News briefs for Thursday, December 15, 2022

Winnipeg firefighters extinguished two blazes overnight.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews were called to a three-storey apartment building in the 600 block of Sherbrook Street at 1:39 a.m., where they evacuated residents who then sheltered in a city transit bus.

Firefighters extinguished the flames, which were contained to one apartment suite, by 2:19 a.m. No one was hurt, but seven residents had to move out temporarily as some adjacent suites were damaged by water.

Earlier, crews were called to a fire in a vacant bungalow on the 200 block of Beacon Street at 12:31 a.m., which they doused by 1:17 a.m. Firefighters found no one inside the building and no one was hurt.

Long snapper Mike Benson has signed a two-year contract extension to stay with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Benson was scheduled to become a free agent in February.

Benson returns to his hometown Blue Bombers in 2023 for a third season and 10th overall in the CFL.

Assiniboine Park Conservancy’s board of directors has elected Ray Karasevich as the organization’s new president and CEO.

Karasevich will assume the position in January, relieving Margaret Redmond, who is the conservancy’s founding CEO and president. Redmond is stepping down after 14 years.

His resume includes more than 20 years of experience in higher education, economic development, and senior leadership positions. Most recently, he served five years as the president and CEO of the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology.

The City of Winnipeg created the Assiniboine Park Conservancy in 2008 with a mandate to establish the future vision for the park and zoo.

A Brandon man who killed his wife and destroyed his home in an explosion has died while in custody at Stony Mountain Institution.

Robert Hughes, 65, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in late 2021. He’d been serving his time at the federal prison since June 6, some 20 kilometres north of Winnipeg. On Wednesday, the Corrections Service of Canada announced his death.

Corrections did not reveal how he died.

On Oct. 22, 2019, firefighters responded to an explosion at Hughes’ home in the east end of Brandon. First responders found him suffering serious injuries and his wife, Betty Hughes, dead.

During a six-day trial in December 2021, it was revealed Hughes had stabbed his wife to death during an argument. He tampered with his home’s gas line, attempting to breathe in the fumes and commit suicide. A pilot light ignited the gas and caused an explosion.

The Winnipeg Jets lineup is a bit of a mystery tonight as a non-COVID illness sweeps through the room.

Forwards Morgan Barron and Jansen Harkins both missed the morning skate and are deemed game-time decisions as the Nashville Predators come to town.

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Karson Kuhlman, who was claimed on waivers from Seattle earlier this week, would skate in their place if they can’t go.

Connor Hellebuyck will start in net as the Jets try to snap a two-game losing streak. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at Canada Life Centre.

There’s some good news on the injury front for the Winnipeg Jets.

Forward Nikolaj Ehlers resumed skating on Wednesday, three weeks after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia he suffered during the second game of the year.

Jets coach Rick Bowness said the best-case scenario would see the flashy winger return to the lineup in as little as two weeks.

Ehlers had three assists in his two games and has missed 26 straight contests and counting.

The Jets are also without injured forwards Mason Appleton and Saku Maenalanen, and defenceman Logan Stanley. All three are believed to be three to four weeks away from a possible return.

Demonstrators held a protest outside of Winnipeg’s city hall Thursday afternoon, calling for the Brady Road landfill to be shuttered.

The protest, co-organized by a cousin of an alleged victim of a suspected serial killer, saw about three dozen people gather in the courtyard.

The protesters want the landfill to be closed for a wider search for the remains of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls. They plan to regularly block access at the city-owned landfill on the south Perimeter Highway.

The protest comes after operations were shuttered at Prairie Green Landfill north of the city, where the bodies of Morgan Harris and Mercedes Myran are believed to have been dumped. The two are alleged to have been slain by Jeremy Skibicki, along with Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman Indigenous elders have named Buffalo Woman. Skibicki has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Winnipeg police will be part of a committee led by First Nations groups to determine whether it’s feasible to attempt recovery of the remains of the two women in the Prairie Green landfill.