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Winnipeg city councillor, Brenda Leipsic has died after a lengthy illness.  She represented the River Heights-Fort Garry ward since October of 2006, and served as the city’s deputy mayor.  Leipsic who was a mother, and a grandmother, died at the age of 66.

A Winnipeg teen convicted of stabbing a man who caught them throwing snowballs at his home, will stay in custody for at least another 5 days, because authorities are having trouble finding a home for him.  The 16 year old boy has been in custody since his arrest last year.  But, both the Crown and Defence agree he’s served enough time in jail, and are now looking to place him in a home with supervised probation…so far though…that home hasn’t materialized.

Toronto MP, Michael Ignatieff is just hours away from becoming the country’s next Liberal leader.  Ignatieff scored his victory without participating in one single debate, and without a single ballot being cast.  His lone remaining challenger for the top job, Bob Rae, bowed out of the race yesterday.  The Liberal caucus will endorse Ignatieff as interim leader today.

And mortgage rates may be coming down today, but, experts say consumers won’t reap the full benefits of the Bank of Canada’s latest interest rate cut.  Yesterday, the bank cut its trendsetting rate by 75 basis points to 1.5 per cent.  But, the big banks are only lowering their prime lending rates by half a point, to protect their own balance sheets as much as they can.

Better late than never.  The Winnipeg police service finally released their annual report yesterday….for 2007!  But, the numbers were actually pretty good.  Crime dropped by about 12 per cent overall last year, and we’re apparently on the way for another drop in 08.  All that being said however, auto theft numbers could be a bit iffy.  They did go down by 10 per cent in 2007, but, sources say there could be a rise this year.

The Liberal party is turning to Plan B in its search for an interim leader.  After a 3 hour conference call last night, the national executive has decided to broaden the consultation process, rather than leaving the decision strictly up to Liberal MP’s and senators.  That means over 800 Liberals will get a chance to weigh in on who will replace Stephane Dion, who announced yesterday he’ll fast track his exit.

Interest rates are expected to come down today.  It looks like the Bank of Canada will trim its key rate by at least 50 basis points, to 1.75 per cent.  That would be its lowest level in almost 50 years !

And you may already be sick of the financially gruelling 2008, but the world’s timekeepers plan to make you wait just a bit longer for 2009.  Since the Earth is slowing down, they’re tacking on an extra second to December 31st.  That’ll make this the longest year since 1992.

Manitoba Search and Rescue will hold a rally tomorrow, to show its support for 3 Manitoba women, who are still missing.  Jennifer Catheway went missing back in June near Portage la Prairie.  Amber McFarland also went missing from the Portage area back in October.  And, Claudette Osborne was last seen in Winnipeg near the Lincoln hotel on McPhillips.  If you have info on the whereabouts of any of these women, you are asked to call Crime-Stoppers.  The rally by the way will be held on the steps of the Legislature from 11:30 until 1 p.m tomorrow.

 Scary times on board a Lufthansa Airbus this weekend.  The plane which was en route from Portland, Oregon to Frankfurt, had to make a safety landing in our city, after a light on a control panel showed there was an oil leak in one of the plane’s two engines.  The craft landed no problem, and mechanics quickly figured out a part needed to fix the plane had to be flown in.  As a result, all of the 156 passengers and 14 crew were put up in a local hotel for the night.

 The country’s latest fallen soldiers will return to home soil today.  The bodies of the 3 men, killed while on patrol in Afghanistan on Friday, will arrive by military plane this afternoon at CFB Trenton, Ontario.

 And Bob Rae has got no intention of going down without a fight.  The federal Liberal leadership contender is challenging the legitmacy of a leadership process that excludes tens of thousands of rank and file members.  Rae’s rant, comes amid reports that Stephane Dion will step down early this week, and that Michael Ignatieff could be the party’s new interim leader by Wednesday.  Now since Ignatieff is thought to have more support than Rae among the Liberal caucus, it’s believed he’ll be tapped to lead the party into next month’s new session of Parliament.

Well this news will shake the confidence of patients getting diagnostic services done.  Documents show that one woman’s mastectomy may have been unnecessary and several other patients got incomplete diagnoses, after their biopsies went missing.  Documents show that multiple investigations into errors like those, were under way months before Diagnostic Services Manitoba, CEO, Jim Dalton, denied there were any problems with the province’s pathology program.

Mounties have wrapped up an investigation into the discovery of a man’s body in the Sandilands Forest, about 40 miles southwest of the city.  2 hunters found the body on a bush trail near Woodridge.  Police say the 68 year old victim’s death was accidental.  So far, his name has not been released.
The founder of Winnipeg’s Spring Taxi company, has died.  76 year old Tommy Springman suffered a massive heart attack this weekend, and passed away on Saturday.  A memorial service is now planned for tomorrow morning.
Well to say this will be an interesting week in Canadian politics, could be an understatement.  The federal Tories spent the weekend making a flurry of concessions, as they tried to piece off the opposition parties, who are threatening to bring the government down.  The Liberals, NDP and Bloc, have apparently been working very hard this weekend to finalize a deal to form some sort of coalition government.  But, apparently, all 3 parties still can’t decide who would head up this new regime.