Environmental officials kill moose after it wanders onto Connecticut airport, didn’t reach runway

Katz ‘violated public trust,’ Sheegl lacked ‘moral compass,’ police HQ inquiry commissioner concludes

The final report from the public inquiry into the scandal-plagued Winnipeg Police Service headquarters construction project concludes that former mayor Sam Katz and former city CAO Phil Sheegl broke public trust and engaged in unethical conduct.

And the report, released Monday by inquiry commissioner Garth Smorang, says the cost of the project — transforming a downtown Canada Post office tower and warehouse into the police HQ — soared, in part, because main contractor Caspian Projects overcharged the city by more than $40 million in expenses.

The project’s initial $135-million initial price tag rose to about $209 million in the end. The city purchased the complex in 2009; construction was completed in 2016.

Smorang’s report concludes Katz “violated the public trust” and council code of conduct, and Sheegl suffered from a “complete lack of a moral compass.”

Inappropriate late-night texts to students costs teachers their jobs

Manitoba’s independent teacher commissioner has cancelled two certificates this month because of inappropriate late-night messaging with minors.

Old Kildonan candidates say growing ward not getting share of city resources

Old Kildonan’s three candidates for councillor all agree on one thing: their ward’s communities are growing quickly, and they want to see city investments keep up.

Incumbent Coun. Devi Sharma has represented Old Kildonan since 2010, and has been city council’s speaker since 2013, the first woman in Winnipeg’s history to hold the role.

While she ran unopposed and was acclaimed in 2022, this time around, longtime school trustee Greg McFarlane and mechanical engineer Love Randhawa are also in the running.

Sharma said she’s seeking a fifth term because there are some long-term projects underway in Old Kildonan that she believes need an experienced councillor to see through.

Winnipeg soldiers help search and rescue efforts in Wainwright

Eleven military search and rescue technicians from Winnipeg were deployed to Wainwright, Alta., following the fire that killed four soldiers and injured 39 others during a live-fire training exercise Saturday.

It was the largest mobilization of SAR techs, elite primary-care paramedics in the Royal Canadian Air Force, in recent memory, a military spokesperson told the Free Press.

Every SAR tech available from 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, located at 17 Wing Winnipeg — even those off duty — were sent to CFB Wainwright.

The technicians, who are trained to jump from aircraft into extreme environments, parachuted onto the scene from a CC-130H Hercules airplane to provide care for those injured in the fast-moving grass fire that had engulfed a training area.

Bombers look to write one more post-season chapter with veteran core

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are inching towards the end of an era.

There’s no guarantee their veteran core — names like Zach Collaros, Stanley Bryant, Patrick Neufeld and Willie Jefferson — will be back next year, or even if they’ll want to continue playing.

They’re all in their mid-to-late 30s, or in Bryant’s case, 40, and in the final year of their contracts. If the Bombers can’t save their season, significant changes could be coming, and getting younger would likely be part of the plan.

That adds another layer of importance to Friday’s regular-season finale in Vancouver. The Bombers (8-9) need to beat the B.C. Lions (10-7) to make the playoffs and write at least one more chapter with this group.

Empty desks: Advocates talk chronic school absenteeism

Concerned that school and government leaders are downplaying the state of student absenteeism, community organizers are strategizing to create urgency around who’s regularly missing class — and why — in Winnipeg.

The inaugural Youth at Risk in Winnipeg Symposium, held over the weekend at the Canadian Mennonite University, drew roughly 100 people to discuss barriers to attendance and brainstorm ways to remove them.

Nearly 20 years after he began calling attention to the issue, first as a volunteer with the Point Douglas Residents Committee, Sel Burrows gave an impassioned speech about the lack of political will to take meaningful action to help students from “dysfunctional homes.”

“I’ve dealt with nine cabinet ministers, Conservative and NDP, and five deputy ministers, and the issue has not gotten any better,” Burrows told teachers, reseachers and community support workers gathered Saturday on CMU’s Shaftesbury campus.