Looking back at the blizzard of 1966 Remembering the March 1966 storm that paralyzed Winnipeg Posted: 2:06 PM CST Monday, Mar. 5, 2018 Last Modified: 2:41 PM CST Thursday, Mar. 4, 2021 Updates

First-aid volunteers treat folk fest attendees suffering from heat

Shade was at a premium at Birds Hill Provincial Park over the weekend as Winnipeg Folk Festival goers tried to keep cool during an extreme heat wave.

Heat warnings were issued across southern Manitoba and temperatures peaked at 35 C Sunday afternoon.

First-aid volunteers were seen administering cold compresses to several overheated attendees. STARS air ambulance responded to a medical call at the park on Saturday night, but did not transport the patient to hospital. By Sunday at noon, EMS had been called to the festival nine times.

“This is not an unusual number of calls for us or other events of our size,” festival executive director Valerie Shantz said.

‘He knew how vulnerable she was’: man gets 7 years for sexually abusing girl

A 52-year-old grandfather convicted of sexually abusing an already exploited and vulnerable child who looked to him for comfort and support has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Kevin Shrutwa pleaded guilty last December to one count each of child luring, sexual interference and possession of child sexual abuse material.

“This vividly highlights why the crime of sexual interference is so incredibly harmful to children,” provincial court Judge Lindy Choy said at a sentencing hearing Tuesday.

“Mr. Shrutwa viewed her only as an object which would provide him with some carnal benefit,” Choy said. “He knew how vulnerable she was. Despite his knowledge of her victimization, Mr. Shrutwa proceeded to take advantage of the situation and abuse (her) for his own selfish desires.”

Louis Riel’s life reimagined as a genre-hopping production

One thing everyone can agree on: Louis Riel contained multitudes.

‘That just brings the uniqueness to the game’

As the field goal was sailing wide left, Trey Vaval stood one yard inside the back of the end zone and began to go through his checklist.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers star returner wasn’t about to get ahead of himself, nor was he spending any additional time lamenting the punt he muffed on the previous series.

“You watch how the ball is kicked off the foot and just track it, catch it, make sure I secure the catch and then just kind of read the field,” Vaval said on Tuesday afternoon as the Bombers returned to the practice field after a 30-21 victory over the Toronto Argonauts. “There’s not really a lot going on in my head.”

That ability to block out any potential distractions was helpful as Vaval broke through for his first touchdown of the season, a 129-yard scamper that set a franchise record and played a pivotal role in extending the lead in the fourth quarter as the Bombers improved to 3-2 for the CFL season.

U of W falls back on tuition hikes amid budget crunch

The University of Winnipeg has joined other public post-secondary institutions across the province in hiking tuition rates by four per cent — as high as possible — for the fall.

Domestic fees are increasing by more annually in 2026-27 than they have in eight years in Manitoba.

International rates, which are unregulated and roughly four times those paid by their Canadian peers, are rising even higher.

U of W’s board of regents approved a $180.7-million budget on June 22 that increases costs in undergraduate and graduate programs and phases out “low rate” courses on the downtown campus.

WestJet cabin crews issue warning

Travellers leaving Winnipeg got an unexpected view Tuesday — a line of silent WestJet flight attendants, wearing sunglasses and holding signs protesting unfair wages.

“Ready to Strike” and “Unpaid Work Won’t Fly!” boards faced passersby hurrying into the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport’s departures level.

Some 66 Manitoba-based WestJet workers stood silently outside the terminal for a half-hour, before noon.

Elsewhere, their colleagues cast strike votes. Some 4,400 flight attendants across Canada began voting July 9; the vote closes Wednesday.