Staff

Many of our rain watchers are reporting much-needed rain along with a few thunderstorms in the region yesterday afternoon and evening. After a stretch of temperatures around 30 degrees paired with gusty southerly winds up to 60 km/h, conditions had dried out considerably over the past week or so. Portage la Prairie however did not see any rain at all for the most part.

An Estevan woman has died following a motorcycle crash south of the Canada-US border and the man she was on the bike with suffered serious injuries, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

The crash involved the motorcycle and a pick-up truck, about six miles (or 10 kilometres) east of Fortuna, N.D. around 4:18 p.m. on May 28.

The police report is as follows:

Not only is the 12th-annual STARS Lottery upon us, with 1,604 prizes up for grabs totalling more than $3.6 million. The Lucky STARS 50/50 is also underway, with a max jackpot of $5,005,000.

STARS has six bases in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba. It flew 1,075 missions from its Saskatoon and Regina bases in the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Senior Communications Manager Mark Oddan said in an interview with Rob Carnie of 800 CHAB that community support for the air-rescue service is what enables them to save lives.

While it may be cool and only several degrees away from a record low in some areas this morning, by the end of the long weekend we may be on the opposite end of things - a handful of degrees away from a record high. 

You almost don't want to speak the words too loudly for fear Mother Nature will hear and change her mind, but as of right now, it's looking like the coming May Long weekend may be very sunny and feature seasonal to above average temperatures the entire weekend. Even the smoke in the area seems to have cleared out for the time being.

Smoke from wildfires will continue to cause hazy conditions southern Manitoba Thursday. Environment Canada has ended the Special Air Quality Statement that was in effect. According to the forecaster, conditions should improve later this morning as ground level smoke exits the province into the United States, however, elevated smoke in the form of haze is expected to be present until Friday.

Southern Manitoba residents could start to see and smell it over the weekend and Monday, and as of Tuesday morning forest fire smoke has definitely arrived in the region. Environment Canada has issued a Special Air Quality Statement for much of the region west of the Red River to the Saskatchewan border, and northward to the Riding Mountain National Park area.

The Estevan Bruins announced that Associate Coach Phil Fife accepted a coaching position with another organization.

The Oromocto, N.B. native's new job is expected to be announced in the coming days.

Fife spent the past three seasons behind the Bruins bench, alongside his former coach - Bruins Head Coach and General Manager Jason Tatarnic.

"It was an honour and privilege to have a former player coach beside me the last three seasons and my family and I are going to miss having Phil around," said Tatarnic.

The Saskatchewan government is investing a seven-figure sum of money to help its labour force meet the demands of a growing province.

The province announced $1.5 million to expand available training seats to increase the number of available apprenticeship training seats to 4,450. The funding injection allows Saskatchewan Polytechnic, the Saskatchewan College System, and other training institutions and organizations to expand their skills training programs, increase apprenticeship intake, and grow sector capacity.

UPDATE: The Saskatchewan RCMP Dangerous Person Alert has been cancelled.

RCMP said both Xander Tardiff and Kelly Castel have been located and arrested. Both are now in police custody.
 

Original story:

The Manitoba RCMP issued a dangerous persons alert Monday night for residents in the The Pas and Flin Flon areas with a pair of inmates at large after escaping The Pas Correctional Centre.

You could soon find key tags in your mailbox, as the War Amps begins its 2023 key tag mailing to Estevan and the surrounding area this week.

The War Amps said in a release that each tag has a confidentially-coded number. The finder of lost keys can call the toll-free number on the back of the tag or place them in any mailbox in Canada, and the War Amps will send them to the owner for free.