News briefs for June 29, 2018

The Winnipeg Goldeyes (20-20) beat the St. Paul Saints 5-1 at Shaw Park on Friday night.

Goldeyes’ starter Kevin McGovern (3-4) took the mound on three days of rest and earned the win.  McGovern held the Saints to one earned run on four hits in six innings.

Northbound traffic on Highway 59 is being diverted to Highway 317 and Highway 12 around Scanterbury because of an accident, RCMP say.

Scanterbury is around 70 kilometres north of Winnipeg, near Brokenhead First Nation.

STARS Ambulance tweeted the Winnipeg helicopter was dispatched for an emergency in the Brokenhead First Nation area Friday around 3:30 p.m.

HAMILTON — Terrence Tolliver hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and Liram Hajrullahu added a 26-yard field goal to give the Hamilton Tiger-Cats a 31-10 lead over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers after three quarters at Tim Hortons Field Friday night. 

Hamilton running back Mercer Timmis galloped four yards for the second touchdown of the game on the opening drive of the third quarter.

HAMILTON — Liram Hajrullahu booted field goals from 50, 17 and 42 yards in the second quarter to give the Hamilton Tiger-Cats a 16-10 lead over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at halftime of their CFL game at Tim Hortons Field Friday night.  

Justin Medlock had a 38-yard field goal to give Winnipeg a 10-7 lead earlier in the quarter.

Medlock is now 6-for-6 on field goals this season and has hit on 16 straight dating back to last season.

HAMILTON — Cornerback Marcus Sayles picked off a Jeremiah Masoli pass in his first CFL start and Winnipeg capitalized with a one-yard touchdown run by Andrew Harris to help the Blue Bombers earn a 7-7 tie with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats after the first quarter at Tim Hortons Field Friday night.

Running back Mercer Timmis allowed Hamilton to tie the game with a one-yard TD run late in the quarter.

Rookie quarterback Chris Streveler, making his third pro star for the Blue Bombers, went 3-for-5 for 24 yards in the opening quarter.

The federal and provincial health ministers announced a bevy of agreements on Friday, including pan-Canadian frameworks for addressing the challenges of dementia, sexuall -transmitted and blood-borne diseases, and antimicrobial resistance. 

The ministers were also briefed by Ottawa’s lead on the national pharmacare program, Eric Hoskins, about his progress on the file. He will meet with the health ministers again in September for another update. They also met with Indigenous leaders and Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott.

Ministers said Thursday they would be asking for more funding from Ottawa to improve healthcare. While federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor didn’t announce any major cash infusions, she did broaden the scope of federal funding for opioids treatment to include methamphetamine, a drug many provinces including Manitoba are struggling to combat.

An evacuation order for the Marcel Colomb First Nation has been lifted, and the chief and council are working with the Canadian Red Cross and Indigenous Services Canada to return residents to their community, the province announced Friday.

A lightning-caused wildfire that creeped within 15 kilometres of the town of Lynn Lake is being held by fire crews and recent rain has helped fire suppression efforts, the province said in a press release.

Under the current fire and weather conditions, the Town of Lynn Lake lifted the voluntary evacuation call for anyone with chronic health concerns or breathing difficulties as well as pregnant women and infant children, it said.

Manitoba Sustainable Development said it continues to work on a number of fires around the province.

There were nine new fires started by lightning yesterday, with the total number of fires in Manitoba to date is 295, well above the 20-year average of 210.

A list of parks with campfire restrictions can be found at www.manitobaparks.com. Visitors to provincial parks should check with park staff for the most up-to-date information.

A map of the areas affected and a detailed description of the provincial fire and travel restrictions can be found at www.gov.mb.ca/sd/fire/Restrictions/index.html. Local municipalities may also implement burning bans or fire restrictions. Check with local municipal offices or visit www.gov.mb.ca/wildfire/burn_conditions.html for more information.

A Winnipeg woman is awaiting blood test results after a random attack with a syringe in a clothing store at St. Vital Centre on Wednesday evening, police say. 

The woman was shopping when, without provocation, another woman stabbed her in the arm with a needle that most likely contained blood, police say. The suspect then fled the store with stolen goods, setting off alarms in the process. The two women did not know each other. 

Police and mall security found the attacker in another part of the mall and arrested her. They found a bit more than a gram of meth, a handful of syringes, stolen goods and a stolen identification card. She was intoxicated, police say, but they wouldn’t elaborate on whether she was high or drunk. 

Jessie Kayla Genaille, a 30-year-old Winnipeg woman, was charged with aggravated assault, administering a noxious thing with intent to endanger life or cause bodily harm, possessing a scheduled substance, possessing an identity document, theft under $5,000 and failing to comply with a probation order. She’s in police custody. 

After police received reports of 93 car break-ins in just two weeks in the West End around Ellice Avenue and Wall Street, they targeted the area with heavier police presence.

Late Wednesday night, they nabbed three suspects carrying break-in tools and methamphetamine. 

Police saw three people riding bicycles on the sidewalk at 12:30 a.m. around Sargent Avenue and Valour Road. When they tried to speak to the three late-night cyclists, one man fled on foot and police pursued. The man tripped and resisted arrest before police put him in custody. He was carrying bolt cutters, a wire cutter and a tire iron. Police found the other two, a man and a woman, at Ellice Avenue and Garfield Street. The man had a flashlight, a multi-tool and a bag of other break-in tools. The woman had a little over a gram of meth. 

Alex Vern James Borkowski, a 27-year-old Winnipeg man, was charged with possessing break-in tools, resisting a peace officer, two counts of failing to comply with recognizance conditions and two counts of failing to comply with a probation order. Christopher Robert Baron, a 40-year-old Winnipeg man, was charged with possessing a scheduled substance and possessing break-in tools. Holly Ann Marie Rundle, a 43-year-old Winnipeg woman, was charged with possessing a scheduled substance and possessing break-in tools. 

Mariette Mulaire, president and CEO of World Trade Centre Winnipeg and long-time Manitoba francophone trade advocate has been named to the board of directors of the Bank of Canada.

Mulaire also serves as a member of the international board of directors of the World Trade Centers Association.

Previously she was the president and CEO of l’Agence nationale et internationale du Manitoba (ANIM), the executive director for the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities, and held positions with the Department of Western Economic Diversification Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage. She was the co-chair of the Canada Games 2017 held in Winnipeg.

imageTagFull

The number of civic employees earning $50,000 or more increased in 2017 from the year before.

That was one of the findings in the City of Winnipeg’s annual employee compensation disclosure report, which was posted on the city’s website Friday morning.

There were 6,950 employees earning $50,000 or more in 2017, compared to 6,830 identified in the 2016 report.

The highest paid civic employee in 2017 was CAO Doug McNeil, whose compensation totalled $261,868, slightly higher than that reported in 2016, $261,773, when McNeil’s compensation package was listed at number two.

Mayor Brian Bowman climbed up two spots on the list, to number 17 with a total compensation of $185,870. Bowman’s compensation in 2016 was $183,565.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Paul Samyn | Editor's Note

Wednesdays

A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom.

Sign up for Paul Samyn | Editor's Note

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Great-West Life Assurance Co.’s on-line claims site for group health benefits, Great-West Life GroupNet and its workplace retirement and savings plan site, GRS Access, are both back up and running. 

As reported earlier in the week the sites had been down and off-line since Saturday requiring some claimants to use old fashioned paper forms that had to be faxed or mailed.

A company spokesman said, "GroupNet & GRS Access are up. Both had been disrupted by a routine IT upgrade. At no time was there any unauthorized access to customer or business data. We want to thank all of our customers for their patience during the system outage. Our teams are working tirelessly to ensure all claims are processed as quickly as possible."