Submitted Brandon Firefighter / Paramedics have had a long time tradition of helping people in need and over the years it has become a natural extension of our duties as Firefighters. In maintaining this long time tradition we founded the Brandon Firefighters Charity Fund in 1994. The Brandon Firefighters Charity Fund is a registered charity whose sole purpose is to provide the needed support to those organizations, families and individuals within Brandon and Westman area that require financial assistance. 2017 saw the Brandon Firefighters Charity Fund distribute nearly $45,000.00 to various groups. These funds raised by the Brandon Firefighters Charity Fund are attributed to a small dedicated group of volunteers. The Brandon Firefighter / Paramedics and E911 Dispatchers have made it a priority to extend their duties by volunteering their personal time and raising funds that support our community. Today Feb 1, 2018 your Brandon Firefighter/ Paramedics, E911 Dispatchers along with the Vincent Massey Youth Revolution Group made a financial donation to the Brandon Hospital for some needed equipment in the NICU.

Brandon Police Service Media Release  At approximately 1:20 a.m., Police received a report of a stolen vehicle from the 700 block of 7th Street. The vehicle was parked on the street and left running to warm up. At approximately 1:50 a.m., Officers located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop however, the vehicle refused to pull over and a pursuit began. The pursuit travelled several blocks and reached a top speed of 65km/h. The suspect finally stopped in the 400 Block of 13th Street after ramming a Police vehicle. The male suspect attempted to flee on foot but was apprehended after a failed attempt to scale a fence.  The suspect showed signs of impairment and was transported to the Police Service where breath samples obtained were in excess of the legal limit. The 22-year-old Brandon man was arrested for Impaired Driving, Drive Over 80 mg%, Theft of Motor Vehicle, Flight From Police, Resist Arrest and Assault Police Officer. The male was also found to have three outstanding Warrants of Arrest for Mischief to Property, Assault and Breach of Probation. The male sustained a minor injury during his attempt to run from Police. He was treated at the hospital and when cleared medically, lodged at the Brandon Correctional Center and is scheduled to appear in Court on Thursday. No Officers were injured during this incident.

BRANDON – Brandon University will host a community conversation next week to explore the ongoing development of plans and options for the downtown site with all members of the public. Following targeted consultations over the past few months, an earlier round of campus conversations this year, as well as open feedback online, several possible opportunities have been identified, and will be expanded on at these new sessions. This public community conversation is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 6, and will be held from 5–6:30 p.m. in the Main Foyer of Brandon City Hall. This 90-minute session will be led by the external expert team that has been guiding pre-development work on the downtown, will expand on options that have been advanced so far, and will solicit further high-level feedback from members of the public. Those who are unable to attend will be able to view information from the session posted to BrandonU.ca/Downtown where they will also be able to contribute their thoughts and feedback. Brandon University’s downtown development will sit on a large parcel of land that totals nearly 70,000 square feet. This amount of space downtown opens up new opportunities to advance the University’s priorities as stated in the BU Academic Plan as well as the themes that have emerged from the new BU Campus Master Plan. It will be one of the most significant developments for the University and City in decades. Most of the development will be devoted to new residential space, with both new-concept student residences as well as seniors’ housing being considered. Along with the residential component, the future downtown initiative will include academic and learning spaces, plus a service, retail and commercial component. The University is committed to creating a mixed-use development that will add value to the existing neighbourhood, bringing new amenities and vitality to the downtown core. A full pre-development report is expected by the spring.

The Keystone Centre has a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning (Friday, February 2, 2018) to announce the new main arena naming rights sponsor for the Keystone Centre.  The press conference has been slated for 10:30 am.   The Keystone Centre had earlier, in June of 2017, released a “Request for Expression of Interest” as it related to the naming rights sponsorship for the Keystone Centre Main Arena. Interested parties were asked to submit their letter of interest by Monday July 31st.  The building annually hosts the Brandon Wheat Kings, MB Ag Days, Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, and the Canadian National Arabian & Half-Arabian Horse Championships.

The risk of significant spring flooding remains low for most locations across the province at this time, Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler announced today. “As Manitobans know, weather conditions in our province can change on a moment’s notice.  Our government will remain ready to act if heavy winter precipitation, a fast snowmelt or heavy spring rainfall occurs,” said Schuler.  “For now though, we have reason to be cautiously optimistic about what’s ahead for most parts of Manitoba this spring.” Manitoba Infrastructure’s Hydrologic Forecast Centre is continuing to monitor the impacts of weather conditions across the province.  The centre works in collaboration with weather services and flood forecasters in neighbouring states and provinces to monitor the winter precipitation patterns throughout Manitoba watersheds, said Schuler. The 2017 fall conditions report issued early in December indicated soil moisture levels before freeze-up were normal to drier than normal in most of Manitoba.  At this time, winter precipitation in most areas of the province remains average to below average, with some areas indicating well below average precipitation records. Along some streams, possible ice jams could affect the flood risk.  Current river ice assessments indicate above-normal thickness for this time of the year.  This is a result of below-normal temperatures this winter and the lack of sufficient snow cover to insulate the river ice from the cold air temperatures.  Above-normal thickness increases the risk of ice-jam flooding in areas that are historically susceptible to ice jams.  The province will conduct detailed ice thickness measurements in the coming months, and ice-cutting and icebreaking programs in the areas most prone to ice jamming. “The first detailed flood outlook will be released in the latter part of February,” said Schuler.  “Floods are caused by a combination of unique circumstances and there is a risk of over-estimating or under-estimating the flood potential too far in advance.” Early spring outlook information can help prepare for potential spring flooding, allowing time to acquire temporary flood mitigation equipment based on projected flood conditions.  The province also maintains an inventory of temporary flood-fighting equipment, which includes over two million regular sandbags, six sandbag-making machines, 18,000 super sandbags, 43 kilometres of cage barriers into which sand or other heavy material is placed, 50 km of water-filled barriers, and 59 mobile pumps and heavy-duty steamers to open clogged drains.