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Mountain View School Division held a stakeholder meeting this week to discuss the upcoming education review.

Board Chairperson Leifa Misko shares what was brought up.

“There is concern about the loss of local voice. The school division getting so large those local concerns will not be met. That was sort of the main concern. Nobody really came up with solutions or options. But the main concern is our local needs will be lost if everything is being made in Brandon or as the saying goes ‘on Broadway'.”

Misko explains how school boards in Manitoba are currently funded.

“Funding in Canada for education is done through property taxes. All across Canada it’s the same, it doesn’t matter if you’re Manitoba, Saskatchewan, on the east coast, on the west coast, where ever. It’s collected through property tax.” She continues, “How it’s collected is different. Manitoba is unique in that all money that is collected locally stays locally because our municipalities collect it and give it to the local school boards."

She wants to stress that people can agree or disagree with the board but you should voice your opinions. If you sit back and do nothing, you might not like the result. Before you get involved Misko encourages people to learn about the issues, and that through involvement change does happen.

If you want to talk about education and want to hear from the school board, Misko encourages groups to call the main office, send a trustee an email, or speak with a trustee if you see one of them on the street.

UPDATE

Jaylen Neeposh has been found and returned home, according to police.

**ORIGINAL POST**

A teen from Brandon has been missing for 10 days. Brandon Police are looking for 14-year-old Jaylen Neeposh.

She was last seen on the 10th when she left her home on the 600 block of 17th Street, in Brandon. Jaylen is described as 5’5, 125 lbs, aboriginal in appearance with long straight black hair, which she usually wears in a ponytail. She has brown eyes with black framed glasses. Jaylen was last seen wearing a maroon winter coat, grey sweatpants and tan boots.

Anyone with information about Jaylen’s whereabouts is encouraged to call the Brandon Police Service at 204-729-2345.

The Dauphin Friendship Centre Agency Luncheon went on earlier today.

Lindsay Sanderson hopes to do more agency luncheons or more lunch and learn type activities.

There were speakers from all over the community, the ACC, Habitat for Humanity, and the regional library were just a few.

There were so many people that wanted to say something, they went overtime.

Today is National Love Your Pet Day.

Pets play a major role in people’s physical and spiritual welfare, according to Dr. Ronald Mentz from the Ste. Rose Vet Clinic.

He says pets also have a very important part in the growing up of kids.

“Kids see pets on a whole different level. They see how pets are born. They see how these pets grow up with them. And when the pets reach the end of their life, it makes the whole cycle of life so much easier for them to comprehend.”

Dr. Mentz says if you do have a pet to take care of it. That also means taking care of their health. Make sure they get their regular vaccinations and do the regular de-worming. Owners need to realize that their pet's life compared to human lives is much shorter. On average one human year is like seven for your pet. So, if you skip one year of going to the vet, it's like skipping seven years of your pet's life.

The 31st annual Dauphin Kinsmen Business Expo is set to take place on the weekend of April 27th and 28th, a week later than usual due to a late Easter Weekend this year.

James Blake, Treasurer of the Kinsmen Club of Dauphin, says it's a great opportunity for local and out of town businesses to market their product to the Parkland.

The annual event attracts people from all over to visit the free to attend business expo.

Fees for booths start as low as $140, and rise depending on the size and location of the booth. They're already over 50 percent full, and encourage potential businesses to book soon for the best choice of booth location.

Volunteers for the event, as well as for the club in general, are always welcome. For more information, click here, or call Dan at 204-638-8712.

The Manitoba government has officially designated the Skylake Wildlife Management Area, in the Interlake.

The Skylake WMA is a large fen–forest near Arborg.

It features low-lying land with islands of tamarack–black spruce forest, trembling aspen, white spruce, wetlands bounded by cattails, sedges and willows, as well as pools fed by artesian springs.

In the province’s release, they say the area supports a variety of wildlife species including white-tailed deer, sandhill crane and songbirds.

“We are committed to protecting and preserving natural habitat, rare plant species and wetlands,” Squires said. “The designation of the Skylake WMA adds another natural area in our province where activities that significantly affect wildlife and habitat will not be permitted.”

There are now 85 WMAs in Manitoba, covering 5.6 million acres of land.

The first Dauphin Friendship Centre Agency Luncheon of the year will take place today, and is open to local agencies, businesses, companies.

They'll have an open mic for anyone who wishes to talk about their organization, or share events, info, and flyers.

The luncheon is a way to find and meet other people to network other sources in the community, share ideas, communicate, and just spread the word about anything going on with your organization.

The Unity Collective and the Dauphin Public Library are holding a meet and greet tomorrow.

They are also screening a movie called “A time For Making.”

Jean-Louis Guillas invites everyone to come out and learn about why craftsmanship is better than buying something mass produced.

“We were looking for something that would suit this month, and we saw one that was the maker coop. And wearing another hat, I’m involved with the Dauphin Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation and knowing that the Unify Project here in town pretty much fits exactly the kind of group that are featured in this film.”

He continues, “so it’s a great opportunity to do two things together: show a documentary film about this group in British Colombia that are a maker co-op and highlight our own women maker co-op that’s here in Dauphin.”

The movie runs at 1:30 tomorrow at the library.

Update: The highway has re-opened. Just after 6:30pm.

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A train hit a semi a close to Gladstone this afternoon.

Reports from the RCMP say the train clipped the back end of the semi as the truck was crossing the tracks. 

Emergency responders are currently on scene of the incident that took place at the corner of highway 50 & 16.

The highway is closed as they clean up the accident.

There are no injuries reported at this time.

Manitoba Infrastructure is increasing the flow from the Shellmouth Reservoir.

They are increasing it by about 120 cubic feet per second to 750 on Thursday.

This increase will raise Assiniboine River water levels by less than half a foot downstream of the Shellmouth Dam.

It’s part of the annual fall and winter draw-down to make room for anticipated spring run-off from the upper Assiniboine River.

The province will issue the first flood outlook in the very near future.

On Saturday the Coldest Night of the Year event will take place.

There are two options for the walk, 2km and 5km. The longer 5km distance will take you from Parkland Crossing to the Dauphin Friendship Centre and back.

Jamie Harvey, director of Parkland Crossing, says it’s a fun event because you get to spend time with the other participants, let people know that you care about the community, have a good supper afterwards, and it meets a need in Dauphin.

During the summer, there are more homeless people with the number reaching 65 to 80.

To join the event you have to either pay the 40 dollar registration fee or raise 150 dollars.

Even though it's called the Coldest Night of the Year, the forecast is looking like it won't be extremely cold on Saturday. That's not to say don't dress warm, because the temperature will still be below 0.

To register, click here.