Photo gallery: King Charles’s coronation Posted: 11:41 AM CDT Saturday, May. 6, 2023 Last Modified: 11:28 AM CDT Sunday, May. 7, 2023 Updates

Canadian military team in Parkland region to assist flood-ravaged communities

A Canadian Armed Forces reconnaissance team is in western Manitoba’s Parkland region to begin plotting out how the military will help flood-hit communities.

Department of National Defence spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin said the team, including engineering specialists, arrived in the area Saturday.

“The team is conducting on-the-ground assessments, liaising with local authorities, and helping identify priority community needs to inform ongoing response efforts,” Poulin wrote in an email to the Free Press Monday.

Swan River, Minitonas and Dauphin are among the Parkland communities that suffered significant overland flooding last week, when rain-swollen rivers burst their banks. Hundreds of homes had flooded basements — some for the second time in less than a month.

Ontario man, woman accused in Winnipeg jewelry theft scam

Winnipeg police have charged a man and woman from Ontario, accusing them in a series of jewelry thefts targeting seniors on Canada Day.

The Winnipeg Police Service said officers launched an investigation after receiving reports of three thefts believed to involve the suspects, who were driving a black SUV bearing an Ontario licence plate, a Monday news release stated.

The first incident occurred at about 9:30 a.m. when a woman in her 60s was approached outside her home on the 100 block of Berrydale Avenue. She told investigators the suspects arrived in the SUV and told her they were new to the neighbourhood and wanted to “bless” their neighbours.

“From inside the vehicle, the suspect placed a chain on the victim and hugged her before leaving. The victim later discovered her genuine gold necklace that she had been wearing was gone and in its place was an imitation gold necklace,” WPS said.

Father seeking answers following daughter’s death at Winnipeg Remand Centre

The father of a 25-year-old woman who died after being found unresponsive in a cell at the Winnipeg Remand Centre has unanswered questions about what led to her in-custody death.

Whatever happened to Canada standing up to the U.S.?

When I first heard the news report, I couldn’t believe it. Is this really accurate? U.S. President Donald Trump simply conveyed the order: the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor and Detroit is not permitted to open.

Animal Justice wants lawsuit by Manitoba farmer tossed out

Animal Justice says a defamation lawsuit filed against it by a Swan River farmer who exports horses to Japan has no merit and should be tossed out of court.

Carolyle Farms and its owner, Lyle Lumax, filed the lawsuit in the Court of King’s Bench last month, naming Animal Justice and its executive director, Camille Labchuk, as defendants.

The farmer alleges Labchuk made a defamatory comment in a video posted to social media platforms in February.

Animal Justice argues its director’s comment was factual.

Craft ministry crochets scarves, tuques, more for vulnerable Winnipeggers

It’s a sunny summer’s day with barely a cloud in the sky but Winnipeg’s bitter winter is already on the minds of the folks gathered in the small library at Epiphany Lutheran Church (200 Dalhousie Dr.).

Every first and third Wednesday of the month, armed with needles and hooks, they knit and crochet for two hours, transforming “oodles of yarn” into scarves, tuques and headbands, to be distributed to the city’s most vulnerable residents.

The church’s volunteer craft ministry was resurrected in early 2023 by Lynnette Stamler, a retired nursing academic who returned to Manitoba after a 27-year career abroad.

“The group had started several years ago when a few ladies got together to make prayer shawls which they gifted to individuals in need. Then during the COVID-19 pandemic it went the way of all good things,” Stamler explains.