News Headlines

Date Updated 05/15/2012 5:23 pm

Tuesday May 15th, 2012

Manitoba-Spring-Seeding

Most farmers in Manitoba now have the upper hand on spring seeding. Manitoba Agriculture says seeding for cereal crops are 65 to 70 per cent completed in the southwest. About 95 per cent of wheat crops have been seeded in the northwest, with one quarter of them already starting to emerge. Bad news in the central region — there have been reports of canola being sheared off by high winds. In the east, hay and pasture conditions range from fair to poor because of slow growth.

Dauphin Fire

Sunday afternoon, both the Dauphin and Sifton fire Departments were called out to the scene of a large field fire just outside of Dauphin. Fire Cheif Cam Abrey says they were battling the blaze for about 12 hours. No individuals were injured and no buildings were damaged. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. If you have any information on this incident you are asked to contact the Dauphin RCMP office or the Dauphin Fire Department at 622-3100

Report-Drunk-Drivers

A campaign to encourage Manitobans to report drunk drivers is expanding. MADD Canada’s Report Impaired Drivers program was launched in Portage la Prairie yesterday. It uses billboards and other advertising to tell people to phone 9-1-1 if they suspect someone of driving drunk. The campaign has previously been implemented in Brandon

Manitoba-Wildfires

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger says there’s no front line for the fires burning in the province’s southeast. Selinger took an aerial tour of the fire zone late yesterday he says he got the feeling there were a hundred little fires spread all over the place. The main fire of concern is a 50-square-kilometre blaze near Badger, about 30 kilometres north of the U-S border. Firefighting efforts are focused on protecting Badger where more than a dozen people have had to leave their homes

Sask-Planes-Collide

A witness to Saturday’s mid-air crash of two small planes n Saskatchewan says she saw one of the planes nosedive before it disappeared behind hills and trees. Five people were killed in the crash near St. Brieux. Jackie Mark says she heard a noise so loud, she ran to her window and saw the plane go down. She says she didn’t see the second plane involved in the accident.

MB Museum

An Alberta hotel chain has pulled the plug on a controversial water park that was to be built next to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. Canalta Hotels informed Winnipeg city council in a letter that the plan would be too expensive, and that it was also concerned about recent negative publicity. Last week, the man who designed the museum said the plan could trivialize the culture and rich historic past of The Forks. City councillor Justin Swandel says he believes it would have been possible to build a water park that was respectful of the area.

Bailey-Charged

The former fastest man on the planet is accused of impaired driving in Toronto. Forty-four-year-old Donovan Bailey is charged with driving with a blood-alcohol evel of point-0-8. The five-time world and Olympic champion sprinter and Canadian Sports Hall of Fame inductee was stopped by police in Toronto on March 28th and given a breathalyzer test. The Toronto Star reports Bailey was not at yesterday’s first court appearance on the charge because he was in Jamaica promoting the London Olympics ahead of his T-V commentating gig for the games’ Canadian media consortium. The case has been put over to June 11th for a pre-trial conference

Read all about it below!

Kings Kaptain Kotyk Kommits ALSO… Another King Gau-ing To College

News Headlines

Date Updated 05/14/2012 7:16 pm

Monday May 14th, 2012

Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra

Band students at the D-R-C-S-S are going to get an opportunity to learn from professional musicians. The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra will be holding a concert at the school and rehearsing with the school band. Taylor Schmidt, The band director, is happy to bring this band to his students. The evening concert is on May 16. Tickets are only 8 dollars, and can be picked up from Taylor Schmidt at the D-R-C-S-S, the Dauphin Herald, and Sawyer Insurance.

Education-Kits

Aboriginal youth are the fastest growing demographic in Manitoba, but half of the kids in First Nation communities drop out of school. Later this month, tool kits to help kids from reserves learn hands-on about their heritage so they’ll want to be in class are being delivered to several northern schools. Bull roarers, medicine baskets, residential school relics, photos, stories and other artifacts are part of the Manitoba Museum program. Vanda Fleury spent 16 months working with northern schools and elders to come up with 12 kits for middle and high school students.

New EDO

The Town of Roblin, and the R-M of Shell River have a new economic development officer. The search for an ideal candidate has been going on since last March. Ben Brodeur is originally from Winnipeg but has adopted a rural mindset over the years, and beleives the Parkland is the best place for recreational activities. Brodeur is excited about meeting with local organizations and residents. He begins his new job on Tuesday.

Flin-Flon-Homicide

R-C-M-P say a 31-year-old man in Flin Flon was murdered. Police say John Kellighan Eyres of Flin Flon was a victim of an apparent stabbing at a residence in the community early Saturday. Mounties say Eyres died in hospital. Twenty-five year-old Mitchell Whitbread of Flin Flon has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder and will appear in provincial court in The Pas today.

Sask-Planes-Collide

Investigators with the Transportation Safety Board face a difficult task as they try to figure out why two small planes collided in mid-air in Saskatchewan. Three men, a woman and an 11-year-old boy were killed in the tragedy on Saturday. The board’s regional manager says it’s extremely rare for two planes to collide, especially on the Prairies where air traffic is spread out. Peter Hildebrand says there was no radar image of the crash, and it’s not yet known if either plane had a flight data recorder.

CRIME-Bus-Beheading

Vince Li’s conditions are up for review again and the Criminal Code Review Board is expected to hear psychiatric testimony about whether his schizophrenia is improving. Li was found not criminally responsible for stabbing and decapitating Tim McLean in July 2008 on a Greyhound bus near Portage la Prairie. A review board may be asked today to grant Li more freedom at the mental hospital in Selkirk. The review board decided last year that Li could take walks of up to several hours on the mental hospital grounds in Selkirk

News Headlines

Date Updated 05/11/2012 5:34 pm

Friday May 11, 2012

 Fire Licenses

 A private members bill to create specialty licenses for Manitoba Firefighters is going forward. The government announced yesterday  the license plates will be made available to ALL firefighters in Manitoba. Opposition member Ralph Eichler originally proposed the bill in order to recognize the work that firefighters do. No word yet on when the special license plates will be made available. In 2004, Eichler also successfully introduced the “Poppy Plate” to recognize veterans in Manitoba.

Farms Down

New census numbers from Statistics Canada show the number of Canadian farms is continuing to shrink. The 2011 census of agriculture shows the number of farms in the country has dropped by about 23,000, or 10.3 per cent, since 2006. The agency says farmers are consolidating their operations, leading to a nearly seven per cent spike in the size of the average farm. The data also suggests Canada’s farmers are re-evaluating the types of crops they produce. Oilseed and grain farms now account for 30 per cent of all farms, compared with 26.9 per cent in 2006, while beef farms fell to 18.2 per cent from 26.3 per cent.

Brandon Casino

The debate over a casino has been reignited in Brandon. Mayor Sheri Decter Hirst announced yesterday that the city has struck a partnership with Tribal Councils Investment Group of Manitoba to explore a possible casino. The mayor says the next step is to explore the business case potential and gather support from the aboriginal community. Tribal Council’s C-E-O Allan McCloud says there is still a lot of work to be done. Decter Hirst acknowledges there have been plebiscites in the past where the idea of a casino was flatly rejected. She says there will be no plebiscite this time, but there will be plenty of public information on the process.

Shoal Lake Football

The Department of Education has approved a new football program for Shoal Lake School. The program could be the first of its kind in Canada. The football fundamentals 21G course will rely heavily on guest coaches and instructors to help develop a program that will attract young athletes. Stephen David, superintendent of the Park West School Division says the division is excited about expanding on an already popular football program. The ultimate goal is to build good athletes, good citizens, and winners in life. The course will be supported by Football Manitoba.

Doer Painting

A portrait of a former Manitoba premier who won solid majorities in three straight elections has been unveiled at the legislature. The picture of Gary Doer will hang in a committee room where portraits of other former premiers are hung. It depicts the man who is now Canada’s ambassador to the U-S standing in front of the legislature rotunda wearing a navy-blue suit and tie. Doer was on hand for yesterdays unveiling and joked about a chipped tooth from a hockey injury not being visible in the painting.

No More Freebies

The Manitoba government now has a ticket policy that prevents cabinet ministers and Crown corporation executives from getting free Jets tickets. Finance Minister Stan Struthers outlined the new policy in a memo to MLAs yesterday. The move comes several days after complaints over free Jets and Blue Bombers tickets going to cabinet members and top officials from provincial Crown corporations. The ministers have since reimbursed the corporations that gave them the tickets. According to the policy, Cabinet ministers, Crown corporation board directors and executives can still accept complimentary tickets to events such as Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Folklorama.

Flood Rally

Flood evacuees from Manitoba First Nations held a rally outside the provincial legislature. More than 100 people, including evacuees, chiefs and supporters, attended the rally on the steps of the legislature yesterday. Roughly 2,400 First Nation members had to leave their homes in May 2011, when serious flooding damaged their reserves. The evacuees at Thursday’s rally directed their anger at the provincial and federal governments, with many demanding to know if they will be given land elsewhere to rebuild their communities. No one from the NDP government came outside the legislature building to speak at the rally, which was organized by the Southern Chiefs Organization.