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.

Man, 72, arrested after threatening, racist letters sent to Indigenous cabinet minister

Winnipeg police have arrested a 72-year-old man who is accused of sending racist and threatening letters to an Indigenous Manitoba cabinet minister.

Police did not reveal the identify of the MLA, but the office of Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine confirmed Tuesday she was the target of the letters.

In a news release Tuesday morning, the Winnipeg Police Service said an elected official received multiple letters between July and September 2025 that included racist comments and a threat of violence.

On Saturday, major crimes investigators executed a search warrant at a residence in the northwest area of the city, where the 72-year-old man was arrested. He is facing charges of criminal harassment and uttering threats.

Some people with medical needs are being taken out of Peguis First Nation

PEGUIS - Some residents with medical needs are being taken out of Peguis First Nation in advance of anticipated flooding.

Lisa Naylor, Manitoba's infrastructure minister, says people with certain medical conditions or who need ongoing medical treatment are being moved out in case water makes roads impassable.

Chief Stan Bird says the Fisher River has come up slightly since yesterday and warm weather today may add to water levels.

The community has been sandbagging since last week, and Bird says it remains to be seen whether all of the 200 or more homes that might need protection will get barriers.

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 said Tuesday it was a planned shooting at an internationally famous pyramids site that took the life of a Canadian tourist.

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

He said the gunman -- 27-year-old Julio César Jasso Ramírez of Guerrero, Mexico -- acted alone Monday as he rained bullets down on tourists at the Teotihuacan pyramids, north of Mexico City.

Authorities say he then shot himself to death.

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.