Police are clearing "Freedom Convoy" protesters from the Ambassador Bridge

Plus, getting international nurses to work, limiting alcohol in the North, and the joy of old love letters [The Star] First Up [By Allan Woods] By Allan Woods Good morning. Valentine’s Day is Monday, so here’s hoping your love life stays hot and your ice stays cold — at least until Canada competes for the gold medal in that most unfortunately named Olympic sport, the monobob. Here’s the latest. MUST READS Canadian Press/Nathan Denette blockades [Police have moved in to arrest protesters at the Ambassador Bridge]( Police moved in this morning to arrest protesters and tow vehicles blocking access to Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge following Ontario’s state-of-emergency declaration. [Police in Ottawa, however, say they’re waiting for sufficient backup]( before moving in on the so-called “Freedom Convoy.” Meanwhile, the federal government was briefed on RCMP efforts to secure other border crossings and warned that protesters would face increasingly severe penalties for breaking the law. [Here is the latest from Star reporters across the province](. Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images beijing 2022 [Kaillie Humphries is the first-day leader in the Kaillie Humphries event]( The Star’s Bruce Arthur gives us the sometimes slippery, sometimes bumpy, occasionally out of control story of a former Canadian Olympian Kaillie Humphries — now repping the U.S. — and the sport she fought to create: the monobob. On the eve of Humphries’ shot at securing the first ever gold medal in the bobsleigh event, Bruce has the [wild story of her dramatic defection from Bobsleigh Canada](. Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images health care [An initiative is opening doors for hundreds of Ontario’s internationally-educated nurses]( Trained nurses from across the world come to Canada expecting they will be able to work in their profession, only to find they fall short of the provincial requirements. The Star’s Patty Winsa reports on a new program addressing the nursing shortage by offering paid clinical placements to internationally educated nurses working toward obtaining their Canadian credentials. [Read more about the program and its implications for health care in Ontario](. Steve Russell/The Star climate [Unpredictable winters are threatening Toronto’s outdoor rinks]( In troubling news for environmentalists and hockey lovers alike, the great Canadian tradition of winter days spent on outdoor hockey rink appears to be melting away. Since the 1980s, when natural rinks remained frozen from Christmas through to March break, Toronto has lost a third of its outdoor skating days, and another 25 per cent will be lost in the next 40 years. [Emily Waugh reports from the slushy frontlines of a distinctly Canadian tradition](. Supplied Photo the north [Will limiting alcohol make a difference in this small Nunavut town?]( In an effort to get a handle on the addiction and mental health crisis so rampant in isolated Arctic communities, Kugluktuk is preparing to vote on whether to ban alcohol. Among other tragedies, it was the death by suicide of a promising young man, Joe Milukshuk, that prompted the small hamlet to consider prohibition — a step already taken by many Nunavut communities with varying results. [Katharine Lake Berz explores the tragic dilemma facing northern communities](. UP CLOSE Nick Kozak/The Star The artists may have moved on from their College and Spadina enclave, but Gwartzman’s Art Supplies remains. More than eight decades after it opened its doors as a fabric store, the family-run shop is going strong. David Silverberg caught up with Jacklyn Gwartzman — granddaughter of founders Bella and Morris — about [what keeps her family business going](. love THIS Rick Madonik/The Star It took a breakup in Germany for Christine Estima to discover her passion: love letters. Since buying her first notes for a single, lonesome euro in a Brussels flea market, she has since amassed a collection of 200, drawn to their poetry, tragedy and intensity of emotions. “When this ruddy war is over, if you haven’t changed your mind, I’m going to do everything in my power to see that you are happy,” reads a 1942 letter from a pilot to his love back in Toronto. “I can’t promise you all fun and no worries — but I can and do promise that I shall be faithful to you forever.” [Read more about Estima’s attraction to the romantic power of the pen](. Thanks for reading. You can reach the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_105894), and Lex will see you back here Monday. [The Star]( If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below. [Unsubscribe From This Newsletter]( [Sign Up for More Newsletters and Email Alerts]( [Become a Star Subscriber]( [View in Browser]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON M5E 1E6. 416-367-2000 [PRIVACY POLICY](