Each year the MASRC honours athletes, coaches, and volunteers who demonstrate great determination, leadership, and giving back to their community. This year their annual awards celebrated a decade of achievement and the award recipients were chosen by following a set of guidelines and were selected through the Award/Scholarship Selection Committee. Manitoba Indigenous Male Volunteer of the Decade - Faron Asham (Métis - Brandon, MB) Faron Asham is no stranger to being recognized in the sport world. In 2018 Faron was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2017, Faron coached Team Manitoba to a silver medal at the 2017 Canada Summer Games, which was the highest placement for a Manitoba baseball team on a Canada Games podium in 32 years. He has been involved in amateur baseball for over 25 years and wore many volunteer hats. Mostly serving as a coach, he also served as league president and an executive member for various communities. As a highly knowledgeable and organized volunteer, Faron has experienced coaching success at every level of play in Manitoba and has been a leader in coaching development and mentorship across the province. He has coached at Manitoba Games, Western Canada Games, Canada Games and theNational Aboriginal Indigenous Games. Faron has served on executive committees in many leagues for over 30 years. He served as President for Brandon Minor for ten years during which time they were asked to take over Simplot Park. Faron was instrumental and put in countless hours in changing over the existing softball diamonds into hardball diamonds, adding infields, bullpens, batting cages and upgraded equipment as needed. The park opened in 2004 and was overseen by Faron for 11 years until 2015. Faron is the Baseball Manitoba Vice-President of Coaching Development, and as a Baseball Manitoba NCCP Facilitator and Evaluator,he organizes and instructs well over 20 coach clinics a year in various communities all over the province. It is volunteers like Faron Asham that keep sport alive in our communities and for that we are honoured to award Faron with the ​Indigenous Male Volunteer of the Decade Award​.(MasrcManitoba Media Release)

The Manitoba government is investing an additional $50 million in school capital funding above the Budget 2020 commitment of $160 million for total funding of $210 million in kindergarten to Grade 12 school capital projects across the province, Education Minister Cliff Cullen and Central Services Minister Reg Helwer announced today. “Manitoba’s ongoing investment in school infrastructure must continue during the COVID-19 pandemic for the longevity of our schools and to improve accessibility for all students, while maintaining safe and secure school environments for quality education and to support our government’s pledge to protect Manitobans,” said Cullen. “These projects will provide structural repairs, roof replacements, new mechanical systems and accessibility upgrades in kindergarten to Grade 12 schools throughout the province, while also furthering our 20 New Schools Guarantee.” This includes over $76 million in continuing investment in multi-year projects that are already underway and over $61 million for major capital projects. The province has set aside more than $24 million for seven land acquisition projects for future school sites including two projects in the Brandon School Division. The Brandon projects include a future kindergarten to Grade 8 school and a Division scolaire franco-manitobaine (DSFM) kindergarten to Grade 12 school.  Other projects include:• a future kindergarten to Grade 8 school in the Sage Creek neighbourhood of Louis Riel School Division;• a future kindergarten to Grade 8 school site in the Devonsire Park area of the River East Transcona School Division;• a future kindergarten to Grade 8 school in the West St. Paul area of the Seven Oaks School Division and a second future kindergarten to Grade 8 project in Precinct G; and• a future kindergarten to Grade 8 school in the Waverley West–Bridgwater Lakes area of the Pembina Trails School Division. Other investments will include:• $10 million for access projects such as elevators, wheel chair lifts and grooming room improvements for students that require additional support;• $21 million for mechanical systems such as boilers and ventilation systems;• $16 million for roof replacements; • $16 million for structural project such as foundations, walls and historic entrance stonework; and• $8 million for bulk builds of new modular classrooms to be ready when needed. “It is important for government to maintain and improve school buildings in a timely and cost-effective way to best fulfil the needs of students and teachers,” said Helwer. “These are substantial capital projects requiring careful planning, design, procurement and the management of construction contracts.” Projects are planned to be completed within a timeframe of six to 24 months following the award of tenders and start of construction, Helwer said, adding that at this time, the province is on track to fulfil its 20 New Schools Guarantee. Six schools are open and in use, two are going to tender in the spring of this year and four will start design in 2021-22. The remaining eight are expected to be designed and completed ahead of the original 10-year commitment, he added. The province has completed a number of new schools since September 2020 including:• Ecolé Templeton School in Seven Oaks School Division – kindergarten to Grade 5 for 450 students, with 114 licensed child-care spaces including school-age spaces;• East Elmwood Concordia in DSFM kindergarten and Grade 1 (initial enrolment) with a small child-care area. The school will be expanded to 350 students when King’s School is relocated and the division takes over the full building in 2022. The child-care opened with 31 licensed spaces including school-age spaces;• Waterford Springs School in Winnipeg School Division – kindergarten to Grade 8 for 600 students, with 74 child-care spaces; and• Maryland Park School in Brandon School Division – kindergarten to Grade 8 for 450 students and 112 licensed child-care spaces. “Our government is committed to continuing to deliver on our 20 New Schools Guarantee, and these new school sites, alongside the schools now completed for neighbourhoods in Brandon and Winnipeg, demonstrate that we know how critical these schools are to local communities,” said Cullen.

Following the advice of public health officials and input from tens of thousands of Manitobans, the Manitoba government is considering modest changes to the public health orders that balance the needs of the health-care system and the economy while protecting the well-being of all Manitobans, Premier Brian Pallister and Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer, announced today. “Manitobans deserve to be proud – it is because of their willingness and dedication to follow the public health orders to protect their loved ones and their community that we have been able to bend our COVID curve down, and keep it down,” said Pallister. “While there is much reason for optimism with that progress, we must not let our guard down, which is why we are taking a cautious approach to safely restoring our services and activities in Manitoba.”  Changes currently under consideration for some parts of the province include:• household limits: Current orders restrict visitors to private residences with specific exceptions that enable trades and support people as well as limited visitors for people who live alone. The orders could be expanded to increase personal connections and the well-being of Manitobans by allowing:- two additional people (family or friends) to visit a household;- outdoor visits of up to five people plus members of a household on outdoor private property;- funerals to have up to 10 people in addition to the officiant.• retail operations: Current orders allow retail establishments to open for in-person sales, provided they only sell essential or seasonal products, and maintain reduced occupancy of 25 per cent with a maximum of 250 people. The orders could be expanded to allow:- all stores to open for the sale of all products and current requirements to maintain physical distancing and occupancy limits would remain in place and be enforced. - the elimination of the essential items list.• health services and hair salons/barbershops: Non-regulated health services, hair salons and barbershops are currently closed. The orders could be expanded to allow:- non-regulated health services, such as podiatrists and reflexologists, to reopen with adequate physical distancing and requirements to collect information for contact tracing purposes; and- barber shops and hair stylists to reopen at 25 per cent capacity with adequate physical distancing and requirements to collect information for contact tracing purposes. Given the high case counts in northern Manitoba and in many First Nations, Roussin noted that in order to protect those vulnerable communities, any proposed changes would most likely only apply to communities in the Winnipeg, Southern Health–Santé Sud, Interlake–Eastern and Prairie Mountain Health regions. “As we look at ways to gradually ease restrictions on the way Manitobans socialize and do business, we must always consider the needs of our health-care system and our vulnerable communities,” said Roussin. “We cannot lose sight of the progress we have made over the last 10 weeks, which is why it is crucial that Manitobans continue to follow the fundamentals as we move forward through this pandemic.” The province encourages input from Manitobans on the proposed changes that could come into effect as early as Friday. Manitobans will be asked for their perspective on each set of proposed changes. To provide feedback, visit https://engagemb.ca/. The premier noted the recommendations considered feedback from Manitobans about restarting services and activities. More than 67,500 responses were filled out between Friday, Jan. 15 and Monday, Jan. 18. Preliminary findings included:• 85 per cent of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed public health should use a regional approach to orders and restrictions;• 85 per cent of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed it is important the province reopen gradually, preventing a yo-yo return to restrictions in future; and• 80 per cent of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed it is important the health-care system is stable and able to meet the demands of the pandemic before restrictions are eased. In addition, respondents listed:• the ability to shop without limitations (74 per cent), the ability to visit a stylist or barber (70 per cent) and the ability to visit health professionals (72 per cent) as somewhat or very important;• the ability to gather with people from outside my household (77 per cent) as somewhat or very important;• the ability to have more people attend a funeral than the current five-person limit followed, with 65 per cent indicating this was somewhat or very important;• the ability to have more than five people attend a wedding was more split, with 49 per cent identifying it as somewhat or very important, and 29 per cent identifying it as not or not at all important; and• the ability to attend, in person, the house of worship of their choice was identified as important far less often than the others, with only 29 per cent identifying it as somewhat or very important and 50 per cent identifying it as not or not at all important. A full analysis of the survey is underway and will be posted on the EngageMB website once completed. Roussin noted that final public health orders will be introduced later this week to replace public health orders expiring Jan. 22. For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, visit www.manitoba.ca/COVID19. (News Release - Manitoba)

The City of Brandon Public Works Department is pleased to announce that they have acquired new sidewalk clearing machines that will clear and sand the sidewalks at the same time. Starting this morning, Streets & Roads crews have begun clearing the Priority 1A (P1A) route. Priority 1A route includes: Sections of Braecrest Drive, Kirkcaldy Drive, Knowlton Drive, Stickney Avenue, McDonald Avenue, Hilton Avenue, Parker Boulevard, Fred Brown Way, Pacific Avenue, Rosser Avenue, Princess Avenue, Victoria Avenue East, Lorne Avenue East, Van Horne Avenue East, McTavish Avenue East, E. Fotheringham Drive, Whillier Drive, Park Avenue, Queens Avenue, Elderwood Drive, Brandon Avenue, Willowdale Crescent, Aberdeen Avenue, Richmond Avenue, Maryland Avenue, Magnolia Drive, Lyndale Drive, Sycamore Drive, and Patricia AvenuePortions of 34th Street, 26th Street, 19th Street North, 8th Street North, 13th Street, 10th Street, 9th Street, 6th Street, 1st Street, Dennis Street, 13th Street East, and 17th Street East. Following the completion of the P1A route, crews will begin clearing and sanding the sidewalks on the Priority 1 (P1) routes, and then will finish with clearing and sanding the bike paths. Residents can visit snowmap.brandon.ca to stay up to date on the snow clearing. For further questions, residents can also contact the City of Brandon Streets and Roads Section at204-729-2285. (City of Brandon PSA)

Source: Brandon Police Service Media release A 21-year-old Winnipeg Female has been arrested for Theft Under $5000 after she was found to have stolen a bicycle overnight.  Police followed the bicycle tracks and when she was located and arrested, she was found to have a knife in her possession, which is contrary to an Undertaking, which prohibits her from having knives.  She will be appearing in court in the morning.