Steadfastly nudist mom may not be best roomie

Police cracking down on gangs, organized crime in bars and lounges

Patrons can expect to see more police officers in and around bars and lounges in the coming months as the Winnipeg Police Service plans to crack down on gangs and organized crime.

Uniformed officers will be patrolling bars, lounges and other licensed establishments, targeting gang members and people associated with organized crime. Priority will be given to those who pose the greatest risk to public safety, WPS said in a news release Tuesday.

“We’ve seen — time and time again — where people involved in gangs, in organized crime, attract violence or commit violence, on people who they would perceive as their rivals,” Insp. Josh Ewatski, who heads the service’s organized crime unit said, noting the plan was in the works for a while.

He said while there was no specific incident that resulted in the new push, but said violence — including stabbings, assaults and shootings — over the years is behind the move.

Defenceman Morrissey focused on season ahead

Josh Morrissey insists that a trade request from the franchise goalie doesn’t change his desire to be a lifelong Winnipeg Jet.

The top-pairing defenceman and alternate captain reinforced that view on Monday morning when speaking to a group of reporters prior to the Winnipeg Jets Golf Classic at St. Charles Country Club.

“At the end of the day, I love being here and I love being a Jet. That’s how I’ve always felt,” said Morrissey, who spoke for just over nine minutes on a variety of topics. “That doesn’t change because of somebody else’s decision. Nothing is finalized, so who knows, he could be back. My position doesn’t change.”

Morrissey has two years left on a contract that pays him US$6.25 million and he’s only eligible to sign an extension on July 1, but the future of the franchise pillar will be a topic of discussion as the Jets work to sort through the situation with franchise goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, which remains unresolved.

Nothing wrong with planting trees, but it won’t get province very far on path to net zero

Manitoba’s new plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is a lot of things. It’s detailed. It’s certainly comprehensive in scope. But when it is all said and done, it is still very much a work in progress.

Rogers, Telus deny blame for June twister alert barrage

Telecom companies say they aren’t to blame for the barrage of tornado alerts Manitobans received during severe thunderstorms in early June.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced in August it would investigate the unusually high number of alerts, and called on the Pelmorex Corp., which operates the national Alert Ready system, along with telecom companies Bell, Rogers and Telus to respond to a number of questions.

They were given until last Friday to describe their possible roles in the creation, receipt, processing or distribution of alerts issued from Environment and Climate Change Canada in the midst of the June 9 storm.

Telus said in its response that it received 133 alert requests targeted to Manitoba created by Environment Canada and forwarded by Pelmorex between 2:35 p.m. June 9 and 3:29 a.m. the following day. While the majority of those messages contained identical information and were automatically suppressed, 17 were ultimately sent out as alerts in Winnipeg.

Transit safety drives first mayoral debate

The safety of Winnipeg Transit drivers was front and centre Monday as the first mayoral debate of the 2026 election focused on public transit.

Kevin Klein, the most experienced of the 10 candidates at the Amalgamated Transit Union 1505-hosted debate, said the time for partial safety shields has passed.

“The partial shields have failed drivers. That’s why we need change,” the former PC MLA and city councillor said, adding driver safety is not a staffing issue, but a “protection failure.”

If elected, Klein said he will bring in full-shield implementation across the city within two years and start a nine-bus pilot project immediately.

‘Didn’t realize how close I was’ to getting hit, pedestrian says

A West Broadway pedestrian says it was like a scene straight out of the movies as he narrowly avoided being plowed into during a midday police pursuit.

Adam Orbanski was crossing Langside Street along Broadway Friday and had just made it to the curb when a vehicle slammed into another metres away from him.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Orbanski said Monday after viewing security footage of the incident captured by a nearby business. “I didn’t realize how close I was, I guess, until my friend sent me the security footage. I’m lucky to be alive.”

Orbanski said he was walking home from work when he began to hear sirens. As he crossed Langside, he could see one vehicle approaching him quickly.