Family of Portage teen sues RCMP after fatal shooting

The family of a Grade 12 student fatally shot by RCMP in Portage la Prairie two years ago is suing two officers, saying their actions were “callous and showed a flagrant disregard” for the teenager’s safety — and his life.

Conor Rae, 18, was killed in the early morning hours of May 24, 2023, at an apartment he’d recently moved into on Hazel Bay. Police had been called about a domestic disturbance at the home. While en route, RCMP officers heard that the alleged female victim was secure in a neighbour’s home, the statement of claim says.

The claim says that when the officers encountered Rae in the vicinity of his apartment, they “dangerously and recklessly” escalated the encounter by deploying their Tasers. One probe struck Rae in his chest, it says.

The court papers say the officers escalated the situation further by entering Rae’s home, where they kicked and punched him, and again discharged their Tasers “with the intent to injure.”

Flight risk: one year after planes delayed, passenger compensated

A Winnipeg man’s yearlong fight for compensation for two delayed flights highlights loopholes in federal rules that are intended to protect passengers, he told the Free Press.

In July, a B.C. small claims tribunal ordered Flair Airlines to pay almost $4,350 to Jason Brown for breaching Air Passenger Protection Regulations, but he didn’t receive payment until the Free Press contacted the airline Tuesday.

“I’m happy to get the payment, of course, but at the same time it shouldn’t have come to this. It’s silly,” Brown said. “I followed the process exactly as I was meant to, and they knew.”

He said Flair rejected a direct claim for compensation in February 2024, prompting him to submit a claim with B.C.’s civil resolution tribunal.

Passengers face fallout of WestJet dropping Winnipeg-Palm Springs route early

When WestJet unexpectedly canceled its direct flights from Winnipeg to Palm Springs a month early, travelers like James Derksen were left scrambling for alternatives.

Wrong turn: MPI warns of increase in distracted driving

New data revealed by Manitoba Public Insurance Tuesday showed police across the province issued more licence suspensions in 2024 than in the previous five years.

Manitoba chiefs call for search of Winnipeg landfill for Tanya Nepinak

WINNIPEG - First Nations leaders in Manitoba say the search of a landfill for the victim of a serial killer must include recovery efforts for another First Nations woman who vanished more than a decade ago.

Tanya Nepinak was last seen in Winnipeg in September 2011 and police believe her body was dumped in a garbage bin and taken to the Brady Road landfill in the city.

"We need to bring Tanya home," Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said in a statement Tuesday.

"We need all levels of government and the Winnipeg Police Service to come together to discuss a plan to bring Tanya Nepinak home."

JDM Rush Imports owner logs increased inquiries as Canadians seek to dodge pricing pressures

“Definitely frustrating” and “nearly impossible” are how Brady Jonasson and Savannah Blandford describe the first six months they spent shopping for a used vehicle last year.

The Gimli-based newlyweds searched for something reliable with low mileage and no rust selling for under $20,000, but nothing met those requirements.

In July, the couple contacted JDM Rush Imports Inc. in Winnipeg, which specializes in importing vehicles from the Japanese domestic market. Less than four months later, they were the proud owners of a 2008 Honda CR-V that had just 2,500 kilometres on the odometer.

The total price, including shipping and the company’s fee, was just over $16,000.

Val Kilmer, ‘Top Gun’ and Batman star with an intense approach, dies at 65

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Val Kilmer, the brooding, versatile actor who played fan favorite Iceman in “Top Gun,” donned a voluminous cape as Batman in “Batman Forever” and portrayed Jim Morrison in “The Doors,” has died. He was 65.

Kilmer died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, said in an email to The Associated Press. The Times was the first to report his death on Tuesday.

Val Kilmer died from pneumonia. He had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies.

“I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” he says toward the end of “Val,” the 2021 documentary on his career. “And I am blessed.”

Cory Booker sets a record with marathon Senate speech. Will it rally anti-Trump resistance?

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a feat of determination, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held the Senate floor with a marathon speech that lasted all night and into Tuesday night, setting a historic mark to show Democrats’ resistance to President Donald Trump’s sweeping actions.

Booker took to the Senate floor on Monday evening, saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able.” It wasn't until 25 hours and 5 minutes later that the 55-year-old senator, a former football tight end, finished speaking and limped off the floor. It set the record for the longest continuous Senate floor speech in the chamber’s history. Booker was assisted by fellow Democrats who gave him a break from speaking by asking him questions on the Senate floor.

It was a remarkable show of stamina as Democrats try to show their frustrated supporters that they are doing everything possible to contest Trump’s agenda. Yet Booker also provided a moment of historical solace for a party searching for its way forward: By standing on the Senate floor for more than a night and day and refusing to leave, he had broken a record set 68 years ago by then Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a segregationist and southern Democrat, to filibuster the advance of the Civil Rights Act in 1957.

“I'm here despite his speech,” said Booker, who spoke openly on the Senate floor of his roots as the descendant of both slaves and slave-owners. He added, “I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people are more powerful.”

Attack that killed Stony Mountain inmate in July gang-related, corrections officials believe

A fatal attack on an inmate at Stony Mountain prison in July is believed to have been gang-related, federal corrections officials allege in Parole Board of Canada documents.

Dean Young, 37, began serving a nearly nine-year sentence for aggravated assault and break-and-enter at the federal prison north of Winnipeg in May 2022.

At about 7:30 p.m. on July 22, 2024, Young was allegedly attacked by a group of inmates in the facility’s maximum-security unit. He was pronounced dead en route to hospital a short time later.

Daniel Chatkana, 25, Randal Hastings, 31, Brennan MacDonald, 22, Wallace Sinclair, 20, Jeremiah Zglobicki, 22, and Keewatin Lachose 24, were charged with second-degree murder earlier this year.