News briefs for Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Sherbrook Street is closed between Westminster and Sara avenues as firefighters battle a blaze. The Winnipeg Police Service is advising people to avoid the area.

The area will likely remain closed through the morning rush hour, the City of Winnipeg tweeted.

KUB Bakery is shutting down permanently today after operating for nearly 100 years.

The business, founded in the North End in 1923 and known for its rye bread, posted a note on a door at its Erin Street location this week.

“The past few years have been very challenging and our ability to continue operating has diminished, and unfortunately we were left with no other option,” the note states.

The Free Press will have more on this story later today.

A missing woman has been found and is safe, Winnipeg police said Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, police said Sheniece (Sage) Meeches, 23, had last been seen in the downtown area in early July.

Winnipeg police are investigating the vandalizing of Louis Riel’s headstone as a possible hate crime.

Police said on Wednesday the headstone was damaged in the St. Boniface Cathedral Cemetery, in front of the cathedral in the 100 block of Avenue de la Cathedrale, on Oct. 14. Photos released by police show what they say is a suspect who was there that day.

The announcement of the crime comes on the anniversary of Riel’s hanging in 1885.

Anyone with information is asked to call the major crimes unit at 204-986-6219 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).

City staff helped two people in need of shelter after flames engulfed a temporary encampment in the 600 block of Langside Street on Tuesday.

Several tents and their contents were damaged by the fire, which was extinguished by firefighters around 7 p.m.

No one was injured. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Multiple residents have been displaced after a fire broke out inside a three-storey, multi-family home in the 100 block of Sherbrook Street on Wednesday morning.

The occupants managed to escape without injury, a Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service news release stated.

Crews were called shortly after 6:20 a.m., bringing the blaze under control about 35 minutes later.

The fire’s cause is being investigated. Sherbrook has since reopened to traffic.

Manitoba Hydro has applied to the Public Utilities Board for a 3.5 per cent average increase to electricity rates effective Sept. 1 and a further 3.5 per cent average increase effective April 1, 2024.

Manitoba Hydro said the increases are needed to run the electric system, perform maintenance, and rebuild and expand the system as needed to continue to provide reliable, safe and effective service to customers.

The average impact of the proposed increase for residential customers is approximately $4 per month after Sept. 1, 2023 and an additional $4 per month after April 1, 2024.

Winnipeg Jets forward Mason Appleton is expected to miss the next 8-12 weeks after undergoing surgery on Tuesday for a wrist injury.

Appleton was hurt on Sunday night in Seattle during his team’s 3-2 overtime victory. Kraken defenceman Carson Soucy took him out with an illegal check — he was called for interference — and Appleton’s stick got stuck in the glass, wrenching his arm and jabbing him in the process.

Appleton, 26, had a goal and five assists in 14 games this year.

He joins forwards Nikolaj Ehlers and Morgan Barron, and defenceman Logan Stanley, on the injured list. Ehlers skated for the first time in a month prior to Wednesday’s practice, but there is still no timetable for a potential return from a lower-body injury.

Dominic Toninato is expected to take Appleton’s spot in the lineup when the Jets open a three-game homestand on Thursday night against the Anaheim Ducks.

REGINA — The plot has thickened when it comes to the health status of Zach Collaros, as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback was absent from practice Wednesday.

Collaros suffered an ankle injury late in the fourth quarter in the Bombers’ Western final win over the B.C. Lions this past weekend. He spoke after the game, telling reporters that he was fine and that it wasn’t a question of whether he’d be able to play in the Grey Cup game Sunday.

There’s been no other information provided by the team, and while Collaros isn’t expected to talk after Wednesday’s workout, there should be an update from head coach Mike O’Shea. The Bombers face the Toronto Argonauts in the Grey Cup, for the chance at a rare three-peat, after claiming the last two league titles in 2021 and 2019.

Sixteen dead kittens and rabbits were found in a Brandon home on Tuesday, police said.

The 28-year-old man is prohibited from having animals as a condition of a prior release, the Brandon Police Service said. The Chief Veterinary Office contacted the BPS after hearing the man had animals, and investigating officers found the carcasses.

Two living kittens were taken to a veterinary clinic, police said.

The man was scheduled to appear in Brandon court today on 16 counts of animal cruelty and 18 counts of failing to comply with conditions of an undertaking.

The next artistic director of the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre is Dan Petrenko, the local company announced Wednesday morning. His term begins Jan. 16.

Petrenko, who most recently lived in Toronto, is a director, playwright and producer who’s worked in Canada, the U.S., and in London’s West End. Born and raised in Israel to Ukrainian-Jewish parents, Petrenko is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where he attained a master’s degree in drama, theatre, and performance studies, as well as an honours bachelor’s degree in theatre and international relations.

Until this appointment, Petrenko was the artistic director of the Olive Branch Theatre, a company in the Greater Toronto Area which under Petrenko’s leadership hewed toward musicals and cabarets. In a release, the WJT says Petrenko has “frequently gravitated towards stories about Jewish life, particularly in the Soviet era.”

Prior to Petrenko, Ari Weinberg served as the artistic director of the Jewish theatre for seven years. Earlier this year, Weinberg moved to Ontario, where he is serving as the associate casting director of the prestigious Stratford Festival.