By Murray Sherriffs
=
The Montreal woman pushed from a third-floor balcony in Mercier, New Year’s Day, has died and the 31-year-old man charged with aggravated assault may see the charge that he faces amended.
=
The Quebec government is being pressured to increase funding for second-stage shelters for women escaping violence in the home: Transitional homes that would offer refuge and prevent them and children from going homeless.
=
The Quebec Homelessness Prevention Collaborative has reviewed the system now in place for women and children in distress says that second-stage shelters would allow for longer stays, specialized services, security and confidentiality.
=
The RCMP has handed over eight asylum seekers from Haiti who were arrested near Hemmingford, last week, to the Canada Border Services Agency to start their asylum application process.
=
The Quebec Liberal Party has put new ethics rules in place for the next leadership race, following the debacle that involved Pablo Rodriguez, to ensure no vote-buying and that donors make contributions from their own funds with no reimbursement.
=
The arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. has put in doubt the Caribbean vacation plans of many Montrealers, with hundreds of flights in and out of the region affected by the prohibition of flights over Venezuelan airspace and flight cancellations Cuba, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Aruba.
=
A fire in an apartment at the intersection of Renaud and Dauphine streets in Saint-Leonard has put a number of people out of their homes.
=
The strike by thousands of Montreal transit maintenance workers ends next week and no new talks are scheduled.
=
Students in elementary and high school classrooms in Quebec must treat their teachers with new respect, as mandated by the Quebec government, and use formal terms when talking to their teachers and others in authority: In the English school system, addressing them as Mr. or Ms.; and in the French-language school system, students must use vous not tu.
=
Operation Nez Rouge saw a decreased demand for its services this year (18,393 rides by 17,735 volunteers), slightly below last year (20,050 rides by 19,495 volunteers). Organizers say that it might be because more people are acting responsibly.
=
Montreal emergency room overcrowding is at an average 162% over capacity.
=
Tattle-tales have led police to charge a number of Gatineau motorists with not registering their Ontario vehicles in Quebec, after the government increased the cost of registering a motor vehicle in Quebec this year from between $90 to $120.
=
Flurries / -7º today
Flurries / -1º tomorrow
