Manitoba summit to explore solutions to chronic truancy

Winnipeg teachers are cutting class on Thursday to strategize how to improve student attendance and remove barriers so more children show up for lessons on a regular basis.

Interest in respiratory therapy training surges as province seeks to fill demand

Nearly half of the first-year respiratory therapy training seats at the University of Manitoba went unfilled this year even though there’s huge demand amid a staffing shortage.

However, application numbers have jumped since Manitoba’s largest post-secondary institution launched an awareness campaign about openings in the profession.

“I hope this year we are going to fill that gap,” said Dr. Jithin Sreedharan, who heads the university’s respiratory therapy department.

Respiratory therapists, who assist people suffering from breathing difficulties, often work in acute and critical-care hospital units.

Crown appeals stay of proceedings against man accused of killing his mother

The Manitoba Prosecution Service is appealing a judge’s decision staying a second-degree murder charge against a man who went to trial two times accused of killing his mother when he was a teenager.

NDP announces menopause clinic to open next year

The NDP government announced Monday it will make good on a 2023 election promise to resurrect a provincial menopause clinic by fall 2027 — around the time the next provincial election is due.

Poll shows slim majority of Canadians in support of Churchill port expansion

More than half of Canadians support expanding the Port of Churchill, although the proposed mega-project faces environmental concerns and a lack of public awareness outside Manitoba, a new poll suggests.

Shooting at Mexico pyramids that killed Canadian tourist was planned: officials

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government says the shooting at an iconic pyramids site that killed a Canadian tourist was planned.

José Luis Cervantes Martínez, the attorney general of the state of Mexico, says the gunman carried a tactical-style backpack and had literature related to the deadly 1999 Columbine High School shooting in the U.S.

He says the gunman, identified as 27-year-old Julio César Jasso Ramírez of Guerrero, Mexico, acted alone Monday as he rained bullets down on tourists.

The shooting at the Teotihuacan pyramids north of Mexico City injured at least 13 people, including a 29-year-old Canadian woman and a six-year-old boy from Columbia.

Explosion forces residents to evacuate Kennedy Street Manitoba Housing complex

Residents of an inner-city high-rise say they were forced to evacuate Monday afternoon after explosions blew out a window on the eighth floor.

Peguis First Nation starts flood evacuation

Peguis First Nation said high-priority residents had been identified for immediate evacuation owing to the flood risk from the Fisher River as the spring melt intensified Monday.

People with disabilities, complex medical needs and pregnant women near their delivery date were being targeted for evacuation, said Doug Thomas, director of communications at Peguis.

A post on the First Nation’s official Facebook page noted that sandbagging efforts were winding down as of Monday evening. Peguis had been given more than 500,000 sandbags and 11,000 super sandbags to protect homes in the community in the Interlake, 180 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

The community remains under a state of emergency, and while flood mitigation efforts are ongoing, some who have lived through flooding in the past said they’re ready for anything.

Convicted former teacher fights for appeal as uncle grilled in legislature

As Chasity Findlay’s lawyers fought to overturn her sexual assault conviction in court Monday, Tory MLA Greg Nesbitt, her uncle who posted her bail, sat in question period and endured verbal barbs from Premier Wab Kinew.

At the Manitoba Court of Appeal, lawyers for the former high school teacher convicted in 2024 of sexual assault against a then-15-year-old student, argued text messages provided to police by the victim shouldn’t have been admitted into evidence at trial. Her lawyers argued the trial judge erred by accepting evidence of Findlay’s sexual history and erred in her analysis of Findlay’s credibility.

Findlay, who was 30 at the time of the offences, remains on bail as the province’s highest court mulls its decision. She was originally sentenced to five years in prison in September 2024.

Nesbitt, MLA for Riding Mountain, did not comment on his niece’s case during question period, though it was repeatedly brought up by Manitoba’s premier.

As US-Iran ceasefire deadline nears, uncertainty hangs over possible talks

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Last-minute ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran looked uncertain Tuesday as a two-week truce was set to expire and both countries warned that, without a deal, they were prepared to resume fighting.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, expected to lead U.S. negotiators if talks continue in Pakistan, remained in Washington on Tuesday, a White House official said. And Pakistan, which has been urging both sides to return to Islamabad, said it was still awaiting confirmation on whether Iran would participate.

Earlier in the day, two regional officials said Washington and Tehran had signaled they would hold a second round of talks, with Vance leading the U.S. team and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf as its top negotiator. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

But Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said later Tuesday on X that Iran had not formally confirmed its participation, which was set to expire Wednesday.

High fuel prices driving up shipping costs for northern grocers

Whether it's Florida oranges, Colombian coffee or even homegrown items from another province, food has often travelled a long way before it reaches grocery stores in Canada.

The supply chain gets even longer for communities in the Far North.

Typically, groceries are loaded onto a truck and taken to a launch point in cities like Ottawa or Winnipeg. They're then flown, or shipped by sea, to finally reach the shelves of remote northern grocery stores.

It's an expensive journey. By the time groceries reach northern communities, the added transport costs mean items are priced significantly higher than what most Canadians pay at the grocery store — and even more for fresh and perishable produce.