Monday, March 26.18 Brandon, MB – Day one of the 111th Royal Manitoba Winter Fair kicked off bright and early with the Sunrise Breakfast and an increase of visitors over last year. ‘We had a fantastic turn out this morning for breakfast.” Said Brent Miller, President of the Provincial Exhibition. “We counted well over 1100 visitors this morning which kept the Keystone Centre kitchen, representatives from Bell MTS, Star FM, QCountry, Heritage Coop and the team from Sunrise busy serving food, pouring juice and coffee while the crowd was entertained by a sample of the family entertainment being offered at the fair this week.” The evening show offered a salute to local heroes with a Guard of Honour, comprised of soldiers, sailors and aviators from CFB Shilo, 26th Field Pipes & Drums, Royal Canadian Legion members and Brandon Cadet Corps. The week of top level equestrian events started off with the Wawanesa Gamblers Choice with Jackson Graves riding Wantu taking home first place and Pickering Farms taking home the Brandon Sun Four Horse Tandem Team event. Get all the horse show results on the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair website. Tuesday is 4-H Day at the fair sponsored by Manitoba Canola Growers with plenty more family entertainment and exciting sporting events. The Honourable Ralph Eichler, Minister of Agriculture will be speaking to the 4-H clubs at 11:30 AM in the Royal Farmyard and at the VIP dinner reception Tuesday evening. The 2018 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair is on now until Saturday at the Keystone Centre in Brandon, Manitoba; learn more about the fair and get daily schedules at royalmanitobawinterfair.com. Gate admission only $13 after 5 PM Tuesday & Wednesday. Follow the Provincial Exhibition on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for instant updates.

Brandon Police Service Media Release At about 11:20 AM Sunday, a police unit reported that they had a flat tire and was stopped on the gravelled portion of the westbound lane across from a service station on the TransCanada highway. Another police unit attended to assist and parked behind the first car. While the police cars were parked on the side of the westbound lane, a passing truck, that was driving on the south side service road, lost a rear tire and the tire flew/bounced across the ditch, across the eastbound and westbound lanes of # 1 Highway, and struck the second police car while it was stopped. Damage to the police car occurred to the driver’s side front fender.

The March flood outlook continues to suggest the risk of widespread major flooding remains low to moderate across most of the province, with a moderate risk of some overland flooding in low-lying areas along the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler announced today. “After the storm earlier this month, the risk of major flooding remains low on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, but there is a moderate risk of some overland or overbank flooding,” said Schuler. “Levels along the Red River and the Assiniboine River are forecasted to remain below flood protection levels.” Highlights of the outlook include: the risk of major flooding continues to be low for the Souris, Qu’Appelle and Pembina Rivers and their tributaries and within flood protection levels even with unfavourable weather conditions; the risk of major flooding in the Interlake region and for most major lakes, including Lakes Winnipeg, Manitoba and Dauphin and the Whiteshell lakes is low; and the risk of major flooding is moderate on northern basins, including the Churchill and Carrot Rivers in The Pas region. “We continue to monitor for ice-jam related flooding due to the thickness of the ice on some of Manitoba’s rivers and streams,” said Schuler.  “The cold winter temperatures and less snow cover created above-normal ice conditions.” The use of flood management infrastructure will now include the Red River Floodway under normal and unfavourable weather conditions.  PTH 75 is expected to remain open throughout the spring. The Portage Diversion will likely be used for ice control along the Lower Assiniboine River and also to limit downstream Assiniboine River flows in case of unfavorable weather conditions.  The Shellmouth Dam will continue operations to reach summer levels after the spring run-off. Flows along the Assiniboine River at Portage la Prairie could reach just over 17,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) in unfavorable weather conditions, which would require the use of the Portage Diversion to limit the downstream flow to 10,000 cfs. The March outlook and other information is available online at www.gov.mb.ca/flooding.

Brandon Police Service Media Release Just past 2:00 PM yesterday afternoon a 26-year old Brandon man forced his way into a residence in the 100-Block of 14th Street and threatened the resident within the home with a handgun.  The suspect left the residence and was apprehend by police a short time later in the alleyway behind the residence.  The described handgun (later identified as a pellet gun) and a sawed off shotgun were located in the area.  The male suspect was lodged at the Brandon Correctional Center for court this morning.  The victim was not physically injured in this incident.

Brandon Police Service Media Release On March 11 2018, Police received a report that a female suspect stole a charity donation box off a counter of a business in the 1600 Block of Princess Avenue. Video surveillance was obtained and a photograph of the suspect was distributed on Social Media to assist in identifying the suspect. On Thursday afternoon, the suspect turned herself into Police and was arrested for Theft Under $5000. Further investigation revealed that the same female forged a Government cheque by altering the amount and cashed the forged document at a financial institution on March 12. The suspect was additionally arrested for Forgery and Utter Forged Document. She was released and is scheduled to appear in Court in May.