City needle pickup plan stalls
7:38 PM
The City of Winnipeg doesn’t look set to ramp up its removal of needles and weapons from parks.
On Monday, council’s community services committee took no action on a report that listed two options to hire more staff and ensure daily pickups at key parks.
One option to target 36 “priority parks” for enhanced cleaning would have cost $193,704 per year and run from April to October. Another would have cost $262,884 and continue year-round.
“Our budget is already stretched to the limit, and we have to ensure the responsibility for needle management is shared appropriately. We want to work with our partners, but there needs to be a fair and sustainable plan that benefits everyone,” wrote Coun. Vivian Santos, the committee’s chairwoman, in an emailed statement.
Santos (Point Douglas) said needles are a huge component of the debris, so Manitoba Health and harm reduction groups who hand them out need to help find long-term solutions.
The committee also voted to ask city council to request that the provincial government create a needle exchange program that helps encourage Winnipeg’s used needles to be returned.
Two teens arrested in Swan River slaying
3:26 PM
Two teenage boys from Swan River have been arrested for their alleged role in the slaying of a man from Brandon on Friday.
On Nov. 1 at about 11 p.m., RCMP were called about an unresponsive man in Legion Park in Swan River. When officers arrived, they found the 21-year-old Brandon man suffering “obvious injuries” before he was pronounced dead.
RCMP say investigators arrested a 16-year-old boy from Swan River on Saturday and another 16-year-old in the days since.
Mounties say the two teens knew the victim, adding that the attack was not random.
Suspect in 2023 slaying arrested
1:30 PM
Homicide detectives have arrested a first-degree murder suspect who was on the lam.
In early October, Winnipeg police named Taylor Lena Ray Moose, 25, as one of their suspects in the slaying of 30-year-old Shelby Dawn Hayward in October 2023.
On Monday, police said detectives found Moose on Maryland Street on Oct. 31. She’s been charged with first-degree murder and held in custody.
Detectives identified four total suspects in the death — one of whom has since died — and arrested two of them earlier in the fall: Vincent Charles Fontaine, 39, who was incarcerated at Headingley jail on unrelated matters and Tamara Gayle Moneas, 24, who was at a home on Toronto Street. Both were charged with first-degree murder.
Police believe Hayward, who was last seen near Polo Park mall on Oct. 20 2023 and reported missing the next month, was killed shortly after she was last spotted alive.
MLA gives birth to baby boy
1:13 PM
Tyndall Park MLA Cindy Lamoureux added a new title to her role as Manitoba Liberal leader and its only MLA today: mother.
She gave birth to her first child Monday.
Lamoureux and her husband welcomed baby boy Hudson Louis-Lamoureux Burns, a spokeperson for her office said Monday.
“Mom and son are healthy and resting.”
Lamoureux said earlier that her husband plans to take parental leave and she doesn’t plan to take off much time. She said she would participate in house proceedings remotely but planned to return to the legislative assembly as quickly as possible.
15-year-old girl missing: police
1:01 PM
Winnipeg police are searching for a missing teenage girl.
Jaelyn Boivin, 15, was last seen on Oct. 29 at about 11:50 a.m. in the West Kildonan area, police say.
She’s about 5-8 tall, with a medium build, brown hair and brown eyes. She was last wearing a black velvet sweater, black leggings, white Nike running shoes, and a black backpack.
Police ask anyone with information on her whereabouts to call Missing Persons Unit investigators at 204-986-6250.
Police cleared after man breaks ankle running into cruiser
11:56 AM
The province’s police oversight agency has cleared officers of wrongdoing after an assault suspect broke his ankle while colliding with a police vehicle.
Winnipeg police officers were headed to the 2300 block of McPhillips Street at about 6 p.m. on Jan. 26 after being called about a robbery with a weapon.
The Independent Investigation Unit said a man entered a taxi, assaulted the driver and forced him out of the vehicle. Police confirmed the man was wielding an axe.
The victim was treated in hospital and was listed in stable condition.
When police arrived, officers ordered the suspect out of the cab, but the man fled across the parking lot until making contact with an arriving second police cruiser.
The IIU said it has determined the man slid into the vehicle.
“The police did not intentionally hit him with their vehicle,” the agency said on Monday.
Man attacked with bear spray, carjacked
10:17 AM
A 39-year-old man was attacked with bear spray and carjacked on Sherbrook Street and Ross Avenue early Sunday morning.
Winnipeg police officers were called to the intersection just after 2 a.m., where they found the victim suffering from the pepper spray.
Police said the man had been waiting in his vehicle for a friend near the intersection when someone suddenly opened his driver’s side door, sprayed him with the bear repellent and pulled him and his dog from the vehicle. The suspect then drove over the victim as he fled in the stolen vehicle.
Paramedics treated the man for minor injuries at the scene and police found the vehicle unoccupied on the 400 block of Edmonton Street.
The man wasn’t able to give a description to police, but a witness described the suspect as a male around 5-8 tall. Major crimes detectives are trying to get a better description and ask anyone with information to call their office at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.
Vacant Stella Avenue house to be demolished after fire
9:28 AM
A vacant house on Stella Avenue that caught fire Sunday night will be demolished today.
Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews were called to the house on the 500 block of Stella Avenue at about 9:30 p.m., where firefighters found flames and smoke coming from the building.
Crews initially attacked the blaze from the outside before knocking down the flames enough to get inside safely. Firefighters declared the fire under control just after 10 p.m. and searched the house, but found no one inside.
WFPS said the building was significantly damaged and will have to be torn down. It had previously been damaged in a fire in September 2021.
