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Community connections, the space in the downtown Millennium Library that provides support to the homeless population, will close at the end of this month when city funding comes to an end. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Community connections, the space in the downtown Millennium Library that provides support to the homeless population, will close at the end of this month when city funding comes to an end. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Community connections, the space in the downtown Millennium Library that provides support to the homeless population, will close at the end of this month when city funding comes to an end. The municipal government hasn’t included funding in the 2025 budget released Wednesday. Finance committee chairman Jeff Browaty said the community connections space posed a safety concern for library staff and the public. “We continue to see some challenges at the downtown Millennium Library, most recently involving an edged weapon,” he said, adding the funding was always due to expire in accordance with the city’s multi-year budget. Winnipeg police reported on Dec. 1 that a woman was arrested after she tried to take a knife into the library. After she was denied entry, she pulled out the knife and threatened two male security guards, police said at the time. The move to end funding was called “extremely short-sighted” by Manitoba Library Association program coordinator Kirsten Wurmann. “These folks come into the library whether community connections exist or not,” Wurmann said. “It actually makes the entire library safer for the community and for the staff.” The annual cost of the hub is $614,000. Its staff includes 4.2 full-time equivalent library staff, a librarian, two community safety hosts and three part-time library service assistants. Their contracts will not be renewed. Community safety hosts are trained in security and trauma crisis work. Wurmann said the space is an alternative for people who do not want to enter the library through metal detectors or need to spend more time with employees seeking information. From October 2023 to September 2024, the space handled 24,296 information requests, while all other Millennium Library service desks combined handled 29,701 requests. The quarterly report shows all Winnipeg libraries recorded 384 safety incidents from July to September. The Millennium library accounted for 211 of those encounters. There were 112,181 visits to the downtown library from July to September — up from 108,227 visits from April to June. Wurmann said a library needs to reflect the community that it is in and eliminating the space will only hurt downtown. “It just doesn’t make sense and it goes against everything that the city has said that (it is) committed to,” she said, referencing the city’s poverty reduction strategy that calls the space valuable. Community connections staff made 928 referrals to outside agencies and resources from October 2023 to September 2024. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Browaty said safety hosts will continue to be stationed in the library to handle social service requests. Coun. Evan Duncan has called for the space to move out of the library due to the safety risk to the public, but Coun. Cindy Gilroy said the move would be wrongheaded. “I’ve witnessed it myself. Issues are de-escalated before they arise in the library and a lot of the times, the security guards just do not have the same level of approach and de-escalating that the community connectors have,” Gilroy said. Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500 which represents library workers, called on other levels of government to help pay for and expand the space. nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the newsroom in 2023. . Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.NoneWall Street's main indexes all ended higher on Tuesday, with gains in megacap and growth stocks bolstering benchmarks in a truncated Christmas Eve session. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite scored four straight sessions of gains. For the Dow, the run follows its 10-session skid earlier this month, its longest losing streak since 1974. The benchmarks closed higher on the first day of a historically strong period called the "Santa Claus rally." The S&P 500 on average has gained 1.3% in the last five days of December and first two days of January, according to data from the Stock Trader's Almanac going back to 1969. With megacap stocks having outsized influence on markets, their performance is often a key driver of indexes. When coupled with reduced trading volumes and few other catalysts, as many investors take time off for the holidays, this is even more pronounced. All the so-called Magnificent Seven megacap technology stocks climbed on Tuesday, led by Tesla. The automaker's rise helped push consumer discretionary shares higher, making them the top gaining sector in the S&P. Elsewhere, chip manufacturers were also buoyant. Broadcom and Nvidia were up, while Arm Holdings climbed a day after losses from losing a court case. Growth names rose despite U.S. Treasury interest rates remaining elevated - the benchmark 10-year note yielded around 4.61% on Tuesday. Traditionally, higher debt costs crimp growth stocks. However, the long-term themes around technology development, including advancements in artificial intelligence, overshadow any near-term moves in Treasuries, said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management. "This reinforces that view that the sector is going to remain strong, and should be well into the new year," he said. According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 64.93 points, or 1.09%, to end at 6,039.00 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 264.31 points, or 1.34%, to 20,029.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 366.75 points, or 0.85%, to 43,273.70. Stock markets shut at 1:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday and will be closed for Christmas on Wednesday. After a stellar run to record highs following the November election, which sparked hopes of pro-business policies under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Wall Street's rally hit a bump this month as investors grappled with the prospect of higher interest rates in 2025. The U.S. Federal Reserve eased borrowing costs for the third time this year last Wednesday, but signaled only two more 25-basis-point reductions next year, down from its September projection of four cuts, as policymakers weigh the possibility of Trump's policies stoking inflation. Allianz's Ripley said the themes which had driven the market higher in the past two months remained intact, and actions by the Fed had not killed the rally. "Heading into 2025, things are set up with good positioning," he said, noting factors including economic outlook, consumption in the U.S. and the labor market. Crypto-related stocks traded higher on Tuesday, including Microstrategy, Riot Platforms, and MARA Holdings, as the price of bitcoin advanced. NeueHealth soared after the healthcare provider said New Enterprise Associates, its largest shareholder, and a group of existing investors will take the company private in a $1.3 billion deal. (This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)