Candace Derksen

The Garden Valley School Division (GVSD) is appealing to motorists to improve their driving skills and awareness of stopped school buses loading and unloading students.

It's Bus Safety Week and GVSD has embarked on a public awareness campaign to make sure parents and the motoring public know they have a huge part to play in getting children safely to school and home every day. 

Equipped with on-board cameras, GVSD buses record an average of four red light violations every week. That's almost one per day, stressed Kevin Vovchuk, Secretary Treasurer.

Ash fell across the town of St. Jean as a grain elevator in the community went up in flames early in Saturday morning.  

Andrew Dixon is the Fire Chief of the Letellier Fire Department which responded to the mutual aid call at 3 a.m. for assistance from the St. Jean department. He acted as one of the Incident Commanders for the situation that required around 70 firefighters from departments across the Red River and Pembina valleys. 

It's that time of year again when local youth groups look to help restock the shelves of their community food banks before the busy winter season. 
    
Tonight, between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., teens in Morden, Winkler and Altona will be going door to door, collecting non-perishable food donations and other supplies. If you won't be home to hand over your contribution, you can always leave it on your front step to be picked up as the youth come through your neighbourhood. 
    

The hours of operation are changing at the temporary walk-in clinic at Morris General Hospital.
    
Starting Sunday, October 1st, the clinic will only be open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 4pm and 7pm. Note, the walk-in will be closed on Oct. 2 & 9.
    
Appointments remain limited to a first come, first serve basis starting at 4:00 pm during walk-in clinic hours only, and no advance bookings are being taken. Once appointments are filled the clinic will be required to close intake for the day.
    

The Progressive Conservatives are promising, if re-elected, they will nearly double the charitable donation tax credit.
    
Kelvin Goertzen, the PC candidate for Steinbach, made the announcement Friday morning, noting this change would increase the rebate on the first $200 charitable donation from 10.8 per cent to 20 per cent. For contributions over $200, the rebate would jump from 17.4 per cent to 25 per cent. Goertzen says this change would mean Manitoba would have the most generous charitable tax credit in the country.

The King of the Corn will be crowned this weekend at the Dead Horse Creek Speedway west of Morden.
    
With about 2,500 spectators in the stands for July's Watermelon Cup, organizers are gearing up to do it again on Friday and Saturday, but in a much bigger way.

"The Watermelon Cup that we had on July 7th and 8th was just an enormous success," said Chris Unrau. "We had, you know, like 2,500 people there on Saturday night and the stands were jam packed and people were just loving it. It was just a phenomenal event and the feedback that we got was just fabulous." 

The Reeve for the Rural Municipality of Morris is urging motorists to use caution as they make their way through the municipality this summer. 

A set of stop lights has gone up at the intersection of PTH 75 and PR 205 as crews forge ahead with reconstruction of Highway 75's southbound lanes. 

Three action-packed days have kicked off in Morris with the Manitoba Stampede and Exhibition underway for another year!

Things got underway Thursday evening with a local celebration hosted by the Morris and District Chamber of Commerce. The Morris Fire Department hosted a bud, spud and steak dinner on the stampede grounds followed local business exhibitions and wrapped up with evening stage entertainment. 

The fun continues all weekend with activities for the whole family happening from dawn till dusk. 

The Manitoba government is providing over $221,000 in grants to 38 rural and northern communities to support festivals that promote understanding, awareness and appreciation of their heritage, culture and identity, Sport, Culture and Heritage Minister Obby Khan announced Thursday.

A number of the recipients are located here in the Central Plains, Interlake, Pembina and Red River valleys. They are:

- Manitoba Agricultural Museum Inc., Manitoba Threshermen's Reunion and Stampede, July 27 to 30 ($8,317.61);

The Mayor of Morris is pleased to see work to flood-proof Highway 75 south of town appears to be in the final stages. Crews were unable to finish the job last year, leaving a portion of the dike extension on the northbound lanes.

"It's been great to see," said Scott Crick. "The Province of Manitoba, they gave us a commitment last fall to get the diking done as quickly as possible this year. Great to see the progress they've made. It actually looks like they're getting surprisingly close to being complete."