Teacher trumps far-right rivals

A school teacher has claimed a trustee seat in the Louis Riel School Division left vacant by a disgraced board member who resigned late last year after multiple suspensions.

Ian Walker, a grades one and two teacher in the River East Transcona School Division, will replace former Ward 1 trustee Francine Champagne, who quit in November after being suspended three times for racist and anti-LGBTTQ+ social media posts.

“It feels amazing, I had a really positive campaign and I’m excited to get to work,” Walker said late Thursday evening of the win.

Polling results show Walker bested runner-up Sandra Saint-Cyr with 64 per cent of the vote in the division’s ward, which encompasses St. Boniface and Windsor Park.

Freedom fleeting for ‘brothers’ with long criminal histories

Tucked into a booth at a bar somewhere in Manitoba in mid-March, Tristan Mariash and David Burling toasted to good times and being fresh out of jail.

Less than three months later, Mariash is dead after being shot by police in Otterburne and Burling is in custody, following a manhunt across Manitoba and Saskatchewan Wednesday.

Mariash’s family confirmed to the Free Press he was killed in the shooting. The Winnipeg Police Service had said officers fired shots when a stolen pickup truck rammed into their vehicle shortly before 3 a.m.

Mariash’s father and stepfather said Thursday they were not yet prepared to comment.

Concert hall, museum restrict access due to increased security threat

Rising safety concerns have forced a major Exchange District complex to lock most of its exterior doors at all hours, reducing public access points to the Manitoba Museum and Centennial Concert Hall.

The Centennial Centre, which runs the Main Street complex that includes those buildings, told parkade patrons they will need to contact security on an intercom to gain access through exterior doors during business hours.

“There has been a significant increase over the past few months with vandalism, drug use, vagrancy and confrontations that are concerning. For the safety of all, we are putting the security measures in place,” a June 5 memo obtained by the Free Press states.

A tunnel entrance to the parkade will remain open.

Construction disruption compensation

Winnipeg should follow in the work bootprints of other Canadian cities and compensate small businesses hurt by construction, a national lobbyist asserts.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has sent a letter on the issue to Mayor Scott Gillingham and city council, urging financial or other compensation, such as temporary tax breaks.

The CFIB also called for construction project completion within strict timelines and better communication with affected businesses.

The message comes amid the return of pylons and blockades to Winnipeg streets.

Cyclist killed in hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent

The death of a 61-year-old cyclist in a hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent Thursday has prompted bike advocates to call for safety improvements.

The collision happened just after 7 a.m. as the cyclist was travelling eastbound near Cockburn Street North and was hit by a driver heading in the same direction. The victim died in hospital.

Police said the incident was a hit-and-run and they had located a suspect vehicle, but didn’t say whether the driver had been identified.

The stretch of road, which does not have a bike lane, remained closed for hours.

South African opposition parties holding crunch talks on the ANC’s unity plan. But deep rifts remain

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African opposition parties were meeting Friday and will continue crunch talks into next week to consider the ruling African National Congress’ offer to become part of a government of national unity. ANC failed to secure a majority in last week’s highly contested election, but some opposition parties are already rejecting the party’s offer because of deep-seated divisions. Senior officials of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, or DA, will meet on Monday to discuss the centrist party’s approach to the negotiations. The top leadership of the the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters, or EFF, party were holding talks […]

Mountie acquitted, but judge warns conduct in holding cell not condoned

An RCMP officer who was accused of twice assaulting a woman with excessive force in a Portage la Prairie RCMP holding cell has been acquitted.

Provincial court Judge Patrick Sullivan ruled Const. Tyler Hoogkamp, who had pleaded not guilty to assault causing bodily harm and simple assault during his trial last fall, would be acquitted of the charges in a written decision issued last week.

Sullivan decided Crown prosecutor Chantal Boutin hadn’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the force the officer used was excessive and unnecessary, as alleged, but warned he did not want his decision to suggest he approved of what occurred in the holding cell in early July 1, 2022.

“Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a not a light burden for the Crown to meet,” Sullivan wrote in his May 29 decision, issued in Portage la Prairie. “I reflect on this… to make clear my decision should not be interpreted as an approval of the force used by (Const.) Hoogkamp.”

At D-Day ceremony, American veteran hugs Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and calls him a savior

OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — An American veteran and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared an emotional moment at a ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion to liberate France in World War II, each praising the other as a hero. Retired Staff Sgt. Melvin Hurwitz, 99, and other veterans were introduced to the foreign dignitaries remembering the landings in Normandy on Thursday. When he met Zelenskyy, Hurwitz kissed the Ukrainian leader’s hand and pulled him in for an extended hug, exclaiming: “Oh, you’re the savior of the people!” A beaming Zelenskyy replied: “No, no, no, you … […]

Accused in manhunt was shot by police in 2022, has history of stealing cars; mother has ‘given up’ on him

David Frank Burling walked out of a Manitoba jail in March with a police bullet lodged in his lower back and a driving ban after a long history of stealing cars and evading police.

A Manitoba judge warned Burling in January to get his act together or suffer the consequences after sentencing him to two and a half years in prison. With time served, Burling was given 72 days of additional jail time.

“It’s my hope, Mr. Burling, that this is the very last time that you put yourself and others at risk by behaving in this manner, by not only stealing motor vehicles but by fleeing from police and driving dangerous. You do not have the right to do that,” said provincial court Judge Jean McBride on Jan. 15.

”If this has not been a wake-up call for you, I don’t know what is or what will be and if it happens again there’s no question you will be looking at a much longer jail sentence.”

India’s Modi elected as leader of coalition and set to form new government

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday was formally elected as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance coalition, which won the most number of seats in the country’s national election after his political party failed to win a majority on its own. The 73-year-old leader, who will be sworn in as prime minister on Sunday for a rare third term, will now form a coalition government. Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP has governed India as part of the NDA coalition over the past decade, but this is the first time under his leadership that the party […]