Westman

Canadian police patrolling corners of the dark web are well aware of the commonly nefarious ways criminals exploit artificial intelligence. 

There's deepfake pornography. Voice impersonation. Romance scams that turn into financial fraud.

But recently there's been a new twist — criminals offering to "jailbreak" the very algorithms that form the architecture of AI's large language models, or LLMs, tearing down their safeguards so they can be retasked for criminal purposes.

Call it tech support for cybercriminals.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney is back in Ottawa today to deal with the fallout of new auto tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Carney said he was suspending his campaign plans for the day and would return to Ottawa to hold a meeting of the Canada-U.S. cabinet committee.

It's unclear when Carney will be back on the road to continue campaigning. 

With Snowfall Warnings now in place for much of Southern and Central Manitoba, it appears sleds and toboggans will be getting more use than bikes at the beginning of Spring Break. Environment Canada has issued Snowfall Warnings for essentially all areas along and north of the Trans Canada Highway between the Saskatchewan and Ontario border.

Here in the southwest, the Melita, Virden, Souris, Brandon, Boissevain and Killarney regions are currently not within the Warning area, but we are still expecting accumulating snowfall starting tonight and lasting through Friday.

School Division Boards across the province are struggling to make ends meet when it comes to the 2025-2026 budget. This has prompted increases to the special levy for education on property taxes in many communities.

The previous budget for Turtle Mountain School Division was $16, 053,337. But that number has risen by over $2 million for the 2025-2026 budget set at $18,180,452.  The Special Levy, which is the portion of property taxes that funds education, is projected to increase by 16.55% in this year's budget for Turtle Mountain.

Summer staff are starting to trickle back to the International Peace Garden as they prepare for one of the most exciting seasons in the year; spring planting!

CEO Tim Chapman says some of the 8 and 9-month employees will be coming back over the next few weeks to prepare the grounds and the flower beds.

The Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) has just awarded its 2024-25 bursaries to six deserving university students from across the province, supporting the future of agriculture in Manitoba.

Madison Kostal, the Research and Production Coordinator at MCA, took some time to share what went into the selection process and why these bursaries are so important for the next generation of Ag leaders. 

The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says the fourth victim of a Winnipeg serial killer has been identified as Ashlee Shingoose.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says she has spoken with the woman's parents and offered her condolences.

"My heart goes out to all the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls," she said.

Police are scheduled to confirm the identity of the victim, who was given the name Buffalo Woman, at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

The Killarney Shamrocks might have fallen in game three but they still lead the Tiger Hills Hockey League Final 2-1 and goaltender Brian Archibald believes his group will be ready come game four.

Breach of Release Order X2 / Resist Arrest

Multiple calls came in at approximately 10:20PM on March 25th where a female was said to be entering yards and checking vehicles in the 1800 block of Richmond Avenue. Police located an intoxicated female matching the description given. When the female was approached, she attempted to run away. The 17-year-old female was caught and found to be breaching her court orders (Abstain and Curfew). She was medically cleared and held in detention cells for court in the morning on March 26th, 2025.

Please be advised that the Brandon Regional Health Centre (BRHC) Emergency Department exit ramp will be closed for approximately 3 hours today, Wednesday, March 26, starting at 9 am.

The west lane will remain open for ambulances exiting the ambulance bays and for any critical situation needs.

There will be no parking on the ramp for anyone.

If you are coming to the ER and your condition is non-critical, there are two ways to access the ER:

• Use the BRHC main entrance doors

• Use the stairs off Dennis St. to enter through the ER doors