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Police have charged a 31 year old woman with assaulting a man dubbed, Winnipeg’s “homeless hero.”  45 year old Faron Hall is in stable condition in hospital, recovering from his injuries.  Hall is the former homeless man who last year rescued 2 people from drowning in separate incidents on the Red River near the Esplanade Riel Bridge.  This weekend, Hall was seriously beaten in the apartment where he was living after a verbal dispute turned violent.

Bad weather on the weekend, forced a plane to crash land on Lake Winnipeg.  RCMP say the pilot and a male passenger, both from Manigotagan, ended up on the east side of the lake on Saturday afternoon.  The pilot ended up walking about 7 kilometers to get help, while he left his injured passenger inside the plane.  Both the pilot and the passenger were rescued and taken to hospital, where they remain in stable condition.

It was a perfect lift off early this morning for the space shuttle Endeavor.  The shuttle and its crew of 6 blasted off from Florida around 3 a.m. Winnipeg time this morning.  This is one of the last shuttle flight’s scheduled…in fact, only 4 more flights are left. 

Fire has gutted the Ottawa t.v. station that was first to host a young Alanis Morissette, employed future ABC news anchor, Peter Jennings, and produced the “Galloping Gourmet” and “The Amazing Kreskin.”  Yesterday’s blaze at CJOH destroyed the station’s entire newsroom.  CTV says damage is pegged at 2.5 million.  No word yet on the cause of the blaze.

Could be a big day in the Michael Jackson case.  An L.A. district attorney spokesperson says a charge will be filed today in the death last June of Jackson.  After months of investigations and a week of trying to surrender, lawyers for Dr. Conrad Murray say they expect he’ll be charged today with a single count of involuntary manslaughter.

Olympic athletes start training today on Cyprus Mountain, just north of Vancouver, while snow continues to be flown and trucked in to dump on the mountain.  Organizers have had to delay training for snowboarders competing in the halfpipe and giant slalom in order to protect the snow on those courses.  But the I.O.C. says it remains confident the ski venue will be ready for this weekend’s start of the 2010 games.

Kind of the opposite problem in Washington D.C. today….where snow has paralyzed the American capital.  U.S. federal agencies will be closed today as the region digs out from a weekend blizzard that dumped over 70 centimeters of snow.  The storm grounded planes, trains and automobiles, leaving thousands of travelers stranded.  As well, power was out to much of the region for over 24 hours.

Canadians continue to donate millions to Haitian relief.  Various aid organizations are scrambling to ensure as much money as possible gets to the devastated country.  Ottawa’s window to match donations closes this Friday.

Manitoba’s former premier says it’s gonna be hard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the level required by the Copenhagen deal on climate change.  Gary Doer, who is now an envoy to the U.S., said yesterday this would be a challenge and nobody should sugar coat it.  But Doer also said he still has high hopes that both the U.S. and Canada can reduce emissions by 17 per cent in the next decade.

Premier Greg Selinger says he has no plans to slash any public service jobs, or impose unpaid Fridays on workers to cut the province’s hugh deficit.  He says moderation will be help his NDP government tame, what will be the 2^nd highest red ink stain on the province’s bottom line. 

Another day, another day of damage control for Toyota.  The Japanese automaker says there are design problems with the brakes in its latest model Prius.  The brake issue is just adding to the Toyota’s woes, as it’s still reeling from the gas pedal recalls in 8 other models.

Guaranteed this one’s gonna cause a fight.  The Harper government wants to cancel the week long breaks in March and April, which is normally meant for MP’s to spend time with their families.  They’ve been under fire for proroguing Parliament until March 3^rd.  But now, they’re saying there’s too much work to do, so the March and April breaks should be tossed.  The move however still needs the blessing of all of the other parties.

Remember that famous kids song, “Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree?”  An Australian court thinks it sounds like the flute melody in Men at Work’s smash 80’s hit, “Down Under.”  So, the judge has ruled the band did indeed copy the song, which was written some 70 years ago…and they must now pay up the publishing company who owns the original.

So, we first told you about this story yesterday.  Should cat owners be allowed to pierce the ears of their kitten, just because some parents pierce the ears of their young children?  Defence attorney’s for a Pennsylvania woman suggested they should…..that it would be wrong to hold cat owners to a higher standard.  But, Holly Crawford was convicted yesterday anyway of animal cruelty for piercing the necks and ears of kittens and marketing them as gothic cats over the internet.

So, getting a little fed up with all the recent violence against Manitoba cabbies, the taxi cab industry is now looking at what they can do to stop these recent attacks.  There’ve been a total of 6 incidents alone in the last few weeks, where drivers were either assaulted, robbed or had their cabs stolen.  The taxicab board is now looking at security measures, like increasing the size of those driver shields.

So, it’s not just the balmy weather outside that’s worrying Olympic officials….there’s a lot of hand wringing going on about the indoors too.  Technicians are hoping their state of the art systems can cope with Vancouver’s high humidity levels, especially when venues like the Richmond Oval are full of spectators.  One curling manager says it’s gonna be a real test to keep and maintain ideal ice conditions during the games.

More troubles for Toyota….this time it’s the Prius that’s the problem.  There’ve been more than 100 complaints in the U.S. and Japan about brake problems with the gas-electric hybrid.  The Prius is not part of the recall of other Toyota vehicles that have sticky gas pedal problems.

They don’t forget.  A 74 year old Ontario woman is sitting in a U.S. jail….because of a drug warrant issued 30 years ago.  Homenella Cole of Hamilton was trying to cross the border into New York state yesterday when, U.S. officials found she had an outstanding warrant dating back to 1980.  New York State police are now trying to make sure she faces the long outstanding charge of pot possession with the intent to sell.

Do they stay, or do they go?  Defence experts say Ottawa needs to answer than question on whether Canadian troops should stay and help in rebuilding Haiti.  Right now there are about a thousand troops on hand helping out…but, they’re all scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan later this year.  But, some defence experts say the Canucks should stay, since social unrest and gang violence will likely increase…and there services will be needed.

The trial of a Pennsylvania dog groomer charged with animal cruelty has started.  35 year old Holly Crawford is charged for giving kittens ear and neck piercings and marketing them online as so called, “gothic cats.”  Prosecutors say she inflicted pain on the cats to make money. 

So, oddsmakers have come out with a few Oscar predictions already.  Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock are the early faves to win an Academy Award in the top acting categories.  “Avatar” is considered the fave among the 10 nominees for best picture.  The awards by the way will get handed out March 7^th.

Cindy Klassen may be going for gold in Vancouver, but she won’t be helping MTS pitch any new cellphones, t.v. or internet packages while she’s at the games.  MTS has been told to “blank out” all ads related to the speedskater for the duration of the Olympics, because they’re not an official game sponsor.  A company spokesperson says there won’t be any new ads with Klassen during the games…but he says there are no plans to reduce or eliminate any current ads either.

A fixture of the downtown restaurant scene, is closing its doors.  The Pizza Hut on the corner of Donald and York is now gone.  A spokesperson says the closure was not a sign of troubles times for the company…rather a decision to not renew the lease on the building.  Apparently, Pizza Hut will soon be opening other new location’s around town.

Nurses at St. Boniface hospital have voted to walk off the job.  The nurses voted 79 per cent in favor of a strike yesterday.  A union rep says seniority and overtime are two of the key issues.  So far, no strike deadline has been set.

Some scary times on board a school bus yesterday for 4 city kindergarten kids.  They were trapped on their bus for quite some time after power lines landed on its roof.  The lines came down after another vehicle knocked down two hydro poles.  Fortunately, crews were able to determine that the lines weren’t live hydro wires, and the kids were able to leave the bus safely.

More than 75 of music’s biggest stars gathered in Hollywood yesterday to re-record the 1985 charity anthem, “We are the World.”  The recording was actually done in the very same studio the original was cut 25 years ago.  This time, stars included Canada’s own Celine Dion, Tony Bennett, Kanye West and the Jonas Brothers.  The proceeds from the sale of the single will benefit earthquake recovery in Haiti.

Toyota is sending dealers a small metal shim, something it says will prevent problems with the accelerator mechanism.  The carmaker says the fix should only take about half an hour, and can begin at dealerships late this week.  The company also insists that the solution has been through rigorous testing and will solve the problem for the life of the car. 

It’s Groundhog Day !  Prognosticating rodents…or, humans pretending to be them….will emerge from their burrows this morning to tell Canadians when winter might wrap up.  If the groundhog sees its shadow, folklore has it that winter will stick around for another 6 weeks.  If no shadow can be seen, the spring is just around the corner. 

Automatic garbage collection begins today in parts of the city.  The new system features those rolling bins, which are collected automatically by trucks, rather than the garbage men having to pick up bags and toss them.  About 42 thousand households will make the switch to the new automated service in the next 3 weeks.  The new bins will eventually get rolled out city wide.

A new report from the Canadian HIV-AIDS Legal Network calls for the establishment of needle and syringe distribution programs in this country’s jails.  It warns that the high rate of blood borne infections in prisons is a public health issue that affects all of society.

Nurses at St. Boniface General Hospital will take a strike vote today.  Contract talks with the province stalled last week.  Seniority, and overtime concerns are the main issues.  A strike deadline is expected to be set following the vote.

Not often you hear one like this.  A robber hit the Subway store in St. Boniface on the weekend.  Now, not only did he want cash, but, he also asked for cookies…..macadamia nut by the way.  Turns out though, he didn’t get to enjoy them, as police nabbed him about 5 minutes later.   A 23 year old man is now facing numerous charges.

Details on Toyota’s gas pedal fix will be revealed this morning, as the Japanese auto giant tries to reassure concerned owners.  More than 2.5 million vehicles sold in this country and the U.S., and several more million world wide, are being recalled because they could have the sticky accelerator problem. 

Cheaters will have a tougher time getting away with it, at this month’s Olympics in Vancouver.  Organizers will run 2 thousand anti doping tests during the Games….nearly double the number run in 2006.  Everything from high tech blood enhancers to garden variety cold medicines will be looked for. 

Don’t know if you’ve heard about this or not….but, there’s a 16 year old girl who is trying to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.  Abby Sunderland left Marina Del Ray on January 23^rd…..but has run into some trouble with her solar panels and wind generators….so she says she’ll have to make port in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico….and that would end her goal of making no land stops during the voyage.

U.N. officials are revamping the way they distribute food in Haiti.  The World Food Program and its partners are now handing out coupons to mainly women, the elderly and the disabled, to be redeemed for bags of rice.  Officials targeted women because they’re the primary caregivers in most households and are less likely to be aggressive in aid lines.

Getting to space is about to be outsourced.  The Obama administration’s new budget will propose billions of dollars to encourage private companies to build, launch and operate spacecraft for NASA and others.  The government would buy its astronauts a ride into space, just like hopping into a taxi of sorts.

It looks like a happy ending for Charles Gon-sah-lin, the man who almost died sneaking across the Canadian border to see his Internet girlfriend.  It’s been 5 years since he tried to walk from North Dakota into Manitoba, and hop a bus to Quebec to meet Jennifer Couture.  Gon-sah-lin got lost however.  He spent 100 hours in -20 degree weather before being arrested and losing several fingers and toes to frostbite.  But, Gon-sah-lin persisted, and says he and Jennifer are now talking marriage.  The couple still live on opposite sides of the border, but meet regularly in the States, because Gon-sah-lin is barred from Canada due to a 1984 robbery conviction.