Staff shortage forces province to reduce traffic court, ticket-payment hours in Winnipeg

The Manitoba government quietly began closing the Winnipeg provincial offences court office early three days a week in mid-October, in a temporary measure tied to staffing shortages.

The office at 373 Broadway, where traffic tickets are paid and where provincial offence hearings are held, began closing at 3 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Oct. 13. The reduction in hours is expected to remain in place until early 2026.

The office remains open until 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

A provincial government spokesman said the office is not at a full staff complement, but added there is an active recruiting effort underway to fill vacancies.

UNAIDS chief urges Carney not to cut foreign aid, global health funding

OTTAWA - The head of the United Nations' HIV/AIDS program is urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to reverse his government's planned cuts to foreign aid and global health funding.

"My message to Prime Minister Carney, to Canada, and to all the other donors is, stay the course," UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima told The Canadian Press on the sidelines of last week's G20 leaders' summit in Johannesburg.

"Without global solidarity, the inequality between countries will continue to widen. We will live in a more dangerous world as these inequalities increase."

Last week, Carney announced Canada's first-ever cut to funding for the Global Fund, a major program for fighting infectious diseases in the world's poorest countries.

More heartbreak for Dunstone

HALIFAX — It’s turning into a recurring nightmare for Matt Dunstone.

Make the final, lose in heartbreaking fashion, shed tears.

It happened at the 2023 Brier, again at 2025 nationals, and once more on Saturday in Halifax in the Canadian Curling Trials final.

Brad Jacobs outlasted the 30-year-old skip from Winnipeg 6-5 to sweep the best-of-three series to earn the right to wear the maple leaf at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Manitoba conservation officers, tasked with border duties, haven’t seen much

WINNIPEG - It's been 11 months since Manitoba started using conservation officers as extra sets of eyes on the United States border in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's claims that migrants and drug-smugglers were pouring in from Canada.

And it turns out they haven't seen much at all.

"To my knowledge, there was actually no activity that they observed," Ian Bushie, Manitoba's natural resources minister, said in an interview.

Kyle Ross, head of the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union, which represents conservation officers, said he hadn't heard of any incidents either.

Stealing thieves’ thunder: private security has made theft at Steinbach job sites disappear

Thieves who stole copper wiring, construction tools — even 37 bundles of shingles off a two-storey roof — have sparked the City of Steinbach to hire private security to fight back.

Waldo Neustaedter, a local developer, said the number of thefts from his job sites and others, leaving thousands of dollars in damage in their wake, have dropped dramatically since the city began a security service pilot project in July.

“It has just been a night and day difference having this protection,” Neustaedter said.

“It was tough in the spring. It may seem like petty theft, when you get $15 for copper wiring, but it costs us thousands in damages. You want to keep the cost of building down so houses are more affordable to buyers, but then this happened.”

‘They are the best team’

HALIFAX — Four years ago Tracy Fleury suffered one of the most devastating losses in Canadian curling history.

Playing out of Manitoba at the time and boasting the top-ranked team, Fleury’s final stone rubbed on a guard to allow Jennifer Jones to steal a 6-5 extra-end victory to represent the country at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The loss has hung over Fleury ever since, but on Saturday afternoon in Halifax, the weight was finally lifted. Fleury and Team Rachel Homan steamrolled Halifax’s Christina Black 12-3 to sweep the 2025 Canadian Curling Trials best-of-three final.

Fleury, who now plays third, fought back tears as she stood beside Homan, second Emma Miskew, and lead Sarah Wilkes in their newly minted Canada jackets and gold medals while the national anthem was sung.

American booze serving a purpose

Some of the U.S. booze pulled off Liquor Mart shelves last winter was offered to help people struggling with alcohol addiction.

Premier Wab Kinew said Friday that some of the American-made products purchased by Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries valued at $3.4 million, which have been in storage since last February, were offered to managed alcohol programs during last summer’s wildfire evacuations.

The programs, which are administered under medical supervision, assist people experiencing alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Crown corporation offered product to Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin, an organization that supports health and wellness services for 23 First Nations in northern Manitoba.

Sex offender hid in school washroom, grabbed student: police

A convicted sex offender is accused of ambushing a child inside a Winnipeg elementary school by hiding in the washroom and grabbing her before she broke free and ran for help.

The Winnipeg Police Service did not name the school nor provide the age and gender of the child on Friday, but parents told the Free Press the incident happened at Darwin School and involved a girl under the age of 10.

WPS said officers were sent to the St. Vital-area school at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, after receiving reports of the attack. Investigators learned the suspect entered the school and hid inside a stall in a children’s bathroom.

“When a student exited an adjacent stall that they were using, the man grabbed hold of the child. The child fought and managed to break free from the suspect, ran to a teacher and made a report,” WPS Const. Dani McKinnon told reporters Friday.

The Polish ‘magicians of glass’ who create Christmas baubles for clients worldwide

CZĘSTOCHOWA, Poland (AP) — If you could design a bauble for your own Christmas tree, what would it be — a teddy bear dressed as a ballerina, a hummingbird, or a crimson phoenix?

The workers at GlitterLab, a company producing Christmas decorations in southern Poland, vow to turn those fantasies into reality.

Calling themselves “the magicians of glass,” their clients have included Swarovski, the French chain Galeries Lafayette, and Harrods, the iconic London department store.

“We have the ability to create shapes and designs that glass will not normally take,” the company promises on its website.

Hydro to cut down more than 260 trees on stretch of Selkirk Avenue

Manitoba Hydro is cutting down 262 mature trees growing near power lines along a north Winnipeg street, drawing objections from the city and disappointment from canopy advocates.