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UPDATE: The extreme cold warning has ended.

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Extreme cold is on the way for all of Southern Manitoba tonight, including the Parkland. Environment Canada has issued extreme cold warnings across the southern half of the province.

Temperatures in the Dauphin area will be dropping down to -37 tonight, with windchills dipping to -52 overnight. Conditions are expected to improve tomorrow afternoon as relatively warmer air begins to move into the southern prairies.

Watch for cold-related symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness, numbness, and colour change in fingers and toes. Cover up. Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill.

Remember, if it's too cold for you to stay outside, it's also too cold for your pet, so make sure you aren't leaving them out in the cold.

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, December 4th, Neepawa RCMP responded to a fatal collision at the junction of Highway 16 and Highway 10 near Minnedosa.

An initial investigation determined that a vehicle being driven by a 19-year-old man from the RM of North Cypress-Langford, crossed the centre line and collided with a semi-truck driving the opposite direction.

The driver of the vehicle was pronounced deceased at the scene. It was also determined that he was not wearing a seatbelt. The driver of the semi-truck, a 39-year-old man from Winnipeg, was treated on scene for minor injuries.

The investigation is ongoing.

The Northwest Metis Council has teamed up with Under One Roof to create the Waskaa'igan Neegan Safe & Warm Space, a place where people 18 and older experiencing homelessness can get out of the cold at night.

The Space is located at Under One Roof, 37 Third Ave. NW in Dauphin, and will be open every night from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. from now until March 31, 2023. Northwest Metis Council Vice President Frances Chartrand says they received funding from the Brandon Renewal Corporation to help open the space.

"So we have people that are homeless and are walking around the streets of Dauphin, and people that are being left there that come in from the outlying communities to do shopping and they don't make it home and they have nowhere to go. Winter months are like minus 20, minus 30, and we're looking for a warm space for them to be able to go."

Chartrand says there will be full-time security on site, and they're also hired outreach workers that will be there to assist anyone that needs it.

"We understand that a lot of people come in, and a lot of people are couch surfing and there are some people that have mental health issues. COVID-19 was hard on everyone, not only in the Parkland area but all around there world, so we're trying to find and make sure that we can have wrap-around services to assist them with housing, with mental health workers, with education, with employment, and just to reunite them with their families to be self-sufficient."

The program is an extension of the Housing First Program that is run by the Northwest Metis Council, and Chartrand is working with the federal and provincial governments to try and get funding for the space, so it can continue in the future.

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A Manitoba-based staffing agency is helping Ukrainians find permanent work in Manitoba.

Myrowich Staffing agency was started in September by Mark Myrowich, who had been hiring staff for his manufacturing company when he realized there were so many Ukrainians looking to come to Canada and work, with no way to get connected to employers.

"I'm a manufacturer in rural Manitoba, I started hiring Ukrainians, and then they just kept coming, and they kept wanting to work for me, and it got to the point where I thought, you know, I'll start giving some resumes to some friends."

Myrowich says there wasn't the same connection that he had with them, and when one of his employees offered to start selling some items online for him, he suggested the staffing agency instead.

 "He thought that was a great idea, and with all the Ukrainians coming to Canada and Manitoba there was a disconnect, so we kept going, so I've been hiring Ukrainians since May, but getting into the staffing agency at the end of September."

Since its inception, Myrowich has connected around 50 Ukrainians with jobs, and that doesn't include 40 more that Myrowich has working for him.

Myrowich says that he realized there was a talent shortage in Canada, and so many people looking to move to Canada from Ukraine. He started connecting other businesses with Ukrainians looking for work, and the agency was born.

"So, we created a website where Ukrainians could upload their resumes, and I'd say about 70 percent are in Manitoba, and 30 percent are coming to Manitoba. They've heard about us, and they want to get jobs before they come to Manitoba, and a lot of them are sitting in Europe waiting to have jobs before they get here, it's difficult for them to find the right connection. That's the sweet spot where our staffing agency comes in."

Myrowich staffing has two websites set up, hireukrainian.ca is for businesses in Canada looking to be connected with the right employee. The other website is myrowich.com which provides a place for Ukrainians looking to come to Canada to connect with the agency and upload their resume.

The Myrowich Staffing Agency staff also helps people that apply with their resume and categorize potential employees into the kind of work they're qualified for, so it's easy for employers to connect with them.

A 43-year-old man is facing numerous charges after approximately $100,000 worth of cocaine was seized.

On December 2, a search warrant was executed by the Swan River RCMP in the RM of Mountain. 

Officers seized approximately one kilogram of cocaine, a number of prescription pills, over $10,000 in Canadian currency, four firearms, ammunition, and drug paraphernalia.

The estimated street value of the cocaine is approximately $100,000. The man was released on conditions and he will appear in a courtroom at a later date. 

From November 21 to 25, the RCMP's Strategic Enforcement Response Team (SERT) executed 13 arrest warrants and four of the top five most prolific offenders, identified by criminal analysts, were charged.

The warrants were executed on Sandy Bay First Nation, Dakota Tipi First Nation, and the City of Portage la Prairie. 

In total, 36 new charges were laid, which consisted of various firearms offences, Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking, Breaching Release Order, Possession of Stolen Property, and weapons possession offences.

Items seized included 13 firearms; 22 other weapons, including machetes, knives, brass knuckles, and batons; more than two ounces of methamphetamine, an ATV, a dirt bike, a vehicle, and a MIG welder.

“SERT is all about intelligence-led, data-driven policing,” said Superintendent Rob Lasson, Officer in Charge of RCMP Major Crime Services. “When SERT is deployed, it means we have identified an issue, determined what or who is driving the issue, and are taking concrete steps to stop the issue. We are very happy to team up with our policing partners to execute this operation to address crime in rural Manitoba.”

UPDATE: A teen from Ebb & Flow first nation that has been missing since the start of October has been safely located. The RCMP thanks the public for their assistance in the search.
 
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Original article posted on October 9th below:
 
The RCMP is looking for a missing 16-year-old girl from Ebb & Flow First Nation.
 
Alizay Houle was last seen yesterday at a residence on Atlantic Street in Winnipeg. Houle is believed to still be in Winnipeg and is described as 5’7”, 130 lbs with black hair and brown eyes.
 
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the Ste. Rose du Lac RCMP at 204-447-3082, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, or a secure tip online here.

Food inflation isn't going away anytime soon. The latest edition of Canada's Food Price Report predicts food prices will continue to rise in the new year, with expectations that it could be by as much as 7%.

For the average family of four, that means groceries will cost nearly $16,300, almost $1,100 more than last year. Dalhousie University professor and lead author Sylvain Charlebois says food inflation will remain stubbornly high in the first half of the year before it begins to ease.

“Our relationship with food is changing, and so will our food budgets. Showing up at the grocery store knowing what you should be paying will help.”

Food price increases in Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, and Saskatchewan will likely be higher than the national average in 2022, while price increases in the remaining provinces will be lower.

Within the grocery store, vegetables are expected to see the biggest price hike. The U-S has been struggling with dry conditions and bacterial contaminations, and a weaker Canadian dollar could make importing goods more expensive.

The full report can be found here.

The Dauphin R.I.D.E. (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) program had a successful first weekend. It's the 30th year the program is running, but the first it's been in operation since 2019. Over the weekend, the program had 22 volunteers, and they got 57 people and their cars home safely.

The program is expecting to get busier as the holidays approach, and New Year's Eve is usually their busiest night of the year. To prepare for the increase, the R.I.D.E. program is looking for more volunteers so they can keep up with demand.

Anyone looking to donate to the Dauphin R.I.D.E. Program or wishing to volunteer for the program can call Cory or Sho-Sho at 204-638-1463.

Update: According to Manitoba Hydro's Outage Map, power has been restored in Ste. Rose.

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Original Article: There's an unplanned Power Outage in Ste. Rose this morning.

Manitoba Hydro isn't reporting a cause of the outage at this time, but they estimate that power will be restored by 9 this morning. There are just over 800 customers affected by the outage.

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Last month on November 5th, Amy Strang of Dauphin purchased a pair of tickets at Al's Lucky Lotto for Lotto 6/49's "Gold Ball" draw. One of them turned out to be worth one-million dollars, as she would soon find out.

Nearly a week later on November 11th, Strang took her tickets to a self-checker at the Dauphin Marketplace Mall and was shocked at first, saying she thought her prize was a bit smaller.

"I actually thought it was a-hundred-thousand at first but when I kind of leaned in and counted the zeros ... it was a million."

Strang says she thought the self-checker must have been broken, and that it could not be real. Even nearly a month later, she is still having a hard time believing it.

"It was a big shock, I didn't even really know what to think, there was a lot of emotions going ... it's all still very surreal", recalled Strang.

The big lottery win could not have come at a much better time for Strang, who moved back to Dauphin from Nunavut this summer and bought a house. As you can probably guess, the mortgage will soon be paid off. Another chunk of her winnings went toward a brand new vehicle. She also said that some of the money will go to her family, including to some nieces and nephews to help with future post-secondary education costs. 

The "Gold Ball" draw is a new format in conjunction with the regular Lotto 6/49 draw, and it was Strang's mother who told her about it. When the two were at the mall on November 5th, Strang decided to give it a shot for the first time. Turns out that was a millionaire's choice.

"It's funny because I never thought in my entire life that this would happen."

I don't know about you, but I'm going to buy a ticket too.