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Man, 29, in critical condition after being hit by train

Free Press staff 1 minute read Updated: 11:06 AM CDT

A 29-year-old man was taken to hospital in critical condition after he was hit by a freight train Friday.

The Winnipeg Police Service said Saturday morning that an initial investigation indicates the man was walking along the tracks near Peguis Street and Concordia Avenue East when he was struck by a westbound train at about 4:55 p.m.

Police spokesperson Const. Jason Michalyshen said the man was in critical condition with “serious upper body injuries” as of Friday evening, but he did not have an update on his condition Saturday.

The man was alone, and police are unsure why he was on the tracks, Michalyshen said.

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Sharp drop in publicly funded physio assessments

Malak Abas 5 minute read Preview

Sharp drop in publicly funded physio assessments

Malak Abas 5 minute read 11:34 AM CDT

Publicly funded physiotherapist assessments in Winnipeg have dropped more than 85 per cent since cost-cutting consolidated outpatient services to one hospital department, from eight, in 2017.

A report by the University of Manitoba found there were 18,261 physio assessments from January 2016 to shortly before the change in November 2017. There were only 6,715 assessments from December 2017 to December 2022.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority moved adult outpatient physiotherapy and occupational therapy out of public practice to the private sector in 2017, leaving only one clinic, in the Health Sciences Centre, public.

At the time, it was labelled as an effort to save money; it was unclear how access to service would be affected. It was done a year after the Progressive Conservatives were elected on a campaign to reduce the provincial deficit, which was driven by burgeoning health-care costs.

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11:34 AM CDT

Reservations at fancy Winnipeg restaurants may require advance credit card info

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Preview

Reservations at fancy Winnipeg restaurants may require advance credit card info

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Yesterday at 5:54 PM CDT

At some local eateries, a reservation now requires a credit card.

Take one of the Fairmont Winnipeg’s fine-dining experiences: customers wanting to watch an animated chef projected on their tables “cook” — and eat a corresponding meal — must pay a $20 security deposit.

“The show won’t be nice if the room is empty,” noted Mikhael Almari, Fairmont Winnipeg’s food and beverage director.

The special dinner — which is called “Le petit chef” — is an outlier among the Fairmont Winnipeg’s food offerings. Normally, the hotel doesn’t ask for payment pre-restaurant visit.

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Yesterday at 5:54 PM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
The Fairmont, which is celebrating its 50-year anniversary celebrations, in Winnipeg on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. For Eva Wasney story. Winnipeg Free Press 2021.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A view of downtown Winnipeg from the roof of 7 Evergreen Place. 240202 - Friday, February 02, 2024.

City seeks return of 1980s Core Area Initiative

New plan outlines bold vision for beleaguered downtown

Kevin Rollason 6 minute read Yesterday at 7:27 PM CDT

Mike Sudoma / Free Press
A cycling advocate holds up a sign criticizing unsafe streets during a sit-in to mark a fatal vehicle-cyclist collision Thursday.

Angry cyclists shut down scene of fatal collision

Erik Pindera 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:10 PM CDT

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Ray St. Germain and his wife Glory pose for a photo with musicians Al Simmons (left) and Fred Penner (right) during the honorary renaming of St. Michael Road in St. Vital.

Pride of place

Ray St. Germain’s childhood street renamed in Manitoba musician’s honour

Ben Waldman 6 minute read Yesterday at 6:39 PM CDT

Opinion

There are ways to reduce recidivism; more time behind bars isn’t among them Dan Lett 5 minute read Yesterday at 3:31 PM CDT
Bylaw allows city to seize derelict properties — but it refuses Tom Brodbeck 5 minute read Yesterday at 3:10 PM CDT
Every viewing habit offers its own kind of pleasure Alison Gillmor 6 minute read Yesterday at 2:05 PM CDT

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Four-month-old project targeting troubled youth cut violent crime, police say

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

Four-month-old project targeting troubled youth cut violent crime, police say

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 12:14 PM CDT

The Winnipeg Police Service says a new project has triggered a sharp decrease in arrests among specific youths who were repeatedly involved in violent crime.

The ongoing Project Surge will attempt to secure social supports to set them on a different path.

The effort, which began March 7, was a response to an escalation in random acts of violence committed by young offenders.

“The results of the project are significant,” WPS Supt. Dave Dalal told a Winnipeg Police Board meeting Friday. “Our focused attention has resulted in a 50 per cent decrease in these youth being involved in violent crime since we started.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 12:14 PM CDT

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Admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki says he is a ‘gentle’ man who doesn’t like hurting people.

Admitted serial killer says he isn’t haunted by guilt

Psychiatrist’s report delves into Jeremy Skibicki’s mindset

Dean Pritchard 5 minute read Yesterday at 5:42 PM CDT

Retention, recruitment office expected to attract even more public nurses: health minister

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Preview

Retention, recruitment office expected to attract even more public nurses: health minister

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Yesterday at 7:40 PM CDT

Manitoba’s nurse float pool that aims to draw them away from private agencies and back to the public system with more flexibility and work-life balance is having some success.

Since the provincial nursing float pool launched in 2022, it has hired 160 nurses with more than two-thirds (69 per cent) from private agencies, Shared Health says. Of those, 144 are casual nurses and 16 work full time. New applications are coming in daily.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara expects it to get much bigger once the new health-care retention and recruitment office announced in April is up and running. The goal of the new government office is to help Manitoba meet its hiring target of 1,000 new health-care workers — including 210 nurses — in the public system this year.

“We’re just, really, getting started,” said Michele Lane, provincial lead for the health-care retention and recruitment office that has a dozen staff so far working at different sites in the province.

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Yesterday at 7:40 PM CDT

Mike Sudoma/Free Press
Michele Lane, provincial lead for the health-care retention and recruitment office, has been mandated to retain and recruit 100 doctors, 90 paramedics and 600 health-care aides this year.

Officers working OT to fight retail crime wave, but burnout a risk, police board told

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

Officers working OT to fight retail crime wave, but burnout a risk, police board told

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Yesterday at 6:29 PM CDT

Winnipeg Police Service officers will be working overtime shifts in an effort to address surging retail crime, but the measure is not a long-term solution, city officials were told Friday.

WPS Chief Danny Smyth said the increased police presence in The Exchange, West End and Osborne Village starts Saturday and will continue until the end of the month, conducting targeted retail crime enforcement and ramping up community engagement.

But a personnel shortage means the approach is not sustainable, Smyth told the Winnipeg Police Board.

“A lot of our resources are being pulled away from regular duties to deal with public order now… I want to acknowledge our members here because this is overtime. They are giving up their own time to come in and try to serve the community in a way that we can’t sustain long-term,” he said.

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Yesterday at 6:29 PM CDT

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES
Winnipeg police chief Danny Smyth says the service has approximately 1,375 officers, compared to about 1,450 when he became chief in 2016.

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
Thamu Eh (left) is the only one among her western friend group to live in a multigenerational setting, but she says it feels natural and fits with her family’s Asian cultural heritage.
ThaMu Eh, right, with her daughters Willow (pink) and Meadow (grey), and her father Doh Htoo Eh, from left, mother Nyo You San, future brother-in-law Ler Pway Htoo and sister Chri Htoo Eh feed their goats at their multi-generational home north of Stonewall in May. (John Woods / Free Press)

All in the family, under one roof

Many Manitobans are embracing multigenerational living as home-ownership becomes increasingly costly and difficult to actualize

AV Kitching and Gabrielle Piché 18 minute read Yesterday at 12:00 PM CDT

Shakespeare production sprinkled with magical fairy dust

Holly Harris 6 minute read Preview

Shakespeare production sprinkled with magical fairy dust

Holly Harris 6 minute read Yesterday at 9:21 PM CDT

Shakespeare in the Ruins delivered a jolt of fairy tale magic Thursday as it launched its 30th anniversary season with the Bard’s wacky, perennially popular comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The 150-minute show (including intermission), directed by company artistic director Rodrigo Beilfuss, hasn’t been performed under the prairie night sky at The Ruins of Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park since 1995, making this re-mount a welcomed homecoming.

The nearly 430-year-old play with its convoluted, pretzel-like plot — including no fewer than five inter-connected sub-plots — twists and turns in a fantastical tale of mistaken identities and competing desires.

Set in ancient Athens on the cusp of the Duke of Athens, Theseus (Tom Soares), and Queen of the Amazons, Hippolita’s (Sharon Bajer) nuptials, its mythological narrative is essentially about love and the lengths we will go to drink of its elixir. However, it’s also about the eternal power of dreams and imagination, sprinkled liberally with a spray of pixie dust that never grows old.

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Yesterday at 9:21 PM CDT