Working link now updated... 

How many hunters are there in the United States? The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service answered that question yesterday with the release of its 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, which reports there were 13.7 million last year, a recent record. You can view a copy here:

 http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/fhw11-nat.pdf 

From the bar stools to the stands to the outdoor rinks, reaction to news pucks will be dropping again at NHL rinks has been overwhelmingly positive.

Winnipeg hockey fans said they are pleased their favourite players will be playing for real in a matter of days...       ...The end of the NHL lockout couldn't have come soon enough for Winnipeg's downtown restaurant and bar operators.

"Finally, it's over," said Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Business Improvement Zone. "We're all looking forward to the crowds returning to the downtown."

Grande said he had heard anecdotally revenues were down 10 to 30 per cent for bars and restaurants within a five-minute walk of the MTS Centre.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-fans-welcome-nhl-back-185859882.html

Complete: With the announcement of the cities that will be served by new regional air service WestJet Encore expected on Jan. 21, Mayor Shari Decter Hirst and city officials remain cautiously optimistic about Brandon’s chances of landing the new service.

That being said, Decter Hirst said WestJet has done a good job keeping the expansion under wraps and even if Brandon isn’t included in the announcement, both she and the city will continue to work to bring air service to Brandon.

"We don’t know right now if Brandon is included in that announcement or not," Decter Hirst said. "There are about 50 different communities and airports all vying for seven planes in 2013."

In June, city officials flew to Calgary to make an elaborate pitch to WestJet executives in a bid to secure the new air service.

The creative pitch included identification tags with phrases linked to Brandon, postcards with Brandon landscape and streetscape scenes, fake boarding passes to Brandon in a WestJet envelope and a mockup of a WestJet airline magazine.

The magazine was loaded with advertisements from the Wheat City, stories about Brandon and even a mock contest advertising dinner with the mayor and a shopping spree. The crossword puzzle offered many clues, but all had the same answer: Brandon.

Decter Hirst said city officials left the meeting with WestJet feeling good, but she also understands the decision will ultimately be made based on dollars and cents.

"They are being driven by the business case and profitability," Decter Hirst said. "They will go to markets with the best return first. I can’t speak for the other 40-odd communities’ business cases, but I do know when they were here the planes had a very high load capacity, which means there is demand."

Brandon’s business case is strong, according to Decter Hirst. A case that includes everything from a healthy business community, to an expanding population, an unserviced market with a major Canadian Forces base, and a burgeoning oil sector.

"Time is money in the business world and in the oil sector it would be immeasurably helpful to have air service and it would also add to the bottom line of WestJet and various research development firms," Decter Hirst said. "(Getting air service) will open up so many more economic development opportunities for the city."

But it’s also more than that, Decter Hirst said, it’s that people expect local air service in cities these days in order to stay connected with friend and family around the world.

"It’s important for quality of life," Decter Hirst said.

http://www.brandonsun.com/local/city-remains-optimistic-as-westjet-announcement-nears-185864022.html

Air Canada (AC.B) says it hit record load factors for the month of December and for 2012 as a whole.

The Montreal-based airline says its load factor rose to 82.1 per cent last month while the full-year number was 82.7 per cent, up 1.1 points in each case.

Analysts monitor load factor as a measure of how much total fleet capacity is used by an airline to carry passengers.

Air Canada says it had a 3.2 per cent increase in passenger traffic last month over December 2011, with increases to U.S. destinations and on transatlantic routes.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/porter-airlines-passenger-traffic-grows-15-per-cent-last-year-over-2011-levels-185859612.html

OTTAWA - Contentious changes to employment insurance are now in effect.

Beginning Sunday, people on EI face stricter, more complex rules for keeping their benefits, with the goal of getting unemployed workers back into the workforce sooner....         ...The changes to the EI program were first spelled out in May and elaborate on what the government defines as searching for a suitable job.

A suitable search for a job must now include preparing resumes, registering for job banks, attending job fairs, applying for jobs and undergoing competency evaluations. A suitable job is defined by factors including commuting time, whether the hours are compatible with the claimant's life and wages....       ...The changes have been met with criticism from some politicians and union leaders.

The Atlantic premiers say the new rules could have a devastating effect on fishery, farming and tourism industries which are all seasonal jobs.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/contentious-changes-to-employment-insurance-come-into-effect-sunday-185808492.html

MONTREAL - After months of waiting and hoping, hockey fans reacted with a mix of emotions Sunday to news of a tentative agreement between the NHL and its players.

Many expressed excitement at the prospect of the season finally getting started, but for others a bitter taste remained. The lockout created a lot of grief for hardcore fans and a caused significant loss of revenue for certain small businesses. As news of the tentative deal emerged, some weren't sure if they wanted to welcome back the NHL with open arms— at least not right away....        ...Arun Srivastava, who runs a tourist boutique in Old Montreal filled with Habs T-shirts and sweaters, said sales dropped off considerably during the lockout.

"We depend on this business in winter time when there's not that many tourists," he said. "A lot of tour groups bring passionate hockey fans to watch the games over here."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/cheers-and-boos-hockey-fans-react-with-mixed-emotions-to-tentative-nhl-deal-185803122.html

Nova Scotians who rent out rooms to tourists using Airbnb and other websites may be breaking the law.

The provincial Tourist Accommodations Act lists a number of requirements, such as having a licence that starts at about $90 a year.

"In many cases, people don't know that the rules even exist," Patrick Sullivan, CEO of the Nova Scotia Tourism Agency, told CBC News.

Airbnb and VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) are popular sites with travellers looking for cheap accommodations and owners looking for extra income.

Listings run the gamut from posh private rooms to a night on a futon.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2013/01/02/ns-airbnb-novascotia.html

WARSAW, Poland - The Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site in southern Poland registered 1.43 million visitors last year, a record number in its 65-year history as a place of Holocaust remembrance, officials said Friday.

For several years now, the grounds of the former Nazi death camp have registered record numbers of visitors. In 2011, there were 1.4 million visitors from across the world, triple the number of a decade before.

In a statement announcing the new figure, director Piotr Cywinski said that in the last decade Auschwitz has become a "fundamental memorial" for all of Europe.

A massive rise in visitors came after Poland joined the European Union in 2004, a development that encouraged many people from across Europe to travel to Poland, and which opened up new air travel connections to the nearby city of Krakow.

Complete: BERLIN - The opening of Berlin's new airport may be postponed for a fourth time — the latest delay in a project that has turned into a major embarrassment for German officials.

The Willy Brandt airport was originally slated to open in 2011. After two delays last year, it was supposed to open on Oct. 27, 2013. But Transport Ministry spokesman Sebastian Rudolph said Monday that officials were told last week airport managers see new "major" problems. He didn't elaborate.

Germany's Bild newspaper, citing internal documents, reported that the airport won't be able to open before 2014 at the earliest.

The airport project has been blighted by technical and planning problems, in particular with its fire safety system.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/opening-of-berlins-new-airport-looks-set-for-new-delay-deepening-fiasco-185854222.html

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Spaceport America officials are urging legislators to limit potential lawsuits from wealthy outer space tourists who take off from New Mexico, saying such a bill is crucial to the future of the project.

Legal experts, however, say there is no way to know whether the so-called informed consent laws will offer any protection to spacecraft operators and suppliers in the event something goes wrong.

"Since this has never happened yet, we have no precedent," said Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz, director of the space law program at the University of Mississippi.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/spaceport-wants-protections-from-tourist-lawsuits-effectiveness-of-such-a-bill-uncertain-185874692.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Jan.  '72)

The provincial cabinet has authorized the Manitoba centennial corporation to pay an additional $500,000 grant to "the Winnipeg Art Gallery. The approval was made by order-in-council, passed at Wednesday's cabinet meeting. The centennial corporation has already made a total of §1.25 million in grants to the art centre. At the same time, the cabinet approved a $500,000 grant to be paid by the centennial corporation to finance the St. Boniface Cultural Centre. The money, which is to bear interest at five per cent and is repayable on terms yet to be decided on by the cabinet, is to come from the reserves for War and Post-war Emergency fund, which is sometimes used to finance projects that were not approved in government estimates. Last year, the government used the fund to finance a winter employment program. The cabinet also approved three special warrants at its Wednesday meeting — $90,000 for cultural development, $150,000 for additional unemployment insurance contributions for the civil service since the change in federal legislation requiring everyone to participate, and $150,000 for tourist promotion.