WINNIPEG — A couple suing the city allege Winnipeg Police Service officers trying to execute a search warrant at their condominium complex rappelled down the side of the building, broke in their glass patio door and fired off a stun grenade before realizing they were in the wrong unit.

Saeid Ghavami and Shahla Shojaei, a married couple who are academics and scientific researchers at the University of Manitoba, filed the lawsuit in Court of King’s Bench last month over the Jan. 31, 2025 incident.

The claim names the City of Winnipeg and several officers involved in the operation, whose identities are, at this point, unknown to the couple, and are referred to as “John Does.”

Officers were attempting to execute the warrant on the third floor of the eight-storey Pembina Highway building, the court filing says. The couple lives on the fourth floor.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba is adding doctors at a record clip — but it’s also losing them at a rate not seen since the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, a physicians advocacy organization cautioned Wednesday.

The number of registered family physicians, specialists and medical residents with a full certificate of practice reached 3,694 as of April 30, for a net gain of 196 doctors during the previous 12 months, the highest net gain since 2008 (the earliest records available online) and the third consecutive year of net increases.

The figures are outlined in the 2025-2026 annual report of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, which was released Wednesday. The figures show a snapshot of registration on April 30, the final day of the fiscal year.

There were 1,792 family physicians, 1,823 specialists and 79 residents with a full scope of practice. Manitoba added 164 net new doctors in the previous fiscal year and 133 doctors in fiscal 2023-24.

WINNIPEG — A shortage of judges is forcing Manitoba’s provincial court to slash sittings across the province.

The court announced in a notice to the profession Wednesday it will be reducing the number of annual court sittings at nine rural circuit locations and St. Boniface provincial court in Winnipeg by 68 sittings, effective April 1, 2027.

The reductions are necessary to balance “access to justice needs with the complement of judicial resources currently insufficient to maintain the current court schedule,” said the notice, signed by provincial court Chief Judge Ryan Rolston.

Affected circuit courts include Altona, Arborg, Beausejour, Easterville, Cranberry Portage, Lundar, Grand Rapids, Moose Lake and Pine Falls.

WINNIPEG — Four teens have died in a collision near Winnipeg Beach.

Manitoba RCMP are investigating the two-vehicle crash, which happened at about 9:15 p.m. on Sunday.

A vehicle travelling west on Highway 229 was struck while crossing Highway 8, RCMP said in a news release Monday.

Everyone inside the westbound vehicle died at the scene, including the driver, an 18-year-old female from Winnipeg, and three passengers: an 18-year-old male from Gimli, an 18-year-old female from Sandy Hook and a 17-year-old male from Ear Falls, Ont.

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba doctor has denied he was working as a recruiter after an Ontario doctor accused him of misleading him about a position at the Carberry hospital.

Dr. Klevis Iliriani, who worked at the hospital in Carberry from May to August 2024, filed his statement of claim in Court of King’s Bench earlier this year.

Iliriani, who lives in an Ottawa suburb, has alleged recruiters negligently misrepresented the job at the Carberry hospital and breached the terms of his contract, which resulted in less pay than promised.

His court filing names defendants Dr. Dave Maharajh and Barry Banek as the recruiters.

Pats 6, Wheat Kings 4

First Period

1. Brandon, Muissu 1 (Allard, Grubb) 3:57 (pp).

2. Brandon, Muissu 2 (Bhathal) 11:41.

WINNIPEG — Shared Health issued an urgent call Friday to surgical patients who require bloodwork to get it done before Dynacare stops collecting blood at noon today — three days before lab workers are set to go on strike.

The company, which conducts blood tests at 22 outlets in Winnipeg, Brandon and surrounding communities, is locked in a contract battle with the union that represents its 350 workers.

Health officials warned that any disruption would significantly impair the health-care system.

Shared Health said Friday its officials, as well as regional health authorities, CancerCare Manitoba and the government have been working together to prepare for the walkout.

Pats 6, Wheat Kings 3

First Period

1. Regina, Mieyette 1 (unassisted) 5:34.

2. Regina, Moore 1 (unassisted) 7:52.

WINNIPEG — The province is expanding the number of residential units that are subject to rent control.

Starting next year, units with monthly rent as high as $2,000 will be regulated under the Residential Tenancies Act. Currently, the threshold is $1,670 per month.

“This is a good thing,” Right to Housing Coalition spokesperson Yutaka Dirks said Thursday. “For those people who weren’t covered but will now be covered, that’s certainly a positive. It’s something that we called for,” the advocate said.

The coalition wanted the provincial government to go further and remove the threshold so rent control would apply to all residential tenants.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba Public Insurance is getting strict about its winter tire program after years in which customers used it to buy other types of tires.

As of Oct. 1, only tires that are “designed and marketed solely for winter driving conditions, including snow and ice,” will be eligible for financing through the public insurer.

Currently, all-weather, all-season, four-season and year-round tires are included in the program, which allows MPI clients to pay the cost in monthly instalments. The program, established in 2014, offers financing for up to $2,000, plus interest.

In an email to retailers, MPI says the program is being changed so it “helps ensure customers receive the full winter-driving safety benefits associated with dedicated winter tires.”