City installs remote door locks, buzzers at Sherbrook Pool in response to staff safety concerns

Heightened issues with safety at the Kinsmen Sherbrook Pool have prompted the city to introduce new security measures, including remote door locks that require patrons to buzz in before entering the public facility.

City police charge 72-year-old man after threatening, racist letters sent to Indigenous, female cabinet minister

Cabinet minister and Indigenous MLA Nahanni Fontaine said threatening, racist letters that were sent to her last summer are “pretty violent and grotesque.”

Residents with medical needs evacuated from Peguis amid flood threat

Some of the most vulnerable Peguis First Nation residents have been evacuated from the flood-threatened community.

Denise Bear, the nurse in charge of the Peguis Health Centre, told the community in a video on social media that three people in the Priority 1 category were evacuated on Monday with more to follow on Tuesday.

Bear said those in the Priority 1 category include people using wheelchairs, those with complex medical needs requiring special equipment, residents needing dialysis, and children with complex medical needs.

She said women who are 35 weeks or more into their pregnancies are also part of the evacuation.

Foster parents in The Pas charged in 2024 head-trauma death of six-year-old in their care

Two foster parents in The Pas have been criminally charged after a little girl in their care died in 2024 of a traumatic head injury believed to have been caused by an assault.

The Pas RCMP were called in after one of the caregivers took the six-year-old girl, with “serious injuries and bruises,” to the local hospital on Oct. 29, 2024, Mounties said Tuesday.

Health officials had the girl airlifted to Winnipeg for medical treatment. She died on Nov. 3 that year of head trauma.

Officials were initially told the girl had fallen from her bed, but RCMP major crime investigators later determined that she had been assaulted the day before she was taken to the hospital.

Council to vote on removing Wyatt from civic committees while he faces sex assault charge

Winnipeg city council will vote on removing Coun. Russ Wyatt from most of the civic committees he participates in, in the wake of a sexual assault charge.

The Transcona councillor has declared his innocence and vowed to continue doing his job, despite calls from Mayor Scott Gillingham and others to step away to deal with the charges.

Wyatt was arrested and charged in March with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance. It’s alleged that during a gathering in December in the east area of the city, the victim was sexually assaulted after being given an illicit drug.

The executive policy committee voted at city hall Tuesday to recommend that council rescind Wyatt’s membership on the property and development committee, the Winnipeg Food Council, Transcona Museum Board, Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corp., and Winnipeg Public Library Board.

Servers entitled to money, labour board rules in restaurant owner’s appeal

The Manitoba Labour Board rejected an appeal from a St. Boniface restaurant owner, saying four former servers were entitled to money labelled as advances on their pay stubs.

Chaise Café and Lounge owner Shea Ritchie argued the employees should have to repay those advances.

A Jan. 17, 2025 decision by the labour board, included in the department’s 2024-25 annual report tabled in the legislature Monday, disagreed, stating the money was actually tips the servers had earned.

“The amounts were odd numbers, like $18 or other random numbers versus a whole lump sum like $100 or $200, which one might expect if they were, in fact, pay advances,” the decision read.

Free Press reporters nominated for national data journalism award

Two Free Press reporters have been nominated for a Canadian Association of Journalists award for their deep dive into Winnipeg’s transit overhaul last summer.

Julia-Simone Rutgers and Malak Abas were recognized in the data journalism category for Overhaul upheaval: Transit overhaul created significant gaps in service, hitting low-income areas and bus-dependent populations hardest.

The feature analyzed the major route changes for Winnipeg bus riders using maps and graphics to help tell the story.

Rutgers and Abas will go up against nominees from Radio-Canada, the Edmonton Journal/MacEwan University and Canada’s National Observer.

Manitoba’s Lotts chase Canada’s first world mixed doubles curling gold

Colton and Kadriana Lott are among the most decorated mixed doubles curling teams in Canada and are determined to add to their medal haul.

The Gimli, Man., couple have won two gold, two silver and a bronze at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Championships since 2019, and now hope to capture Canada’s first title at the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Geneva, Switzerland, starting Saturday.

“Obviously, Canada hasn’t won gold in this discipline and that’s what we’re setting out to do. We couldn’t be more hungry and driven to do so,” Colton Lott said on a media call Tuesday.

The Lotts posted an 8-1 record at the 2024 world championship but failed to medal.

Liberals move to take control of House committees now that they’ve secured majority

OTTAWA - The Liberals are moving to take control of House of Commons committees now that they've secured a majority government.

House leader Steven MacKinnon said in a social media post Tuesday that the Liberals will seek to change the standing orders, the rules that govern the Commons, to ensure they have the most votes on committees.

"Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government are determined to work constructively both in the House and in parliamentary committees," he said. 

Majority governments traditionally hold a majority of seats on House committees.