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After a busy holiday season, the results of the RCMP's Annual Holiday Checkstop program are in.

This program runs through December and has officers posted to help deter people from driving under the influence.

Across the province, the RCMP made over 5000 stops, and nearly 3500 alcohol screenings.

Over 50 separate charges were laid, ranging from alcohol impairment, drug impairment, and failure to comply.

 In total, the RCMP saw a lot of activity:
• 5223 vehicles checked
• 853 Provincial Offences Act notices issued
• 3436 Mandatory Alcohol Screenings administered
• 46 Criminal Code alcohol-impaired charges
• 2 Criminal Code drug-impaired charges
• 4 Criminal Code failure or refusal to comply with impaired charges
• 88 alcohol immediate roadside prohibitions
• 12 drug immediate roadside prohibitions
• 290mg% was the highest blood alcohol content reported

Winnipeg Police Service Patrol Sergeant Stephane Fontaine had a simple message for drivers, “If you’re under the influence of alcohol or drugs, don't drive.

School districts across the Parkland area are cancelling bus routes today due to the extreme build-up of snow.

Mountain View School Division has put out a notice of bus cancellations due to the snow-covered roads.

All MVSD busses are cancelled due to the poor road conditions, but schools will remain open.

Learning will occur for the students who can safely attend, while the students at home are expected to check into their classes via the online school platform.

Turtle River School division has no bus routes running today, but schools remain open.

Park West School Division also has some cancelled bus routes. There will be no buses for Binscarth, Inglis, Major Pratt, and Rossburn. Those schools are open. All other schools in the area will be open with buses running.

The Rolling River School Division reports that all busses are cancelled today, and the colony schools are closed. All other schools are still open in the division.

We'll keep you updated if delays are expected tomorrow on these bus routes.

The City of Dauphin will have crews out overnight to clear crucial routes after the full day of heavy snow.

‼️🚨Beginning at midnight tonight, City crews will begin clearing the downtown area, Manitoba Transportation &...

Posted by City of Dauphin on Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Up to 20 cm is expected to fall over Dauphin and area by the end of the night, with more forecast throughout the week.
 
Road ways around the area are reportedly partially covered and fully covered on highway 20A from Dauphin to Ochre RIver and highway 10 through Riding Mountain National Park.
 
All of these areas except Riding Mountain have reduced visibilty.
 
If you have to travel, be sure to check road conditions through https://www.manitoba511.ca/ before hitting the roads.

The DRCSS has announced contingency plans for grade 12 students who missed out on writing the Provincial ELA exam today (Wednesday) due to school buses being canceled.

Grade 12 bus students who were not able to make it into school today because of the bus cancellations will have arrangements made to have two hours of their day tomorrow freed up in order to write that exam.

Grade 12 town students are still expected to be in attendance to write that exam today. 

The Parkland Chamber of Commerce kicks off its 2024 lunch series next week.

Executive Director Stephen Chychota says next Tuesday's event will include a sneak peek of upcoming announcements regarding immigration and the local labour market.

"We have been working with municipalities in the area on a strategic initiative regarding a proactive approach to bringing in skilled immigrants to our region to fill up vacancies in some of the sectors that we have here.  We are going to be launching that in the next little while, and we have a special guest coming out next weekend to unveil that program to everyone."

Chychota adds they will also share details about their 2023 Chamber International trip to Portugal.

"We are going to bring a little bit of that Portugal culture and talk about the trip.  We really have not had a platform all that well to be able to share with everyone how it went and how it looked and stuff.  So I am going to go into that during the first part of the lunch.  And then we are going to be announcing the 2024 trip, which will be happening later this fall."

Everyone who attends will receive a special gift from that international trip.

The lunch will take place from 11:45 to 1 pm at the Watson Arts Centre. 

Tickets are $20 for chamber members, and $30 for nonmembers, and are available online at parklandchamber.ca. 

Besides experiencing our first significant cold snap of this winter, Parkland area residents are also bracing for a sizable dumping of snow today (Wednesday).

Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued a snowfall warning for the entire region. 

An Alberta Clipper system is expected to drop as much as 20 cm of snow by tomorrow (Thursday) morning. 

The weather office says highways and roads will become difficult to navigate due to accumulation of snow, along with wind gusts at times up to 40 km an hour.

Motorists should be prepared to deal with changing road conditions throughout the course of the day. 

The RCMP has put out a missing persons report after a family lost contact with a man.

Adam Oswald was reported missing on January 6th, last seen over a week prior at a residence on Highway 16 in the RM of Glenella-Lansdowne.

He was last in contact with a family member on November 29th, but has been unreachable since then.

Oswald is described as 6 feet tall, 190 pounds with dark hair that is short on the sides and long on the top, often worn in a ponytail. He has green eyes, a Canadian flag tattoo on his right shoulder, and a scar beside his left eye. He may have grown a beard since he was last seen.

He was driving a black 2018 Ford F150, with Manitoba licence plate KXD 328.

If you have information, please call Minnedosa RCMP at 204-867-2916, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477

In remembrance of those we lost on June 15th, the province is looking to provide some funding for a local memorial, as well as one on the intersection's location.

This announcement came as part of Monday's press release, attended by Premier Wab Kinew, Minister Lisa Naylor, and Minister Ron Kostyshyn.

The Premier recognized how important it is to have this memorial to honor the memory of lost loved ones.

"The community of Dauphin has been very hard hit, as well as folks nearby. We have to remember what took place, and think that will hopefully help with the healing process for some families and the survivors and the first responders."

Premier Kinew also wanted to make it a locally meaningful memorial, leaving the design to the people of Dauphin.

"We are committed to supporting the memorial, but we do not want to direct what's going to happen. We want to leave that to the families and the other folks that are involved."

The goal is to create this memorial by June 15th of this year to honor the anniversary of this incident.

Mayor Bosiak was pleased to hear how onboard the provincial government is with their support.

"The announcement today from the province of offering financial support was very well received by those family members. That was one of their concerns, wanting to do things in a timely way so something is up by June 15th."

There will be further consultation with the families, designers, and city planners before this project moves further ahead.

The third Monday of January is recognized as Blue Monday, which is said to be the most depressing day of the year.

But Peer Connections Manitoba wants to focus the day on wellness, rather than illness, through an event that day at the Dauphin Friendship Centre. 

Eleanor Snitka is their Community Peer Supporter in Dauphin and says Blue Monday is a day to talk about our mental health.

 "I will talk about what we can do to make our lives easier in the wintertime and do some fun activities. But I want to talk about wellness rather than illness, and talk about celebrating the small victories."

Snitka says we should spend every day looking at our mental health.

"Sometimes, some people have that assumption or stigma that when you have mental health, you are kind of crazy I guess. But you know, we all have mental health, and we all have good days and we have bad days.  And for some people, it is harder than others to live.  But I do not want it to be a pity party.  I want it to be where we celebrate the good stuff."

There will also be a presentation that will discuss wellness using holistic and essential oils.

Snitka says everyone is encouraged to attend, adding those that who do show up will talk about their own experiences. 

The event takes place from 1-4 on Monday in the Literary room of the Friendship Centre and is free for anyone that wishes to attend. 

The RCMP's final investigation file into last June's deadly bus crash near Carberry has been handed over to crown prosecutors.

But the province says there is no word yet on whether any charges might be laid in relation to the crash, which claimed the lives of 17 Dauphin area residents while injuring eight more. 

A spokesperson for the Mounties says officers have yet to speak to the driver of the bus that was carrying a group of seniors from the Dauphin area to a casino near Carberry, when it collided with an eastbound semi in the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans Canada Highway on June 15th.

The spokesperson would not elaborate further due to health privacy laws. 

The banquet room at the Chicken Chef restaurant in Russell will play host to the Russell Ag Society's annual general meeting. 

It is set for 6 pm tonight (Tuesday), and both current and new members are encouraged to attend.

The ag society reminds attendees that membership fees for the coming year are also due, and can be paid at tonight's meeting.

The event includes a supper, and you are asked to call or text Cathy at 204-773-6457 if you plan on showing up so that they can have an exact number for supper. 

There is a $30 cost to attend.