Officers on scene of police shooting testify at inquest into teen's death

Speaking to court for the first time Tuesday, two Winnipeg police officers described how an attempted traffic stop swiftly escalated into a high-speed pursuit that ended in the shooting death of an Indigenous teen.

The officers, who testified on the second day of an inquest into the 2020 death of Eishia Hudson, said she rammed their police cruiser, evaded police spike strips and reached speeds of about 100 kilometres per hour as they pursued her through the Sage Creek neighbourhood and onto Lagimodiere Boulevard.

Winnipeg Police Service Det. Sgt. Jeff Vincent said the decision to engage in the chase was guided by police policies and procedures, but acknowledged the pursuit came during a period of heightened public pressure, owing to a spate of brazen thefts from city liquor stores.

“Every time we enter into a pursuit, we’re always assessing the need to apprehend versus the risk to the public,” Vincent said.

City’s ‘outrageous’ proposed property value assessments strike fear in the hearts of homeowners

A Charleswood homeowner fears a proposal that would raise his home’s assessed value nearly $200,000 since 2024 will result in a massive tax hike next year.

Longtime CKY sportscaster Peter Young dies at 79

Longtime local television sports broadcaster Peter Young, whose voice was “synonymous with Winnipeg Jets hockey,” died Monday after a battle with cancer.

Best known locally for his time at CKY-TV, Young called Jets games in both the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League, covered the CFL’s Grey Cup and went to three Olympic Games — in Sarajevo, Los Angeles and Calgary.

Young’s son, Jason, said at one point his dad was doing a morning show on radio with Don Percy, heading to a high school to teach physical education and mathematics, before wrapping up his day doing an evening television news broadcast.

“He always had something going on, right up until recently,” Jason said.

Ontario judge sends SkyCity condo development fraudsters to prison for five years, fines each $12.2M

Two financiers who defrauded hundreds of people who invested in a Winnipeg condo tower development and an Ontario mixed-use project were each sentenced Monday to five years in prison and fined $12.2 million.

Jawad Rathore, 49, and Vince Petrozza, 50, worked for Fortress Real Developments Inc., a now-defunct Ontario syndicated mortgage company that raised money to build a 45-storey condo building on Graham Avenue in downtown Winnipeg, dubbed SkyCity when it was announced to much fanfare in 2013, as well as a development in Barrie, Ont. called the Collier Centre.

The projects never got off the ground and RCMP later investigated the executives in a lengthy probe, before laying charges in Ontario in 2022.

Rathore, the company’s former chief executive, and Petrozza, its former chief operating officer, were each found guilty last May of one count of fraud over $5,000 in the Ontario Court of Justice.

Shorty’s Pizza expands reach with second Winnipeg restaurant

People in the Charleswood area looking for a taste of New York City are in luck: Shorty’s Pizza has arrived.

Province, Ottawa back feasibility study of northern marine conservation area

The Manitoba government and Ottawa will partner with Indigenous leaders and environmental groups to assess whether the biodiverse expanse of the Hudson Bay coast is a good candidate for conservation amid the province’s push to expand the Port of Churchill.

During a news conference in Churchill on Tuesday, Premier Wab Kinew announced Manitoba will contribute $250,000 to study the feasibility of a national marine conservation area in Western Hudson Bay.

Oceans North, a national conservation organization, will invest a further $1 million over the next year to support research, training and education initiatives in and around Churchill, Chris Debicki, the organization’s vice-president of policy and counsel, announced.

The feasibility study, led by Parks Canada, marks the first step toward protecting what Manitoba Environment Minister Mike Moyes called “one of the most ecologically significant marine environments on the planet.” It will coincide with a previously announced $750,000 feasibility study to boost ice-breaking capacity in the northern waters.

City to vote on adding Vandal’s name to Bonivital Pool

The city is fast-tracking a motion to rename a pool in honour of former St. Boniface MP and city councillor Dan Vandal.

Days after the Riel Community Committee voted for a report on the feasibility of renaming the Bonivital Pool the Dan Vandal Bonivital Pool, the motion sent to the executive policy committee for a vote on the name change.

St. Boniface Coun. Matt Allard said he hopes both city council and the public agree to the name change as “an appropriate honour” given Vandal’s service to St. Boniface and St. Vital for more than a quarter century.

“It is most excellent that the pool sits right in between the neighbourhoods of St. Boniface and St. Vital given that he represented both areas, with many years of service as councillor for St. Boniface ward and more as the MP for the St. Boniface-St. Vital constituency,” Allard said Tuesday.

Province had no choice but to take over care home set to close: health minister

Manitoba’s health-care system can’t afford to lose a single personal care home bed right now, said the minister who took the “extraordinary step” of expropriating a 78-bed for-profit facility that was set to close by April.

“From our perspective and the perspective of the regional health authority, every single personal care home bed in this province needs to be open,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said in an interview Tuesday.

On Monday, the province announced it was taking over Golden Door Geriatric Centre on Pembina Highway, which stopped accepting new residents last year and had 25 vacant beds as of Jan. 30.

“This is where seniors live. This is their home and, at any time of year, that’s the priority,” Asagwara said. “But certainly during our most pressured and busiest time of year in the health-care system — flu season — having 25 beds remain closed is just not a responsible way to approach the operations of a personal care home.”

Teen newcomers hope powerful poem opens minds

Escaping Syria as a child, Fawwaz (Ali) Al Hassan knows a thing or two about global conflict.

“I’ve gone through war, genocide, poverty, myself firsthand, and I know how bad and terrible it is for anyone, not just for people of my kind, but anyone across the world,” the 17 year old who immigrated to Canada 10 years ago said.

The Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute student co-wrote the spoken-word poem What am I meant to be?, along with Sami Suliman, 16, and Tobilola (Tobi) Olorunsola, 17. The trio recited it Monday at the Manitoba legislature as part of the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation’s international development week.

The teens, all newcomers to Canada, brought their own personal experiences to the poem, a journey across the globe.

Time to start thinking about summer camp

With more than 20 weeks before school lets out, it might feel premature to be thinking about camp registration, especially when spring break hasn’t even started yet.

But those five days off school are a walk in the park compared with 10 weeks of unstructured free time.

Parents without the luxury of child care will be flicking through their family calendar, trying to figure out how to do it all as work/family/life balance becomes more challenging when children are home all day.

Thank goodness for the plethora of summer camps dotted all around the city, although it is quite the task to sift through them all to pick the right one for your family.