For one special day, seven-year-old twins Tyson and Christopher MacIsaac forgot about autism and spent a day having fun at Disney World in Florida.

And it was all thanks to Dreams Take Flight and the Air Canada employees who run the charity on their own time....        ...Sharon Zayac, a local Dreams Take Flight organizer and an employee in Air Canada's sales accounting office in downtown Winnipeg, said all the Air Canada employees who participate in the event use their own holiday time.

"Everybody is a volunteer," Zayac said.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/a-day-when-cares--fly-away-188471131.html

After Manitoba’s Speech from the Throne in November 19, 2012, amalgamation talks are now underway with Manitoba communities with a population base of under 1,000 residents. Amalgamation is voluntary for the time being, however will become mandatory within a year’s time.

In 1997, the Government of Manitoba decided that a threshold of 1,000 residents was necessary in order to be considered a municipality. There are currently 92 Manitoba communities that do not meet the necessary 1,000-person threshold, including the town of Riverton in the R.M. of Bifrost.

“There’s a lot of reasons why we need to do this. First, in terms of the building of critical mass and the ability of the community and the tax base within the community to sustain the operations and maintenance within the community," explained Peter Bjornson, MLA for Gimli.

He outlined the community's potential new ability to pool their resources in terms of economic community development and discussed looking at a more coordinated approach to emergency measures.

http://www.interlaketoday.ca/2013/01/26/amalgamation-inevitable-for-small-communities

ASESSIPPI -- My daughter has left her wheelchair behind and is lashed to a sit-ski sled flying down a ski run at the Asessippi Ski Area and Resort.

Me? I'm at the top of my old nemesis, which this resort affectionately calls the bunny hill.

But like a rabbit's fur turning colour with the changing seasons, my old nemesis has changed from last winter, when I pulled on ski boots for the first time and snapped them into bindings on my newly rented skis.

Turns out the bunny hill is now even easier to master your first carving turns and stops. Gone is the somewhat steeper slope at the top, which took awhile longer to master. Now it's a gradual slope all the way down, making it not only easier for a ski virgin to learn some moves, but also for those who hop on a snowboard for the first time.

It's not the only change made to this resort during the summer months.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/an-asessippi-slide-is-a-super-ride-188470851.html

TORONTO - Porter Airlines has reached a third interline agreement, this one with Singapore Airlines.

The agreement covers passengers travelling between Toronto's Billy Bishop airport and Singapore's Changi airport.

The two airlines have agreed to ease passenger transfers between connecting flights at the New York City area's Liberty International airport in Newark, N.J.

Currently there is one connecting flight in each direction daily.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/singapore-airlines-to-co-operate-with-canadian-regional-carrier-porter-airlines-188651461.html

HONOLULU, Hawaii - A recovering global economy, strong yen, stable oil prices, more flights and marketing campaigns helped bring a record number of tourists to Hawaii last year, the Hawaii Tourism Authority said Thursday.

Nearly 8 million travellers — 7,998,815, to be exact — visited the islands in 2012. That's an increase of nearly 10 per cent over the previous year. It also breaks the previous record of 7.6 million visitors marked in 2006, before the financial crisis and recession encouraged travellers to stay home.

Mike McCartney, CEO of the tourism agency, said his organization focuses on encouraging airlines to launch new nonstop routes to the islands. Hawaiian Airlines started direct flights from Honolulu to New York City and the Japanese cities of Fukuoka and Sapporo in 2012. United Airlines launched a nonstop flight to Dulles airport outside Washington, D.C.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/record-numbers-of-tourists-come-to-hawaii-in-2012-spend-record-amounts-of-money-188354211.html

A tourist has been stranded in an airport for more than two months in a real-life tale that has echoes of Tom Hanks' smash-hit movie The Terminal.

Spaniard Rodrigo Ben-Azul has become a familiar sight at Santiago Airport, in the capital of Chile, ever since he ran out of money.

He told newspaper PubliMetro that he arrived in the South American country in November to 'resolve a dispute' with family members that lived there.

But, after failing to work out the issue, he returned to the terminal and has spent the last eight weeks - including over Christmas and New Year - waiting for relatives in Spain to send him money for his return flight.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2269437/Tourist-stranded-Santiago-Airport-EIGHT-WEEKS-real-life-version-Tom-Hanks-movie-The-Terminal.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Jan.  '64)

Manitoba's official highway map for 1964 has been released for distribution. The map — prepared by the department of public works and the tourist development branch of the department of industry and commerce— presents practical information in concise form.

In addition to a complete map of the province and cut-out maps of Metro Winnipeg and Brandon, all government camp and picnic sites along the 6,000 mile trunk highway and provincial road system are shown. The reverse side of the map features an index to all cities, towns and villages in the province. The index also indicates the 73 centres in Manitoba in which hospitals are located.