Lacombe

The Blackfalds RCMP Detachment received 134 calls for service during the week of January 21 to January 27, 2025.

These calls included 2 Assaults, 1 Criminal Harassment, 2 Frauds, 1 Mischief, 6 Thefts, 1 Theft of Motor Vehicle, and 37 Motor Vehicle Collisions.

January 21

Winter is on its way back to Central Alberta.

An Alberta Clipper is set to hit the region with snow starting tonight and lasting until Friday afternoon.

Temperatures will start to fall Friday afternoon with the possibility of snow starting back up again tomorrow night into Saturday.

Environment Canada meteorologist Stephen Berg says the winds could also pick up on Saturday impacting highway visibility.

The Red Deer Rebels couldn't build on a good start Wednesday night in Brandon, as they fell 7-2 against the Wheat Kings at Westoba Place.

Jhett Larson opened the scoring for the Rebels snapping a quick wrist shot from the top of the circle past Brandon netminder Carson Bjarnason.

The Wheat Kings responded 11 seconds later, however, when Luke Shipley found the back of the net.

The Rebels' power play would put Red Deer back on top as NIshaan Parmer fed Ty Coupland with a one-timer from the left side.

Many of the 300,000 Ukrainians who have come to Canada on three-year emergency visas since 2022 face an uncertain future as their temporary resident permits come closer to expiring, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress warned Wednesday.

Congress executive director Ihor Michalchyshyn said he met with Immigration Minister Marc Miller last week to ask his department to automatically renew the visas for another three years.

U.S. President Donald Trump could be just days away from hitting Canada with punishing tariffs. Here's a look at the industries that would be hit the hardest.

Statistics Canada says the value of Canadian exports to the United States in 2023 exceeded $594 billion. More than 43 per cent of that came from just six industries: oil and gas extraction, oil and gas refining, auto manufacturing, aluminum production and processing, aerospace and crop and animal production.

A 25 per cent tariff applied across the board would increase the cost of those exports by $148.5 billion.

Lacombe City Council discussed infrastructure funding options, the discontinuation of the train whistle on Wolf Creek Drive, and regional recreation facility grant applications during the Jan. 27 regular meeting.  

Meeting highlights include:  

Open Forum  

Encroachment Bylaw 513 – Infraction   

The 48th Manitoba Ag Days was considered a huge success again this year.  

Teresa Hildebrand, the event's Media Coordinator, said the event drew tens of thousands of visitors over the 3-day event from across the region and beyond. She had their 50/50 jackpot was the largest ever and everyone was very pleased with the event. 

Jan. 29, 9:21 p.m. - Rocky Mountain House RCMP are advising that the heavy police presence on O'Chiese First Nation has now ended.

Police said there was no risk to the public.

There is no further information available at this time.

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You may have noticed a few extra people at your local gym over the month or so.

That's a common occurrence around this time of year, as people try to lose extra Christmas weight or follow through with their New Year's resolutions.

Ron Schafer is the Director of Physical Education at Burman University in Lacombe.

He says the Physical Education Centre usually sees a 20 per cent spike in usage during January.

"Our usage during the month of January, we took this a number of years ago, we had 2,500 usages during the month."

Sunny’s first visit of the new year was to Ms. Wiggins' Grade 5 class at the Penhold Elementary School.  

Before heading to Penhold, we packed the station vehicle with prizes from our sponsors and headed to Boston Pizza Lacombe to pick up some delicious pizzas.