Testimony continues today in the second-degree murder trial of a former government adviser, Mark Stobbe. Policed allege Stobbe hit his wife, Beverly Rowbotham, in the head 16 times with a hatchet in 2000. A RCMP forensics expert told the court yesterday evidence showed Rowbotham had been killed, then her body was moved to where she was found, in her car north of Winnipeg.
The City of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Police Association are fighting over the paychecks of about 14 hundred officers and 400 other employees. The association says, in Western Canada, the only police service of 50 officers or more that pays it’s employees less than Winnipeg is Moose Jaw.
Final arguments were heard yesterday at the trial for two men charged with first degree murder of an elderly couple and their son. Jerome Labossiere and Michael Hince are accused of killing Labossiere’s parents and brother, then setting their farmhouse on fire to cover up the crime. The Judge is expected to charge the jury on Wednesday.
A whole community, some of whom had never met the victims, gathered last night to pay their respects to the mother, grandmother and three daughters who died in last week’s West Kildonan house fire. Hamid Farooq, the father who was at work at the time of the fire, thanked everyone for their prayers and support, saying they gave him comfort.
Winnipeg’s newest ground hog, Willow, makes her live debut February 2nd. The Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, which heals and releases injured wildlife, has allowed to take on the duty of letting us know if it will be six more weeks of winter or early spring on Groundhog’s Day.
Don Starkell, the Winnipeger adventurer who set a Guinness Book of World Records paddling more than 19,000 kilometres with his son Dana to the Amazon, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 79. The Starkell family has asked in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the YMCA at Strongkids.ca http://www.ymcastrongkids.ca.
School trustees have to decide between making major cuts or raising school property taxes. Yesterday, Education Minister Nancy Allan announced a 2.2 per cent increase in provincial operating grants for public schools but dropped the tax-incentive grant that added $135 million over the past four years in exchange for divisions freezing taxes.
Winnipeg police have launched the fourth phase of their Just Slow Down campaign. TV commercials started running yesterday meant to show the risks and consequences speeding can have.
Police have charged a female Winnipeg high school teacher and coach with sexual exploitation. Regan Moses, a social studies teacher at Fort Richmond Collegiate, has been put on paid leave after she turned herself in on January 6th. The alleged offence occurred with a former student between February 2006 and February 2008. Police say the charge of sexual exploitation applies when a person is in a position of authority, such as a case with a teacher and a student.
