News briefs for April 5, 2021

The Winnipeg Jets hung on for a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators Monday night at Bell MTS Place.

Josh Norris and Connor Brown both scored in the third period, but that’s as close as they’d get.

The Jets opened up a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes off a pair of goals from Pierre-Luc Dubois and single tallies from Adam Lowry and Kyle Connor.

Ryan Dzingel had the other Ottawa marker.

Final shots finished 46-23 for the Jets.

Winnipeg improves to 23-13-3 on the season, including 5-1 against Ottawa.The Senators fall to 13-22-4.

Up next for the Jets is a five-game road trip starting Thursday in Montreal.

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The Winnipeg Jets have opened up a big lead over the Ottawa Senators.

Adam Lowry, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor all scored in a lopsided second period in which the Jets outshot the Senators 22-6.

Ryan Dzingel had the lone Ottawa goal.

Dubois opened the scoring in the first period. 

Shots are 36-14 for Winnipeg through 40 minutes at Bell MTS Place.

Pierre-Luc Dubois has given the Winnipeg Jets an early 1-0 lead over the Ottawa Senators.

The 22-year-old centre took a feed from captain Blake Wheeler and ripped a shot past Anton Forsberg 2:10 into the game. It’s his eighth goal of the season.

Shots were 14-8 for the Jets, despite taking three minor penalties in the period.

At 2:20 p.m. Monday, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to a call of a reported grassfire near Charleswood Road. 

Upon arrival fire crews encountered a fire involving grass and brush that extended several hundred meters. 

Firefighters got the fire under control just after 3:30 p.m. One firefighter was injured and received medical attention. 

The cause of the fire is unknown, according to a press release from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.

A Winnipeg man is accused of impaired driving after allegedly being found passed out with a handgun in a damaged, parked car in the Polo Park area on Sunday morning.

Winnipeg police officers arrived at the scene around 4:20 a.m. and woke up the suspect, who they believe was impaired. A handgun and loaded magazine was also found in the vehicle, according to police.

Baldhir Singh Brar, 32, is accused of several impaired driving and weapons offences. He was detained in custody.

A woman was threatened with a gun and a knife while being robbed outside her home on the 800 block of Winnipeg Avenue on Sunday, police say.

A woman in her 20s was in her yard when she was robbed by an armed male and female suspect, triggering a call for help at 10:23 p.m., according to Winnipeg police.

Officers soon found two suspects in the area who allegedly had with them a sawed-off shotgun, a hunting-style knife and property believed to be stolen from the woman, police say.

Chance Dallas Tweet Meekis, 18, and a 17-year-old girl have been charged with armed robbery and other weapons offences. They were detained in custody.

Backyard composting could earn you a tax rebate, if one Winnipeg councilor’s new motion succeeds.

Coun. Kevin Klein (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood) is calling for a city report on a potential $100 property tax rebate for each household “actively engaged” in composting.

In the motion, Klein suggests homeowners could self-declare their composting effort during the previous year to claim the rebate, which could be paired with random inspections to ensure composting is actually taking place.

Organics make up 44 per cent of Winnipeg’s residential waste, so composting should be encouraged as an effective way to divert waste from the landfill, the motion argues. 

Provincial health officials announced 135 new cases of COVID-19 and 2 more deaths in Manitoba Monday.

There are 1,280 active cases in Manitoba, with 141 people in hospital, 29 of them in intensive care.

The five-day test positivity rate is 5.1 in Manitoba, and 4.3 in Winnipeg.

Public health officials have reported a total of 270 variant of concern cases in Manitoba including 235 cases of B.1.1.7, 20 cases of B.1.351, zero cases of P.1 and 15 uncategorized cases.

The new deaths include:
• a woman in her 60s from the Prairie Mountain Health region
• a woman in her 70s from the Winnipeg health region

Of the new cases announced Monday, 63 are in the Winnipeg health region, 7 in Southern Health; 3 in Interlake–Eastern; 19 in Prairie Mountain; and 43 in Northern Health.

The Manitoba Moose Hockey Club have signed centre Ty Pelton-Byce to a one-year AHL contract for the 2021-22 season while also adding goaltender Liam Hughes on an amateur tryout.

The 6-2, 195-pound Pelton-Byce will join the Moose on an amateur tryout for the remainder of 2020-21.

Pelton-Byce, 23, is in quarantine before joining his new teammates on the ice.

Hughes, 21, is coming off a sensational final season of junior with the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice in 2019-20.

The 6-3, 197-pounder played 32 games for the Ice,  posting a 21-11-0 record with a 2.53 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.

A 32-year-old man has been arrested for arson in connection to an Easter Sunday blaze that completely decimated the lone church in St. Theresa Point First Nation.

Not long after morning mass at St. Theresa Point Church, a fire engulfed the 65-year-old church in the remote Oji-Cree community — which is located 610 kilometres from Winnipeg — Sunday afternoon around 2:50 p.m.

On Monday, RCMP confirmed an arrest had been made in the incident. A 32-year-old, who was observed exiting the church when the fire started, was taken into custody, said RCMP spokesman Paul Manaigre in an email statement. 

While the building was “a total loss,” Manaigre said, no injuries were reported. An investigation is ongoing. 

One person was taken to hospital in unstable condition Sunday after a blaze broke out in a residence on Dufferin Avenue — the first of two sites of residential fires that crews in the city responded to at the end of the long-weekend. 

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Shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service attended a multi-family residence in the 700 block of Dufferin Avenue and launched an offensive attack to put out heavy smoke and flames.

All occupants had self-evacuated prior to the arrival of crews, who assessed one individual who was then transported to hospital. The cause of the fire, which was declared under control at 8:23 p.m., remains under investigation. 

Around the same time, firefighters also responded to reports of a fire in a single-family bungalow in the first 100 block of Manila Road. Upon arrival, crews found all occupants had safely evacuated and located pets in the home and reunited them with their owners; no injuries were reported in this incident. 

The second fire is believed to be accidental and caused by unattended cooking.