Portage

Canada changed its BSE surveillance after lower global incidence of ‘mad cow disease’ led to international standards shift

Canada’s agency for food safety is encouraged with cattle industry response to a new, more farmer-friendly approach to BSE surveillance.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) updated national bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance program — put in place earlier this year to meet new international standards — has received 152 samples of risk material as of Aug. 11, it recently said.

Massive storm in southeastern Alberta causes significant damage to crops and reported deaths of livestock

The numbers are still coming in for the cost of the damage caused by a huge hail storm that hit various areas of Alberta Aug. 20.

The storm ripped its way through vast swaths of land from Cayley, Milo and Brooks to the Saskatchewan border, as well as Camrose to the Viking, Edberg, Sedgewick, and Hughenden areas.

Manitoba Agriculture released its latest weekly crop report on Tuesday, offering a snapshot of harvest progress and crop conditions across the province. Cereal crop specialist Anne Kirk, who is compiling the reports this month, says harvest operations are moving forward despite recent weather challenges.

After cancelling this year’s Portage la Prairie Potato Festival, organizers are turning their focus to the future with an 18+ Halloween social set for October 11. Funds raised will go toward bringing the festival back in 2026.

Festival co-chair Kyle Adamski notes the committee wants to boost year-round fundraising.

“We're going to kick off right away here with some fundraising efforts,” he says. “We're going to do a Halloween social. We got live entertainment, DJ, good prizes…come out in your best costume.”

Two Portage la Prairie teens have proven that even a simple haircut can make a big impact.

Lucas Citulsky and Nathan Nicholls recently cut off 10 inches of their hair to raise money for Central Plains Cancer Services.

What started as a small idea quickly turned into a fundraiser that nearly reached its $2,500 goal.

The list of in-custody deaths under formal review in Manitoba continues to grow.

This week, the province’s Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. John K. Younes, announced a new inquest into the death of Nathan Otke, a 36-year-old man who died in 2022 after being assaulted while incarcerated at Stony Mountain Institution.

Otke’s case marks the seventh in-custody death at the medium-security federal prison currently subject to a public inquest.

The Carman Dufferin Fire Department was called to action Tuesday afternoon after reports of a semi on fire north of Carman along Highway 13.

Crews were dispatched around 3:20 p.m. and arrived to find a semi tractor already engulfed in flames.

“The driver and passenger were able to pull over and escape without injury,” notes the Carman Dufferin Fire Department in a Facebook post.

Crews were able to extinguish the fire before it spread to the attached trailer.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 26TH

American Association of Baseball
Winnipeg Goldeyes 7 Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 3

MLB
Minnesota 7 Toronto 5

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27TH

American Association Baseball
Winnipeg Goldeyes at Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks - 7:02 PM

Lead poisoning impacts cattle in Saskatchewan every year, potentially killing multiple animals in a herd. Not only is there the concern associated with losing cattle, but there is also potential for lead to enter the food chain – because of this, testing is required in lead poisoning cases to protect public health.

Researchers say pediatricians, family doctors and parents need to learn more about what kind of performance-enhancing substances kids are using when they work out or play sports.

Seventeen per cent of more than 800 Canadian pediatric specialists surveyed say they saw adolescents who needed medical attention due to dietary supplements or performance drugs over the previous year.

The majority of cases were boys and more than half of them were between 13 and 15 years old.

Almost a third of the patients were even younger — between 10 and 12 years old.