Local author wins Dafoe book prize

City dermatologist penalized again for misconduct

A longtime Winnipeg dermatologist was forced to reduce the scope of his practice after pursuing a relationship with a female patient and seeing another without a required chaperone while his office was normally closed.

Big spike in catalytic converter thefts

Harvey Tschetter didn’t know someone was under his SUV when he was roused by the sounds of a power saw cutting metal and took a look around the vehicle outside his North Kildonan condo.

After finding nothing untoward and going back inside, he heard repeated hammer strikes and saw a vehicle idling next to his Mitsubishi RVR, which he’d purchased two days earlier. Someone was trying to steal the SUV’s catalytic converter.

“I ran out there and I screamed at them, ‘What the F do you think you’re doing?’ They crawled out from under my car, held the hammer up like, don’t come near me, and drove off,” Tschetter said of the June 8 incident. “It was 5 a.m. and completely light out. I can’t believe how brazen they were. They showed no fear.”

The incident happened amid a sharp year-over-year increase in reports of catalytic converter thefts or attempted thefts to Manitoba Public Insurance, after record highs in 2021 and 2022 led to increased enforcement, provincial anti-theft legislation and a period of significant decline.

Killer makes ‘amends with his maker

A Winnipeg man, who once faced two counts of first-degree murder for slayings that were three days apart, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter.

Rory Shane Nash, 42, entered a guilty plea to the lesser charge in the Feb. 1, 2023 killing of Lee James Boulette.

Nash was also one of four people arrested in the killing of Carl George Wescoupe three days earlier at the Manwin Hotel on Main Street. Prosecutors later stayed the first-degree murder charge against Nash due to insufficient evidence.

Nash co-operated with prosecutors in both cases, but ultimately did not testify in court, Crown attorney Brent Davidson told provincial court Judge Margaret Wiebe at a sentencing hearing Tuesday.

New U.S. tariffs ‘more bluster than bite’

Manitoba businesses are watching with weary eyes as the United States threatens new 50 per cent tariffs on a variety of Canadian products.

However, should the levies come into effect Aug. 19, the effect on Manitoba’s GDP could be “pretty small,” said Fletcher Baragar, a University of Manitoba economics professor who researches the provincial economy.

Honey, furniture and printing materials leaving the province are among the tariff-exposed. The U.S. administration released a list of items Monday that would be hit by the levy in 30 days’ time.

Across Canada, $28 billion worth of annual exports to the U.S. could be affected, a Bank of Montreal note says. That’s 0.8 per cent of Canada’s economy.