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Daniel Renner will be spending the next few years of his life behind bars.

The 30-year-old pleaded guilty in Dauphin court on Tuesday after he was arrested for attempted kidnapping back on May 13.

He entered a home on 3rd Avenue SE with a knife and forced a 21-year-old woman outside.

Renner was sentenced to five years in prison, less time already served. 

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Contributed by Darnell Duff

Published: Nov 17, 2021 - 6:37 am

An annual Dauphin fundraising campaign is struggling to get donations. The "Wrap for Hunger" event has been around for three years, but so far this year - donations are slow. 

Event organizer Travis Roos, owner of North of 51 Computers says it's been a tough year for the event. 

"It's been extremely challenging," said Roos. "Our goal is 1500 pounds and I'm not sure we're going to hit that unless we get some support."

If you need some presents wrapped, staff at North of 51 Computers will wrap up to four presents for free, as long as you bring in 10 pounds of food- the equivalent of three or four large cans of soup. The fundraiser runs until December 15th.

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Contributed by Darnell Duff

Published: Nov 17, 2021 - 6:30 am

A Manitoba teen sexually assaulted by a now-retired R-C-M-P officer when she was nine years old says she continues to live in fear of being attacked.

The girl made the comments in a victim-impact statement provided to the court for the sentencing yesterday of 61-year-old Robert Dowd.

Provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson sentenced Dowd to 18 months in jail and one year of supervised probation, describing the assault as ``repugnant.''

Dowd was first convicted of assaulting the girl following a trial in 2017, but it was overturned and a new trial was ordered.

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Contributed by Darnell Duff

Published: Nov 17, 2021 - 6:24 am

Dauphin City Council is heading to an important conference next week for the first time in three years.

The Association of Manitoba Municipalities convention is usually held every year, but COVID has kept municipal leaders on the sidelines since 2018.

Mayor Christian Laughland says it's great to get back to advocating for issues important to Dauphin.

"It's a great event, it's great to mingle not with just the ministers, but everyone from all municipalities," said Laughland. "We look forward to it every year and we're happy to be heading to it once again."

The mayor says every member of the council has committed to attend the conference in person or virtually. The AMM convention starts on Monday.

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Contributed by Darnell Duff

Published: Nov 17, 2021 - 6:22 am

Public Health officials announced 99 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba today.

Dauphin has one active case of COVID-19 and of today's cases, 52 aren't vaccinated, 5 are partially vaccinated and 42 are fully vaccinated. 

The test positivity is at 5.9% provincially.

Case breakdown:

14 in the Prairie Mountain Health Region

4 are in the Interlake/Eastern Health region

2 are in the Northern Health region

41 are in the Southern Health region

38 are in the Winnipeg Health region

The numbers of active cases in other Parkland health districts are:

Riding Mountain (1), Swan River (4), Duck Mountain (14), Porcupine Mountain (15), Agassiz Mountain (11), Asessippi (9), Little Saskatchewan (12), Whitemud (32). Brandon has 42 active cases.

In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has 9 active cases. The Fisher/Peguis district has 5 active cases.

There are 1,445 active COVID-19 cases in the province.

119 Manitobans are hospitalized with active COVID-19.

22 Manitobans are in intensive care units with active COVID-19.

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Contributed by Alec Woolston

Published: Nov 16, 2021 - 12:40 pm

It's been more than two years but the wait is about to come to an end. The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair is heading back to Brandon from March 28 to April 2, 2022.

The event put on by the Provincial Exhibition wasn't held the past two years because of the pandemic. Kathy Cleaver is the vice-president of the Provincial Exhibition and she says this is a long time coming.

"We just can't wait until March, the community needs this back and we're preparing as if it were a normal year," said Cleaver.

The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair is held annually during Manitoba’s March spring break. A tourism highlight in Western Canada, it is one of Western Canada’s largest agricultural events and the largest annual event to be held in Brandon. 

The Fair generates roughly $7 million to the local economy every single year.

"We fill all of the hotel rooms in Brandon, it's near impossible to find one," said Cleave. "Our restaurants and shops around the city, the entire event brings life to Brandon."

The RMWF is one of only two fairs in Canada to receive Royal designation from Queen Elizabeth II and has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Events in North America, receiving numerous awards from the tourism industry.

When heading to the fair, you can expect to see world-class show jumping, heavy horse competitions, livestock sales and displays, a quality hands-on agricultural education program, exceptional live entertainers, over 300 commercial and agricultural exhibits, and more. 

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Contributed by Darnell Duff

Published: Nov 16, 2021 - 1:16 pm

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is mandating that phone companies bring in new technology aimed at slowing down fraudulent spoof calls and robocalls.

Yesterday at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto, CRTC Chair Ian Scott said Canada's telecom companies have until November 30th to update their networks to meet a standard that gives telecom providers the ability to validate the identity of a caller.

Scott also said that scam calls, unwanted calls and/or robocalls have become such a problem that people are beginning to lose their confidence in the country's telecommunications system. He also noted that 25 percent of all calls made on mobile networks consist of these fraudulent calls.

The November 30th deadline that Canadian carriers must meet to update their networks with the technology is a start, but according to Scott, the goal is to give people the ability to determine which calls are legitimate, and which need to be treated with caution.

Ultimately, he said call recipients could see a caller ID that shows up as either a “red light” or “green light” beside the name, which would indicate whether the caller's identity has been verified by the carrier or not.

Scott also mentioned that the costs associated with implementing robocall-mitigating technologies should fall on the carriers, not consumers.

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Contributed by Alec Woolston

Published: Nov 16, 2021 - 10:53 am

A ground-penetrating search at the Minegoziibe Anishinaabe School will begin on Tuesday afternoon.

The search at the former Pine Creek Residential and Day School begins at 1:00 p.m. with a prayer. Presentations from the technical engineers doing the survey will follow.

The archbishop of the Catholic Church is confirmed and will be on hand to make a statement to survivors. Mental well-being support workers will also be on hand to provide emotional support for participants.

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Contributed by Darnell Duff

Published: Nov 16, 2021 - 8:38 am

The City of Dauphin has proclaimed December 3^rd as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Council voted unanimously yesterday to recognize the day, in order to affirm Dauphin as a welcoming and inclusive community.

Mayor Christian Laughland says the proclamation is designed to encourage everyone to be more compassionate and understanding of the challenges faced by people with disabilities.

The proclamation doesn’t discriminate between mental and physical disabilities, and the spirit of the day is to ensure that all people in the world have equal opportunities for work, play, health, and success. 

Also, City of Dauphin crews will be out in full force today after working all through the night to keep up with the current storm. Mike VanAlstyne, Director of Public Works and Operations, says he's happy with how crews handled last week’s snowstorm considering it was the first snowfall of the year.

In reaction to residents who expressed frustration at the lack of sidewalk clearing, VanAlstyne says sidewalk clearing began Monday and all sidewalks in Dauphin are expected to be clear by around noon Wednesday.

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Contributed by Darnell Duff

Published: Nov 16, 2021 - 7:16 am

It started as something to cheer up her community and people from across Manitoba when the pandemic first hit and now, Joan van der Linde has baked more than 2100 loaves of bread.

On March 12, 2020, Joan was on her way to Swan River and 10 days later, she started wondering what she could do to bring a smile to people's faces and baking bread was the way to go. Loaf one was given out in late March of 2020 and late last month, Joan who goes by the 'BREAD basket' on Facebook did a draw for the 2000th loaf of bread.

"I just wanted to make someone smile with everything that was going on and I felt this was a perfect way," said van der Linde. "I love baking so it's really enjoyable for me."

Van der Linde says it's crazy how much this has grown and at one time, she had as many as nine breadmakers doing their magic. Joan is based in Morris so if you're ever in the area, you can message her on Facebook and get your own loaf. She says people from the Parkland region have done so in the past.

"If I didn't love this, I wouldn't be doing it," said Van der Linde. "I love the joy that this is bringing people and all of the stories that come with it."

As of Monday, Joan had given away 2107 loaves. Her goal is to make 50 loaves a week as she hopes to get to 3000 by March 20, 2022. And to top it all off, Joan donates several a week to the local food bank in Morris. 

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Contributed by Darnell Duff

Published: Nov 16, 2021 - 6:23 am