Chris Sumner

Rosemary Siemens is bringing her Sunday Hymn Serenade program, and her mission to bring back the hymns, to the radio. Sunday, October 1st at 1pm on CFAM Radio 950/AM1250 Radio/CJRB Radio 1220 is the debut of the monthly 15-minute program which will feature Rosemary sharing songs and the stories behind them.

The reach of the online version of Sunday Hymn Serenade has been amazing, with Siemens noting they've had over 100 million views on Facebook and YouTube, with more than 380,000 subscribers.

The first in person opportunity to vote in the upcoming provincial election starts Saturday. Advance polls begin today through September 30th.

Manitobans can vote at any one of 300 advance polling locations in the province. Hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. 

Manitoba's 43rd general election is expected to officially get underway today, with the writ being dropped and the election period beginning. Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson is expected to make the election call at some point today.

Over the next few weeks there are a number of important dates:

September 11th is the close of candidate nominations.

Southern Health has issued a statement following the sudden death of Dr. Anna Kolakowski, a longtime physician in Morris.

Dr. Kolakowski was killed Saturday, a victim of what RCMP are investigating as a murder-suicide. 

The following is the statement sent out by Southern Health on Thursday. 

People from across the country have started a nearly three-week train journey from Quebec City to Abbotsford, B.C. as part of the Russlaender Memories of Migration Tour.    The three-part train tour from July 6th through 25th, is re-enacting the historic migration of 21,000 Mennonites from Russia to Canada beginning in 1923. 

The tour is a collaborative effort among Canadian Mennonite historians and heritage enthusiasts, one of those is Aileen Friesen, the co-director of the Centre for Transnational Mennonite Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

The Manitoba NDP have announced Morden's Ken Friesen will be its candidate in the upcoming Provincial election October 3rd. The nomination meeting was held last Thursday, June 22nd.

Friesen was born and raised in Winkler, met his wife in Winnipeg, and moved to Morden in 2019. Friesen noted coming back to the area was one of the best decisions they ever made.

Why did he put his name forward for the nomination?

Fourteen graduates wrapped up their high school career at Nellie McClung Collegiate in Manitou yesterday, with the school's grad ceremony taking place. The class had Co-Valedictorians; Kieran Reid and Bethany Sanders.

For the second consecutive year, Steinbach's Derrick Penner had an excellent showing at the Skills Canada National Competition which took place May 25th and 26th in Winnipeg.

Currently attending Red River College Polytechnic in Winnipeg, Penner participated in the Post Secondary Cabinetry competition against students from across the country, bringing home gold in the category, having also won gold at the National competition in Vancouver in 2022.

In addition, Derrick was selected for the RBC Best of Region Award for Manitoba at the 2023 event.

On Sunday, Federal by-elections were announced in four ridings across the country, including Portage-Lisgar. Voters will head to the polls Monday, June 19th. A by-election became necessary in the riding after former Conservative Portage-Lisgar MP Candice Bergen resigned her seat in the House of Commons earlier this year.

Canadian citizens in Portage–Lisgar who are at least 18 years old on election day are eligible to vote in their electoral district if they:

The Red River continues to rise as water from the U.S. moves northward, with the crest is expected from Emerson to the Red River Floodway inlet between today and Friday. According to the Manitoba Hydrologic Forecast Centre's Sunday report, River levels rose just less than half a foot yesterday from Emerson to Morris.