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Sea Bears say Allen recovering from nightclub assault

The Winnipeg Sea Bears are preparing for the Canadian Elite Basketball League playoffs without the services of its Most Valuable Player.

The club announced on Tuesday that star guard Teddy Allen has been ruled out for Thursday’s Western Conference semifinal against the Saskatoon Mamba at Canada Life Centre (7:30 p.m.) as he recovers from “significant health injuries” suffered after being assaulted by security staff at a downtown nightclub on Sunday.

“We continue to co-operate with the Winnipeg Police Service on its investigation and have referred them individuals and information based on what has been provided to us from those on the scene,” a statement from the club read.

“What we’ve seen and heard to date leads us to believe that Teddy was the victim of an assault at the hands of security at a downtown nightclub.”

City police to resume drug-enforcement crackdown

The Winnipeg Police Service is restarting a drug enforcement campaign in certain neighbourhoods Friday after a 10-day initiative led to more than 100 arrests – eight for drug possession or trafficking – earlier this summer.

Police said the renewed campaign, targeting open drug use and trafficking, will continue into November with an outreach-first approach and improved communication and collaboration with community organizations in response to complaints about the initial crackdown.

Chief Gene Bowers said the three-month campaign will be reassessed in November to determine where it will go from there.

Police said the 10-day initiative, which began June 24 and focused on Main Street near Higgins and Logan avenues, parts of West Broadway and other areas, involved 1,099 officer-generated and related calls for service.

Federal government to build $267-M emergency research lab in Winnipeg

The federal government says it will build a $267-million medical countermeasures laboratory in Winnipeg with the goal of preparing Canada for future pandemics or outbreaks.

Expected to open in 2033, the national site will help the country develop vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostic tools, Winnipeg Liberal MP Terry Duguid said.

“This is a big deal for our city and for our province, a big deal for life sciences in Canada,” he told reporters Wednesday. “This facility is going to help protect the nation and help protect the world.”

Ottawa said the site — to be located next to the National Microbiology Laboratory’s Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health on Arlington Street, just north of William Avenue — draws on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

U of M researchers studying ‘digital legacy planning’ before death

A team of researchers at the University of Manitoba wants adults to take the cloud they leave behind into special consideration when they envision heaven and their afterlife.

Drunk driver who killed cycling couple, orphaned their infant daughter, sentenced to eight years

A Winnipeg man responsible for a drunk-driving crash that killed two cyclists last summer and left their infant child an orphan has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Kuldeep Singh Gill was arrested Sept. 13 after fleeing from a high-speed collision on Kenaston Boulevard that killed 31-year-old Egor Popov and his 25-year-old common-law partner Kerry Ashley Bonner.

Gill, 46, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of failing to stop at the scene of a collision.

Gill, who has a prior conviction for impaired driving, made a conscious decision to drive drunk, knowing it made him a danger on the road, provincial court Judge David Ireland said at a sentencing hearing Tuesday.

Transit driver stabbed with syringe by passenger

A Winnipeg Transit driver is recovering in hospital after a passenger stabbed him in the leg with a syringe while riding the bus early Wednesday, the Amalgamated Transit Union says.

The union said the incident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. while the operator was stopped in the northbound lanes of Isabel Street, near William Avenue. A female passenger reached around the driver’s safety shield and stabbed the driver twice before getting off the bus.

The driver was taken to the Seven Oaks Hospital in stable condition, where he is undergoing treatment and further testing, union president James Van Gerwen said in an interview.

“We spoke to the member. He is doing OK, but he is still in the hospital and he is scared — as anybody would be,” Van Gerwen said.