A Steinbach woman involved in a single-vehicle crash on June 14, 2024 was given a four-month conditional sentence, a two-year driving prohibition and $3,500 fine for “a series of bad decisions” at a court date on June 19.

Miriam Stoll, who is pregnant with her next child, appeared before Judge Stacey Cawley to receive the sentence for her guilty plea. Stoll, who was supported by her pastor and several members of her prayer group was visibly distraught and expressed her deep shame and remorse to the court for her actions.

The single-vehicle crash occurred as Stoll was travelling northbound on Highway 12, at speeds the police estimate to have been between 134 and 154 km/h, when her infant daughter began to fuss in the back seat and she lost control of the vehicle as she tried to comfort the child while she drove.

The crash, which had multiple witnesses, sent Stoll and her vehicle into the right-hand ditch and then rolled the vehicle back over the highway and into the left-hand ditch, coming to a stop on the vehicle’s roof. Bystanders recovered the infant found lying on the interior ceiling and cut Stoll from the smouldering wreckage.

The more time you spend on social media, the angrier everyone seems. No matter which platform you use, people appear to be in a state of perpetual outrage.

Whether it’s personal attacks made against politicians, criticisms of long-established businesses, or drive-by smears against churches, there’s no shortage of negativity online. If this truly reflected how most people felt about those around them, it would be a depressing state of affairs indeed.

Perhaps this is why people who spend most of their time on social media are more likely to be depressed than those who don’t.

Fortunately, the real world is quite different from social media. I was reminded of this fact when hanging out at Summer in the City this past weekend.

Opponents of an Ile des Chenes AI date centre were elated at the start of June when plans for the facility in their community were shelved. Concerns over noise, energy needs and water consumption were all factors for people living in the area to be squarely against the proposal.

But the battle against such facilities may be far from over.

Local activist Christie Little said she knows there’s more to do.

“I was elated when the project here got squashed, but I’m not naive. This isn’t over. We need governments and regulators to seriously reconsider what they’re doing. We can’t have these things in Manitoba. We need to be smart about this,” she said.

At first blush the decision by Hanover School Division to pass a policy that would see parents exercise their control over their children’s health and counselling in school, despite them being of mature minor status, seems like a positive.

It’s also being applauded by many who see any relinquishment of control of their child as a takeover by somebody else.

Unfortunately, those in favour of the decision and the trustees themselves have entirely missed the point.

Mature minor designation is commonly applied to those 16 and over and is meant to apply to someone who has the mental capacity to make their own decisions.

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

-John Keats

Have you heard the following statement? ‘All truth is God’s truth’. How about this? ‘All beauty is God’s beauty’. And finally, what about further yet the idea that ‘beauty is truth’? This concept that “beauty is truth” points out how aesthetic qualities like elegance, symmetry, and simplicity can be indicators of fundamental reality and truth. This guiding principle can be found in diverse groups like philosophy, physics, and literature. Physicists and mathematicians often argue that if a mathematical equation or physical theory is beautiful, elegant, and simple, it is likely to be true. Albert Einstein famously stated that the only physical theories he was willing to accept were the “beautiful ones”.