Portage

A Portage la Prairie Grade 7 student, Emerson Hiebert, recently embarked on a whirlwind adventure to Disneyland, thanks to the charitable organization Dreams Take Flight and the support of Variety Manitoba.

Alleged members of an Indian gang and its leader have been sending shivers down the spines of members of the South Asian diaspora in Canada for years, says a city councillor in Richmond, B.C.

Kash Heed said the Bishnoi gang, led by Lawrence Bishnoi, gained notoriety and instilled fear among Indian Canadians well before the RCMP accused the syndicate this week of orchestrating violent crimes on Canadian soil.

There was no clear winner in Saturday's British Columbia election, but the leader of the B.C. Conservatives says the province's political landscape has "changed forever," after his party pushed the incumbent New Democrats to the brink.

Neither party won enough seats to claim a majority, and vote counting was set to continue Sunday, with Premier David Eby's NDP in striking range of a minority government if he gets the co-operation of the Greens, who won two seats.

Potential recounts mean it could be next week before the winner is decided.

As Portage la Prairie transitions into the colder months, the city’s streets are ready for winter after a bustling and productive construction season. Jocelyn Lequier-Jobin, the City’s Director of Operations, shared her excitement about the progress made.

“We're getting stuff wrapped up. We have our contractors out doing some final landscaping this week, line painting on the roads, all those kinds of things. We want to get done before the snow flies. We've had a really beautiful fall, which has been very helpful in getting everything wrapped up.” 

A gutsy effort led the Portage Terriers to a 4-2 victory over the rival Steinbach Pistons on Saturday night.

There was plenty of action in the first period, as Portage notched three goals, three different ways.

With seconds gone in a bench minor penalty for too many men on the ice, Wyatt Dreger stripped one of the Steinbach players and went on a two-on-one with Decker Mujcin. With a couple bounces in front of the net, the puck wound up in the goal, credited to Mujcin.

The Portage Curling Club is close to bringing one of Canada's favourite sports to the community for another winter season.

Office manager Rae Trimble-Olson says they're holding an open house on October 19 and 20, to reacquaint members with the facilities.

Skywatchers are marveling at the sight of a bright comet this fall. 

Astronomy enthusiast Kenton Dyck says the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet can easily be spotted. 

The Portage Terriers and the Steinbach Pistons will meet for their first matchup of the season at Stride Place on Saturday, October 19.

The Pistons enter the game off to a solid start and Portage will need a big game out of their leading scorers to be able to match the production out of the Pistons leaders.

Portage has gotten outstanding goaltending from Mitchell Kathler in the early going, and will likely need another such performance out of him in this one to compete with an annual contender for the Turnbull Cup.

As autumn settles in, stargazers across Canada are enjoying a spectacular celestial event: the Hunter's Moon, which will started to rise on October 17. This year's Hunter's Moon is particularly noteworthy as it marks the third and closest Supermoon of 2023, promising an exceptionally bright and large appearance.

Brian Proctor, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, shared insights about the upcoming lunar event. 

The executive team from the Assembly of First Nations will meet in the coming days to discuss how to proceed with new negotiations for a child welfare reform deal after chiefs voted against the government's proposed $47.8 billion agreement at a meeting in Calgary Thursday.

AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who had helped negotiate the deal and pushed for it to be approved, was blunt in her assessment of the outcome in her closing remarks to the special chiefs assembly Friday.