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‘The fireman grabbed me… and pulled me out’

‘The fireman grabbed me… and pulled me out’

Survivor recounts horror of losing granddaughter, cousin; within four minutes, small West End fire became fatal inferno

Chris Kitching 5 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

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‘Thought it was the flu’: more sick after eating at hotel buffet

Kevin Rollason 2 minute read Friday, Feb. 6, 2026

More possible victims of a case of suspected food poisoning at a prominent hotel have come forward.

A provincial government spokeswoman said two more reports came in on Friday after an article was published in the Free Press.

It brings the official total to 17 people who have complained they got sick after eating at a buffet at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre at 1808 Wellington Ave., last weekend.

However, the Free Press heard from others who got sick but didn’t report it.

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Mark Blinch / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

Air Canada announced it halted flights to Cuba due to the ongoing shortage of aviation fuel on the island, saying current projections will exhaust the supply of commercial fuel by Feb. 10.

Mark Blinch / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES
                                Air Canada announced it halted flights to Cuba due to the ongoing shortage of aviation fuel on the island, saying current projections will exhaust the supply of commercial fuel by Feb. 10.

Manitobans in Cuba stay calm as airlines cancel trips owing to fuel shortage

Tyler Searle 5 minute read Preview

Manitobans in Cuba stay calm as airlines cancel trips owing to fuel shortage

Tyler Searle 5 minute read Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

As he basked in the sunshine in Varadero, Cuba, on Monday, it was hard for Manitoban Geof Langen to imagine anything might interrupt his vacation — but when news broke that Air Canada had cancelled international flights to the island nation, it gave him pause.

“It’s kind of been the talk of today amongst Canadians. We’re a pretty large group down here, and everyone right now seems pretty calm,” Langen said by phone.

“Mostly, we’re enjoying Cuba and the incredibly gracious and hospitable people and great weather. It hasn’t at this point brought a damper or a sense of concern, beyond just paying attention to what’s going on.”

Air Canada decided to suspend service to Cuba days after Langen arrived in Varadero aboard a WestJet flight late Saturday. He and his partner are staying at a resort with friends, and were expecting a third couple from Manitoba to join them on Monday.

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Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

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JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES

Taiv Inc. CEO Noah Palansky (left) and chief technology officer Jordan Davis.

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES
                                Taiv Inc. CEO Noah Palansky (left) and chief technology officer Jordan Davis.

Winnipeg-based tech firm Taiv closes US$13M growth round

Aaron Epp 3 minute read Preview

Winnipeg-based tech firm Taiv closes US$13M growth round

Aaron Epp 3 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

Taiv Inc. may rely on AI, but there’s nothing artificial about the Winnipeg company’s progression.

The tech company has closed a US$13 million growth round fewer than nine months after raising US$10.5 million in series A financing.

The latest round is a combination of debt and equity, and brings the total capital raised to more than US$30 million. The company’s latest valuation is just under US$100 million, said Taiv co-founder and CEO Noah Palansky.

“This is really a growth round,” he said. “It’s about hiring people and really investing in our product. We want to make something that’s amazing.”

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Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

Legislature

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

Rebecca Schneider worked at the Health Sciences Centre between 2009 and 2014.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
                                Rebecca Schneider worked at the Health Sciences Centre between 2009 and 2014.

Health-care ‘frustration’ keeps Manitoba nurse away

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Preview

Health-care ‘frustration’ keeps Manitoba nurse away

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

A former Manitoba nurse working in Minnesota says despite political turmoil she won’t return home to practise due to the state of the province’s health-care system.

Rebecca Schneider has considered moving back to Manitoba since November 2024, when Donald Trump was re-elected.

As the U.S. has stepped up immigration enforcement raids to seek out undocumented immigrants, Schneider said she feels unsafe in her own city.

“I have felt more unsafe in the last month with all the (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) activity in Minneapolis than I ever felt during COVID, during the riots with George Floyd’s incident in 2020,” she told the Free Press, referencing the Black man murdered by a white police officer. “There’s areas of the city you just can’t go anymore.”

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Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

Local

Opposition house leader Derek Johnson, right.

Opposition house leader Derek Johnson, right.

Health care at heart of spring session as MLAs head back to legislature

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Preview

Health care at heart of spring session as MLAs head back to legislature

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2026

Health care bills top the NDP government’s legislative agenda as MLAs return for the spring session Wednesday.

Premier Wab Kinew said Tuesday that a patient safety charter, nurse-to-patient ratios “and then ending mandatory overtime” are his government’s priorities.

“Those are the ones I really want to see,” Kinew told reporters Tuesday, echoing messages contained in November’s throne speech.

The Manitoba Nurses Union said it supports bills to strengthen health care but isn’t sure how and when they can be enforced.

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Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2026

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Julie Regner loves to see Canadians tackle the slopes or après-ski at North Dakota’s Frost Fire Park.

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                                Julie Regner loves to see Canadians tackle the slopes or après-ski at North Dakota’s Frost Fire Park.

Manitobans continue to draw line in sand, choose not to cross once-neighbourly line on land

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Preview

Manitobans continue to draw line in sand, choose not to cross once-neighbourly line on land

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Monday, Feb. 23, 2026

Julie Regner loves to see Canadians tackle the slopes or après-ski at North Dakota’s Frost Fire Park, which has drawn skiers and snowboarders across the border for decades.

While there hasn’t been an official tally of visitors this season, the park’s general manager doesn’t think she’s seeing as many Manitobans amid the steep decline in Canadians venturing south.

“I would say it’s maybe decreased some from last year. They’re definitely still coming down to ski,” Regner said from the park, which is close to Walhalla, just 10 kilometres south of the border.

“We just love having them come down. They’re super nice people.”

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Monday, Feb. 23, 2026

Local

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES

A city committee heard a report Tuesday on the planned development of Winnipeg Airports Authority land.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES
                                A city committee heard a report Tuesday on the planned development of Winnipeg Airports Authority land.

City council committee votes in favour of airport-area development

Malak Abas 3 minute read Preview

City council committee votes in favour of airport-area development

Malak Abas 3 minute read Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026

A City of Winnipeg council committee has voted in favour of allowing the development of land along the airport’s edge, but what will go there remains up in the air.

Multiple sources told the Free Press last week that Calgary-based WestJet Airlines Ltd. is considering the Manitoba capital for a potential aircraft maintenance facility.

Will Rossall, director of real estate and land development for Winnipeg the Airports Authority, told city council’s property and development committee Tuesday a maintenance facility could go on the land slated for development, but was scant on details.

“The WAA can and should be acting as an economic engine for the city,” Rossall said. “There are unique aspects to airport development that can be leveraged by community members and businesses to grow Winnipeg as a whole.”

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Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026

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John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

Court sanctions ex-chiropractor who treated patients

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Preview

Court sanctions ex-chiropractor who treated patients

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Yesterday at 5:01 PM CDT

A Winnipeg man who continued to provide chiropractic services after he was stripped of his licence has been prohibited by a court from practising until 2029.

Former chiropractor Peter Rutherford had agreed to stop practising and retire after admitting to the Manitoba Chiropractors Association in October 2024 that he was guilty of misconduct related to improper record-keeping.

An order issued by Court of King’s Bench Justice Theodor Bock on March 5 prohibits Rutherford from practising as a chiropractor and “falsely pretending to be a chiropractic practitioner” until Oct. 23, 2029.

Rutherford had practised in Manitoba since 1992 and over the years “has been involved in a slew of professional misconduct incidents,” association executive director Dana Forster said in a Feb. 19 affidavit. That includes practising without a licence, failing to maintain liability insurance, fraudulent billing, and claiming to be able to treat eye diseases, including macular degeneration.

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Yesterday at 5:01 PM CDT

Local

Winnipeg Police Service investigators arrested the alleged leader of a drug-smuggling ring that was trafficking cocaine from the city into a remote, fly-in First Nation in northwestern Ontario late last year, court documents reveal.

Details of the police investigation — dubbed Project Safe Haven — are included in a recent civil forfeiture lawsuit, filed in Court of King’s Bench by provincial justice officials seeking to keep cash, luxury vehicles and designer goods seized from the alleged ringleader and his girlfriend.

WPS organized-crime investigators began the project last July, focusing on a group of individuals alleged to be selling illicit substances, including cocaine, in North Spirit Lake First Nation, under the direction of a group people in Winnipeg, who were then laundering the cash.

Quinn Alexander Davidson, a 34-year-old who’s currently serving a 3 1/2-year sentence in a British Columbia prison on a cocaine trafficking conviction, is alleged to be the Winnipeg ringleader.

Local

Minister allows pharmacists to give free measles vaccines to young Manitobans

Carol Sanders 6 minute read Preview

Minister allows pharmacists to give free measles vaccines to young Manitobans

Carol Sanders 6 minute read Yesterday at 2:35 PM CDT

Manitoba pharmacists will soon be able to administer free measles vaccine to a susceptible population — people aged two to 19 — to combat high rates of transmission in the province.

“I think that’s a really good common sense step that we can take to make sure that more Manitobans have access to a really important vaccine right now,” said Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, who will sign the order Tuesday to allow pharmacists to give out the vaccine. The measure will take effect immediately.

The number of measles cases in Manitoba so far this year is the highest in the country, recent Public Health Agency of Canada data show. Manitoba has had 352 confirmed measles cases compared with the current total of 230 in the rest of Canada.

The minister made the decision following a request by Manitoba pharmacists, who called for an “all-hands-on deck” approach to deal with the worst outbreak in the country.

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Yesterday at 2:35 PM CDT

Local

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES

No criminal charges will be authorized against Winnipeg police in a June 2024 fatal shooting, following an investigation from the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba.

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES
                                No criminal charges will be authorized against Winnipeg police in a June 2024 fatal shooting, following an investigation from the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba.

WPS officers involved in fatal 2024 shooting outside city won’t face charges, IIU says

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Preview

WPS officers involved in fatal 2024 shooting outside city won’t face charges, IIU says

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Yesterday at 2:27 PM CDT

Manitoba’s police oversight agency says Winnipeg police officers who shot at a stolen truck as it was ramming their SUV, killing a passenger in the vehicle, won’t be charged.

On Monday, Independent Investigation Unit director Bruce Sychuk released his report on the June 5, 2024 shooting that killed 30-year-old Tristan Mariash.

He sent the agency’s investigation to Crown prosecutors, who did not support charges against the officer who killed the man, nor against the other officer, who also fired his gun but did not strike him.

The shooting occurred during a chaotic crime spree committed by David Frank Burling, who’s in his early 30s, across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Burling was sentenced last year to about 6 1/2 years in prison for the crime spree and earlier, unrelated offences.

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Yesterday at 2:27 PM CDT

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