post, which has 55,000 employees and high labour costs, will have to adapt to changing consumer habits and remain competitive with private couriers. Daily mail deliveries could be cut down to once or twice per week and the conversion of door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes, which was suspended in 2015 after the Trudeau Liberal government was elected, could be resumed to save the corporation money, Prentice said. Canada Post’s relevancy has been debated during a month-long strike. However, privatizing the post office, as Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre has promised, would affect rural communities that rely on it and can’t access third-party parcel services. The federal labour minister on Friday referred the dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, with the aim of ordering the nearly 55,000 postal workers back to work. (Spencer Colby / The Canadian Press files) “It’s an obligation on the part of the government to serve all parts of the country,” he said. “We all have high-speed internet here in the city, but you don’t even necessarily have that out in the country so there’s certainly more need in the countryside.” Prentice said he expects the Liberals won’t deal with the problems at Canada Post before next year’s election. “The union has to make the company more competitive. They can’t just simply demand that they carry on forever,” he said. “There is a role for government to subsidize some essential services. So the question comes down to how much of the post office is essential?” nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the newsroom in 2023. . Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support. Mail could begin moving again in Canada as early as next week after the federal government moved Friday to end the nearly month-long work stoppage at Canada Post. Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the newsroom in 2023. . Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support. Advertisement AdvertisementBOYS BASKETBALL The Brazoswood Bucs went 1-1 during the first day of the Alice Hub City Whataburger Classic. Brazoswood defeated Laredo Harmony, 90-26, Thursday and lost to Texas Lions Homeschool, 86-57. Four players scored in double figures in the win over Laredo Harmony, led by Kaden Solis’ 17 points. Kyle Mathews added 12, and Jose Trevino and Israel Williams each contributed 10 points. Miguel Nava had eight points, and Robert Young, Sayvion Dunlap and Jalen Davis each finished with six points. The Bucs made 11 3-pointers in the game. Williams’ 10 points paced the Bucs in their loss to Texas Homeschool. Mathews and Solis each added nine, Trevino finished with eight, and Davis scored six. On Dec. 6, the Bucs lost 61-43 to Baytown Sterling. The Rangers’ 17-2 first quarter padvantage ut the Bucs (5-6) behind the 8-ball. Nava scored 11 points, and Shaydon Coulter added seven. BCS wins 5th straight: After a 3-2 start to the season, Brazosport Christian has won five straight after beating Allen Academy, 55-28, Thursday in tournament action. Tyson Sullivan finished with nine points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Luke Coburn, James Moore and Shep Poe each scored eight points. Moore collected five steals. The Eagles (8-2) will finish the Founders Christian Tournament on Saturday. 2 ’Necks score 20 points in win: The Columbia Roughnecks improved to 2-0 at their new court Monday with an 83-67 victory over Sealy. Two Roughnecks finished with at least 20 points, paced by freshman Drake Autenrieth’s 24. Kaison Lewis added 21, and Dassi Abdullah contributed 19 points. After tournament play this weekend, the Roughnecks (5-6) will host Brazosport (8-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at First Capital Court. Bulldogs win first game of season: A second-quarter advantage helped Sweeny to its first win of the season, 54-45, against an Australian travel team. Both Sweeny basketball teams hosted an Australian team last season, and the schools continued the tradition this year with the Bulldogs hosting the team from down under. Tatum Waller and Jacory Maisonet each scored a team-high 10 points and grabbed five rebounds. Miguel Garza scored eight points and recorded three steals. Marcus Pete added eight points and four rebounds and Ethan Miller had seven points and seven boards. The Bulldogs (1-5) were less fortunate Tuesday in a 94-37 non-district loss to in-county team Angleton. The Wildcats improved to 9-8. Bryson Campbell led all scorers with 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting and 10 steals. Kadyine Jones followed with 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals, and Noah Rossow added 11 points and four steals. Malaki Manzano and Braelin Williams each tallied eight points. Manzano dished four assists and six steals, and Williams grabbed five rebounds. For Sweeny, Deshaun James paced the Bulldogs with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, five rebounds and two steals. Waller and Clinton King-Varner each scored eight points. King-Varner snatched six rebounds. GIRLS BASKETBALL Coburn scores 25 in Lady Eagles’ win Brazosport Christian won its third straight game Tuesday with a 61-27 victory over Divine Savior Academy. Sophomore Bo Coburn scored nearly as many points as the Rays with 25 on 10-of-22 shooting. She also had four rebounds and three steals. Cayla Cloudt added 11 points and three steals, and Lexi Mendoza and Malerie Gonzalez each contributed eight points. Valerie Gonzalez grabbed eight rebounds, and Mendoza and Charity Catoe each snatched seven boards. In tournament play Thursday, the Lady Eagles (6-2) defeated Calvary Baptist, 46-36. After tournament action this weekend, the Lady Eagles will not play again until Jan. 7 Columbia goes 4-1 in tourney: The Columbia Lady ’Necks’ lone loss last weekend at the Tidehaven Tournament came against the host Tigerettes. Other than that, Columbia had a successful weekend by going 4-1. The Lady ’Necks beat Van Vleck, 43-29; Bay City, 31-30; Wharton, 39-28; and Calhoun, 40-25. The state-ranked Tigerettes beat Columbia, 50-19. Columbia (1-0, 12-3) will play Brazosport on Tuesday at E.E. “Flash” Walker Gymnasium. Lady Dogs drop district opener: The Sweeny Lady Dogs lost their sixth straight game Tuesday with a 41-29 District 29-4A-opening loss to Wharton. No Lady Dog (0-1, 4-10) scored in double figures. Kiah Woodard’s eight points led the team on 4-of-4 shooting from the field. Trinity McDaniel added six points and two rebounds. B’port snaps skid: The Brazosport Lady Exporters started District 29-4A play on the right foot Tuesday with a 69-25 victory over Needville. The win snapped a four-game skid for the Lady Ships (1-0, 5-7). The 69 points tied for the third-most scored in a game by Brazosport this season and the most since Dec. 3, when it beat Brazoswood, 69-48. Iowa Colony wins district opener: The reigning District 26-4A champion Iowa Colony Lady Pioneers opened their inaugural District 20-5A schedule Tuesday with a resounding 86-33 victory over Texas City. Since last season, Iowa Colony (1-0, 9-8) has won 13 straight district games. Three Lady Pioneers finished in double figures, with Eryn Roberts leading the way with 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Aaliyah Rogers finished with a double-double with 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting and 10 rebounds, and Kenadie Francis had 12 points with a 5-of-9 mark from the floor. Roberts and Payton Watson each tallied six steals. Watson contributed nine points and Kailee Scipio added seven points. at Emery-Weiner. WRESTLING B’wood takes 2nd at Stampede The Brazoswood Bucs had a strong showing at last weekend’s Maverick Stampede at Morton Ranch High School in Katy. The Bucs finished with 157 points for second place in the team standings behind Katy Cinco Ranch’s 210.5 points. Senior Michael Villarreal finished 4-1 to take silver in the 285-pound weight class. In the two-day tournament, Villarreal (13-1) collected his 100th career victory, joining teammate Aaron Reyna, who notched his 100th career win last season. Reyna — who owns the school record in most wins in program history — also finished runner-up in the 120-pound eight class. Reyna went 4-1 in the tournament and is 12-2 on the season. Gavin Marks placed fifth in the 106 category by beating Marcos Nino of Corpus Christi Carroll by a 9-2 decision in his final tournament match. Marks is 10-4 this season. Aidan Marks (10-5) in the 132 class and Byron Dabney (14-2) in the 215 class each finished sixth. The Lady Bucs finished 11th with 91.5 points. Karen Kime (7-2) went 5-0 to win her 165-pound weight class. Maria Gonzalez (11-3) placed fourth in the 185 class, and Lupita Gonzalez (9-5) took fifth in the 152 category.
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Caleb Williams has thrown 255 passes without being intercepted, the longest streak ever by a rookie quarterback. It’s not a streak worth preserving. Not when the Bears average 288.5 yards per game, the fewest in the NFL. They also average 182.7 passing yards per game, the third-fewest in the league. Not when the team is on a seven-game losing streak that has claimed Williams’ head coach, offensive coordinator and whatever sense of joy the Bears’ go-for-it season was supposed to provide. And not when Williams ranks 32 nd out of 41 qualifying quarterbacks in aggressiveness percentage, which NFL Next Gen Stats uses to measures how often a quarterback throws into tight coverage. Williams throws into tight coverage — defined as defenders being within one yard of receivers when the ball arrives — just 12.2 percent of the time. He doesn’t throw the ball downfield often, either. His 4.9 completed air yards, which measures the length of the throw on completions, is 31 st in the league. Williams going two months without throwing an interception isn’t a feature of the Bears offense, then. It’s a bug. This is the time for Williams to take risks and push the ball downfield. The Bears’ season is over — they figure to be eliminated from the playoffs this week — and the only thing remaining that matters is Williams’ development. If Williams gambles down the field and a safety jumps in front of a deep ball, so what? “I’m not one that, I tend to throw interceptions,” Williams said this week. “I know in the beginning of the season I threw a couple early on, a couple stupid ones. I think protecting the ball is the most important thing.” Williams has thrown five interceptions — none since Oct. 13 in London — and has fumbled the ball away three times, including Sunday in San Francisco when he tried to stop his throwing motion. The streak is commendable, but means little on a team that will spend the final four weeks thinking more about next season than this year. Williams will be better in 2025 if he spends the rest of this season figuring out what he can — and can’t — do. “I touch the ball the most on the football team, so being able to protect in those ways helps us win games ... I’m going to try and do that and keep doing that for the next four games,” he said. Chris Beatty, who is Williams’ third different offensive coordinator this season, said coaches never talk to Williams about avoiding interceptions. “It’s all about being calculated and, ‘Hey, we see a certain matchup that we like, let’s try to take advantage of it,’” he said. “There’s some things that we want to try to do a little bit more of. And then there’s some things that we might be missing because we’re seeing them for the first time in a game or full speed. So those are things we’re trying to get better at. .... “I don’t think it’s a lack of aggressiveness as much as, [Williams] has got to be calculated when he wants to do those things and then understand there are times to do it: ‘You know, we’re 1-on-1, we need to take some shots.’” Receiver DJ Moore said he didn’t want Williams trying to force things, though. “If he doesn’t have interceptions, we’re doing something right,” Moore said. “I don’t want him to start having interceptions. He’s doing what he’s doing at a high level.” Williams hasn’t been effective when he’s taken deep shots, though. Only four teams have fewer explosive passing plays — going for 20 yards or more — than the Bears. The team’s longest play this season has gone for 47 yards; only two other teams claim a shorter longest play. There are 41 quarterbacks who have tried at least 14 passes of at least 20 yards. Williams’ Pro Football Focus score ranks 40 th , ahead of only the Jaguars’ Mac Jones. Then there are the plays in which Williams doesn’t have enough time to look deep. He’s already the most-sacked quarterback in Bears history and is on pace to finish in the top three in NFL history. The same Vikings the Bears play Monday took advantage of Williams’ mistake on Nov. 24. Williams took a sack that lost 12 yards in overtime, leading to a punt and a 30-27 loss. That’s not the way Williams wants to play in pressure situations. “Taking a sack in OT — a stupid sack,” Williams said. “We’ve messed up in multiple situations, including me. Being able to learn from whatever it was — me taking a sack or mismanagement ... Being able to snap out of it right in that moment [and] make the right play at the right time is the next point.” Figuring out the deep ball is something Williams can improve the next four games, too, particularly against a gambling Vikings defense that will give the Bears a chance at big gains. “He’s not playing scared,” interim head coach Thomas Brown said. “He’s ripping some footballs into tight windows. I think it’s probably even more impressive. It’s not like he’s sitting back there not taking an opportunity. (He’s) taking chances down the field. “We always talk about trying to find ways to be aggressive, not reckless. There is a fine line between the two of them.”
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Googly eyes have been appearing on sculptures around the central Oregon city of Bend, delighting many residents and sparking a viral sensation covered widely by news outlets and featured on a popular late-night talk show. On social media, the city shared photos of googly eyes on installations in the middle of roundabouts that make up its so-called “Roundabout Art Route.” One photo shows googly eyes placed on a sculpture of two deer, while another shows them attached to a sphere. It’s not yet known who has been putting them on the sculptures. “While the googly eyes placed on the various art pieces around town might give you a chuckle, it costs money to remove them with care to not damage the art,” the city said in its posts. The Facebook post received hundreds of comments, with many users saying they liked the googly eyes. “My daughter and I went past the flaming chicken today and shared the biggest laugh,” one user said, using a nickname for the “Phoenix Rising” sculpture. “We love the googly eyes. This town is getting to be so stuffy. Let’s have fun!” Another Facebook user wrote: “I think the googly eyes on the deer specifically are a great look, and they should stay that way.” Others said the city should focus on addressing more important issues, such as homelessness, instead of spending time and money on removing the googly eyes. Over the years, the city’s sculptures have been adorned with other seasonal decorations, including Santa hats, wreaths, leis. The city doesn’t remove those, and views the googly eyes differently because of the adhesive, Bend’s communications director, Rene Mitchell, told The Associated Press. “We really encourage our community to engage with the art and have fun. We just need to make sure that we can protect it and that it doesn’t get damaged,” she said. The post and its comments were covered by news outlets, and even made it on a segment of CBS’s “The Late Show with .” The city regrets that its post was misunderstood, Mitchell said. “There was no intent to be heavy-handed, and we certainly understand maybe how that was taken,” she said. “We own this large collection of public art and really want to bring awareness to the community that applying adhesives does harm the art. So as stewards of the collection, we wanted to share that on social media.” The city has so far spent $1,500 on removing googly eyes from seven of the eight sculptures impacted, Mitchell said, and has started treating some of the art pieces, which are made of different types of metal such as bronze and steel. The “Phoenix Rising” sculpture might need to be repainted entirely, she said. For some, the googly eyes — like the other holiday objects — provide a welcome boost of seasonal cheer. “I look forward to seeing the creativity of whoever it is that decorates the roundabouts during the holidays,” one social media commenter said. “Brings a smile to everyone to see silliness.”So much for diversity: Companies kowtow to conservatives and ditch DEI
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