2021 Countryfest to feature all-Canadian lineup

Fringe reviews #15: Button-mashing mayhem

Babel, Chase Padgett, Dirk Darrow, The Glass Between Us, K-Tel Demon Hunters, Mr. Richard, Penny Ashton, Grant Canyon, Rocky Horror Show, Wisecracks for Weirdos

‘Heartbreaking loss’: Sandy Bay First Nation offers condolences after apparent dog attack

Leaders with the Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation are offering their condolences after an animal rescue worker died following an apparent dog attack in the community and say the “stray and aggressive” animals are a longstanding issue.

Amanda Nobiss, 37, was volunteering in the community on the shores of Lake Manitoba with K9 Advocacy. Her remains were discovered on Friday morning.

The Manitoba First Nations Police Service said in a news release that it had been contacted by a friend of Amanda’s who was trying to locate her, around 12:45 a.m.

Using her cellphone location, police determined she appeared to be in Sandy Bay, said the release. Resources were dispatched to the area, including a drone, but due to the large radius of the cellphone “ping,” no one was located until 6 a.m.

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.

2021 Countryfest to feature all-Canadian lineup

The 2021 edition of Dauphin’s Countryfest will kick off on Canada Day, and organizers will wave the maple leaf for entire four-day weekend.

The 31-year-old festival announced Wednesday — 365 days before the 2021 event is to begin — it will go with an all-Canadian lineup.

Countryfest general manager Rob Waloschuk promises a who’s who of Canadian country music, supplemented by a handful of rock artists, to be on Selo Ukraina’s three stages from July 1 to 4, 2021.

“We’re bringing nothing but the best of the best from this country. This will be the biggest contingent of Canadian country music that has been put together in one place,” Waloschuk says.

Mosque’s restorative justice program helps newcomers find their way

The Masjid Bilal is a chunky grey building just off Logan Avenue surrounded by warehouses and railyards. It looks more like a bunker than a mosque.

But on a summer Friday afternoon, its green-and-white carpeted interior is humming with activity. Two men in white robes and flat woolen caps are seated on the carpet poring over a copy of the Qur’an. A few young boys dodge through hallways, poking curious noses into open doors. At the back, next to a table piled with prayer mats, two girls in hijabs share schoolyard gossip. In the kitchen, women are cooking up pots of rice and chicken for people who will soon arrive for Friday prayers.

The Masjid Bilal is a community hub for members of Winnipeg’s African diaspora as well as Muslims from many other countries.

It’s also home to the Bilal Community and Family Centre, an innovative, community-centred nonprofit that is meeting vital needs for newcomers in this city.

Woman pleads guilty to beating teens, injecting them with drugs

Two teens who thought they found temporary harbour in a stranger’s apartment after they missed their late-night bus home were instead terrorized, beaten and injected with methamphetamine against their will, a court has heard.

Simone Thomas, 22, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count each of forcible confinement, aggravated assault and administering a noxious substance with intent to endanger or cause bodily harm to a person.

Details of the bizarre, Feb. 17, 2025, incident were included in an agreed statement of facts read out in court.

Court heard a male and female victim, both 15, had been drinking cans of beer outside the New West Hotel around 1 a.m. when they realized they had missed their bus home. Thomas approached the teens and offered them a place to “hang out” while they waited for the next bus.