Mariska Hargitay will host the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards in September on NBC

No more playing around, make 30 km/h school zones permanent

Winnipeg has already decided that 30 kilometres per hour is the right speed around schools.

It’s time to stop pretending that decision should expire every summer.

The city’s reduced school-zone speed limits returned Tuesday, a full week before the 2026-27 school year begins. They apply on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., from Sept. 1 until July 1.

Then, for two months, they disappear.

Foreign workers at Manitoba hotel are owed $138K in unpaid wages and fees, labour board rules

BRANDON — The Manitoba Labour Board has ordered the Western Star All Suites Hotel to pay nearly $138,000 in unpaid wages and administrative fees after it dismissed the appeals involving three foreign workers employed by the company.

In a decision dated Aug. 25, the board ordered 6692452 Manitoba Ltd. (doing business as Western Star All Suites Hotel), 1638185 Alberta Ltd. and company director P.X. to pay a total of $137,915.79 to the Employment Standards Branch for wages owed to foreign workers S.J., J.B. and G.R.

The decision was edited to protect the personal information of the employees, who worked at a hotel, reportedly in Melita, at different times and also lived there during their employment.

The board stated the employees were owed wages after hearing evidence about long working hours, irregular payments, inadequate employment records and working conditions.

Man who killed truck passenger handed new 12-year sentence

Manitoba’s highest court has given a man who shot at a passing truck and killed a 20-year-old woman a 12-year prison sentence for manslaughter.

William Ryerson Thomas Comber, now in his mid 20s, was found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in December 2022 for the killing of Hailey Dugay on Nov. 17, 2018. Comber was later sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.

Dugay died after the truck she was travelling in was struck by gunfire late at night on a gravel road near Fraserwood, 90 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

The Court of Appeal struck down Comber’s murder conviction earlier this year and ruled he was instead guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter.

Ending special duty helps staff cruisers

If you’re not from Winnipeg, the first time you see it can be a little alarming.

More residential units subject to rent control: minister

The province is expanding the number of residential units that are subject to rent control.

Starting next year, units with monthly rent as high as $2,000 will be regulated under the Residential Tenancies Act. Currently, the threshold is $1,670 per month.

“This is a good thing,” Right to Housing Coalition spokesperson Yutaka Dirks said Thursday. “For those people who weren’t covered but will now be covered, that’s certainly a positive. It’s something that we called for,” the advocate said.

The change is intended to protect affordable housing for more Manitobans by expanding the number of units subject to rent-regulation rules, a news release said Thursday.

Manitoba association pitches CentrePort for national food terminal

A Manitoba association is vying for federal dollars to build a major food terminal as Ottawa unrolls its national food security strategy.

Michael Mikulak, head of industry advocate group Food & Beverage Manitoba, said he’s in talks with several federal departments.

He’s envisioning a 120,000-square-foot site at CentrePort Canada, the trimodal inland port spanning parts of Winnipeg and the Rural Municipality of Rosser.

About 15,000 sq. ft. would become a production-focused commercial kitchen for Manitoba companies to rent as they grow. A warehouse to store and distribute food — from Manitoba and elsewhere — would consume most of the building, Mikulak said.