Storm with high winds pounds Istanbul; 4 dead, several hurt

White-supremacist highway sign casts pall on Steinbach city council campaign

The RCMP is investigating a white-nationalist sign near Steinbach with racist messaging and alleged links to a known Canadian far-right group.

Storm costs not factored in to MPI request for 2.38% rate increase

Manitoba Public Insurance told the Public Utilities Board Tuesday it didn’t factor in reinsurance costs related to devastating summer storms in its application for an increase to vehicle insurance rates.

Cara Low, the Crown corporation’s chief actuary, told the board that given MPI anticipates an increase to reinsurance premiums, the 2.38 per cent increase listed in its application won’t be adequate to cover its costs.

“There’s going to be a significant increase. We still have to decide how much we want to retain, what we want the coverage to look like, and what the upper end needs to be,” she said on the opening day of a three-week hearing.

Nearly 41,000 claims have been submitted in relation to summer storms that swept across southern Manitoba from June to August. Floods, tornadoes and hail pummelled several communities and forced MPI to open satellite claims centres to deal with the record number of calls.

Mayoral candidates share faves, test knowledge in Free Press culture quiz

It’s been said that politics is downwind of culture. However true that is, where politicians stand on hot-button cultural debates such as artificial intelligence, whether they prefer sports over arts and what local restaurants they patronize can offer a window into their sensibilities and outlooks.

The Free Press invited the four leading mayoral candidates among decided voters — according to a recent Abacus poll — to take part in a cultural quiz. (Kevin Klein, who was polling second, did not respond.) While most of the questions are lighthearted, they speak to some of the personalities behind the heated rivalries over budgets, buses, business taxation and beyond.

What was the last book you finished?

● Scott Gillingham: I’m almost done Winnipeg author Paul Vincent Jacuzzi’s book Blind Eyes. It’s a Dalton Drake novel.

Former Oilers teammates square off for first time

Calvin Pickard has been many things to Stuart Skinner.

An ally, sounding board, confidante and most importantly, a close friend.

They were a goalie tandem for parts of three seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, making two trips to the Stanley Cup final, combining for 29 playoff wins, but falling just short of achieving the ultimate goal on both of those occasions.

They were opponents just once last season when the Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins met for the first time since the trade that shipped Skinner to Pennsylvania, but it was Tristan Jarry – the guy he was traded for – standing at the opposite side of the rink.

Police, street groups looking to extend co-ordinated outreach-first approach to drug-use, trafficking crackdown

Winnipeg police and street outreach groups are discussing how to extend an initiative that tries to link people with addictions and homelessness services, while targeting open drug use and dealing.