Gallery: When the trail goes cold A day on the ice with the Nestaweya River Trail's maintenance crew By: Photography by Mike Deal / Free Press Posted: 4:21 PM CST Friday, Feb. 14, 2025

Body of 11-year-old Calgary boy missing for two weeks found in water pipe

CALGARY - An 11-year-old Calgary boy who disappeared two weeks ago has been found dead in a labyrinth of pipes under the city, police announced Wednesday.

Chief Katie McLellan said the boy, named Parker, was discovered in a small water pipe underneath Deerfoot Trail, the city's major north-south expressway.

"For nearly two weeks, so many people woke up hoping it would be the day Parker came home," McLellan told reporters.

"Instead, we are here sharing news that is heartbreaking for his family and for everyone who has been carrying that hope."

Province orders mosquito fogging owing to increased risk of West Nile virus

Parts of Winnipeg and several rural communities will be sprayed for mosquitoes in the coming days as the heat wave across southern Manitoba has created a higher risk of exposure to West Nile virus.

The province has issued a fogging order under the Environment Act in response to a high number of Culex tarsalis mosquitoes — the primary transmitter of West Nile virus — in Manitoba.

Surveillance data from last week showed evidence of the West Nile virus.

“High temperatures across southern Manitoba have shortened the time required for West Nile virus to develop within infected Culex tarsalis mosquitoes and be transmitted to humans,” the province’s first bulletin on West Nile virus this summer, published Thursday afternoon, reads.

Health Sciences Centre hit with 12-hour power outage

The cause of a power outage that affected several areas of Health Sciences Centre is under investigation.

MPI donates auto repair gear to RRC Polytech

Manitoba Public Insurance’s donation Thursday came without an oversized cheque or physical money.

Instead, the Crown corporation announced $1.2-million worth of collision repair equipment for Red River College Polytechnic.

“We knew that the equipment wasn’t being used to its full value,” Carmen Nedohin, MPI’s board chair, said outside the Winnipeg post-secondary’s auto repair shop at its Notre Dame Avenue campus.

Inside, students assembled golf carts. More than 200 pieces of equipment — frame racks, dent pulling systems — have been added to the facility. “It was just a perfect fit,” Nedohin added.

South Osborne residents fail in bid to prevent construction of 131-unit apartment tower

A proposed 10-storey highrise on an empty south Osborne lot will move forward despite concerns from residents about the impact the building will have on nearby parking and traffic.

The city-owned lot at 425 Osborne St., which previously served as a gas station but has long sat vacant, will be developed into a mixed-use residential building with 131 units, 39 of which would be affordable, along with additional office space for the adjacent Winnipeg Transit garage and the Transit customer service centre across the street, along with a two-level parkade for tenants and Transit employees.

The property is being developed by the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corp. 2.0, and designed by Prairie Architects Inc.

At a meeting held by city council’s appeal committee Wednesday, several residents said while they supported the idea of more housing in the Lord Roberts neighbourhood, they had lingering concerns about the impact the development will have on the already-busy area.

Gallery: When the trail goes cold: A day on the ice with the Nestaweya River Trail's maintenance crew

Free Press photographer Mike Deal joined the Nestaweya River Trail maintenance crew this week to see how they keep things running as smooth as ice. The trail, about 6 km in length, has been a Winnipeg winter destination since 1990.