Your forecast
Cloudy, with snow early this morning, amount 2 cm. Wind from the south at 30 km/h becoming light near noon. High -2 C, wind chill -21 this morning and -7 this afternoon.
What’s happening today
Canadian comedian Sugar Sammy brings his intelligent, irreverent brand of humour to Winnipeg as he kicks off his 20-city tour Canada: The 51st State, with four shows at Rumor’s Comedy Club, 2025 Corydon Ave., tonight and Saturday, 7:15 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Aileen Goos has a preview here.
Sugar Sammy found his calling at age eight, watching Eddie Murphy’s Delirious. (Supplied)
The annual Winterruption festival, which began Thursday and continues until Sunday, presents some of the best in new local and Canadian alt-pop.
Co-presented by Real Love and the West End Cultural Centre, Winterruption features local luminaries and international stars over 17 remaining concerts across seven venues. Conrad Sweatman has more here.
The Winnipeg Jets host the Utah Hockey Club at Canada Life Centre, starting at 7 p.m.
Today’s must-read
The shortage of RCMP officers in Manitoba is so dire that the national force is asking officers in other provinces to consider working here for two weeks to bolster the ranks.
RCMP sent a message titled “National Call Out for Temporary Assistance in D (Manitoba) and F (Saskatchewan) Divisions” to Mounties across the country, saying they need to “immediately manage the serious staffing challenges” in the two provinces.
“As such, we are asking all members and active reservists across the country to consider a temporary placement for a two-week rotation to D or F Division between February and May 2025 to help cover general duty resource shortages,” says the message from Deputy Commissioner Jodie Boudreau and chief human resources officer Jasmin Breton. Kevin Rollason reports.
The RCMP issued an appeal asking its members and active reservists across Canada to consider working a two-week stint in Manitoba and Saskatchewan owing to “critical staffing shortages.”(Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press files)
On the bright side
Unlike other provinces, Manitoba does not have a standardized robotics curriculum or credit — but one rural technology teacher is trying to change that.
JP Jamieson is raising awareness about a one-of-a-kind program at Morris School in the hopes that one day, his students will not have to leave the province to enter their robots in a contest and hone their engineering skills.
The kindergarten-to-Grade 12 school’s two robotics teams will travel to Minnesota this weekend for a VEX V5 competition. The event will be a first for many of the students who are enrolled in grades 8 to 11. Maggie Macintosh has the story.
Blue team members Cody Dueck (from left), Josh Hildebrandt, Kayden Grattan and Andrew Hildebrandt rush to make a repair during testing. (Mike Deal / Free Press)
On this date
On Jan. 24, 1978: The Winnipeg Free Press reported the town of Oak Lake, Man., remained in a virtual state of siege for a second day as a gunman holding three hostages remained holed up in a two-storey house; the incident had begun with a shootout in Virden that resulted in the death of one Mountie and the hospitalization of two others. Manitoba Hydro wanted not only an increase in rates of 20.8 per cent by Feb. 1, but also an increase of 21.4 per cent in 1979. Read the rest of this day’s paper here. Search our archives for more here.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Free Press.
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