News

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews A new solar power plant near the Trans-Canada Highway at Gleichen has been approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission. “Gleichen Solar” would be built on 71 acres of private land located about two kilometres northeast of town and likely visible from where the TCH curves northward. The original applicant was TIU Canada Ukraine Holdco., [...] Read More »

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews Incumbent Dwight won a four-way race for mayor pf Redcliff, fending off a hard challenge from one-term councillor Shawna Gale. Voting totals on Monday from the town show Kilpatrick won the contest with 656 votes to Gale’s 363. Also running were former mayor Ernie Reimer (238 votes) and challenger Mark Payne (105 votes). Along [...] Read More »

kking@medicinehatnews.com Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education’s superintendent, Dwayne Zarichny, has recently completed his Doctorate of Education. Zarichny was honoured during the MHCBE’s public board meeting on Oct. 12. “At some point in my life, I knew that I wanted to engage in and complete (a doctorate degree),” Zarichny told the News. “Once I started [...] Read More »

The Cleanfarms waste collection will be at Nutrien Ag Solutions in Medicine Hat on Oct. 26, from 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Farmers are encouraged to drop off unwanted or obsolete agricultural and commercial pesticides, as well as expired livestock and equine medications. All products must be in a sealed or spill-proof container. Fertilizer, diluted [...] Read More »

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews The number of COVID-19 cases in Medicine Hat has well surpassed the number of seats in the Medicine Hat Arena, while 52 deaths from the respiratory infection have been recorded in just the past 66 days. A total of 4,005 recoveries in those with a City of Medicine Hat address had been diagnosed as [...] Read More »

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant Two mayoral candidates are questioning the timing of major economic announcements just two months before Hatters go to the polls, with one calling a plan to create a local hydrogen strategy, “chasing rainbows,” while the other says it has potential but is still just an idea. “It’s being used to drum up some publicity [...] Read More »

Medicine Hat city council approved a motion to conduct a third-party audit of how a potential privatization of Invest Medicine Hat was handled. The decision, reached unanimously at Tuesday’s city council meeting, comes after the lone bidder in a request for proposals backed out due to a perception of conflict of interest last month. “I [...] Read More »

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant Mayor Ted Clugston says he will call for a third-party audit of how a potential privatization of Invest Medicine Hat was handled, saying it will likely “vindicate” city hall’s actions, but says any changes to economic development and municipal land sales are likely now on hold until after the October election. “It’s unfortunate, because [...] Read More »

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant The only company to bid on taking over Invest Medicine Hat has rescinded its proposal after public complaints the process appeared tainted, and it hopes “more discussion” will dispel that notion. Orka Management stated in a press release on Friday afternoon that “the perception of a conflict of interest is sufficient to remove our [...] Read More »

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant City councillors say they are waiting to see what’s been proposed and what it will cost before making a decision on contracting out economic development and land sales in the City of Medicine Hat. Coun. Jim Turner told the News he has followed coverage in the media about a potential contracting out process for [...] Read More »

David Leahy is hoping to be re-elected as a trustee for Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education in the upcoming election. A retired educator who worked in the Catholic school system for nearly 30 years, Leahy notes he is passionate for education. His own education includes a diploma of Applied Arts from SAIT, a Bachelor [...] Read More »

Catherine Wilson hopes her experience as a school board trustee will win her another term with the Medicine Hat Public School Board. She has spent two full four-year terms as a school board trustee, as well as serving the last seven months of her late father’s term. When her children were in school, Wilson became [...] Read More »

Nicholas Martin hopes being part of city council will aid his plans for a university in Medicine Hat. Born in Medicine Hat and raised in Redcliff, Martin attended Medicine Hat College and became a power engineer. He worked at a facility in town for five years until it was sold. He then became a contractor [...] Read More »

Mark Asham wants a seat on city council so he can focus on community growth paired with economic growth to build the city of Medicine Hat. Asham and his family moved to Medicine Hat in 1997. He loved the city and raising his family here. “I volunteered for many non-profit organizations and their boards since [...] Read More »

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant A man who spent nearly 40 days on life support suffering from COVID-19 this spring says he is well enough and invigorated to run the election campaign he first planned in 2020. Paul Hemsing also says he doesn’t want his long recovery from the disease to overshadow the issues in the Medicine Hat city [...] Read More »

kking@medicinehatnews.com Chandra Muszko believes that, above all else, a Medicine Hat Public School Division school board trustee must be trustworthy. “I’m focusing my attention on the areas of transparency within the school system and the board themselves,” Muszko told the News while describing her platform. She also hopes to launch a revised health and safety [...] Read More »

kking@medicinehatnews.com Social media comments made by Jillian Schempp, a trustee candidate for Medicine Hat Public School Division, regarding the COVID-19 vaccine have created a stir online. Through a series of Facebook posts Schempp claimed individuals who choose to be vaccinated are “practising satanism” and that “babies are literally sacrificed alive to make vaccines.” Throughout her [...] Read More »

lthomson@medicinehatnews.com Earlier this week, the News became aware of a series of Facebook posts made by Jillian Schempp, Medicine Hat Public School Board trustee candidate, that refer to the COVID vaccine as “satanic” and suggests “parents are selling their children’s bodies to the devil just to play volleyball.” Schempp responded by saying she is pro [...] Read More »

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant The finish line is in sight for mayoral candidates sprinting toward Monday’s municipal election. The campaign that officially began on the day of the federal election, will wrap up for almost five dozen mayoral, council and school board candidates when polls close at 8 p.m. on Oct. 18. Incumbent candidate Ted Clugston has argued [...] Read More »

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant At the heart of a near-record number of council campaigns this year are calls for greater transparency at city hall. Challengers rail against closed meetings and public consultations they say result in flawed decision making. Administrators and incumbent councillors argue that isn’t true, and surveys show the city is doing more now than ever [...] Read More »

OTTAWA – The Prime Minister’s Office says “to the best of our knowledge,” it has provided all residential school records to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. The PMO says in a written statement that it has provided more than four million documents to the centre, and if all the records haven’t been supplied, [...] Read More »

Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette has introduced a bill that would create a legal framework for surrogate mothers. While people are allowed to have someone else carry a baby for them – as long as the surrogate mother isn’t paid – any contracts signed between the surrogate mother and the parents who intend to raise [...] Read More »

Quebec Premier François Legault is committing to adding 37,000 more daycare spots in the province by 2025 in order to ensure any family that needs a place can get one. Legault’s government today tabled a bill and an action plan aimed at meeting the province’s child care needs. Quebec’s child-care network is under increasing strain, [...] Read More »

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – The University of Northern British Columbia says it has became the first college or university athletic program in Canada to unveil an alternate logo and jersey designed completely by an Indigenous artist. The new look for teams at the Prince George, B.C., university was revealed this week at a ceremony attended [...] Read More »

OTTAWA – All provinces and territories have agreed to conform their proof-of-vaccine documents, or COVID-19 vaccine passports, to a national standard so that they can be used for international and domestic travel. The idea is that the standardized document will make it easier for travel authorities domestically and abroad to verify the vaccine status of [...] Read More »

EDMONTON – Alberta’s chief medical officer of health says COVID-19 case numbers in the province continue to recede. But Dr. Deena Hinshaw cautions that the hospital situation remains precarious given the high number of patients. And she says Albertans can’t afford to let up on health restrictions, particularly with Halloween coming up. There were 770 [...] Read More »

CALGARY – The trial of a man who admitted to killing his girlfriend but not her young daughter heard Thursday about an undercover police operation that helped find their bodies in a shallow grave west of Calgary. Robert Leeming, 36, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Jasmine Lovett and not guilty [...] Read More »

CALGARY – The trial of a Calgary man who has admitted to killing his girlfriend but not her young daughter is hearing today about an undercover police operation that helped find their bodies. Robert Leeming has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Jasmine Lovett and not guilty to second-degree murder in the [...] Read More »

KAPAWE’NO FIRST NATION – A northern Alberta First Nation says it has completed the first phase of ground penetrating radar in its search for children’s remains at a former residential school site. Kapawe’no First Nation, which is located northwest of Edmonton, says in a written statement that finding any unmarked graves at Grouard Indian Residential [...] Read More »

EDMONTON – Canadian environmental groups did nothing wrong when they accepted foreign funding for campaigns opposing oilsands development, a public inquiry has reported. In his much-delayed report released Thursday, Steve Allan, commissioner of the Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns, says the groups were exercising their rights to free speech. “I have not found any suggestions [...] Read More »

A man wanted by the Crowsnest Pass RCMP earlier this week has been located and taken into custody. On Oct. 14, Crowsnest Pass RCMP had arrested a male on outstanding warrants. At roughly 2:15 p.m. that same day the suspect, Samuel Shawn Fralick, who was restrained with handcuffs was being placed in a police vehicle [...] Read More »

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com A Lethbridge man has been ordered to take counselling for substance abuse and anger management for threatening to kill police officers and their families. Patrick Rodney Jr., who pleaded guilty Monday in Lethbridge provincial court to two charges of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, was also given a suspended sentence [...] Read More »

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com The city’s farmers markets may be closed for the year but southern Albertans have a new year-round alternative that opened Friday in Lethbridge. YQL Marketplace is an indoor market at 1249 3 Avenue South that will run three days a week 12 months a year. Hours are 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. on [...] Read More »

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com A 33-year-old woman who robbed a taxi driver and took off in his vehicle nearly two years ago, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court but won’t be sentenced until the new year. Kimberlie Rose Eagle Speaker pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and theft of a motor vehicle, stemming from a violent [...] Read More »

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com Branden Myles Bellerose narrowly avoided a custodial sentence for fleeing from police when they tried to pull him over in a traffic stop last year. The Crown recommended Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court that Bellerose receive a 90-day conditional sentence, which would keep him out of jail, but still require him to serve [...] Read More »

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) – An Alabama man who avoided execution in February was put to death Thursday for the 1991 killing of a woman who was abducted during a robbery and then shot in a cemetery. Willie B. Smith III, 52, received a lethal injection at a prison in southwest Alabama. He was pronounced dead [...] Read More »

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) – An Alabama man who avoided execution in February was put to death Thursday for the 1991 killing of a woman who was abducted during a robbery and then shot in a cemetery. Willie B. Smith III, 52, received a lethal injection at a prison in southwest Alabama. He was pronounced dead [...] Read More »

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio’s debut of its new license plate failed to take off – because a banner depicted on the plate was attached to the wrong end of the Wright Brothers’ historic first plane, the Wright Flyer. The new license plate illustrates rays of sunlight beaming into the sky, with a banner that [...] Read More »

LONDON (AP) – Buckingham Palace said Thursday that Queen Elizabeth II spent a night in a hospital for checks after being advised by her doctor this week to rest. The palace said the 95-year-old British monarch went to the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London on Wednesday for “preliminary investigations.” It said she returned [...] Read More »

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – The FBI on Thursday identified human remains found in a Florida nature preserve as those of Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the death of girlfriend Gabby Petito while the couple was on a cross-country road trip. The remains, a backpack and notebook believed to belong to Laundrie were [...] Read More »