Canadian Olympic gold medalist Sami Jo Small was on hand Friday at Portage Collegiate Institute where she gave students an inspiring talk about lighting the fire within.

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The Portage Community Revitilization Corporation will be holding an information session Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Portage Regional Library for the upcoming Neighbourhood Safety Audit.

One of my favourite programs on TV is called "How Is It Made?" It illustrates the often complicated process necessary to produce even the simplest of things that we buy and use.

Editor's note: Over the past several weeks, the Central Plains Herald-Leader has hosted a festival of cultures that are represented in this region. This week's stop is the United Kingdom

Submitted photo...Rob McMillan, left, owner of Portage la Prairie s Chicken Chef poses with PCU Centre fundraisers Cora McCartney, second from left, Audrey Brennan and restaurant employee Brenda Rogers. McCartney and Brennan have been busy delivering PCU Centre placemats to local restaurants.

A Sandy Bay First Nation man who is facing charges of break and enter has been denied bail. When he appeared in Portage la Prairie provincial court on Oct. 19, Timothy Joseph Spence, 21, made a request for release.

Angela Brown/Central Plains Herald-Leader...Pastor Bill Galston, and his granddaughter Zahara Galston, 1, marvel at this hand-made pop-up doll from Rwanda, during a basement flea market sale at Prairie Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church on Duke Avenue in Portage la Prairie on Oct. 31. Funds raised will help purchase sewing machines for women in Rwanda, who are learning to sew as a trade.

A disappointing finish at the Manitoba Provincial Rural High School Soccer Championships didn't put a damper on the excellent season put together by the MacGregor Collegiate Institute Mustangs boys' soccer team.

The Gladstone Lakers Senior A hockey team got the season off to the right start with a decisive 5-1 victory over Crystal City last weekend. The club had previously defeated Stonewall in an exhibition match and is gearing up for the home opener Saturday night.

So many people hold close to their hearts the traumatic story of April Raintree, a book that was published to great acclaim in 1983.

This week, Jessica Toews of the MacGregor Mustangs girls volleyball team is the Tri-Star Rural High School Athlete of the Week. Toews is the captain of the team and is in Grade 12 at MacGregor Collegiate. She also competes in track and field, basketball and badminton.

The Central Plains Midget AAA Capitals girls had a gruelling game Oct. 30 against defending league champions Pembina Valley Hawks with only 12 skaters in the lineup, dropping the match 7-3.

Sometimes miracles do happen. Sheila Knox, Portage la Prairie area co-ordinator for Operation Christmas Child (OCC), related the story of one recent miracle that involved an OCC shoebox.

A few new changes have been made to hunting regulations for the 2009 season, including one that's been in the works for a number of years to give hunters even more opportunities to get out.

While the duck and geese season is just ending, there have been some various reports of hunting participation numbers as being either up or down, in the Central Plains region.

Rob Swystun/Central Plains Herald-Leader....Ecole Crescentview School Grade 4 students Chantel Smith, left, Reilly Funk and Brett Taylor show off their Halloween costumes on Oct. 30 at the school in Portage la Prairie and the coinage the school raised for UNICEF over the previous week with their coin drive.

There are people of Ukrainian descent in pretty well every community in Canada, but are there any pioneers left? Danny Evanishen has been searching for them since 1991, in order to record their stories.

Ken Smith has a new lease on life, and according to him, it is nothing short of a miracle.

Gladstone's annual Moonlight Madness happens next Friday, Nov. 13, and residents across the Central Plains region are encouraged to attend the event and check out what's hip in Happy Rock.