The Selinger government is days away from announcing a provincewide review of speed limits on Manitoba's roadways.

Infrastructure and Highways Minister Steve Ashton said Wednesday the goal of the review is to devise more consistent standards of how speed limits are set on Manitoba's highways and streets, including in Winnipeg and Brandon.

That includes addressing the "patchwork-quilt" application of speed limits by municipalities and taking into account newer, better-designed roadways that can handle higher speeds.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/review-of-speed-limits-planned-191171131.html

Winnipeg motorists could be seeing more parking tickets on their windshields, as the city wants to make $200,000 more in parking enforcement money this year.

The City of Winnipeg's revenue from parking fines has climbed by 25 per cent since 2009, when it was $6.2 million.

This year, the city is projecting $8.3 million in parking enforcement revenue, about $200,000 more than it made in 2012...   ...Suzanne Bagnall, who works downtown, said she is terrified of parking there because she has found the dreaded yellow envelope under her windshield wiper five times in the past two years.

"It's a money grab," she said.

"They want people to come downtown and make it more of a tourist attraction. No one wants to."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/02/13/mb-parking-tickets-revenue-winnipeg.html

Yellowknife, NWT - Is it worth subsidizing some of the business costs in order to get Greyhound bus service back on the road between Hay River and Northern Alberta?

That was one of the topics brought up Wednesday afternoon during question period at the NWT Legislative Assembly.

Hay River North MLA Robert Bouchard wants to know what, if anything the GNWT is doing to get Greyhound bus service back to the NWT.

Minister David Ramsay, who is in charge of both tourism and transportation, points out that Manitoba spends almost $4 million a year to subsidize Greyhound for bus routes to be maintained in rural, northern parts of that province.

http://hqyellowknife.com/news/local/news/v/Local/140185/Greyhound-Bus-Services-Front-And-Centre-At-Legislative-Assembly

DALLAS - American Airlines and US Airways say they have agreed to merge in an $11 billion deal that would create the world's biggest airline.

The combined carrier will be called American Airlines but be run by US Airways CEO Doug Parker.

The boards of the two airlines unanimously approved the deal late Wednesday, and the companies announced the agreement Thursday.

The merger would reduce the number of major U.S. airlines to four: the new American, United, Delta and Southwest.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/ap-sources-american-airlines-and-us-airways-agree-to-merge-and-create-worlds-biggest-airline-191126621.html

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The number of people travelling to the Caribbean is bouncing back to pre-recession levels, with visitors from Canada and the U.S. giving a boost to a region struggling to recover from a global economic crisis, a top tourism official said Wednesday.

About 25 million tourists visited the Caribbean last year, a more than 5 per cent increase from 2011. It's a growth rate that outpaced the rest of the world, which saw arrivals increase by 4 per cent, said Beverly Nicholson-Doty, chairwoman of the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization.

"All the signs suggest Caribbean tourism is rallying," said Nicholson-Doty. "The region as a whole has regained ground lost in the heat of the global economic depression."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/report-caribbean-tourism-rebounding-to-pre-financial-crisis-levels-191069111.html

NEW YORK, N.Y. - A new player is coming to the city's street scene this summer: everyday New Yorkers.

Sing for Hope Pianos will take 88 rehabbed pianos, ask artists and school children to customize each with crazy colours and designs and then plant them throughout New York City's streets and parks and let anyone — and everyone — plink their ivory keys.

The two-week festival first debuted in 2010. It returned the following year under the name Pop-Up Pianos but took a backseat last year due to lack of funding. It's making a comeback through a major donation from the New York-based Greek yogurt company Chobani.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/come-tickle-the-ivories-pianos-returning-to-nyc-parks-streets-and-public-spaces-this-summer-191014561.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Feb.  '47)

Requesting that the proposed tourist highway between Winnipeg and the international boundary line be run along the east side of the Red River, a surprise 25-man delegation came before Hon. Errick F. Willis, minister of public works, Wednesday. The delegation, headed by Sherman Daniels, of Crookston, vice president of Highway association No. 75, urged that the highway should be built on the east side o] the river for the convenience of Minnesota traffic. According to their claims, approximately 75 per cent of the tourist traffic from the United States came over Highway No. 75 east of Emerson. Delegates maintained also that the road east of the river was shorter, safer, and had no railway crossings. In reply, Mr. Willis said that irrespective of whether the high way was finally built on the east or the west side of the river, it would run into Emerson and meet Highway No. 75 there. This, he felt, would adequately take care of the traffic in either case.