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‘Everybody is very happy to be home’

Tyler Searle 6 minute read Updated: 4:05 PM CDT

Dolly Charlette couldn’t help but cry Sunday morning as she returned to her home in Cranberry Portage, a little more than one week after she and hundreds of residents fled from an out-of-control wildfire encroaching on the community.

“I was so overjoyed that I got to come home and the town looked normal,” Charlette said by phone, describing how a group of firefighters formed a welcoming party to greet evacuees as they arrived.

“They had a big welcome sign and were just waving and everything.”

Large swaths of land near Cranberry Portage have been burning since May 9, prompting evacuation orders which forced more than 500 people out of the community and nearly 700 in total from the region.

Winnipeg man arrested for crime spree, arson

Tyler Searle 3 minute read Preview

Winnipeg man arrested for crime spree, arson

Tyler Searle 3 minute read Updated: 12:59 PM CDT

City police have arrested a suspect who they say committed a spree of serious crimes spanning several days in Winnipeg, including repeatedly attempting to run innocent bystanders down with a stolen vehicle.

Officers arrested the suspect, a 29-year-old Winnipeg man, on May 16 after responding to a collision on the 2000 block of Pembina Highway shortly after 5 p.m. Investigators received multiple reports a truck carrying two passengers crashed into a light standard before one of the occupants was seen setting the vehicle’s interior on fire, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Sunday.

“After abandoning the inoperable vehicle, officers learned the driver had entered a nearby retail business where he accessed a restricted area and stole two employee wallets,” police said. “Before fleeing, he proceeded to discharge a fire extinguisher within the business. No employees or patrons were injured.”

Officers tracked the man to the 100 block of Lake Village Road and arrested him after a short foot pursuit. Police seized a knife and lighter from the suspect as evidence.

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Updated: 12:59 PM CDT

Winnipeg Police Service shoulder badge (John Woods / Canadian Press files)

What do we know so far about the mysterious crash of the helicopter carrying Iran’s president?

By Abby Sewell, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

What do we know so far about the mysterious crash of the helicopter carrying Iran’s president?

By Abby Sewell, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: 3:21 PM CDT

BEIRUT (AP) — The apparent crash of a helicopter carrying Iran's president and foreign minister on Sunday sent shock waves around the region.

Details remained scant in the hours after the incident, and it was unclear if Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the other officials had survived.

Here's what we know so far.

WHO WAS ON BOARD THE HELICOPTER AND WHERE WERE THEY GOING?

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Updated: 3:21 PM CDT

In this photo provided by Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi takes off at the Iranian border with Azerbaijan after President Raisi and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without elaborating. (Ali Hamed Haghdoust/IRNA via AP)

‘You start creating wage discrepancies, and then it’s not a happy work environment’: HSC nurse

Gabrielle Piché 4 minute read Preview

‘You start creating wage discrepancies, and then it’s not a happy work environment’: HSC nurse

Gabrielle Piché 4 minute read Yesterday at 5:19 PM CDT

Continued mandatory overtime and a growing gap between full- and part-time staff contributed to almost half of Manitoba’s public sector nurses rejecting their latest contract.

Shared Health stands out among the six health regions to reject the contract. However, across Manitoba, 48.77 per cent of nurses voted ‘no’ to the latest four-year agreement.

A 51.23 per cent majority of Manitoba Nurses Union members voted to ratify the contract, the union announced Friday.

“There’s a clear message there to government and employers that healthcare is not good anywhere in this province,” union president Darlene Jackson said Saturday.

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Yesterday at 5:19 PM CDT

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES

Darlene Jackson, President of the Manitoba Nurses Union, says she expects to return to the bargaining table next week.

Another blaze hits former Vulcan Iron Works site amid ongoing rebuilding efforts

Gabrielle Piché 3 minute read Preview

Another blaze hits former Vulcan Iron Works site amid ongoing rebuilding efforts

Gabrielle Piché 3 minute read Yesterday at 5:52 PM CDT

An industrial building destroyed by fire last year — that has been a target of fires since — saw yet another two blazes burning its remains early Saturday morning.

Sheldon Blank, owner of the former Vulcan Iron Works site, insisted he’d been preparing to rebuild the eastern portion of the property.

“Now I’ll have to go see what’s what,” he said dismally on Saturday.

The hulking structure sits between Maples Street North and Argyle Street North on Sutherland Avenue. Its skeletal remains, and piles of debris, lay behind fences.

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Yesterday at 5:52 PM CDT

Vulcan Iron Works owner Sheldon Blank intends to demolish a steel superstructure at Sutherland Avenue and Maple Street North destroyed by fire last summer. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)

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At least 11 killed as Russia presses forward with its offensive in northeastern Ukraine

Samya Kullab And Elise Morton, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

At least 11 killed as Russia presses forward with its offensive in northeastern Ukraine

Samya Kullab And Elise Morton, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: 9:58 AM CDT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least 11 people were reported killed in attacks in Ukraine’s war-ravaged northeast on Sunday as Russia pushed ahead with its renewed offensive.

In the Kharkiv region, the focus of the offensive, the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office said six people were killed and 27 wounded in a Russian strike on the outskirts of the regional capital, also called Kharkiv.

Regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said that five more people were killed and nine wounded in an attack on the region’s Kupiansk district, southeast of the regional capital.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday that its forces in the area were “continuing to advance into the depths of the enemy’s defense.” Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia had stepped up its attacks around Kharkiv and that the situation was “dynamic.”

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Updated: 9:58 AM CDT

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov and Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov during their meeting at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Fashion designer Miriam Delo Santos, owner of Hello Darling, creates colourful, vibrant architectural clothing, hair accessories and jewellery. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
                                photos by Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
                                Fashion designer Miriam Delos Santos, owner of Hello Darling, creates colourful, vibrant architectural clothing, hair accessories and jewelry.

Threading the needle

Finding the perfect pattern for career shift and creative fulfilment

AV Kitching 4 minute read Yesterday at 3:00 AM CDT

Prognosis not great for Biden/Trump debate

Editorial 4 minute read Preview

Prognosis not great for Biden/Trump debate

Editorial 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:02 AM CDT

The stage has been set for what could well be the most embarrassing presidential debate in American history. U.S. President Joe Biden and his foremost rival for the office, former-president-turned-defendant Donald Trump, will take to the stage and spar on June 27, in Georgia, in the first of two debates. The second will be held in September. On both sides of the stage, there is little reason to hope for inspiring oratory, clever barbs or frankly, a debate comprised solely of complete thoughts and sentences. In public appearances, both candidates have demonstrated ever-worsening stage presence and signs of diminishing cognitive […]

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Yesterday at 2:02 AM CDT

When it comes to presidential debates, U.S. President Joe Biden has perhaps the most to lose. (Brynn Anderson / The Associated Press files)

Faint hope possible for woman who had husband killed

Erik Pindera 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:02 AM CDT

Months after marrying a one-time pro wrestler, Melody Sanford orchestrated a plan in which her estranged husband was beaten to death in a “vicious” murder-for-hire plot.

Now, a jury will decide whether Sanford, 60, can apply for early parole on her sentence for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, Court of King’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg ruled earlier this month.

Sanford, along with her friend Rita Cushnie and Cushnie’s son, Donald Richard, were convicted by a jury and given life sentences with no parole for 25 years in October 2011 for the slaying of 43-year-old Ivan Radocaj in September 2007. Cushnie had her conviction overturned in 2013 but was convicted a second time of first-degree murder in 2015.

Two co-accused, Daniel Richard and Christopher Houle, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Lawrence Bird (Mike Deal / Free Press files)

The inevitability of obsolescence

Bird’s interactive Video Pool Drawing Room traces the transience of technology

Alison Gillmor 3 minute read Yesterday at 3:00 AM CDT

‘Volatile substance’ removal prompts evacuation in St. Boniface Friday

Gabrielle Piché 2 minute read Yesterday at 11:39 AM CDT

Two St. Boniface Hospital sections were temporarily evacuated Friday as a bomb squad removed a “volatile substance.”

Members of the Winnipeg Police Service were called to the St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre around 10:40 a.m. Friday.

A chemical commonly stored at the research centre had likely expired, said Const. Claude Chancy, a WPS public information officer.

“Once it does so, it becomes more volatile in nature and has to be disposed of,” Chancy explained.

Crime, punishment and politics

Charles Adler 4 minute read Preview

Crime, punishment and politics

Charles Adler 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:02 AM CDT

“For any federal politician to announce that they’re willing to suspend or override fundamental rights and freedoms that protect all Canadians at any time — that would be concerning,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Winnipeg, May 16. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father is considered the father of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So when Pierre Poilievre announces to Canada’s police chiefs that, as prime minister, he would override the Charter of Rights to fight a war on crime, it instantly becomes a national issue. Nobody reading this requires fresh analysis on why crime is a key political issue, no […]

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Yesterday at 2:02 AM CDT

John Woods / The canadian press

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to supporters during a Liberal party fundraising event at the Fairmont Hotel in Winnipeg Thursday.

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