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Winnipeg Free Press
28 minutes ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
A social media message about sugar — and consequences
Opinion Let's talk about one sweet little mess. In yet another of his late-night social media pronouncements, U.S. President Donald Trump proclaimed that he'd reached a deal with Coca-Cola: 'I've been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. I'd like to thank all those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by Them — You'll see. It's just better!' As often is the case with Trump's off-the-cuff announcements, the business involved was, well, not exactly on the same page. The company said it appreciates 'President Trump's enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand,' and said it will have more details on 'new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range … soon.' Jacquelyn Martin / The Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump If Trump is right about the change — and the jury's clearly still out — moving to cane sugar would present some interesting issues. The largest would be where the cane sugar would come from. Global production of cane sugar in 2023-24 was around 150 million metric tonnes. The world's largest cane sugar producer, Brazil, accounted for 42 million metric tonnes in 2023-24, followed by India at 36 million metric tonnes, Thailand at 11.2 million metric tonnes, and China at 10 million metric tonnes. The U.S. ranks well down in cane sugar production: although the U.S. had total sugar production of 8.4 million metric tonnes, the majority of that, 4.62 million tonnes, came from sugar beets, not sugar cane. (And U.S. sugar producers imported US$2.6 billion worth of Brazilian and Mexican sugar cane last year to reach their current production level.) And at this point, the U.S. is a net importer of sugar, with Americans consuming 11.5 million tonnes of sugar annually. The country imported 2.2 million metric tonnes of sugar in 2024/25. That means a switch to cane sugar by Coca-Cola is likely to require more sugar imports. But then, U.S. national security throws a spike in the wheels. Tariffs that Trump has imposed for 'security' reasons have added tariffs to all imports from Brazil (a 50 per cent tariff), India (a 26 per cent tariff), Thailand (a 36 per cent tariff) and China (at least a 34 per cent tariff). On top of that, China is already a net importer of sugar, and India consumes 31 million metric tonnes of sugar, meaning it only exported five million metric tonnes of corn sugar last year, meaning supplies are limited. So, a change by Coca-Cola would definitely carry the risk of consumer price hikes for their product. A beverage giant is not going to lose money simply to please a president's taste buds. At the same time, using cane sugar would displace high-fructose corn syrup from Coca-Cola's current formulation of the Coke product — corn syrup which is a key product of the American agricultural industry. Wednesdays A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom. The U.S. Corn Refiners Association stepped into the argument in a hurry, issuing a statement saying: 'Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.' All in all, displacing an American-made agricultural product for a higher-priced import likely to cost even more due to high tariffs sounds like the antithesis of 'America First.' But then again, it's completely on brand for Donald Trump's scattergun approach to tariffs, the global economy, and a world he views through the lens of his personal likes and dislikes. Chances are, the best guess is probably that Coca-Cola introduces a higher-priced, boutique cane sugar 'variety' of Coca-Cola to mollify the president and allow him to declare victory, and everything else stays just the way it was. A sweet and hollow success story.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Nachtigall win's first Men's Amateur title
Evan Nachtigall spends his days helping customers play dream rounds on famous golf courses around the globe — without ever leaving Brandon — thanks to state-of-the-art simulators. But the 24-year-old just proved he's got game in real life, too, by winning the 2025 Nott Autocorp Men's Amateur at Southwood Golf & Country Club. Nachtigall pulled away from a crowded back to finish the 54-hole event on Wednesday at eight-under par, three strokes clear of his closest challengers. 'It's surreal,' he told the Free Press, reflecting on having his name added to a trophy that's been handed out since 1922 — one he purposely avoided eye contact with all week. BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS Evan Nachtigall pumps his first after winning his first Men's Amateur title on Wednesday, shooting eight-under — three strokes clear of his closest challengers. 'I haven't even taken a good look at it. I know it was there all three days but I just kept walking by it, not really glancing at it. I'll definitely be taking a good look at it now. There's some absolute legends on there, so it feels awesome.' Nachtigall was one of eight golfers to shoot an opening-round 69 on Monday, then kept his foot on the gas while others faded over the final two rounds as windy conditions sent scores climbing. 'I just didn't make any big mistakes,' he said. 'I put the ball in play and did what I had to do. I capitalized on a lot of birdie looks.' Born and raised in Winnipeg but now living in Brandon and playing out of Shilo, Nachtigall entered the final day ahead of fellow Brandonite Drew Jones by a single stroke. He caught his good buddy with a birdie on the first hole Wednesday, then took the outright lead with another on the third. Jones tied things up with a birdie of his own on the fourth, Nachtigall regained the lead on the seventh, and Jones pulled even again on the eighth — all with birdies. It was shaping up to be a head-to-head battle between the two friends. But after the turn, Jones ran into trouble, making bogeys on 11, 13, 15 and 16, while Nachtigall stayed steady despite a couple of late bogeys on 16 and 17. 'I played basically a flawless round of golf except for those missteps (the two bogeys),' said Nachtigall, who closed in style with a birdie on 18. 'I just kept telling myself coming down the stretch that, 'You've hit these shots a thousand times, let's just go out and keep doing that.'' Jones (69-69-73) finished at five-under, good for a share of second with Calgary's Josiah Tong (69-71-71). It's the second straight year Jones ended up with a silver medal. Last year, he had a one-stroke lead with three holes to play only to falter late as Braxton Kuntz won for a record-breaking fourth straight time. Ryan Blair of Elmhurst made a late charge, starting the day at even par and getting to six-under through 17 holes, within a shot of Nachtigall, who was one group behind. But disaster struck on the par-five 18th, where Blair made a triple-bogey eight, finishing solo fourth at three-under (70-73-70). Right behind him was five-time Amateur champion Todd Fanning, who was trying to become the first six-time winner in Manitoba history. The 57-year-old Niakwa member finished fifth at two-under (69-75-70). Mid-amateur champion Allan McDonald of Breezy Bend was the only other player to finish under par, ending up at one-under (71-74-70). Nachtigall is a bit of a late bloomer in golf, only getting serious about the sport after graduating high school in 2020. His teenage years were focused on football, basketball and hockey, but he caught the golf bug playing at Transcona with his grandfather. This was his fifth appearance at the Amateur, with a previous best finish of sixth place in 2023, six shots back of Kuntz, who won his third straight title that year. Kuntz wasn't in the 118-player field this week as he's on the verge of turning professional after completing his collegiate career. 'I always knew that when my game was on I can hang with anyone. It's just a matter of doing it,' said Nachtigall, who captured a Prairie Scratch tour title last year at Quarry Oaks and also won the Tamarack golf tournament at Clear Lake last August. BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS Brandon's Evan Nachtigall, won the 2025 Nott Autocorp Men's Amateur Championship at the Southwood Golf & Country Club on Wednesday. So what comes next? First up is the Canadian Men's Amateur Championship, which runs July 28-31 in Ottawa. Winning the provincial title also means an automatic entry into his first PGA Tour Americas event, the Manitoba Open, which will be held Aug. 21-24 at Breezy Bend. It will be a chance to test himself against some of the top rising stars of professional golf on the planet. 'That's going to be really exciting,' said Nachtigall, who had to keep trying to push the thought out of his head as he was trying to close things out on the back nine Wednesday. 'I was just trying to think about the task at hand and had to keep telling myself to focus on the next shot.' 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. Nachtigall has one semester left at Brandon University and co-owns EVO Golf. Could professional golf be in his future, following in Kuntz's footsteps? 'That would be the absolute dream,' he said. 'But golf is such a hard game. There's so many good golfers out there. When you get to that level pretty much anyone in the field could win on any given week. A lot of it is right time, right place. But if I have the opportunity, I'll give it a shot.' X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg Mike McIntyreReporter Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike. Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Mother hopes inquest sheds light on son's death in Stony Mountain prison
Penny Brass was flooded with emotion when she learned an inquest had been called into the death of her son, Patrick Eaglestick, while he was incarcerated at Stony Mountain Institution. She remembers the 'happy kid' who worked hard to get his high school equivalency credentials and was popular with friends and family. 'My son liked everything, basketball, any kind of sports team, he always wanted to play. If there was a powwow, he wanted to go. If there was somebody that needed help, he'd go and help,' Brass told the Free Press. Supplied Patrick Eaglestick, 25, died by hanging while at Stony Mountain in 2020. An inquest was called into his death this week. She said it pains her to think about the brutality of his death at age 25. He died in hospital, one day after he was found hanging in his cell during a routine check on March 23, 2020. His death was ruled a suicide, and because he died while incarcerated, an inquest must be held as per the Fatality Inquiries Act. 'The hardest thing to lose is your grown child,' she said. At the time of his death, Eaglestick was serving a two-year sentence for assault with a weapon, use of an imitation firearm while committing an offence, and failing to comply with a condition under recognizance. He hanged himself two months after his sentence began. Five years later, Brass still has questions about his death. While he 'got in trouble' on the outside, resulting in his incarceration, Brass said, he was introduced to drugs while in prison during a previous five-year stint for his involvement in a robbery, without intervention from guards. She said he was introduced to gang activity while he was in Stony; Eaglestick would call her from the prison and tell her he was scared of the gang members who harassed him. She said there was no intervention from Stony employees. She hopes the inquest finds that Stony Mountain was negligent in protecting her son. 'They were supposed to keep my son alive, they failed to do that,' she said. 'I wish I had my son here with me.' On Monday, Manitoba chief medical examiner Dr. John Younes called inquests into the deaths of Eaglestick and six other men incarcerated at Stony Mountain and Headingley Correctional Centre in 2020 and 2021. Among them is William Ahmo, whose 2021 death after a standoff with jail guards was deemed a homicide; the correctional officer who led the guards in the standoff was acquitted of criminal charges in September. Another inquest will probe the death of Jesse Thomas, 36, who died from an accidental drug overdose on Nov. 19, 2021. Five of the seven inquests are in relation to hanging deaths that occurred between March and December 2020: Eaglestick, Curt Harper, 36, Melvis Owen, 38, Farron Rowan, 32, and Adrian Young, 39. Christine Latimer, the national executive director of the John Howard Society, said that number of suicides is surprising. 'To me, that's high… I track every announcement that (Correctional Services Canada) makes about a death in custody, and there's nothing like this,' she said. In the past year, one inquest into a suicide by hanging at Stony Mountain has been published. Timothy Koltusky was 34 when he was found hanging by a ligature made from garbage bags tied to an electric fixture in his cell on March 12, 2019. Supplied Patrick Eaglestick's mother says he worked hard to get his high school equivalency credentials and was popular with friends and family. Judges have recommended Stony retrofit electrical fixtures to prevent suicides as early as 2005. Koltusky's inquest report, published in January, describes his suicide as tragic but not preventable; it notes the chief medical examiner's call for an inquest 'lacks jurisdiction to make recommendations to the federal authorities responsible for the operation of penitentiaries in Canada.' Latimer said more needs to be done. 'Generally their answer to suicides is, hide the knives, right? There's nothing that looks at the circumstances which leads people to be suicidal, but they want to stop the means by which people can actually carry out the threat,' Latimer said. 'You also need to look at their mental wellbeing.' University of Winnipeg criminal justice professor Michael Weinrath was also surprised by the number. 'It's a problem when you have that many hangings, in one particular period,' he said. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. Stony Mountain, which was built in 1876, is the oldest correctional facility in the country. Many cells are smaller than what current standards allow, Weinrath said, but the high cost of rebuilding the prison meant they were grandfathered in. Retrofitting cells to ensure they don't have suspension points for hanging is also costly, he said. He's curious whether the number of inquests on one method of death will inspire change. 'Certainly, I think the management at Stony Mountain would come under some scrutiny, in the end,' he said. Malak AbasReporter Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg's North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak. Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Two shot outside city hotel where evacuees are staying
Police are investigating after two males were shot Tuesday outside an Ellice Avenue hotel that is housing wildfire evacuees. Officers were sent to the 1800 block of Ellice Avenue, where two people were found with gunshot wounds, at 2:42 p.m. Police gave the males, ages 18 and 16, first aid before they were taken to hospital in unstable condition. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The Airport Motor Inn on Ellice Avenue. One remained in unstable condition Wednesday afternoon and was awaiting surgery, while the other has been upgraded to stable. The injuries are not considered life threatening. The shooting occurred near the Airport Motor Inn, the Free Press has confirmed. Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Cst. Stephen Spencer said the incident happened outside and on hotel property. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. He confirmed there are evacuees staying at the hotel but wouldn't say if the shooting victims were evacuees. Spencer said there are additional police units patrolling areas around evacuation centres and hotels where evacuees are staying. 'I know that there has been investigations specifically around the areas where evacuees are being housed because of reports of drug dealers targeting evacuees,' he said Wednesday. Last week, police charged two men who allegedly sold cocaine outside hotels where wildfire evacuees are staying, highlighting concerns that displaced Manitobans could be exploited or targeted. Police asked anyone who witnessed the shooting or has related video to call the major crimes unit at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477 (TIPS).
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Chris Rufo lays out reforms to Trump administration on how to 'save' higher education
Chris Rufo, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, laid out a series of reforms in a letter on Monday that he believes will help "save" higher education in the country as well as taxpayers' hard-earned dollars. Rufo published his reforms in the Free Press, in which he calls for President Donald Trump to create a new contract with universities. In the new contract, universities should be part of each payment, loan, grant, eligibility, and accreditation. Failure to comply could mean the termination of all public assistance programs, Rufo suggested. The letter states universities must "advance truth over ideology, with rigorous standards of academic conduct, controls for academic fraud, and merit-based decision-making throughout the enterprise." Signed by over 40 people, including educators, religious leaders, academics and authors, the letter asks universities to stop taking part in social and political activism and "adhere to the principle of color-blind equality, by abolishing DEI bureaucracies, disbanding racially segregated programs, and terminating race-based discrimination in admissions, hiring, promotions, and contracting." It calls for a return to the concept of freedom of speech, the protection of civil discourse and "swift and significant penalties" for anyone who disrupts speakers, vandalizes property, occupies buildings, calls for violence, or prevents the university from carrying outits operations. The list of reforms also includes a request that universities are transparent about their operations and, at the end of each year, disclose the full data on race, admissions, and class rank, as well as employment and financial returns by major, campus attitudes on civil discourse, ideology, and free speech. The call to action directed at the Trump administration comes just over a month after the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust held a hearing on June 4 entitled, "The Elite Universities Cartel: A History of Anticompetitive Collusion Inflating the Cost of Higher Education." It also comes as the Manhattan Institute released a poll on Sunday that found that only 15% of registered voters say they have a lot of trust in private Ivy League colleges and universities. Among America's public colleges and universities, just one in five or 20% of registered voters say they have a "great deal" of trust in these institutions, according to the Manhattan Institute poll.
