Vibrant mural welcomes Rainbow fans

Convicted harasser accused of targeting old, new victims, including judge

Agnieszka Ciochon-Newton, who was sentenced to six years in prison for mercilessly harassing two people she believed had wronged her, as well as other crimes, wasted no time when her sentence ended to launch fresh attacks on victims new and old, including the judge who convicted her, court documents allege.

The 58-year-old former nurse was arrested last month after Winnipeg police “became aware that (Ciochon-Newton) was engaging in aggressive and harassing behaviours again, starting almost immediately upon the expiry of her parole conditions” on May 13, Det. Sgt Kylie Case wrote in search warrant documents obtained by the Free Press.

Ciochon-Newton is charged with seven counts of criminal harassment, two counts of uttering threats and one count each of fraud, breaking and entering, attempting to obstruct justice, intimidation of a justice official, mischief and defamatory libel. She remains in custody.

Search warrant documents say provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson learned in late August that Ciochon-Newton had emailed CBC Manitoba days earlier and threatened him.

White-supremacist highway sign casts pall on Steinbach city council campaign

The RCMP is investigating a white-nationalist sign near Steinbach with racist messaging and alleged links to a known Canadian far-right group.

MPI leadership not fooling anyone by forcing PUB’s hand

It is not a question you will hear raised at Public Utilities Board hearings into Autopac rates, but you can bet it’s the one on most people’s minds.

When will the NDP government step in and repair leadership at Manitoba Public Insurance? For the third year in a row, MPI has limped into PUB hearings like a badly damaged vehicle that should have been written off years ago.

This week, the Crown corporation’s chief actuary admitted the 2.38-per-cent increase requested for the 2027-28 fiscal year was too low, in part because of the impact of last summer’s multiple hailstorms and the premiums MPI pays for re-insurance that protects the public insurer from surges in claims costs.

Chief actuary Cara Low said the rate application was not updated because of “uncertainty.” That is sort of like a firefighter complaining about not being able to do the job because there was too much smoke and flame.

The currency of trust

Over the course of three weeks last month, I saw three very different sides of Dr. Ernest Cholakis — philanthropist, distinguished alumnus and dental surgeon.

The last of these was the most personal. And painful.

A week after watching Ernest receive the University of Manitoba’s distinguished alumni award for lifetime achievement — an honour for which I was one of his nominators — I arrived at his clinic with a tooth that had cracked in half. The pain had become considerable and, although his schedule was full, he found a way to fit me in.

Ernest has been my dentist for more than a decade, although our relationship has extended well beyond dentistry into friendship and a shared involvement in the cultural and community life of Winnipeg. I thought I knew him reasonably well. But helping to prepare his nomination introduced me to aspects of his professional life I had never fully appreciated.

High-risk sex offender charged with Osborne Village apartment break-ins

A convicted, high-risk sex offender has been arrested for allegedly breaking into several Osborne Village apartments last month, court records show.

Winnipeg Police Service property crime investigators were alerted to the series of break-ins in September.

Investigators learned that three break-and-enters occurred Sept. 13-14 at apartments on the 200 block of Stradbrook Avenue; a suspect got inside via a window.

In two of the break-ins, police said, the suspect fled after encountering the residents inside their homes. Nothing was stolen and no one was hurt in any of the incidents.