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Power outages have been reported in Grandview, The RM of Dauphin, and the City of Dauphin as a strong storm cell rolls through the Parkland bringing lots of thunder and lightning and heavy rains.
To report an outage, go to hydro.mb.ca.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Now is the time to think about running for a position on the Mountain View School Division Board.
Before people submit their applications they should consider the time commitments required for trustees.
Leifa Misko, chair of the board, shares with us why people should think about putting their name forward to become a trustee.
“Everybody in our community has a vested interest in ensuring that our educational system meets our community’s needs. A strong educational system helps grow the social and economical viability of our community.”
“Anyone considering running, they want to give back to the community and advocate to make a difference in our children’s lives so they are prepared for the future.”
Misko says those who are elected should be aware that they will need to attend three to four meetings a month, depending on what committees they are on, with Monday evening meetings being the most important.
You don’t have to live in the ward you’re planning to run in. Each application requires 25 signatures from people living in the ward. Misko encourages getting 30 signatures. The election official goes through each name to make sure they live in the proper ward.
Forms can be picked up after August 22nd. Misko says the submission deadline is short, from October 12th to the 18th.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board (MHEB) has announced that Kelvin Shepherd will be stepping down as President and CEO and he will retire from the Crown Corporation on November 16, 2018.
Prior to joining the Manitoba Hydro team in 2015, Shepherd was the President of MTS Inc. from 2010-2015.
“It was a difficult personal decision for me to leave Manitoba Hydro,” said Shepherd. “I’m very proud of the team of hard-working people at the utility who I have been privileged to lead. Like any job, the position of CEO comes with the good and the bad that one must accept and manage.”
“I have enjoyed my time at Manitoba Hydro and have done my best to lead our company through both the challenges and opportunities we have faced, but I know in my heart that now is the right time to move on to a new stage in my life.”
Overseeing the completion of the Bipole Three Reliability Project was just one of many things Shepherd accomplished during his time with Manitoba Hydro.
He also oversaw the streamlining of the corporation by over 800 positions through Manitoba Hydro’s Voluntary Departure Program, which is expected to save the company over $90 million per year in operating costs.
“This has been a very satisfying career,” Shepherd said. “I have been fortunate to have interesting work with great companies. I have also made it a priority to give back to the communities I have worked in to help those less fortunate than myself through volunteer activities.”
“In retirement, I’m looking forward to a more relaxed pace, continuing my volunteer work, and spending more time with my wife Debbie.”
The search for a new President and CEO is already underway.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
Many communities across Manitoba are banning single use plastic bags, but Dauphin is not one of them.
The City of Dauphin chose recycling initiatives over putting efforts into implementing a ban.
Sharla Griffiths, Dauphin's Assistant CAO, says the city’s administration did look into the issue a while ago but decided not to pursue the idea.
“Council did take a look at it a while back, but decided their focus at the time was increasing our recycling numbers.” She continues, “they thought that their efforts would best focused on recycling, at that time.”
“At that time organizations were giving out free re-usable shopping bags. As well as starting to charge for the single use plastic bags.”
Mayor Allen Dowhan spoke with us about one of the directions city council decided to move towards instead of the ban.
“The biggest public initiative has been the sort of, compulsory recycling with making sure that you have a recycling bin. We provided everybody with that. And also if you don’t put out your recycling bin on collection day we won’t pick up your garbage.”
Bag bans have been implemented in Thompson, The Pas, Leaf Rapids, and Snow Lake with a City of Winnipeg committee currently considering the idea.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Manitoba Public Insurance reported a net income of 33.7 million for the first three months of the fiscal year.
That’s down 5.2 million dollars from the same time period last year.
They are blaming summer hail storms as reasons for the decrease.
MPI says the first two quarters are usually favourable compared to the last two when claims ramp up in the winter months.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
A report from the Lifesaving Society says the drowning rate for young Manitoba children is more than three times the national average.
Numbers from 2015, which are the latest ones that are available, show one child under the age of four died by drowning for every 100-thousand Canadians, while the rate in Manitoba was 3.5.
The society released its annual report yesterday as part of its National Drowning Prevention Week initiatives.
The Kinsmen Aquatic Centre in Dauphin is holding drowning prevention classes all week for free and then followed by a free swim!
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
If you're looking for somewhere new to shop, the Watson Art Centre has opened up their online store.
With the new store, you don't even have to get off your couch to purchase everything the Watson Art Centre offers on the online store. The website itself is through a Canadian company called "Art of Where", but you'll be helping the WAC with any purchase.
"For every sale made online, the WAC does get a percentage of the sale," said Jan Jenkins, Volunteer at the WAC. "The "Art of Where" has a number of artists from all over Canada that are on there."
By visiting the online store right now, you can purchase different kinds of phone cases, paintings, and greeting cards.
"I'm planning on creating notebooks, and scarfs as well," said Jenkins. "And, in September and October, I'm hoping to load more items into the store so they're ready for Christmas shopping."
Check it out right now by heading to the Watson Art Centre Online Store.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
A 21-year-old is in the hospital with serious injuries after his pickup truck hit a hydro pole and ended up in a ditch south of Roblin.
A RCMP officer was driving on Provincial Road 482 northbound towards Asessippi Park when he came across a car tangled in down power lines laying across the road. The driver of that car was uninjured.
The officer then saw a pickup truck was in the west ditch. It had struck a hydro pole causing the lines to come down across the road.
The driver of the truck was the 21-year-old who is from Saskatchewan. He was brought to hospital with severe injuries where he remains.
It appears speed may have been a factor in the collision.
MB Hydro attended and addressed the downed lines and any safety issues.
A Forensic Collision Reconstructionist is assisting with the ongoing investigation.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
A 29-year-old from Fishing Lake First Nation, Saskatchewan will have to wait another week to find out his fate.
Reginald Morrisseau was charged with Manslaughter after he stabbed a man to death at a house party this past weekend in Dauphin.
Morrisseau appeared in Provincial Court yesterday, and his court date was remanded to Tuesday, July 24.
He remains in custody.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
Three winners have been picked in the Shop It Forward draw.
Breann Maxwell, from Community Futures Parkland in Grandview picked one of the names from the draw.
Maxwell says a change they made this year worked out successfully.
"It was really positive this year." She continues saying, "it was the first year we did the game card format as the program and I think it worked a lot better then it had in previous years where we did it all online."
"We had quite a lot of businesses participating from across the Parkland and lots and lots of entries."
The winners are;
Ann Manweiller, she chose a Gift Package with items from Parkland-based businesses, valued at $100,
Grant White, he chose a $100 gift card from a local business of his choice,
Midge Sametz, she chose $100 Chamber Bucks as her prize.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
At least two companies from eastern Canada are expressing interest in expanding operations following Greyhound's decision to end service in Western Canada at the end of October.
Ontario-based Kasper Transportation has already expanded into Manitoba and says it's working on a route connecting Winnipeg to Saskatchewan.
Maritime Bus says it sees room for a new network of services involving private businesses with support from provincial and federal governments.
It picked up the slack when an international company dropped its routes in New Brunswick six years ago.
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