Lacombe

Here's a look at some of this week's top news photos as selected by the Canadian Press editors.

A chicken living in a backyard is seen in Vancouver, on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Red Deer Public Schools is celebrating significant improvements in math achievement across the Division. 

Since January 2023, the Division has seen steady growth in diploma achievement test results, exceeding provincial averages in several areas.

Highlights include:

On Friday, January 17th, The Blackfalds Bulldogs of the BCHL announced that they had made some key leadership changes. 

According to their website at blackfaldsbulldogs.com here are some of the moves made on Friday.

Alberta seniors will soon have access to reduced camping fees in provincial parks. Starting May 1, the provincial government is offering a 25 percent discount on camping fees for residents 65 and older.

The discount will apply to 142 front-country campgrounds, including about 6,400 individual, equestrian and walk-in tenting campsites. Other options, such as group, seasonal, comfort and backcountry camping, are not included.

Six injuries and 149 collisions were reported Thursday night across Alberta during the treacherous weather that hit the region. 

The majority of those were in Central Alberta.

From 12 p.m. on Jan. 16, 2025, to 8 a.m. on Jan. 17, 2025, RCMP received the following reports:

The warmer temperatures we've been experiencing as of late are coming to an end, at least for a few days.

The high for Friday is around minus 8 with periods of light snow beginning late this afternoon.

The snow is expected to end overnight; in total, we could see between two and four centimetres. The winds will pick up again tonight becoming north gusting to 50 km/h.

Temperatures will dip down to a low of around minus 20 Friday night. The wind chill will make it feel like minus 29 with a risk of frostbite.

Central Alberta birders recorded an increase of species spotted in the region during the annual Christmas Bird Count, with a few surprises.  

On Dec. 22, 2024, 81 participants from the Red Deer River Naturalists recorded 49 species, and 3,988 individual birds.

An additional 21 birds were counted during the count week, bumping the total to 4,009 birds recorded. 

Lacombe County Council discussed the Bentley land annexation, economic development, and the water availability engagement study during the Jan. 9 regular meeting.      

Here are the meeting highlights:  

Property tax payment plan request  

In a recent Facebook post, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith expressed pride in announcing that a 40-person crew of Alberta’s highly trained Type 1 wildland firefighters had been deployed to southern California. The crew, sent on January 13, is part of a coordinated Canadian effort to assist the United States in battling catastrophic wildfires in the region.

The Red Deer RCMP have received reports of fraudulent phone calls involving individuals pretending to be bank employees.  

The scam involves the fraudster calling from either a spoofed phone number or an unknown number.  

The person then identifies themselves as a bank employee demanding gift cards or cryptocurrency to assist them with removing unauthorized charges from their accounts.