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‘It blew my mind that four lives were taken’

A two-vehicle crash that killed four teenage friends in the Interlake Sunday night prompted outpourings of grief in several communities and calls for safety improvements at the intersection, which was also the site of a death in July.

Recent high school graduates Maya Borsa and Chloe Vermette, both 18, were identified by their families as victims of the collision at Highway 8 and Provincial Road 229, just west of Winnipeg Beach.

“(Chloe) was a very bubbly, loving personality. Always giving, always caring. Her friends meant the world to her,” said her mother, Veronique Vermette, who struggled to comprehend the tragedy when she went to the scene Monday. “We sat in the rain for hours, and it blew my mind that four lives were taken.”

The teens’ parents are waiting for RCMP to provide more information about the cause of the crash. Chloe, who graduated from Windsor Park Collegiate in Winnipeg in July, was driving one of the vehicles, her mother said.

Dauphin ER reopening ‘monumental team effort’

DAUPHIN — The emergency department at Dauphin Regional Health Centre reopened Monday morning after a closure of just over two months, restoring 24-7 emergency services to Dauphin and surrounding communities.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara hailed the reopening as a major milestone.

“It’s been a monumental team effort to get to this point,” Asagwara told the Brandon Sun on Monday afternoon before embarking on a tour of the facility.

“We asked everyone to approach this as one team and that’s exactly what we’re seeing the results of now.”

Bumps in the road as students collect free bus passes

Alexis Enns left her guidance counsellor’s office empty-handed, but no less excited about starting Grade 12 — even though she still didn’t know how she would get there or her timetable — on Tuesday.

“My summer was pretty boring,” the 17-year-old said after an unsuccessful trip to get her free bus pass and bearings at Technical Vocational High School.

“I like back-to-school. I like having somewhere to be every day and something to do every day.”

For some families in the Winnipeg School Division, hers included, the 2026-27 academic year kicked off with delays related to the rollout of free youth transit and course schedules.

Enrolment up at alternative schools

Independent schools are preparing to welcome a record number of students as more families pay for faith-based instruction and secular alternatives.

The overwhelming majority of Manitoba children — 200,000 — are starting in the public school system this fall. Since 2000, the percentage of students enrolled elsewhere — in homeschools, funded and non-funded independent schools — has nearly doubled, to 12 per cent from seven per cent.

“If money was no object, we could fill dozens and dozens more classrooms with the demand for independent education,” said Andrew Micklefield, executive director of the Manitoba Federation of Independent Schools, who is a former Tory government house leader.

The King’s School, Dasmesh School, Springs Christian Academy, Beautiful Saviour Lutheran School, Steinbach Christian School and IQRA Islamic School have all either upscaled at some point over the last five years or are actively in the process of expanding their footprint.

Education student designs lesson plans to take a bite out of food marketing

Instead of apples, Emma Caronte is handing out lesson plans on local food history to Manitoba teachers this back-to-school season.

The undergraduate researcher spent her summer break creating a social studies unit that investigates food guide evolution, marketing tactics and how honey dill sauce became a pantry staple on the Prairies.

“I want students to develop a greater interest in food and what outside influences affect their choices and what we consider ‘healthy,’” said Caronte, a final-year education student at the University of Manitoba.

She is advertising her 112-page project as a user-friendly resource for classroom teachers and “a fun sub plan” targeted at Grade 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Councillors say Main Street Project scuttles other agency’s efforts to house homeless

A Winnipeg outreach agency that’s been largely shut out of government funding says it has found housing for more people in the last five months than Manitoba’s homeless strategy that began last year.