If you’re looking to get security or doorbell cameras, locks, or alarm systems for your home, applications have reopened for the Manitoba Security Rebate Program. It offers a $300 rebate on security equipment. A separate program for small businesses launches later this year.
———-
Brandon’s annual ‘Take Back the Night’ march will be held this evening. The goal is to raise awareness about gender-based violence and sexual violence against women, men and minorities. The march will begin at 6:00 pm at downtown’s Princess Park to Brandon University.
———-
A Winnipeg judge has stayed charges against former fashion mogul Peter Nygard. He was charged in 2023 after a woman alleged she was sexually assaulted at a warehouse in that city in 1993. Nygard was sentenced in 2024 to 11 years for sex offences in Toronto, and still faces charges in Quebec and the U.S.
———-
A Manitoba RCMP officer faces an assault charge after an investigation by the province’s police watchdog. The Independent Investigation Unit says a shoplifting suspect suffered a punctured lung during an arrest in Portage in 2024. Constable Ryan MacDonald’s case is now before the courts.
———-
The total number of measles cases in Manitoba has risen to 225 – there were 9 more confirmed this week with one of the new exposure sites at the Portage Clinic in Portage la Prairie. If you think you’ve been exposed to measles, you’re being urged to ensure your vaccination records are up to date.
———-
Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed to the first phase of a peace plan that would pause fighting in Gaza. The U.S.-backed peace plan calls for Hamas to release all of the 20 living hostages, and for Israel to pull its troops
back to an agreed-upon line. Canada is calling for immediate humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.
———-
In a move they say protects farmers, EU lawmakers have voted to ban the use of the term ‘veggie burger’, and to limit food descriptions, such as steak and sausage, to products containing meat. So no more ‘vegan sausage’. The EU has already defined ‘dairy’ items as ‘products secreted by mammary glands’ – so ‘oat milk’ is now called ‘oat drink’. Livestock farmers have said ‘without clarity, consumers risk being misled by products that are disguised as meat but are not meat.’
———-
In France, nearly 600,000 postage stamps will pay tribute to the ’emblem of French gastronomy’ – the croissant. The croissant-scented stamps will cost just over 2-Euros, about $2.44. In 2024, the French postal service also released scratch-and-sniff stamps that smelled like baguettes ahead of the Paris Olympics.