PembinaValley

As part of Canada Historic Places Days, the Manitoba Historical Society (MHS) announces its annual list of the Top-10 Endangered Structures in Manitoba for 2025.

These buildings and structures, listed from oldest to newest, are historically significant landmarks that face uncertain futures due to neglect, development pressures, or lack of awareness.

Each year, MHS highlights the critical need to preserve Manitoba’s built heritage.  These structures tell the stories of the people, communities, and industries that helped shaped both urban and rural Manitoba.

The 2025 wildfire season is already one of the worst on record for Canada and there is a high risk that more fires will break out in August, federal officials said on Friday.

More than 5.5 million hectares of land have burned so far this year, more than double the 10-year average for mid-July.

That is still well behind the record fire season in 2023, when more than 6,000 fires burned more than 15 million hectares of land.

There were 561 fires burning as of Friday, including 69 that were considered out of control.

The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday upheld the sentence handed to one youth offender but overturned another, in parallel judgments that clarify the standard courts should use when determining whether a youth should be sentenced as an adult.

In the two separate cases, the youth, who were 16 and 17 years old at the time of their offences, were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced as adults to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Plum Coulee's continued growth has put the community in a position where its lagoon capacity is nearly exhausted.

"In order to have the appropriate infrastructure in a timely fashion, Rhineland council has initiated a lagoon expansion project," explained Reeve Don Wiebe. "We are pleased to announce Associated Engineering has been awarded the tender, and will be advising Council regarding a lagoon expansion."

According to Wiebe, funding for the study is being split 50/50 between the Municipality and the Manitoba Water Services Board, with the tender awarded at $90,218.

At Regional Connections, life-changing transformations are unfolding through the GWEN Program—short for Gateway to Work Experience for Newcomers. It’s a small but powerful initiative designed to support newcomers who face some of the toughest employment barriers, including limited English, interrupted education, and little or no formal job experience.

“The community has been very generous in donating all their items that they didn't need from last year, and so we have more than enough.... We decided to throw a Christmas in July [sale], and so far, it's going pretty well.” 

This is how Steve Chaboyer, a community support worker for Adult & Teen Challenge in the Pembina Valley, describes the organization’s most recent event at its Super Thrift store.

On July 3rd, Morden Police received a report of a motor vehicle collision with a city-owned building at 34 Stephen Street.  

‘We possibly have a driver’ 

The collision, which left damage to the southeast corner of the structure, occurred sometime between June 30th and July 3rd, said the weekly police report.  

Residents in the Municipality of Rhineland may notice drones flying overhead over the next couple of weeks, but officials say there’s no cause for concern. 

Manitoba Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures is carrying out a small drone survey in the area from July 15th through to July 31st, weather permitting. The purpose of the project is to estimate local populations of deer, moose, and elk as part of ongoing wildlife monitoring efforts. 

Welcome back to Made in Manitoba, as we also welcome back a return guest. Mitchell Makoons is joining us again to showcase music from his latest album "Lady Boots", and also share some new music he put out this Spring. "Lady Boots" came out last year, and there's a very entertaining story about how that title came to be... it literally involves shopping for cowboy boots.

While wildfire smoke expected to blanket parts of Manitoba in haze and poor air quality on Saturday, the agricultural impact is only one part of a much more serious situation, says Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) president Jill Verwey.

Verwey, who farms near Portage la Prairie, acknowledges smoke-filled skies can sometimes reduce crop stress by lowering sunlight intensity and cooling temperatures during sensitive growth periods. But she says that benefit comes with a heavy cost.