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Riding Mountain National Park is turning off the street lights and looking up at the stars this weekend.
Dark Sky Weekend begins tonight in Wasagaming, at 10, with their Lights out in the Park, Dark Sky launch party at the Central Park by the main beach.
Cal Martin, the park’s visitor experience manager, shares why they are celebrating the dark.
“Dark skies are something at are amazing to see. At Riding Mountain National Park the night sky is crystal clear at times. You see such beautiful stars and sometimes northern light. We really felt that it was important to do a celebration of the night sky.”
Throughout the weekend you can participate in free and paid activities.
Martin explains how the event works.
"You can come for the whole weekend, or you can come for just a couple of hours. We have a number of events throughout the weekend and each of them is really a stand-alone experience."
You’ll earn about the Milky Way from the pros, learn about Anishinabe perspectives of the night sky, and party under the stars.
The best way to experience Dark Sky Weekend is to go at night, however, not everyone can stay up that late so there will be activities throughout the days as well.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
People all over the province are hitting the road for the long weekend and with added vehicles come more accidents.
Manitoba Public Insurance says the September long weekend usually has 800 collisions over the four days.
MPI is calling on everyone who uses the road this weekend to do their part in making it a safe and collision-free one.
They remind people to buckle up. People not using their seatbelts are 26 times more likely to be killed and two times more likely to be seriously injured in a collision than people using their seatbelt.
MPI wants to stress that it’s against the law to drive while impaired by both alcohol and drugs and that texting and driving is also not allowed.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
One person has been arrested after a four-hour standoff with RCMP in Neepawa.
It's believed that the person is 4th and final suspect in the Onanole shooting that took place last night.
Police arrested the man around 3:15.
Two family members told Global News the officer that was injured is 42 year old Graeme Kingdon.
RCMP officers had surrounded a house in Neepawa late this morning. A tactical unit with their armed cars had joined the officers outside the house.
RCMP closed-off the area of Mountain Ave to 4th Ave between Mill St and Boundary St in Neepawa.
The city is not on lockdown, but they ask that people avoid the area.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
There was another dumpster fire last night in Dauphin.
The Dauphin Fire Department responded to a fire at the recycling bins along 1st avenue south-east around 11:30 in the evening.
The fire is being treated as suspicious and if you know any information about what happened or who set it call the Dauphin RCMP detachment.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The provincial government is investing 50 thousand dollars into the Dauphin At-Risk Teens program.
Justice minister Cliff Cullen made the announcement this morning at the Dauphin Friendship Centre.
For the past 10 years, DART has helped high-risk young people aged 12 to 17 and their families get on a path to success and divert them from the justice system.
The program works with youth and their families to identify the issues at the root of the problems and develop a comprehensive plan to improve their lives. This could include addictions treatment support, mental health supports, probation services, or parenting supports.
Susie Secord, the President of the Dauphin Friendship Centre, says this is an important program that helps a lot of people.
“It certainly has diverted young people away from the criminal justice system. We find that a lot of times what youth and families need are advocates to get through, not only the maze of the justice system but school and all of those things.” She continues, “we’ve had kids graduate high school, that might have anyway, but, we’re not sure. They were at extreme risk to not graduate, sort of down the path they were heading, but now they’ve made it, and they’re out of our program.”
Minister Cullen spoke with us after the announcement and said this program helps those get on the right track.
“In broad terms, the program brings the key stakeholders to the table. And they, as a community, can identify people at risk in the community. That’s really the basis for this. If we can identify the at-risk people in the community, then we can make sure that they get the services that they require as individuals and as families. If we can make sure that those people have the right services early on they are not going to get involved in the justice system or other social services that we provide. So it’s really an intervention and how do we deal with them going forward.”
With the funding, DART is able to increase the program to help those up to 29 years old.
DART is modelled after the successful Selkirk Team for At-Risk Teens program, which was found to reduce youth re-involvement with police, improve their family and living situation, improve school attendance and participation, and ensure clients had successful safety plans, among other benefits.
DART will continue to receive a $5,000 annual grant from the Manitoba government in addition to its new funding.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The annual Colour Blast is coming up this weekend on Saturday.
It’s a fundraiser event for Skate Dauphin, the ice skating club in Dauphin.
The event begins at 10 am at the Dauphin Fairgrounds, starting right at the grandstand.
Once it starts, Colour Blast is a 5k run or walk where every kilometre volunteers throw coloured corn starch at the runners.
Online registrations are 35 dollars for those 16 and older, 25 for 5-16 and free for those under the age of 5. In-person registrations are cash only and will cost 5 dollars more than the online registration.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The railway crossing on Main Street in Dauphin is staying closed until the afternoon.
They expect the work will be done around one and four in the afternoon.
Road work began yesterday morning at 7 and lasted until past 8 last night.
They are repairing the railway, which includes replacing the wood and re-asphalting the area.
You’ll need to detour around until it’s finished this afternoon.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Dauphin is ranked close to the top of the recently released Manitoba Municipal Spending Watch report.
The report, from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, put Dauphin in 2nd place behind Morden.
The CFIB says not all services provided by communities are essential and governments are sometimes willing to spend taxpayers’ dollars without assurances that they are getting good value for what they pay.
Across the province, one thing they’ve noticed is that municipalities spend a lot on labour. In most communities, it’s been out of control, but according to Jonathan Alward, the Director of Provincial Affairs for Manitoba, Dauphin has been doing very well with labour costs.
“Over the last eight years from 2008 to 2015 there change in real operating spending per capita was a two per cent increase. I think that was the lowest among all cities and towns. What we’ve seen in Dauphin is that spending has actually gone down significantly since 2010 (by one per cent). At the same time, population growth has actually been on the decline as well. Over that time the population has declined by three per cent, but the city has recognized that and doing things to curb real operating spending growth.”
The city’s operating spending growth beyond the benchmark set out by the CFIB has cost Dauphin residents a combined $2.9 million over eight years. That adds up to around $371 of unnecessary spending for each of Dauphin’s 7,918 residents.
“Make no mistake. Unsustainable spending can lead to higher taxes. But in Dauphin, the council has done a great job at controlling that these last few years. Certainly, it’s something commendable.”
Alward continues, “We’re releasing the report right now because unsustainable spending has huge consequences. We estimate that over the eight years it’s been an over a billion dollar problem for Manitoba’s municipalities.”
Alward explained they released the report before the upcoming municipal elections taking place across the province in hopes that sustainable spending becomes a priority for candidates running for a position on Dauphin’s city council.
“So in a nutshell what we’ve seen in our Manitoba Municipal Spending Watch is that most communities have been growing spending unsustainably. We allow for a sustainable benchmark that includes population growth and inflation. Because as your communities grow, as the cost of goods gets more expensive, communities need to increase their spending. But what we want to make sure is that communities are spending sustainable long-term because taxes or maybe a reduction in how much they are investing in infrastructure are the consequences of communities spending unsustainably. “
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
UPDATE (12:18pm)
RCMP officers have surrounded a house in Neepawa, as they search for the fourth suspect from the shooting of an officer last night.
Around 11:45 a.m, RCMP tweeted that they were on scene at a residence in Neepawa, which is about 50 kilometres away from Onanole, where the officer was shot last night.
The RCMP say they have closed-off the area of Mountain Ave to 4th Ave between Mill St and Boundary St in Neepawa. The city is not on lockdown, but they ask that people avoid the area.
All possible RCMP resources are being utilized to bring this incident to a close.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
A missing man from Swan River has been found.
Christopher Todd Dufresne has been located safely.
The RCMP thanks the public, all those involved in the search and the many local volunteer searchers for their assistance.
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Original Post
A 42-year-old man is missing from Swan River.
On August 20, 2018, at 8:50 am, the Swan River RCMP received a report of the missing man. Christopher Todd Dufresne was last seen leaving his residence, located on 3rd Avenue NW in Swan River, at approximately 8:00 am on August 19.
Dufresne is described as 6’2”, 170 pounds, brown eyes, and grey hair. He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Swan River RCMP at 204-734-4686, or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, submit a secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com or text “TIPMAN” plus your message to CRIMES (274637).
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Police officers in Rivers, located north of Brandon, rescued five puppies from an underground tunnel the dogs' mother had dug on Monday.
Police say they were alerted about the pups yesterday and later found one that had escaped the tunnel and was dehydrated.
They found the other four animals when they started digging.
The dogs are being cared for at the Brandon Humane Society and will eventually be put up for adoption.
You can check out some cute photos by going to the Rivers Police Service Facebook page.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
