Top News

Charles III crowned in ancient rite at Westminster Abbey

Danica Kirka And Jill Lawless, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: 9:44 AM CDT

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III was crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey, receiving the bejeweled St. Edward's Crown in a ceremony built on ancient tradition at a time when the monarchy is striving to remain relevant in a fractured modern Britain.

Trumpets sounded inside the medieval abbey and the congregation shouted “God save the king!” at a service attended by more than 2,000 guests, including world leaders, aristocrats and celebrities. Outside, thousands of troops, tens of thousands of spectators and a smattering of protesters converged.

The crowd of well-wishers swelled to hundreds of thousands by the time the newly crowned Charles and Queen Camilla emerged to wave from the Buckingham Palace balcony alongside younger generations of royals.

It was the culmination of a seven-decade journey for the king from heir to monarch.

This Just In

Two shot in Flin Flon

Friday, 2:48 PM CDT

A Flin Flon woman was flown to a Winnipeg hospital after she was shot Thursday night.

RCMP were called about shots fired at an address on Ross Street at about 9:45 p.m.

The 23-year-old woman remained in hospital on Friday afternoon, Flin Flon RCMP said.

A 28-year-old man suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. He remains in hospital, RCMP said.

Investigators do not believe the incidents were random. They consider the woman's shooting an "attempted murder."

Flin Flon RCMP are asking anyone with information about the incident to call them at 204-687-1422 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).

Woman missing in Selkirk

Friday, 2:38 PM CDT

RCMP are asking for the public’s help in finding a missing Selkirk woman.

Selkirk RCMP said on Friday Drusilla Kirkwood, 34, was last seen in the community on Manitoba Avenue on April 27 at about 5 p.m.

Kirkwood is described as 5-7 in height, 230 lbs., brown hair and eyes, and was last seen wearing black pants, red shirt, brown shoes and a grey sweatshirt.

Anyone with information is asked to call Selkirk RCMP at 204-482-1222 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at manitobacrimestoppers.com.

 

Hide Caption Drusilla Kirkwood (Handout)
Drusilla Kirkwood (Handout)

Woman slain in Little Grand Rapids

Friday, 1:04 PM CDT

Two men were arrested after a homicide in Little Grand Rapids on Thursday.

RCMP were called about a disturbance at a home at about 4:15 p.m.

Officers arrested two men, ages 35 and 25, within the home.

RCMP later learned that a 63-year-old woman who lives in the home had been taken to the nursing station, where she was pronounced dead.

The death is being investigated as a homicide.

Police search for missing 91-year-old woman

Friday, 11:57 AM CDT

Winnipeg police are searching for a vulnerable 91-year-old woman.

Police said Eleanor Loeb was last seen in the Chalmers area this morning between 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. They've activated a silver alert to help locate her.

Police said she's 5-5 with a medium build and brown shoulder-length hair. She was last seen wearing a red sweater and brown pants, and uses a walker.

Police ask anyone with information on her whereabouts to call missing persons investigators at 204-986-6250.

Hide Caption WPS HANDOUT Eleanor Loeb, 91, was last seen in the Chalmers area Friday morning.
WPS HANDOUT Eleanor Loeb, 91, was last seen in the Chalmers area Friday morning.

Missing woman, 42, found dead: RCMP

Friday, 11:44 AM CDT

A 42-year-old woman who went missing in northern Manitoba on April 27 has been found dead.

RCMP said searchers discovered Catherine Dumas’s body in a wooded area in Muskrat Bay in Split Lake on Thursday.

Her cause of death has not been determined.

Boy, 15, stabbed in schoolyard

Friday, 11:10 AM CDT

Winnipeg police are searching for suspects after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed by a group of youths in a schoolyard Thursday night.

Police dispatched to the reported stabbing in the West End just after 11 p.m., after the boy made his way down the block from Isaac Brock School on Clifton Street and a resident called for emergency responders.

The boy was taken to hospital in unstable condition but later upgraded to stable condition.

Major crimes investigators have determined the victim got into a confrontation with a group of youths near the school, which led to the boy being stabbed before the suspects ran.

Police have asked anyone with information to call major crimes investigators at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

(This brief has been updated to correct the name of the school.)

Police search for missing Long Plain teen

Thursday, 2:40 PM CDT

Law enforcement are searching for a teen girl who was last seen at her foster placement home in Long Plain First Nation in late April.

The Manitoba First Nations Police Service said Kali Laporte, 17, was last seen at the home in the evening of April 18. She was reported missing to police on Tuesday.

Police said they are unsure of her whereabouts but she is known to frequent Portage la Prairie, Winnipeg and Waywayseecappo First Nation.

She's Indigenous, 4-11 and about 100 lbs, with very short brown hair and brown eyes. She typically wears a hat. Police ask anyone with information on where she is to call the Long Plain detachment at 204-252-4480.

Hide Caption MFNPS HANDOUT Kali Laporte, 17, was last seen in Long Plain on April 18.
MFNPS HANDOUT Kali Laporte, 17, was last seen in Long Plain on April 18.

Rapper 50 Cent to play Canada Life Centre Sept. 13

Thursday, 12:39 PM CDT

American rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson will take the stage at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday, Sept. 13 as part of his world tour, dubbed The Final Lap.

The tour will celebrate the 20th anniversary of 50 Cent's debut breakthrough album Get Rich or Die Tryin’, which was produced by Dr. Dre and Eminem and features hits such as In da Club and 21 Questions.

In addition to many of his hits, 50 Cent will be performing “select tracks that have not been performed live in decades,” according to a press release.

The Canada Life Centre show will also feature special guest Busta Rhymes as well as Jeremih.

Tickets go on sale Friday, May 12 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster; a fan presale will take place Wednesday, May 10 for “verified fans” who sign up here.

Teen stabbed over cigarette, dad says

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Preview

Teen stabbed over cigarette, dad says

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 5:38 PM CDT

A 15-year-old boy was stabbed after he asked a group of youngsters hanging around in a schoolyard for a cigarette, his father says.

“He was going for a walk through the park there, and he asked somebody for a cigarette… He talked to them for a couple seconds, then boom, he got stabbed,” the dad said.

Police were sent to the incident at Isaac Brock School at 1265 Barratt Ave. just after 11 p.m. Thursday after the boy ran to a nearby home following the confrontation with the four teens.

The resident called 911 and the suspects fled, police said.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 5:38 PM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

A 15-year-old boy was stabbed after he asked a group of youngsters hanging around Isaac Brock School for a cigarette.

Widening roadway, adding active transportation part of $550-million Route 90 upgrade

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

Widening roadway, adding active transportation part of $550-million Route 90 upgrade

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Yesterday at 7:00 PM CDT

A long-awaited proposal to improve a notorious Route 90 bottleneck would widen the street to offer three traffic lanes in each direction, install active transportation pathways on both sides and update aging infrastructure.

The overhaul of the busy route, between Taylor and Ness avenues, was identified as a strategic infrastructure priority for council in 2011, partly because there are few other alternative routes nearby.

On each weekday, more than 40,000 vehicles pass through this section of Route 90, with travel times ranging from about seven to eight minutes during peak periods in both directions. If nothing changes along the route, travel time is expected to grow to nearly 14 minutes (morning rush) and 10.7 minutes (afternoon rush) for northbound traffic by 2041, while reaching 8.5 minutes (morning) and 10.8 minutes (afternoon) for vehicles heading southbound the same year, public consultation documents state.

With the improvements, city staff predicts travel times would range from roughly seven to nine minutes, preventing delays from roughly doubling in some cases as the population grows.

Read
Yesterday at 7:00 PM CDT

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
A long-awaited proposal to improve a notorious Route 90 bottleneck would widen the street to offer three traffic lanes in each direction, install active transportation pathways on both sides and update aging infrastructure.

Other Canadian cities more successful at reducing bike theft

Matthew Frank 8 minute read Preview

Other Canadian cities more successful at reducing bike theft

Matthew Frank 8 minute read Yesterday at 7:00 PM CDT

Jen Sjodin never expected to be sending her 13-year-old son pedalling down a criminal path.

But the Winnipeg mom was out of luck when it came to retrieving his $400 bike with the help of city police, so she and her husband took matters into their own hands, and their son Dawson’s legs.

He’d saved for months to buy the grey and neon-green Giant Talon last fall. Not long after getting his new wheels, he rode to the Walmart on Taylor Avenue and locked his bike to the rack near the front doors. He was in and out of the store in about 15 minutes, and found his cable lock cut. The bike was gone.

Sjodin filed a police report with the Winnipeg Police Service, posted a notice on Facebook and scoured online classified ads in hopes of finding the bike. Six days later, Dawson spotted it on Kijiji.

Read
Yesterday at 7:00 PM CDT

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Jen Sjodin and son Dawson.

Premier grilled about 10 per cent PST claim

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Preview

Premier grilled about 10 per cent PST claim

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Yesterday at 6:12 PM CDT

Premier Heather Stefanson had some explaining to do over her repeated claim the NDP, if elected in the fall, would raise the provincial sales tax to 10 per cent.

“I’m not making anything up,” the Progressive Conservative leader said as she answered reporters’ questions Friday after speaking at the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce economic summit.

“How are they planning to pay for all their increases in social services, in health care and all their increases in expenditure?” she said when asked about the source of her claim that an NDP government would hike the PST by three percentage points.

“In the past, what they’ve done is they’ve used the PST to do that.”

Read
Yesterday at 6:12 PM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Premier Heather Stefanson speaks at the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce 2023 Manitoba Economic Summit at the Victoria Hotel.

Century-old funeral home won’t do business in core-area ’war zone,’ owner tells councillors

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Preview

Century-old funeral home won’t do business in core-area ’war zone,’ owner tells councillors

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Yesterday at 6:25 PM CDT

The head of a company that has called the area around Health Sciences Centre home for more than 100 years says the emergence of massive piles of rubble in the surrounding neighbourhood is forcing the business to reluctantly consider moving elsewhere.

“The roads and sidewalks are falling apart, garbage is strewn all over the area and graffiti is a blight on many of the buildings. But, recently, we have a new problem, burned-out hulks (of buildings) and piles of rubble that make it look like you’re entering a war zone in order to get to my business,” Kevin Sweryd, president of Bardal Funeral Home, told council’s community services committee on Friday.

“The condition of that neighbourhood… makes it very difficult.”

Sweryd said the business is committed to revitalizing the area and he picks up garbage and needles and promptly removes any graffiti on or near the building at 843 Sherbrook St.

Read
Yesterday at 6:25 PM CDT

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Bardal funeral director Adam Sweryd stands next to a rubble pile on William at Furby, near the funeral home.

Man charged with murder in burning-body slaying accused in recent stabbings

Erik Pindera 4 minute read Preview

Man charged with murder in burning-body slaying accused in recent stabbings

Erik Pindera 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 4:38 PM CDT

A man who was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday after a burning body was found in a Point Douglas warehouse parking lot last week is also suspected in two separate stabbings.

Emergency crews were sent to the gravel parking lot near MacDonald Avenue and Gomez Street at about 1 a.m. on April 27, where they found the victim’s body on fire.

The lot is connected to a Gomez Street warehouse that backs onto the bank of the Red River. Police initially classified the death as suspicious, but homicide detectives were handling the case.

Police announced Friday morning that the death was a homicide and that the victim was a man.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 4:38 PM CDT

A man who was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday after a burning body was found in a Point Douglas warehouse parking lot last week is also suspected in two separate stabbings.

Fourth woman testifies in trial of Ste. Anne doctor

Dean Pritchard 3 minute read Preview

Fourth woman testifies in trial of Ste. Anne doctor

Dean Pritchard 3 minute read Yesterday at 5:59 PM CDT

A Manitoba woman says she “wrote off” unsettling examinations by her family doctor as the product of “old school” medical procedures before she realized what he was doing wasn’t right.

“After the last exam I was mad, because I knew it was wrong,” the woman testified Friday at the trial of Dr. Arcel Bissonnette.

She is the fourth of five women prosecutors allege Bissonnette sexually assaulted during examinations at the Ste. Anne Hospital and Seine Medical Centre.

The woman in court Friday testified about three examinations during which she alleged Bissonnette inserted a speculum into her rectum without advance warning or her consent.

Read
Yesterday at 5:59 PM CDT

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES

She said she initially “wrote off” her first two visits with Dr. Arcel Bissonnette, thinking he was using outdated “old school” medical procedures.

Blood, mayhem and hockey glory: Looking back on the 1972-73 Portage Terriers

Mike Sawatzky 17 minute read Preview

Blood, mayhem and hockey glory: Looking back on the 1972-73 Portage Terriers

Mike Sawatzky 17 minute read Yesterday at 3:35 PM CDT

In Manitoba hockey lore, there are few teams that can match up to the 1972-73 Portage Terriers — the perfect amalgam of leadership, skill and toughness. Next week, the Terriers will regroup to toast their past achievement. Mike Sawatzky looks back on the blood, mayhem and glory.

Read
Yesterday at 3:35 PM CDT

Portage captain Grant Farncombe hoists the Centennial Cup after the Terriers defeated Pembroke Lumber Kings at the old Winnipeg Arena. (Dave Johnson / Winnipeg Free Press files)

176 dead, many more missing after Congo floods

Jean-yves Kamale, The Associated Press 1 minute read Preview

176 dead, many more missing after Congo floods

Jean-yves Kamale, The Associated Press 1 minute read Updated: 9:11 AM CDT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen to 176, with some 100 people still missing, according to a provisional assessment given by the governor and authorities in the country's South Kivu province.

Rivers broke their banks in villages in the territory of Kalehe close to the shores of Lake Kivu. Authorities also reported scores of people injured.

South Kivu Gov. Théo Ngwabidje visited the area to see the destruction for himself, and posted on his Twitter account that the provincial government had dispatched medical, shelter and food supplies.

Several main roads to the affected area have been been made impassable by the rains, hampering the relief efforts.

Read
Updated: 9:11 AM CDT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen to 176, with some 100 people still missing, according to a provisional assessment given by the governor and authorities in the country's South Kivu province.

Rivers broke their banks in villages in the territory of Kalehe close to the shores of Lake Kivu. Authorities also reported scores of people injured.

South Kivu Gov. Théo Ngwabidje visited the area to see the destruction for himself, and posted on his Twitter account that the provincial government had dispatched medical, shelter and food supplies.

Several main roads to the affected area have been been made impassable by the rains, hampering the relief efforts.

Columnists

See More

More Top News

Passages are published at 6:30am Mon - Sat

▼ Scroll for More ▼

LOAD MORE