It’s warming up outside - most days. Even the calendar says its spring.

So we know that the long awaited end of winter is just around the corner.

Just as they have every year for years and years, the Russell Happy Helpers 4-H Club held their annual spring St. Patrick’s Day fundraising tea at the Park Manor on the north end of Main Street.

Along with setting up and serving during the afternoon tea, each of the 11 members of the club supplied a dessert for the afternoon as well as sold raffle tickets for gift baskets as prizes.

Get the full story in this week's Russell Banner!

RCMP have investigated a report of sextortion. Person had sent nude photos to someone they thought was real, but it was a scam. Person was told to buy gift cards or the pictures would become public. No money was lost.

Please do not send naked photos of yourself to anyone and if you for some reason decide to do this, do not include your face.

Want to know more? Check out this week’s RCMP report.

Mountain View School Division has budgeted for a small deficit for the 2023-24 school year to leave current programming intact.

The budget was passed March 21 at a special meeting of the board.

“We faced many uncertainties in the preparation and finalization of the 2023-2024 operating budget. This made the process very challenging this year and the board passed a budget with a small deficit,” said board chair Floyd Martens, who noted that additional funding in the 2022-23 school year will offset the deficit that the division is budgeting.

Find out more in this week’s Review.

A Roblin man who uses the Handivan three times a week to receive life-saving dialysis at the Russell Health Centre says the rate he’s being charged for the trips is excessive.

“Last year it cost me nearly $21,000,” said Tom Wilson, who recently met with municipal council to discuss a reduced rate. “They did reduce the rate – from $160 per trip to $125 per trip – but that’s still going to cost me $1,500 a month. And I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to afford that.

Read the rest of the story in this week’s issue.

On February 28th Owen Dawe and Jann Brooks were joined by Arlo and Jo to discuss their identities as two-spirited youth in the north. This was the first podcast that was launched under Young Voices of The North, an initiative funded through Say Yes! to Kids grant.
Since that first podcast episode, the youth involved have dropped three more episodes - Education and Career Opportunities; Newcomers; and Songs We Each Picked. The podcast variety is reflective of the young people that are invovled in the project itself. Currently actively invovled in the project are Dawe, Arlo Fenner, Namirembe Afatswo and Eniola Atoyebi. Joining the youth is Rev. Brooks, who has provided support and guidance but emphasizes that the podcast goal is to be youth led.

Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) is being recognized in the tourism sector by having two nominations for the Manitoba Indigenous Tourism Awards this year. Jade Richards, Assistant General Manager for the Kikiwak Inn was nominated for the Outstanding Staff Person Award and OCN was nominated for the Leading the Way in Business Development Award.
Richards worked her way up to her current position at the Kikiwak Inn. All of her experiences through different positions, combined with her education proved to be a real asset.
“I started working with the Kikiwak Inn in July 2019,” said Richards. “It was actually my first job when I first started working in 2003. I started off as a busser, and then later moved up as a server. Sue Johnston was my supervisor and was a great. I learned a lot from her. I worked on and off as a server for quite a long time until I got an office job. I later went back to school for my Business Administration at UCN, went back to an office job and seen the position at the Kikiwak Inn posted, so I took a chance.

Amongst all the budget meetings, the Town of the Pas Council has also been busy managing day-to-day operations and projects for the community. At almost every meeting, a by-law is discussed and reviewed amongst council to see if there are any changes or revisions that need to be made.
“With regards to by-laws, our council is looking into a lot of them to see if there are questions that come up with regards to how they impact people in the community and if the by-law still makes sense today,” said Town of The Pas Mayor Andre Murphy. “We’ve been looking at some of the by-laws to see why they were put into place and if it’s still relevant to today.”

Ever wonder what the Dauphin Herald online papers look like? Ever thought about switching from your paper copy to an online edition? 

Now is your chance to check it out and see how you like it with the Dauphin Herald's Total Market Coverage for March 2023.

Read below, enjoy!

The SVRSS Tigers made history on Sunday, winning their first ever Westman High School Hockey League Championship Title. The team took the Neepawa Tigers in two games for the title. See the full story on B2...

The Dauphin Kings are set to face the Swan Valley Stampeders in a rematch of last year’s Manitoba Junior Hockey League quarterfinal series, which the Kings won in six games.

Dauphin ended the season with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Winkler Flyers, Saturday in Winkler. That came on the heels of a 6-2 victory over the Winnipeg Freeze, last Monday in Winnipeg.

The Kings dressed APs Marco Bodnarski, Havryil Simchuk and Madden Murray, while Roan Coe made his MJHL debut on the blueline.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said it was a tough environment in front of a large crowd, noting the Flyers dressed their full lineup.

“I thought all our kids played real well. Roan Coe was good on the back ende, as was Marco Bodnarski. Simchuk and Murray all played very well,” he said, adding the Kings only dressed four 20-year-olds, including goaltender Dmytro Kubritskyi, who made 49 saves in the loss. “Like I said, it was a tough enviroment to play in and they responded really well. They didn’t look out of place at all and fit right in,” Hedley added.

Dauphin finishes the season in fourth place in the MGEU West Division with a 32-21-3-2 record. Their 69 points were two back of third-place Virden and three behind second-place OCN.

The Kings will now prepare to face the 36-16-5-1 Stampeders in the quarterfinals.

Dauphin won the season series, winning four of the six games. Five of the six contests were decided by one goal, with the Kings winning three times in overtime. The only game not decided by a goal was a 3-00 Swan Valley victory in the first game between the two teams, Sept. 23.

Hedley expects a long, tough series between the two rivals.

“I’m expecting a real battle. Obviously, they’re well coached and have a good hockey club. We just have to make sure we bring our A game,” he said. “Hopefully, everybody is healthy and 100 per cent and we get four lines rolling. I think we stack up very well against them.”

Hedley knows goaltending will be key to any team’s success and with Swan Valley’s Kobe Grant winning the Top Goaltender Award this season, the Kings will have to find ways to get to him.

“The biggest thing is second shots. Taking his eyes away as you can by sitting in front of him. We have to get to the paint. We have to get to the net. We have to make it difficult for him to see pucks,” Hedley said. “Do as much as we can to create traffic in front of him.”

The schedule for the series can be found below!

MGEU WEST – (1) Swan Valley Stampeders vs (4) Dauphin Kings
***If necessary