Kinew promises landfill search update Tuesday as families demand action

Family members of the women killed by Jeremy Skibicki say now that his fate is in the judge’s hands, they can turn their attention to bringing their loved ones home by having a landfill searched for their remains.

Four weeks of testimony wrapped up Monday with closing arguments. Skibicki, 37, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the 2022 deaths of Rebecca Contois, 24; Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; and an unidentified woman known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe or Buffalo Woman. His defence argues he should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Family members of the three identified victims will meet with Premier Wab Kinew on Tuesday to discuss a search of the Prairie Green Landfill, north of Winnipeg.

“I can only hope that this is one step closer to bringing my mom home,” said Cambria Harris, daughter of Morgan Harris, at a news conference Monday afternoon.

City projects deficit of nearly $40M this year

The City of Winnipeg expects to end 2024 with a deficit that would drain its rainy day fund and require an additional cost-cutting action plan, if the financial picture doesn’t improve.

The city is projecting a $39.3-million deficit for its tax-supported budget, based on finances up to March 31.

Deficits of $12.1 million for Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, $9.6 million for public works, $7.4 million for planning, property and development and $4.5 million for the Winnipeg Police Service are expected to contribute to the shortfall. Unrealized savings targets and recreation revenues are also expected to add to the red ink.

Aside from 2023, this is the only time in recent history Winnipeg’s first-quarter deficit projection was too big to be covered by the financial stabilization reserve fund.

Groundbreaking event calls action on revamped Niverville production studio plan

NIVERVILLE — After nearly a year of delays, crews have broken ground on a studio anticipated to make Niverville a movie production hub.

“Look at the set dressing,” Juliette Hagopian joked, motioning to the stagnant construction equipment behind her.

She and prominent members of Manitoba’s film and business sectors gathered Monday in Niverville for the official sod-turning of Jette Studios.

Hagopian announced the film production studio last March. She owns Julijette Films, a Manitoba production company, and bought a roughly 17,000-square-foot Winnipeg studio during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New managing director of PTE ready to take the stage

A longtime Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre marketing and communications executive will soon be packing her desk up for a move to Portage Place, where she will become the new managing director of Prairie Theatre Exchange.

Katie Inverarity will work with both companies throughout the summer to assist with their leadership transitions, and start full time with PTE on Sept. 1.

Inverarity spent the last 11 years working at the RMTC as director of communications and marketing, helping to guide the organization through a transition of artistic leadership and a pandemic.

Prairie Theatre Exchange announced her hiring on June 6.

Safer roads needed, family of cyclist killed by hit-and-run driver says

A 61-year-old cyclist was on the way to his job at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights when he was killed last week by a speeding driver who fled the scene.

The national museum said in a news release sent on behalf of the man’s family Monday that Rob Jenner was its shipper/receiver and had worked there since September 2014. He regularly cycled to work, the CMHR said.

Jenner was cycling eastbound on Wellington Crescent near Cockburn Street when he was hit by an eastbound vehicle shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday.

“Rob was killed cycling to work, something he loved to do. He knew cycling in this city could be dangerous, but he loved it,” the family said.

Search for missing woman continues in Molson

The RCMP are focusing their search for a missing Winnipeg woman on the Molson area.

Police said early Monday afternoon that “further information” has led investigators to the southeastern Manitoba area in the search for Brittany Dawn Storey, 29.

RCMP said in the news release that a drone was flown in the area Sunday and that the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association has “been in the air” helping with the search.

Police said no one has seen Storey or her SUV since she was last heard from Thursday.

Birchwood Terrace to test collapse alarm

A St. James apartment block whose residents were evacuated last month will test an alarm Tuesday that is designed to warn people of changes in the building’s stability or if there’s a risk of collapse.

A loud siren will go off at Birchwood Terrace (2440 Portage Ave.) at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. It is only a test, the City of Winnipeg said in a news release Monday, and no actions need to be taken.

If the alarm sounds outside of those times, residents in nearby homes or buildings should shelter in place, the city said.

Jason Shaw, deputy chief of safety, emergency management and public information for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, said the building’s owner is choosing to add the alarm to make the site safer.

Nine children receive ‘various injuries’ in Saskatchewan school bus crash; RCMP

ROCKGLEN, Sask. – RCMP in southern Saskatchewan say nine children are being treated for “various injuries” after the school bus they were in collided with an SUV at a rural intersection and rolled into a ditch. Police say in a news release they don’t have information on how many of the children required hospital treatment or any word on their conditions. They say the adult driver of the school bus had minor injuries, while the two men who were in the SUV did not report any serious injuries to officers. RCMP in southern Saskatchewan say nine children are being treated […]

‘We are on the edge of horror’: Canadian Foodgrains Bank calls for ceasefire as famine looms in Gaza

What would you do if your children were starving and there was nothing you could do to help them? That’s the question Andy Harrington, executive director of the Winnipeg-based Canadian Foodgrains Bank asks, referring to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “People in Gaza are in dire straits,” he said, noting nearly the entire population, including many children, are at risk of famine. Half the population of 2.2 million people in Gaza are at Phase 5 (catastrophe) on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale for food insecurity, an internationally recognized way of measuring hunger, Harrington said, noting that more 850,000 […]

Advance voting for Tuxedo byelection underway

Tuxedo byelection voters seemed to have the one thing on their minds at advance polls Saturday: change.

“I just think we need a change,” Barb Clendenan, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, said.

She said she has voted Tory all her life but is frustrated with the party. She wants the Progressive Conservatives to listen to all voters, not just “one economic group.” She also likes what the NDP is doing so far when it comes to education and health care.

“This riding has been a stronghold for the PCs,” she said. “Perhaps they need to wake up and not be so sure of themselves.”