Minnesota sues TikTok, alleging it preys on young people with addictive algorithms

Woman pleads guilty in toddler’s death

A woman who pleaded guilty to failing to provide the necessaries of life after her 13-month-old son died of an drug overdose in their Sherbrook Street apartment will serve a sentence of house arrest.

Latasha Stewart, in her mid-30s, was given the conditional sentence order of two years less a day by provincial court Judge Malcolm McDonald last Wednesday over the Dec. 29, 2022 death of her son Romeo.

“The circumstances in this case are truly tragic. As a result of an adult’s careless drug use, a 13-month-old boy lost his life,” said McDonald.

“It’s hard to imagine a clearer … lesson in the dangers of street-drug use in a household with young children present (than) in this case.”

Thirteen accused in gun, drug trafficking network in rural Manitoba

RCMP and Winkler police have arrested more than a dozen people allegedly connected to a drug-and-gun trafficking network that operated in rural Manitoba.

The joint investigation began in December 2024, when officers from the Winkler Police Service asked the Mounties for help after learning kilograms of cocaine were being imported to a Winkler-area truck repair business, said RCMP Supt. Jeff Asmundson, who oversees the force’s Manitoba integrated law enforcement team.

Mounties and Winkler police gathered evidence for 19 months and expanded the probe, dubbed Project Dolor, as investigators learned other types of illicit substances and firearms were being trafficked by the network in a number of southern Manitoba communities, said Asmundson, whose team investigates serious and organized crime.

“It started as a cocaine trafficking investigation, and obviously, as we move along in a project or a file, evidence is gathered and an opportunity arose and we wanted to ensure public safety,” he told reporters Tuesday. “We were able to secure some firearms.”

Blue Bombers volunteer seriously injured in collision with e-scooter

A longtime Winnipeg Blue Bombers volunteer was rushed to hospital and now faces months of recovery after being hit by an e-scooter while directing football fans after a home game last month.

Ottawa to hit U.S. back with tariffs on steel, aluminum, smartphones and golf clubs

OTTAWA - The federal government hit back at the latest escalation in the trade war with the United States on Tuesday, announcing plans to hike American steel and aluminum tariffs from 25 to 50 per cent.

The move, which will come into force on Sept. 8, is part of a list of nearly 900 U.S. products being tariffed in retaliation for the United States imposing new tariffs on Canada last week.

The government will also impose 50 per cent tariffs on smartphones, golf clubs, video game consoles, fishing rods, clothing and apparel, furniture and perfumes, among other goods.

It will levy a 25 per cent tariff on appliances, agricultural machinery, dairy products, seafood and certain steel and aluminum derivatives products.

Man sues WRHA, doctors after wrong leg amputated at Grace Hospital in 2024

A man whose left leg was mistakenly amputated — rather than his infected lower right leg — at the Grace Hospital in 2024 has filed a lawsuit against the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and two doctors involved in his care.

Jason Kennedy, who lives in Winnipeg and is a member of Bloodvein First Nation, filed his statement of claim in Court of King’s Bench last week, naming the WRHA and orthopedic surgeons Dr. David John Dillon and Dr. Yiyang Zhang as defendants.

He accuses the health authority and doctors of negligence and breach of duty, among other allegations.

Kennedy was 48 when he went to Seven Oaks General Hospital on Oct. 22, 2024, with pain and an infection in his right foot.

Senior’s family frustrated by Manitoba Housing’s response to apartment’s bedbug infestation

The family of a senior who left his Manitoba Housing apartment after two years of bedbug infestations is accusing the provincial body of being ineffectual and irresponsible in its treatment of the persistent pests.

The senior had lived at the Columbus Courts building at 253 Edgeland Blvd., since 2011, but when he began getting severe skin rashes all over his body about two years ago, his son began to worry.

They found out the 14-storey building was being sprayed for bedbugs after an infestation had impacted several units. After multiple rounds of pesticide treatments, the problem has not subsided, the son told the Free Press.

“They come in, they spray pesticides and then they leave. And it’s been completely ineffectual,” he said. “My dad keeps seeing the bedbugs even the day after the treatments and continuously, they’ve just gotten worse and worse.”