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It's a good time to catch a glimpse of the northern lights.
Planetarium Astronomer with the Manitoba Museum, Scott Young, says an increase in solar energy is causing the lights in the night sky lately.
“The northern lights are pretty unpredictable and we haven’t seen much of them for the last little while. But two nights in a row, on a weekend, both nights were clear across most of Manitoba so it was pretty good. It’s all caused by the activity on the sun which is basically what causes the northern lights.”
Scott says you’ll get the best view of the lights by finding a clear space with a flat horizon, and put whatever big city or town that’s near you to your south.
The planetarium astronomer says you want a nice flat horizon, "you don’t want a bunch of trees or anything in your way. You want a nice clear view down to the horizon to the north, no local lights. Then you need patience.”
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
Health officials are reporting 97 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba on Monday, with the majority in Winnipeg.
Two deaths are also being reported — two women from Winnipeg in their 90s.
After two consecutive days of no new cases of COVID-19 in Prairie Mountain Health, a single case was identified in the region by health officials on Monday.
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5.4% provincially and 4.4% in Winnipeg.
The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba is 31,483.
There are 1,219 active cases and 29,378 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.
There are 78 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 128 people in hospital who are no longer infectious but continue to require care (206 hospitalizations in total).
There are 14 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 as well as 18 people who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care (32 ICU patients total).
The total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 886.
Today’s new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba are from the following health districts:
• four cases in Interlake–Eastern health region
• 36 cases in the Northern health region
• one case in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• two cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health
• 54 cases in the Winnipeg health region
According to the province’s data, there are active cases in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (1), Porcupine Mountain (1) and Asessippi (7). Brandon has 11 active cases.
The Porcupine Mountain health district now has one active case of COVID-19 | Graphic courtesy of the Government of Manitoba
In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has 2 active cases, while Fisher/Peguis has 10.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
The Sifton Fire Department was dispatched to their second call of the year early this morning.
Shortly before 1:00 am, a report of fire alarms at the Golden Harbour Apartments was received.
The fire department discovered that unattended cooking was the cause.
Firefighters ensured there was no fire spread from the stovetop and stayed on scene for about an hour in order to clear the smoke from the building.
There were no injuries reported and fire department issued a reminder to stay close to the stove when cooking, and stay alert.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
For the second straight day, there were no new cases of COVID-19 identified in the Prairie Mountain Health region.
Health officials announced 58 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, with all but nine of those cases coming from Winnipeg and Manitoba’s north.
Two deaths due to COVID were also announced — a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region, and a man in his 70s from Southern Health linked to an outbreak at a Niverville personal care home.
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5.3% provincially and 4.1% in Winnipeg. The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba is 31,386.
Today’s new COVID-19 cases are from the following health regions:
• four cases in Interlake–Eastern health region
• 25 cases in the Northern health region
• zero cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• five cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 24 cases in the Winnipeg health region
The provincial data shows 1,180 active cases and 29,322 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.
There are 77 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 131 people in hospital who are no longer infectious but continue to require care (208 hospitalizations total).
There are 13 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 as well as 18 people who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care (31 ICU patients total).
The total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 884.
Public Health say the total number of confirmed variant of concern cases is four.
According to the province’s data, there are active cases in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (1) and Asessippi (7). Brandon has 10 active cases.
In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has 2 active cases, while Fisher/Peguis has 9.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Manitoba is expected to begin opening up vaccine appointments to the general public this week.
So far, the provincial call centre has only been accepting appointments for Manitobans in specific job categories.
The plan to begin immunizing the general public will start with people aged 95 and older.
Medical lead on the province's COVID-19 vaccine implementation task force, Dr. Joss Reimer, says immunizations will also open up to First Nations people age 75 and older in the first phase of immunizing the general public.
Reimer explains the age requirement has been set lower for First Nations people because of more severe COVID-outcomes being observed in this population.
“There's almost a 20-year discrepancy in the average age of death between a First Nations person with COVID compared to all other Manitobans with COVID,” Reimer said on Friday.
Reimer stressed that the phone lines are not open yet to the general public, and says she will provide an update this week.
“I want to reiterate that Manitobans over 95 are not eligible today, please do not call to book an appointment [yet]. But I will let you know ... when that changes.”
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- Contributed by 730 CKDM
A Roblin RCMP officer is waiting for a new trial date in connection to assault charges laid in 2019.
RCMP received information in December of 2018 that alleged a woman was the victim of assault, and that the alleged offender was a Roblin RCMP officer.
The charges are in relation to several off duty incidents that occurred in 2017 and 2018 in the RM of Roblin.
A 12-year member of the RCMP, Jason Kitzul, is charged with assault, assault with a weapon, and impaired driving.
He will return to court on March 18th.
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- Contributed by 730 CKDM
Manitoba health officials announced 95 new cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths today, all from the Winnipeg health region.
Today’s new COVID-19 cases are in the following health regions:
• three cases in Interlake–Eastern health region
• 59 cases in the Northern health region
• zero cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• two cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 31 cases in the Winnipeg health region
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5.3 percent provincially and four percent in Winnipeg.
The total number of COVID-19 cases identified in Manitoba since the start of the pandemic is 31,329. There have been 882 deaths due to the virus.
The number of COVID-19 variants found in the province remains at 4.
There are 1,207 active cases and 29,240 people have recovered from COVID-19.
There are 79 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 127 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 206 hospitalizations.
There are 16 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 and 15 people who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 31 ICU patients.
According to the province’s data, there are active cases in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (1) and Asessippi (8). Brandon has 12 active cases.
In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has 2 active cases, while Fisher/Peguis has 19.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
The Dauphin Fire Department was on the scene of an early morning structure fire on Saturday.
Crews responded to the fire on Jackson Street at around 6:30 a.m. where they found heavy smoke and flames coming from the roof of a mobile home.
The owner of the home was able to escape safely but told firefighters his pet may have ran back inside.
Crews located the pet safe outside the home and extinguished the fire. There are no injuries or estimates on damages at this time.
The department says the fire appears to be accidental and electrical in nature.
Crews stayed on scene until 10 a.m. to ensure the fire was completely out.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
The message was positive at Dauphin’s Countryfest Annual General Meeting (AGM) this past Thursday.
Despite the cancellation of the 2020 festival due to COVID, organizers are hopeful for the future.
Rob Waloschuk, the general manager of Canada’s longest-running country music festival, says it wasn’t a great year in light of the cancellation — but the AGM revealed it wasn’t as bad as they thought.
“We took advantage of a lot of government programs and things like that and did some cost-cutting. We were able to weather through 2020 and look forward to trying to host something going forward.”
One of the positives coming out of 2020 was the ticket holders who rolled over their tickets until the next festival.
“The support of our ticket holders and especially our Countryfest Members who have stuck with us through this has been phenomenal,” said Waloschuk, “we could not have done it without this support.”
The 2020 AGM also saw the addition of two new Directors to the Countryfest Board. Colette Hykawy and Ron Hedley will join volunteer Directors Carissa Caruk-Ganczar, Clayton Carefoot, Stephen Chychota, Ron Love, Chad McCrady, Duane McMaster, Lisa Saunders, Wayne Steiner, Jamie Van Beukenhout and Dean Yerama.
Looking Ahead To The Next Festival
The Dauphin’s Countryfest general manager confirms they’re planning to do something this year, but says it will take some time before organizers know what that would look like.
Waloschuk says he’s confident something will happen this summer.
“We’re still here, we’re still surviving, and we’re going to be presenting entertainment to people for years to come.”
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
After posting the highest daily increase in cases since January on Thursday, Manitoba was back to double digits on Friday with 92 new cases of COVID-19.
Three of the new cases are the B.117 COVID variant. There have now been a total of four cases of COVID "variants of concern" identified in Manitoba.
The cases are all related to international travel and the individuals have since recovered.
Dr. Jazz Atwal says it is expected that the province will see more variants of concern, and that these cases serve as a reminder to continue following public health orders and advice.
Two deaths are also being reported in Manitoba’s latest COVID update — two individuals from the Winnipeg region over the age of 80.
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5.7% provincially and 4.2% in Winnipeg. The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba is 31,235.
Today’s new COVID-19 cases are from the following health districts:
• two cases in Interlake–Eastern health region
• 50 cases in the Northern health region
• three cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• two cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 35 cases in the Winnipeg health region
There are 1,169 active cases and 29,187 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.
There are 80 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 133 people in hospital who are no longer infectious but continue to require care (213 hospitalizations total).
There are 12 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 as well as 15 people who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care (27 ICU patients total).
The total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 879.
According to the province’s data, there are active cases in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (1), Swan River (0), Duck Mountain (0), and Asessippi (9). Brandon has 11 active cases.
In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has 2 active cases, while Fisher/Peguis has 10.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
For the second time this week, a street in Dauphin will be closed for a water main break.
Edward Ave. between Mountain Road and Bond St. will close at 7 a.m. for crews to make repairs.
The City says to be prepared to detour.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
