Provincial program aims to revitalize neighbourhoods

BRANDON — The Building Sustainable Communities initiative introduced by the previous provincial government is being replaced by a new $12.5-million community funding program.

“This new initiative will bring municipalities and community organizations on board to tackle root causes of poverty and exclusion and will engage kids in meaningful activities,” Municipal Minister Ian Bushie said in a Monday news conference at the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation building.

“By keeping youth engaged in positive recreation through well-funded programs, we can have a huge impact that keeps them out of a lifestyle of drugs and gangs,” Bushie said.

The minister said the program is intended to become permanent.

Panthers outshine Lightning 6-1, advance to second round

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Aleksander Barkov remembers the disappointment of years past.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had eliminated his Florida Panthers from the NHL playoffs in each of their previous three meetings, and if the Panthers wanted to cement themselves as one of the NHL's best, this year's result needed to be different.

“At some point you knew you were going to have them again," Barkov said, "and you've got to be able to get over that hump, and we did it this year.”

Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe each had two goals and an assist to go along with 31 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, and the Panthers beat the Lightning 6-1 in Game 5 on Monday night to clinch their first-round series and advance in the NHL playoffs.

Interim commissioner Duheme to head RCMP permanently

OTTAWA – Mike Duheme is the new head of the RCMP, after filling in the role on an interim basis for the past year. Duheme was named interim commissioner in March 2023 following the retirement of Brenda Lucki. The Prime Minister’s Office says in a press release Duheme’s permanent appointment will bring stability to the national police force. RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme waits to appear before the House of Commons Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics committee, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld The PMO says Duheme has been working to advance the RCMP’s modernization goals. […]

Councillor pushing for demolition of vacant buildings

Another city councillor is hoping to put pressure on the city to both demolish and clean up vacant buildings destroyed by fire, at the expense of the property owner.

St. James councillor Shawn Dobson will bring forward a motion at Friday’s Assiniboia community committee meeting asking the standing policy committee on property and development to request a public service report on how the city could perform both demolitions and cleanups at sites immediately after fires, with the bill going to the owner of the property through municipal taxes.

“We’ve got to keep pushing. It has to happen. We cannot accept piles of rubble everywhere, we have to be able to clean up right away,” he said Monday.

A similar motion was put forward by Coun. Cindy Gilroy last April, but a city staff report released in September found that while the city has the power to clean debris and charge owners for doing it, the practice could be cost-prohibitive.

Developer asks city to change street name honouring former educator

Six months after it was named, the developer of a new Waverley West neighbourhood is asking the city to consider changing the name of Sheryl McCorrister Way, a street named for the former principal of a First Nations school in south Winnipeg who is being sued for allegedly giving herself thousands of dollars in multiple unapproved raises.

Developer Qualico Communities is suggesting that Sheryl McCorrister Way be renamed to Rangeview Way, but its formal request, which will be discussed at Friday’s Assiniboia Community Committee meeting, does not mention McCorrister’s legal troubles, and instead suggests that the new name would be “part of the theme and brand” of the development, named Bison Run.

Southeast Collegiate filed a lawsuit in November claiming its former principal, along with another administrator, director of operations and human resources Marlene Waterston, took a total of $283,510 in salary increases between 2018 and 2022 that weren’t approved by the school’s board of directors.

Both McCorrister and Waterston filed a statement of defence in January calling for a dismissal of the claim.

Education minister’s next stop Steinbach after trustee complaints

Manitoba’s education minister says the Public Schools Act is working exactly as its supposed to, despite mounting complaints regarding school trustees.

For the second time in a week, Education Minister Nello Altomare is set to meet with a rural school division after complaints about its board of trustees.

A letter from concerned parents calls for the removal of six of the nine-person Hanover School Division board of trustees in Steinbach, including its chair and vice chair.

“We want to work with school boards,” Altomare said Monday. “We’re here to support them. I do want to work with this board … ensuring that they’re creating safe, inclusive spaces for their kids.”

Bill creating new oversight body to track reconciliation efforts poised to become law

OTTAWA – Legislation to create a new oversight body tracking Canada’s reconciliation efforts has passed a final vote in Parliament. The House of Commons unanimously agreed to adopt a final version of the bill as amended by the Senate. The soon-to-be-enshrined law would create a council of 13 directors to oversee Ottawa’s progress towards reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Matsqui drummer and singer Ron Francis-Modeste, left to right, and Melissa Epp, perform a song as Chief of the Matsqui Nation, Alice McKay, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Gary Anandasangaree, Councillor of the Matsqui Nation Brenda Lynn Morgan, and Aboriginal Affairs of the […]

A horse-shaped nebula gets its close-up in new photos by NASA’s Webb telescope

DALLAS (AP) — NASA’s Webb Space Telescope has revealed the sharpest images yet of a portion of a horse-shaped nebula, showing the “mane” in finer detail. The Horsehead Nebula, in the constellation Orion, is 1,300 light-years away. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers). Discovered over a century ago, its nickname derives from its striking appearance — a wispy pillar of gas and dust that resembles a horse rearing its head. This image of the Horsehead Nebula from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope focuses on a portion of the horse's "mane." It was taken with Webb's MIRI […]

Murder suspect arrested in Saskatoon

A man wanted for second-degree murder after a slaying in a Main Street apartment suite was arrested in Saskatoon.

Dyson Irvin Sumner, 28, was arrested April 20 with the help of the Saskatoon Police Service. Winnipeg police asked for the public’s help in finding Sumner on March 26 in connection with the killing of Murdo Baker, 24.

Baker, originally from South Indian Lake, was living in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg police, who had not previously said how Baker was killed, said Monday that he was fatally shot. They also said Baker and Sumner were socializing with a group of people at the suite at the public housing complex at 817 Main St. on March 19 when an altercation and shooting took place at about 9:15 a.m.