News briefs for Tuesday, May 2, 2023

House fire on Young Street

8:25 AM

Crews extinguished a house fire on Young Street on Monday night.

Firefighters were sent to the single-family bungalow in the 500 block of Young at 7:25 p.m.

They went inside but exited because of high heat and smoke conditions. The fire was declared under control at 8:14 p.m., the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said later that night.

No one was inside the home.

Crews douse grass fire near Perimeter and Waverley

9:16 AM

Winnipeg firefighters doused a grass fire near Waverley Street and the Perimeter Highway Monday afternoon — the third such blaze in just under a week.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said crews were called to the fire at about 4:30 p.m., where high winds were spreading the fire rapidly, covering an area about the size of a football field.

The crews used special equipment meant to douse wildfires and got the flames contained. No one was hurt, WFPS said.

The fire service said it expects the number of grass fires and wildfires to increase in coming weeks as the ground dries out. WFPS has warned residents to exercise extreme caution when doing any kind of burning, including in approved fire pits, noting all open-air fires are banned when wind speeds exceed 25 km/h.

WFPS also doused a grass fire near Centreport Canada Way and the Perimeter that was sparked by a vehicle fire on Sunday, and a fire in Marlene Street Park on April 25.

Bombers select pair of punters in CFL Global Draft

10:36 AM

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers punted Tuesday morning’s CFL Global Draft.

With the eighth overall pick in the first round, the Blue and Gold selected Australian punter Jamieson Sheahan out of the University of California.

In the second and final round, the club used the 17th overall selection on Bermuda punter Karl Schmitz.

Man stabbed outside Thompson business

12:24 PM

A man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was stabbed outside a business in Thompson on Friday night.

The incident happened at about 7:50 p.m. 

The 42-year-old man was transported to hospital, where he remained in stable condition on Monday morning, RCMP said.

A 40-year-old man from Hatchet Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan has been charged with aggravated assault.

Valley of the Birdtail wins Dafoe book prize

12:29 PM

Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii)’s Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation has won the $12,000 J.W. Dafoe Book Prize for 2023, which is awarded annually to the book the jury sees as the best at tackling subjects “involving Canada, Canadians, and the Canadian nation in international affairs.”

Valley of the Birdtail, published by HarperCollins, chronicles the relationship and inequalities between the Manitoba town of Rossburn and the neighbouring Waywayseecappo First Nation, following numerous generations of two families, one from each of the communities.

The prize will be awarded at an event in the fall, and the authors invited to give a talk on the project.

Man uses broken CD as weapon in robbery

2:36 PM

A man armed with a broken compact disc has been arrested after using it as a weapon during an armed robbery.

Swan River RCMP said Tuesday a man went into a business on Sunday at about 11:10 a.m., to buy cigarettes, but had to leave empty handed because he had no way to pay for them.

RCMP said the man returned a few minutes later with the sharp pieces of a broken CD, threatened an employee, and demanded cigarettes and the keys to their vehicle.

The man fled the store — again empty handed — when he realized police were on the way.

Video surveillance helped officers identify the man and he was arrested a short time later.

A 47-year-old Cote First Nation man from Saskatchewan has been charged with robbery with an offensive weapon.

Westbound Portage Avenue closed at Wall Street

5:49 PM

City officials are warning motorists to “expect major delays” after a collision on Portage Avenue left a large piece of equipment lodged into the side of the Empress Street overpass.

First-responders and city crews closed the overpass and blocked westbound traffic at Wall Street around 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to tweets.

The Winnipeg Police Service posted photos from the scene, showing a large, yellow piece of equipment trapped between the bridge and the westbound roadway.

The City of Winnipeg urged motorists to avoid the area, saying there were several emergency crews on scene, and westbound traffic would be diverted down Wall Street.