Don’t panic and dive into serious commitments

Indigenous-led protected area a viable option

Manitoba is a place of diverse wilderness. Covering nearly 650,000 square-kilometers, the province is home to boreal forest, aspen parkland, Precambrian shield, subarctic tundra, grassland prairies and countless lakes, rivers and streams. Important ecosystems, each worthy of protection.

Bisons’ Neill carries lead into final round of men’s amateur

RORY Neill woke up Tuesday with a share of the lead in the 115th edition of the Golf Manitoba men’s amateur championship.

He went to bed with the solo lead.

The Glendale member rests at 2-under for the 54-hole event and will take a one-stroke advantage into Wednesday’s final round at St. Boniface Golf Club after firing a one-over 73 on Tuesday.

The University of Manitoba Bisons’ golfer got out of the gates much slower than he did in Monday’s opening round, bogeying four of his first six holes, but stuck with it, finding birdies on four of the last 10 holes to salvage his round.

Sheriff’s officer dies in collision with train

Manitoba’s premier says the “service and sacrifice” of a sheriff’s officer who died in a train collision near Portage la Prairie on Tuesday morning will “never be forgotten.”

RCMP were called to the collision between a van and the train on Road 40 West, west of Portage, on Tuesday at 8 a.m.

RCMP say it appears a Manitoba Sheriff Services van collided with the train, causing it to roll and land in the ditch.

The driver, a 28-year-old man from Portage, died at the scene, while a passenger received minor injuries and taken by paramedics to hospital as a precaution.

Cruise control: city mulls move to curb street noise levels

Sunday cruise nights on Portage Avenue are a Winnipeg tradition, but cavalcades of convertibles and muscle cars rolling down the street can come with a noisy byproduct.

Next week, the city's executive policy committee will discuss some changes — including noise cameras that capture licence plate data of particularly loud vehicles — aimed at keeping the volume down.

The recommendation, which would require provincial approval, comes on the heels of complaints from area residents about the Sunday night noise levels, says Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre).

"Most residents don't mind the cruise nights themselves," she said Thursday. "It's the revving and the screeching" and the modified mufflers.

Buckled cement gives drivers the heave-ho

Highways, local roads and sidewalks have buckled and broken thanks to extreme heat in recent days, wreaking havoc with travel.

Garth Thomson was driving on the Perimeter Highway, just north of Assiniboia Downs, around 4 p.m. Sunday when he suddenly came upon a major gap in the road.

“There was a big break in the highway, which was the heaving. I had about four seconds to decide what I was going to do. So, I kind of hit my brakes and drove more towards the centre, where the big chunks weren’t (located),” said Thomson. “It happened so fast … there were big chunks (of concrete), probably a foot (per) square, sticking up.”

His convertible was had bumper damage and a hole in its gas tank, he said.

Longshot pays off for couple five decades into horse racing

HOW much do you get back if you bet $20 win-place on a 39-1 shot? Former Hastings Park trainer Brian Phillips knows.

The 78-year-old conditioner saddled his only horse, Nu Soup for Baby, to drill the field into submission in the third race on Wednesday at the Downs, and led all the wheelbarrow bettors straight to the cashing windows.

Making just his third start of the year under new jockey Kerron Khelawan, who also moved his tack here from Hastings Park, Nu Soup for Baby went right to the front from the start and despite heavy pressure from outside rivals, he had lots left when they turned for home, opening up into the stretch and coasting home to win by 1 1/4-lengths over yet another former Hastings Park horse, Pay My Way.

“I got back $1,100,” said Phillips. “I only had $47 in my HPIBet account, so I bet twenty-twenty on him.”