News

The Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta has distributed nearly $20,000 through the Youth in Philanthropy program to charities across the region. The Youth in Philanthropy program introduces young people to community development and philanthropy through hands-on experiences with local charities, and 11 different participant groups each received grants of $1,800 and split the total of [...] Read More »

Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP Glen Motz says one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent Senate nominations is a “clear and flagrant disregard of the will of Albertans.” Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen was appointed to represent Alberta in the Senate last week after being recommended by the independent advisory board for Senate appointments, and chosen using a [...] Read More »

Meat lovers, this weekend is for you. Beginning Friday and running into Sunday evening, this year’s Ribfest has hopes to be the biggest and best yet. “This is going to be a great weekend,” said one of the organizers, Andrew Reinhardt. “We have some really great ribbers coming in for this event. “People will not [...] Read More »

lthomson@medicinehatnews.com Prairie Rose School Division is working hard, even over the summer, to help improve students and their families’ community connection and mental wellness. Hosted by the AHS Mental Health Capacity Building Project in co-ordination with the Prairie Rose Wellness Team, the school division is providing opportunities for families to spend time together and within [...] Read More »

lthomson@medicinehatnews.com The Medicine Hat chapter of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank spent Wednesday afternoon harvesting 70 acres of wheat in a field near Rolling Acres Greenhouse, which will be monetized and used to help alleviate hunger in Third World countries. Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a non-profit nationwide organization that runs various projects in order to help [...] Read More »

OTTAWA – The federal government should be more clear about who is included in its evacuation plans from Afghanistan, said the founder of a national advocacy campaign to bring interpreters and local staff to Canada. Andrew Rusk, who is the brother-in-law of Capt. Nichola Goddard who died in Afghanistan in 2006 and was the first [...] Read More »

VANCOUVER – The BC Wildfire Service says more than 100 new fires have broken out this week in British Columbia as lightning storms and a return to hot weather helped push the number of active fires to nearly 300. Almost three dozen of those blazes have the potential to endanger people and property, and new [...] Read More »

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is considering making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for some federally regulated workplaces such as airlines. It is the first time Trudeau has openly supported any form of compulsory vaccinations. U.S. President Joe Biden last week introduced measures requiring federal employees and contractors to show proof of vaccination or [...] Read More »

MONTREAL – The federal government is transferring about $6 billion to Quebec over five years in connection with Ottawa’s national child-care program, but the money comes without conditions and Quebec’s government can spend it how it pleases. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement Thursday alongside Premier François Legault in Montreal, who said a significant [...] Read More »

OTTAWA – Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu has sent a letter to her Alberta counterpart saying she shares concerns about the province’s plan to lift all of its COVID-19 health restrictions. In the letter, addressed to Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro, Hajdu says she agrees with the Canadian Paediatric Society’s description of the move as [...] Read More »

CALGARY – Police say they are investigating an arson at a memorial for residential school victims at Calgary City Hall. Investigators say in a news release security cameras caught a man who appeared to light the fire just before midnight Tuesday. Photos of the aftermath show damage to the children’s shoes sitting at the site [...] Read More »

CALGARY – Alberta’s top doctor is apologizing for causing “confusion, fear or anger” after communicating the province’s plan to eliminate remaining public health measures. In a column sent to various media outlets, Dr. Deena Hinshaw says her words have caused some people to think she believes COVID-19 is over. Hinshaw says that was not her [...] Read More »

CALGARY – A group of Edmonton doctors is calling on the Alberta government to reinstate COVID-19 testing, tracing and isolation requirements to control viral spread. Ten physicians from the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association have signed an open letter that draws attention to threats posed by the Delta variant and the potential for pediatric and [...] Read More »

RED DEER, Alta. – Mounties say one man is dead and another has life-threatening injuries after officers responded to a break-in at a home in central Alberta. Blackfalds RCMP say in a news release that when officers got to the home Monday in Red Deer they found a man with a gunshot wound. He was [...] Read More »

SWAN HILLS, Alta. – RCMP in Alberta say a 26-year-old tree planter has died after being attacked by a bear. Spokesman Cpl. Troy Savinkoff says police were called on Saturday afternoon about the attack, which he says happened in a remote location northwest of Swan Hills. Savinkoff says the woman was flown by a private [...] Read More »

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com Rogers Sugar Inc. announced it will be paying a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share, or about $9.3 million, after stronger than expected sugar sales in 2021. “Our full year fiscal 2021 sales volume guidance remains unchanged at approximately 776,000 metric tonnes, an increase of 15,000 metric tonnes over fiscal 2020, despite an [...] Read More »

With $583,480 from Western Economic Diversification Canada’s Regional Air Transportation Initiative to support critical improvements at the Lethbridge Airport, the City of Lethbridge looks to enhance the customer experience. “We are really excited about the improvements included in this grant as they are very much focused on making the Lethbridge Airport more viable for airlines and their passengers,” said [...] Read More »

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com Lethbridge County is seeking public and stakeholder feedback on its new draft Municipal Development Plan as the county prepares for new investment opportunities and copes with pressures of keeping agricultural lands intact going forward. Lethbridge County supervisor of planning and development Hilary Janzen says it has been 11 years since a full MDP [...] Read More »

A pair of Independent MLAs are questioning Premier Jason Kenney’s commitment to this October’s equalization referendum. The referendum is slated to held Oct. 18, in conjunction with Municipal and Senate elections. “The Premier’s failure to stand up for our province is nothing new, but now his inaction on implementing his own Bill 32 threatens to [...] Read More »

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com The case of a 31-year-old man charged with homicide should take another step forward when it returns to Lethbridge provincial court on Aug. 18. The matter for Mohamud Omar Dhiblawe was in Lethbridge provincial court Wednesday, where an agent for defence council, Calgary lawyer Akram Attia, confirmed they now had a signed designation [...] Read More »

GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) – The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says a raging wildfire that swept through a tiny Northern California mountain town is now the sixth-largest in state history. The 3-week-old Dixie Fire had blackened territory bigger than the city of Los Angeles by Thursday, stretching over 504 square miles (1,305 square [...] Read More »

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas Gov. Greg Greg Abbott on Thursday ordered another special legislative session to again try passing a GOP voting bill after Democrats left the state in protest to again prevent Republicans from changing the state’s elections laws. The announcement was expected and comes as more than 50 Democrats, who left Texas [...] Read More »

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – The protégé of Iran’s supreme leader, Ebrahim Raisi, was sworn in as the country’s new president during a ceremony in parliament on Thursday, an inauguration that completes hard-liners’ dominance of all branches of government in the Islamic Republic. The former judiciary chief known for his distrust of the West takes the [...] Read More »

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Israel on Thursday escalated its response to rocket attacks this week by launching rare airstrikes on Lebanon, the army said. The army said in a statement that jets struck the launch sites from which rockets had been fired over the previous day, as well as an additional target used to [...] Read More »

GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) – A fast-moving wildfire has engulfed a Northern California town, leveling much of the downtown and several homes. The Dixie Fire tore through the Greenville on Wednesday evening, destroying businesses and homes as the sky was cast in an orange glow. A photographer on assignment for The Associated Press described seeing a [...] Read More »