Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 23, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Michael is a vibrant and playful five-year- old who lives with cerebral palsy, a condition affecting his movement, posture and eyesight. Michael receives exceptional care from the dedicated team at the Rehabilitation Centre for Children. He requires ongoing support to ensure his development and quality of life. Known for his infectious ear-to-ear grin, Michael lights up every room he enters. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation is able to make a profound difference in his life, enabling him to access the tools and support he needs to thrive. Your investment is integral to the Centre continuing to be a national leader in pediatric rehabilitation. Donor contributions fuel advancements in specialized equipment, innovative programs, leading-edge technology and research. Inclusion is a necessity, however for children and youth living with disabilities, it’s often overlooked. Thanks to donor generosity, Michael and his peers are breaking barriers and fully engaging with their families, schools, friends and communities. Together, we can ensure children have the opportunity to reach their potential and actively participate in inclusive, supportive environments. Your support will help Michael smile even brighter! I belong. rccinc.ca • crf.mb.ca Every youth should have the opportunity to discover their potential and engage in their communities. Every child belongs. We’re in this together. Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation is the fundraising entity for the Rehabilitation Centre for Children, an outpatient facility providing services and outreach therapy to thousands of Manitoba children each year. Donations help advance the delivery of essential and life- changing clinical programs and services including prosthetics and orthotics, assistive technology, bike clinic and smart technology. Your investment in the Foundation will provide mobility and independence as well as foster development and participation of youth in their families, schools and communities Did you know? By making a gift today to the Foundation’s I Belong campaign, you are supporting a very important objective... inclusion. To learn more about how you can be a part of enhancing young lives, visit ibelongmb.ca or call the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation at (204) 258-6700. We would love to connect with you! ibelongmb.ca THRIVE M A N I T O B A GROWING TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY TO BUILD A STRONG MANITOBA THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2025WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● B3 NEWS I WORLD Fast-moving wildfire prompts evacuation warnings C ASTAIC, Calif. — More than 50,000 people were under evacu- ation orders or warnings Wednes- day as a huge and fast-moving wildfire swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles, but fire officials said a rapid ground and air assault was giving them the upper hand. The Hughes Fire broke out in the late morning and within six hours charred more than 15 square miles (24 square kilometres) of trees and brush near Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area about 64 kilometres from the devastat- ing Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week. Though the region was under a red flag warning, winds were not as fast as they had been when those fires broke out, allowing for firefighting aircraft to dump tens of thousands of gallons of fire retardant. “The situation that we’re in today is very different from the situation we were in 16 days ago,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Wednesday evening. There were no reported homes or other structures burned. “This fire had a robust response to- day, and as you can see behind us, the responders are doing great work to try to contain this fire,” Joe Tyler, director of Cal Fire, said. “Certainly, we are not out of the woods yet.” More than 31,000 people have been ordered to evacuate, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Parts of Interstate 5 that had been closed will shortly be reopened, Luna said. A 48-kilometre stretch of the major north-south artery had been closed for emergency vehicles and moving equipment. Crews on the ground and in water-dropping aircraft tried to pre- vent the wind-driven fire from moving across the interstate and toward Cas- taic. Marrone said that because winds were not as strong as they were two weeks ago, aircraft crews were able to drop fire retardant on the south side of the fire, where the flames were mov- ing, he said. Winds in the area were gusting at 42 mph (67 kph) in the afternoon but were expected to increase to 60 mph (96 kph) by later in the evening and today, the National Weather Service said on the social platform X. To the south, Los Angeles officials began to prepare for potential rain even as some residents were allowed to return to the charred Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas. Gusty weather was expected to last through today and pre- cipitation was possible starting Satur- day, according to the National Weather Service. — The Associated Press EUGENE GARCIA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A wildfire burns along a ridge from the Hughes Fire in Castaic, Calif., on Wednesday. Pentagon sending 1,500 active duty troops to help secure U.S.-Mexico border WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Wednesday it has begun deploying 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border, putting in motion plans President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration. Acting Defense Secretary Robert Sa- lesses said the troops will fly helicop- ters to assist Border Patrol agents and help in the construction of barriers. The Pentagon also will provide military aircraft for Department of Homeland Security deportation flights for more than 5,000 detained migrants. The number of troops and their mis- sion may soon change, Salesses said in a statement. “This is just the begin- ning,” he said. “In short order, the department will develop and execute additional mis- sions in cooperation with DHS, federal agencies and state partners to address the full range of threats outlined by the President at our nation’s borders,” Sa- lesses said. Defence officials added that the de- partment is prepared to provide many more troops if asked, including up to 2,000 more Marines. Officials said there was no plan now for the troops to do law enforcement, which would put them in a dramatic- ally different role for the first time in decades. Any decision on this would be made by the White House, they said. The active duty forces will join the roughly 2,500 U.S. National Guard and Reserve forces already there. Until this deployment, there were no active duty troops working along the roughly 2,000-mile (3218-kilometre) border. A couple hundred troops started moving to the border earlier Wednes- day, according to a senior military offi- cial. The military official and a defence official briefed reporters on the condi- tion of anonymity to provide additional details on the deployment. The troops will include 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton in California, and the re- mainder will be Army. The U.S. forces being used for the deportation flights are separate from the 1,500 deployed for the border mis- sion. Those flights will involve four Air Force aircraft based in San Diego an El Paso, along with crews and mainten- ance personnel. Troops have done similar duties in support of Border Patrol agents in the past, when both Trump and former president Joe Biden sent active duty troops to the border. — The Associated Press LOLITA C. BALDOR AND TARA COPP ;