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A trial date has been set for Steven Catagas, who was arrested in Dauphin in 2019 with 764 grams of cocaine. Catagas appeared in Dauphin court yesterday when his trial was set for March 1st to 3rd next year.

When police stopped Catagas on Main Street on March 15th, 2019, they found 764 grams of cocaine and various drug paraphernalia. He was arrested and charged with Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking, and Failing to Comply with a Recognizance.

Proposed emissions cuts of 30% by the federal government would mean producers across the country would have to greatly reduce the amount of fertilizer they use. In turn, this would affect yields, at a time when global food security is already an issue.

Industry groups have been outspoken about the cuts, saying it doesn't take current practices into account. Conservative Party of Canada Leadership Candidate Pierre Poilievre was in Brandon for an event today, and he spoke about the proposed cuts beforehand.

"I would repeal Trudeau's plan to cut fertilizer use by 30 percent. Farmers are already working every day to reduce their fertilizer because it reduces their costs, fertilizer is very expensive so farmers don't waste it, they use only what they need to get the maximum output from their crops."

Tune in to The Noon Hour Edition of Agri-View tomorrow, to hear the rest of my conversation with Poilievre, including more on the emissions cuts, and the priority of his Agriculture Minister if he's elected Prime Minister.

The Grandview Homecoming & Mud Bog Weekend returns tomorrow and will continue through Sunday.

Homecoming Chair Dennis Lukey said that the mud bog portion of the event was started by the Grandview Kinsmen Club six years ago to bring mud bogging to the Parkland.

"It [puts participants']... quads, Skidoos, cars and trucks [to the test]... and [has them] try to get through [the course] the quickest... There's prize money [as well]... $10,000 [will be up for grabs] this year," he added.

In addition to the mud bog, Lukey said that there will be a lot of other festivities going on as well.

"[There's a] pancake breakfast every morning... an art display going on at the Drop-In Centre... all kinds of barbecues going on... [a] mechanical... bull down at the park, [and a] Little Brown Jug beer sampling," he added.

Dennis Lukey also said that there's going to be a reunion supper tomorrow at 5 p.m. that's open to anyone who attended Grandview High School prior to 1984.

"You didn't have to actually graduate. As long as you were in school for a day or two prior to 1984, you're in for the homecoming," he added.

According to Lukey, they will only be selling weekend passes, which will cost $20 for adults, $10 for youth aged 13-17 and will be free for children aged 12 and under.

The complete schedule of events can be found on the Grandview Homecoming website.

One-third of Prairie Mountain Health Region emergency rooms were closed over the long weekend.

Staffing shortages have continued to force closures and reduced hours across the region, and Health Minister Audrey Gordon says the government is continuing its work to address the issue.

"Our government, since taking office, has been actively working towards increasing the number of staff that are in, not just the Winnipeg Health Region, but in the Prairie Mountain area, and we will continue to take those steps recognizing that not taking these steps will continue to lead to the staff shortages and some of the closures that we've seen."

Opposition leader Wab Kinew said the long-term retention of staff in rural communities would help improve the level of care. Minister Gordon also touched on the issue of retaining staff.

"I was, last week in Erikson, Hamiota, I was in Shoal Lake, Dauphin, and Swan River, and it really gave me an opportunity to talk to front-line healthcare workers, and what they said is they wanted to see us incentivize and encourage individuals who are currently living in the communities to enter the healthcare system."

Minister Gordon said she wanted to ensure people that nursing is still a rewarding, and sought-after career.

"It's just about ensuring that we increase the number of seats as we've done as a government. We are headed towards, as you know, 400 seats, we're up to 289. We have to get nurses through the system as quickly as possible, so that is being done. We have our undergraduate nurse educator program, which allows third and fourth-year nursing students to go into the system, and then our internationally educated nurses. Making it faster and more streamlined for them to gain licensure and go into the system."

UPDATE: Manitoba Hydro has restored power to the area that saw an outage just before noon today.

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Manitoba Hydro has reported a number of outages affecting the Parkland right now. The Outages are all unplanned and started just before noon.

For details on each outage, go to the Manitoba Hydro Outage Map here.

The Northwest Round Up and Exhibition returned to Swan River last weekend and it was really well attended.

Ag Society President Austen Anderson said that 11,389 people went through the gates — around 4,700 people on Saturday and over 3,000 the other two days.

He also said that even though they increased the admission price at the gates, nobody seems to have been deterred from attending.

"It was, like, better than normal. People were... euphoric [about] everything... It was crazy... The grandstand [was] packed three nights in a row for the chuckwagon show, just absolutely shoulder-to-shoulder people... The beer gardens [were] full, even [on] Sunday night... They were so excited to have something to do," he added.

Anderson also said that the food booths were very busy as well and that by Saturday at 9 p.m., they had already sold more beer at the beer gardens than they did during the entire 2019 rodeo.

"My aunt was one of the workers in the Stampeder booth. She worked from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and all she did for five hours straight was punch numbers on the cash register," he added.

He also wanted to thank the volunteers for all their hard work.

Closures and reduced hours in healthcare Facilities continue to be an issue in the Prairie Mountain Health Region. Opposition Leader Wab Kinew says resolving staffing shortages needs to be a top priority for the government.

"I think everyone in the Parkland, and really everyone in the Prairie Mountain Region knows there are major issues with healthcare." "Let's make hiring nurses in the public system a priority. Agency Nurses as a stop-gap measure is one thing, but let's try and get these nurses on a permanent basis into communities so that they're there long term, they learn your name, they know your family, and they know your medical needs and they can build that relationship that improves that quality of care."

One recent example of these closures and limited hours is the Grandview Hospital limiting the hours of its emergency room. Kinew says it's an issue the provincial government has brought on themselves with some of their practices.

"The number one issue that we hear from nurses, is that the steps the PC's have taken with healthcare has left them feeling disrespected, burnt out, or that they just don't have much of a work-life balance." "All they want really is maybe just a little bit more consideration. That they not be forced to work back-to-back shifts, mandatory overtime, that they get some opportunity to see their kids, to see their families, and that there's some flexibility around scheduling shifts."

Prairie Mountain Health CEO Brian Schoonbaert recently commented on a survey about Manitobans being dissatisfied with their healthcare, and we have reached out to PMH for a response to Mr. Kinew's comments.

It was an active Tuesday morning for the Dauphin Fire Department. Below is a summary from Fire Chief Cam Abrey of what occured:

In the early hours of Tuesday August 02, members of DFD responded to four separate incidents.

At midnight, the first call was received for a fire in a business on 3rd Avenue North East. As crews were wrapping up and putting the trucks back into service, shortly after 1:00 a.m., another call was received for a vehicle fire located behind a business on the 300 block of Main Street South.

During this vehicle fire, crews noticed smoke near the corner of 1st Avenue South West and Main Street. A fire was located behind 7-11 beside the dumpster.

Then shortly after 6:00 a.m., a fourth call was received for another vehicle fire at a business in the 500 block of Main Street South.

There was another attempted fire which was not reported to 911 as it had burned itself out at a business on 3rd Avenue North West.

Each one of the incidents is suspicious in nature. Should anyone have any information, please contact the RCMP at 204-622-5050.

This is in addition to a couple of businesses in Dauphin who posted on social media about broken windows at their shop.   

UPDATE: As of 9:03 p.m., the remaining severe thunderstorm watches have ended.

The previous update follows:

As of 7:09 p.m., the severe thunderstorm watch that was in effect for many communities in the Swan River - Duck Mountain - Porcupine Provincial Forest area has ended.

The original article follows:

Environment Canada has issued multiple severe thunderstorm watches for Dauphin and surrounding areas.

They are currently in effect for many communities in the following areas:

According to Environment Canada, conditions are favourable for the development of dangerous thunderstorms that may be capable of producing damaging wind gusts, damaging hail and heavy rain.

They also said that scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop later this afternoon and move eastwards through the evening hours as a low-pressure system and trailing cold front move through the area and that some of these thunderstorms may be severe with primary threats of damaging hail and damaging wind gusts.

Prairie Mountain Health will be running a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Dauphin tomorrow, August 3rd, at the Ukrainian Orthodox Hall at 304 Whitmore Ave. from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

This clinic will include children aged six months to four years if they meet the eligibility requirements.

First, second, third and fourth doses will be available for anyone who is eligible.

The Dauphin clinic will be a combination of walk-in and booked appointments.

Anyone interested can book an appointment online or by calling 1-844-626-8222.

They must also bring with them a completed consent form, which can be downloaded here.

There was a vehicle fire behind the Steiner Plumbing & Heating Ltd. building last night. According to the company's Facebook page, someone set fire to one of their work trucks, which had freon tanks in the back.

The Dauphin Fire Department was on the scene to put out the fire before it was able to reach the tanks. One of Steiner's employees, who is a firefighter, was able to move the neighboring vehicle out of the way safely.

The Dauphin Fire Department is expected to be giving more information about the fire at some point today.

Steiner Facebook 2