NEEPAWA—Students and families will soon benefit from a major addition to Neepawa Area Collegiate that includes a new child care centre, Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart and Indigenous and Municipal Relations Minister Eileen Clarke announced today. “School enrolment in the area has increased by 33 per cent over the last 10 years and further growth is anticipated,” said Wishart.  “Today’s announcement is exciting news for one of Manitoba’s fastest growing communities.” Wishart noted the significant 38,000-square-foot addition will create a middle years “school within a school” to accommodate up to 450 students in Grades 5 to 8.  Nine classrooms and a gymnasium, library, band room, art room and multipurpose room will be added, he said.  There are currently eight middle years classrooms. The middle years and high school buildings will be connected and have a campus setting, sharing the sports fields, bus loop and parking lots.  When complete, the addition will allow the school division to realign grades at the nearby Hazel M. Kellington School to create a kindergarten to Grade 4 school. Its existing modular classrooms will be removed. The province is also investing in a new stand-alone child-care centre on the high school grounds.  The new 6,000-square foot centre will accommodate 20 infants and 54 pre-school children, creating a total of 74 new spaces. “This region has been reinvigorated by families from around the world who have relocated here thanks in part to the success of Hylife’s pork processing plant,” said Clarke.  “I’m especially pleased to see the addition of an early learning centre which will help provide children in the community with a good start in life, while making the most of existing school infrastructure, such as gyms and playgrounds, year-round.” John McNeily, Beautiful Plains School Division board chair, welcomed today’s announcement. “This is an exciting day for the Beautiful Plains School Division and the communities and students we serve,” said McNeily. “With the announcement, we formally begin the exciting journey to provide additional quality learning space for our students and we are extremely appreciative of the government’s recognition of the space needs we have in our Neepawa schools.  We look forward to providing a new, uncrowded environment for learning in the middle years and we’re pleased the growing population of Neepawa will soon benefit from improved access to professional care for their children through the addition of the new, stand-alone child-care centre.” Wishart noted the project will be supported through more than $92.4 million in planned capital spending by the province in 2017-18 for public school infrastructure projects, prioritizing the health and safety of students and educators and accommodating growing student enrolment across Manitoba.  There are approximately 185,000 students enrolled in nearly 700 kindergarten to Grade 12 public schools in the province. The project is expected to be tendered for construction in early 2018 and the new school space and child-care centre is scheduled to open in September 2019.

A serious motor vehicle accident late this afternoon on the #10 highway, just north of Forrest. Two vehicles are said to have collided head on.   User submitted photos below show RCMP and emergency services on the scene.  The user has informed bdnmb.ca that a detour remains in effect. No other details available at this time.

BRANDON, MB – The Keystone Agricultural and Recreational Centre Inc. (Keystone Centre) Board of Directors are pleased to announce that Jeff Schumacher has accepted the positon of General Manager of the Keystone Centre. Schumacher begins the first week of August. Schumacher holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Salisbury University in Salisbury, MD and is a former member of the Maryland Army National Guard. His professional career has focused on managing multipurpose/arena type complexes throughout the USA. Most recently, Schumacher was the General Manager of the Salinas Sports Complex/Rodeo Inc. in Salinas, California where he managed the day-to-day operation of the Salinas Sports Complex (65 acres), including the 16,500 capacity main arena, the 5,250 capacity Rabobank Stadium, softball complex, batting cages, banquet halls, museum, barn and pens. The Salinas Sports Complex is home to the California Rodeo, PBR, equestrian events, concerts, graduations, family and motorsports attractions and multiple sports events including football, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey. Previous to his GM role in Salinas he was GM/Director of eight other multipurpose/arena facilities through out the USA, including roles as General Manager of the XFINITY Arena in Everett, WA, home to the Everett Silvertips of the WHL and the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, ME which was home to a QMJHL franchise. Born in Leavenworth, Kansas, Schumacher has served on various boards and committees for local sports commissions and chambers of commerce. He is excited about moving to Brandon and getting to know the Keystone management team, valued clients, the city of Brandon and Westman region. Shawn Berry, Chair of the Board says “We’re thrilled about Jeff assuming the role of GM at the Keystone Centre. His past experience, industry contacts and passion for managing facilities, like the Keystone, is exactly what we were looking for in a new GM. He will bring fresh ideas and new ways of operating the business that our board is really looking forward to.”

A 38-year old male resident of Melita has been arrested, and faces multiple charges, following the execution of a search warrant on July 28 in Melita. RCMP say they located and seized “more than 24 ounces of Methamphetamine, 5 ounces of Marijuana, 56 grams of “shatter”, a small quantity of cocaine and hash, a firearm, and a small quantity of Canadian currency” at the residence. “Our officers worked hard and their efforts were rewarded with a significant seizure of meth.” said Sgt. Ed Riglin, Acting Area Commander for the Westman RCMP Detachment. “These drugs would have had a profound effect in the community of Melita and the surrounding Westman area if this substance had been able to hit the streets.” Richard Underwood has been charged with: two counts of Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance Assault Forcible Confinement Utter Threats Unsafe Storage of a Firearm Failing to Comply with a Probation Order Wetman RCMP continue to investigate.

Earlier today the Manitoba Public Utilities Board (PUB) awarded Manitoba Hydro a 3.36 per cent interim rate increase, effective August 1. As part of the utility’s General Rate Application filed with the PUB in May of this year, Manitoba Hydro had requested an interim rate increase of 7.9 per cent in August 2017 and a further 7.9 per cent in April 2018. “We are pleased that the PUB recognized the need for an interim rate increase,” said Kelvin Shepherd, President and CEO of Manitoba Hydro. “However, we are concerned that the PUB has not taken quicker action to begin to address the serious financial challenges and risks facing Manitoba Hydro. This order gives the PUB more time to review our full rate application and consider all the evidence on some very important issues that we believe need to be addressed in any final rate decision.” Shepherd explained that Manitoba Hydro needs additional revenue to fully fund its operations, including investing in the replacement and upgrading of its aging infrastructure. Additional revenue would also help the utility withstand the risks of rising interest rates and drought. “Our business is subject to a great deal of volatility in terms of water flows, which are extremely hard to predict and can have a very major and rapid impact on our revenues,” said Shepherd. “With our debt already having increased to $16 billion and scheduled to grow by another $8 billion over the next five years, it’s imperative we increase our financial capacity to fund our ongoing operations, rebuild equity in our company, and have sufficient free cash flow to ensure that our debt is considered self-sustaining.” “We cannot count on faster growth in electricity usage or factors outside our control such as continued historically low interest rates, a rebound in market prices for electricity exports, or above average water flows to recover from the significant deterioration in our financial strength,” Shepherd added. “The best way we can ensure continued delivery of safe, reliable service at competitive rates is through the actions we are already taking to significantly reduce our operating costs, balanced with increasing rates sufficiently over the next several years.” Shepherd said Manitoba Hydro looks forward to the comprehensive PUB review of Manitoba Hydro’s full General Rate Application, with public hearings scheduled to begin in December, and expects that this detailed public review process will ultimately confirm the need for the level of rate increases that were requested.