Don’t panic and give up your lake life so fast

Winnipeg woman among those mourned after shooting rampage

One of the presumed victims of Nova Scotia’s deadly weekend rampage is being remembered as a kind and gentle soul by those who knew her during her childhood in Winnipeg.

(Elizabeth) Joanne Thomas, 58, and her husband John Zahl, 69, are presumed dead following the events of the weekend in Portapique, N.S. Their home was burned to the ground, but their bodies have not yet been located and identified by authorities.

The nation was left reeling by the deadly events of the weekend, during which a man impersonating an RCMP officer shot multiple people and burned homes in a rampage across the Maritime province. By Tuesday afternoon the death toll had risen to 23 people. The alleged shooter, identified by police as Gabriel Wortman, 51, was killed after being intercepted by police in Enfield, N.S.

“It’s unbelievable that with all the crappy people in this world, that their family is one to get hit like this. It doesn’t even make sense, and we’ll probably never know what happened,” said Jeanine Remillard, from her Winnipeg home.

Jury's swift verdict for Chauvin in Floyd death: Guilty

MINNEAPOLIS - After three weeks of testimony, the trial of the former police officer charged with killing George Floyd ended swiftly: barely over a day of jury deliberations, then just minutes for the verdicts to be read — guilty, guilty and guilty — and Derek Chauvin was handcuffed and taken away to prison.

Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for decades when he is sentenced in about two months in a case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.

The verdict set off jubilation mixed with sorrow across the city and around the nation. Hundreds of people poured into the streets of Minneapolis, some running through traffic with banners. Drivers blared their horns in celebration.

“Today, we are able to breathe again,” Floyd's younger brother Philonise said at a joyous family news conference where tears streamed down his face as he likened Floyd to the 1955 Mississippi lynching victim Emmett Till, except that this time there were cameras around to show the world what happened.

A truckload of symbolism: Why Pierre Poilievre and other Conservatives are steering into the power of the pickup

Conservative politicians have found in the pickup truck a symbol for a rural working life they argue Justin Trudeau can't relate to.

Main Street Project to expand to former Mitchell Fabrics building

The Main Street Project is moving on up.

The shelter’s administration finalized the purchase of the former Mitchell Fabrics building at Main Street and Logan Avenue on Sept. 21, a move that will revolutionize the services the facility offers to the city’s chronically homeless and addicted.

“It’s still very fresh for us, and we’re very excited. This is probably the first significant shelter, mental health and addictions support expansion of this size in the last 30 years for Winnipeg,” Main Street Project executive director Rick Lees said.

The purchase is the culmination of efforts that began two years ago, when the agency did long-term planning to identify the biggest hurdles it faced moving forward. One key challenge identified was lack of space.

Province urges federal government to continue vital health-care funding

Manitoba wants the federal government to renew an annual $150-million health-care agreement that, for the last three years, has helped the province go “further, faster” to staff up the front lines.

“The loss of these agreements would mean that we’re losing predictable targeted federal contributions that have helped us stabilize staffing and strengthen health care — not just health care in our hospitals, but community-based care as well,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Friday.

The program, dubbed “Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians,” was announced in February 2023; the federal government has earmarked close to $150 million a year in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26. Tuesday’s federal budget made no mention of renewing those funding agreements.

“I think there was an opportunity missed today to signal that the bilateral funding agreements for your health care are going to continue,” Premier Wab Kinew noted in his response to the budget on Tuesday. One of the deals Manitoba signed is set to expire at the end of March.