Overnight ER closure at B.C. hospital due to staffing challenges

Man who exploited teen sentenced to 11 years in prison

A man who picked up a vulnerable 17-year-old child-welfare ward on the streets of Winnipeg and coerced her into providing sexual services for several months has been sent to prison for more than a decade.

After a trial, Hassan Kargbo, who’s in his early 30s, was found guilty of sexual exploitation, making child sexual abuse and exploitation material, receiving a material benefit from sexual services provided by a person under 18, procuring a person under 18 and advertising sexual services.

Provincial court Judge Julie Frederickson sentenced him to 11 years behind bars late last month.

“Mr. Kargbo picked up a young Indigenous girl walking over the Osborne Street bridge and quickly got her involved in drug use and escorting,” Frederickson said in a written decision.

Canadian Mennonite University students, staff victims of cyberattack

Canadian Mennonite University fell victim to a cyberattack that compromised the data of current and former students and employees last month.

School officials became aware of the cybersecurity incident, in which an “unknown third party” accessed its information technology systems without authorization, on Sept. 18, university president Cheryl Pauls said in a recent statement.

The university has since confirmed the third party used that access to steal information from its systems.

“We immediately initiated our incident response plan, retained expert assistance, and informed the university community whose workflows were affected as soon as we became aware of the incident,” Pauls said. “We also reported this incident to law enforcement and will be filing a report with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.”

Gov. Gen. Arbour embarks on first official visit to Manitoba

Arbour’s three-day stop in Winnipeg and Gimli will focus on activities related to civil engagement, youth and reconciliation

Infill development on minds of all three River Heights-Fort Garry candidates

A trio of candidates will compete to become the first new city councillor in River Heights-Fort Garry since 2009.

Coun. John Orlikow, who won the seat in a byelection, is not running for another term.

Georgina Sabesky, who served as Orlikow’s executive assistant for 17 years, is now one of the candidates vying for the council seat.

Sabesky said that job gave her ample knowledge of the ward.

Amazon in the weeds over damage to tall grass reserve

Patricia Dutchak was devastated when she first saw the wide swaths of crushed grass and upturned soil at Winnipeg’s Rotary Prairie Nature Park, a municipal heritage site.

“This is a very rare ecosystem, a remnant of tall grass prairie, there’s barely any left in the world, and to come here and see all this damage was heartbreaking,” Dutchak, chair of the Transcona Rotary Club’s parks committee, says.

The club is responsible for maintaining the protected green space, which was significantly damaged this summer when a fence between the park and the neighbouring Amazon distribution centre was relocated.

The 20-acre nature preserve is situated on a narrow tract of land on Regent Avenue West in the commercial heart of Transcona. The park received its municipal heritage designation in 1992 and is, today, surrounded by high-traffic streets, industrial warehouses and car dealerships.

Police seize cocaine valued at $1.5M, about $750K in cash in raid on St. Vital house

A St. Vital homeowner and her husband were going about their business during an afternoon last month when police officers in tactical gear suddenly appeared, walking across their front lawn.

The target was a few doors down: a maroon bi-level home on a quiet stretch of Satinwood Place, within earshot of children playing outside at a nearby school.

The homeowner, who asked not to be named to protect their privacy, said the police presence caught the couple by surprise in the Southglen neighbourhood, where they weren’t accustomed to seeing that kind of activity.

“We never heard the (police) cars pull up, but there were cars blocking the entrance to the street from both sides,” said the neighbour. “They had a shield, a battering ram — everything. Just not used to seeing that.”