Edmunds: Five great budget performance cars for under $35,000

Paranoid and high, man kills dad, takes photos of body, calls 911

Paranoid and sleep-deprived after a night of smoking crack, Donato Pellettieri stabbed his 64-year-old father 27 times, called 911 and waited outside their Maryland Avenue residence until police arrived minutes later and arrested him for murder, court was told Thursday.

“Paranoia led him to believe this was a kill-or-be-killed situation,” Crown attorney Joel Refvik told Court of King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne. “This is an individual who, but for his drug use and paranoia, likely would not have killed his father.”

The 39-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the July 2021 killing of Salvatore Pellettieri and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years.

The resolution of his case was delayed by long periods in which he was mentally unfit to stand trial, and changed lawyers and awaited reports to determine whether he should be found not criminally responsible for his actions.

Highway-safety upgrades in progress after tragic Interlake crash

Provincial workers have started to update or install safety measures at a rural Interlake intersection where four teenage friends died in a crash on Labour Day weekend.

Pavement markings were repainted at Highway 8 and Provincial Road 229, just west of Winnipeg Beach, ahead of work to refresh worn-down rumble strips, starting Monday, and install flashing lights atop two stop signs, following an assessment earlier this week.

“They will also need to incorporate any information from the RCMP report that might be helpful if we were to consider any additional safety measures at this intersection,” Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor said of department staff.

“The most important thing is safety, and any kinds of changes we make at any intersection actually have to make it safer.”

Mechanic Susie helps turn jockey standings around at Assiniboia Downs

Two champions got back up off the mat this week at Assiniboia Downs. One of them was a human.

Antonio Whitehall won four races on Wednesday evening to wrest back the lead in the jockey standings from surging former Hastings Park rider Kerron Khelawan, and he crossed the finish line first in the last five races on the card. Whitehall was disqualified from winning the seventh race aboard Tap the Parlay when that filly caused some unavoidable interference early in the race.

The winners that stood for Whitehall included Neighneigh ($5.50) in the fourth race for trainer Demetris Topouzis; Mechanic Susie ($3.90) in the fifth for trainer Elton Dickey; Betterlucknexttime ($3.80) in the sixth race for trainer Mike Nault; and a nail biter in the seventh aboard Weekendindelmar ($5.00) for trainer Robert Maybin.

No earth-shattering prices in the bunch, but the fact that the three-time ASD riding champion came back with a huge night after being outscored 2-0 by Khelawan and being knocked out of top spot in the standings the night before spoke volumes.

Ferraro, Skinner getting lay of the land before training camp starts

They’ve both been around the NHL block a bit, but make no mistake, Stuart Skinner and Mario Ferraro are experiencing some “new kid at school” type jitters this week.

The pair were prized July 1 free agent signings by the Winnipeg Jets and are now quickly trying to get the lay of the land — from teammates and systems and structure to restaurants, schools and the best routes to the rink — in what is a frantic time on both a professional and personal level.

“It’s a big change, right?” Ferraro said Wednesday following a pre-training camp skate at the Hockey For All Centre.

“Like moving cities, getting settled somewhere else, with my family, my wife, my daughter, our two dogs. But I think it’s gone really well and smooth. We found a great place here, and we’re really happy with where we’re living.”

Retired sportscaster Scott Oake determined as fundraising for women's addictions treatment facility enters home stretch

For now, the patch of land just east of the Victoria Hospital doesn’t look like much: just a field of rocks, mounded dirt, and concrete piles driven into the earth. Yet when Scott Oake looks over the site, he can already imagine how it will look in just over a year’s time, when the new Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre is expected to open.

It’s easier to picture this time around. In 2020, when the recently-retired CBC sportscaster and his late wife, Anne, were building their first labour of intermingled grief and love, the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre for men, it was hard for him to wrap his mind around how a raw construction site could transform into a welcoming addictions treatment facility.

When that centre opened in 2021, Oake found it looked “almost identical” to the architect’s renderings. So it’s easy to hope the Anne Oake Centre will be the same. It will be the first facility of its kind, its founders believe, not only in Canada but in North America: a place where 50 to 70 women can pursue sobriety while staying with their children.

“At Bruce Oake there’s a culture of love, and most of all a culture of hope,” Oake said, speaking at the site Thursday after a media conference to announce the final push of the centre’s fundraising campaign. “I can feel it every time I walk into that building. And I know it will be the same here.”

Artist’s inspired work brings Red River Métis story back to Portage and Main

Jennine Krauchi calls them the “grandmothers.” “They speak to you very silently. You never hear a word, but they speak,” Krauchi says, referring to the antique pieces of Métis needlework she’s carefully studied for years. But there are few precedents for her latest art project: a 85-foot-wide by 32-foot-high chain curtain of Métis needlework that drapes over the historic Bank of Montreal’s neoclassical facade.