Okotoks

A Claresholm man is facing charges after police found copper wire, methamphetamine, a rifle, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his vehicle.

Officers from the Nanton RCMP detachment responded to reports of a suspicious vehicle on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

According to the RCMP, upon stopping the vehicle, officers noted that the driver was "known to police" and they soon determined that he was not permitted to drive and the vehicle was neither registered nor insured.

A Foothills mother is stuck between a rock and a hard place amid the ongoing CUPE 5040 strike.

Jamie Hanson is one of 300 education workers with the Foothills School Division (FSD) currently on strike under CUPE Local 5040, itself being one of many union locals on strike in Alberta.

At the same time, her 11-year-old son Cale, a student at Red Deer Lake School in De Winton, has complex physical and educational needs that are usually met by a dedicated educational assistant that has worked with Cale for a few years.

February was a month of ups and downs for real estate in Okotoks.

According to the Calgary Real Estate Board's monthly update, sales saw a 4.3 per cent decrease year-over-year with 45 units sold, representing a 15.6 per cent decrease from the start of the year.

While inventory is up 19 per cent year over year at 69 units, it's well below historic levels for February.

The unadjusted benchmark price for February, at $616,900, it up just 0.8 per cent from the year prior.

While the weather in the foothills had been pleasant recently, Kananaskis Country is currently a bit dangerous.

K-Country from just south of Banff to Mist Mountain west of Longview has a high risk of avalanches, thanks to the new snow and wind slab in the area.

Thanks to the new snow and wind slabs, combined with the already weak snowpack, there are dangerous avalanche conditions, causing Avalanche Canada to tell people to avoid all of the avalanche terrain in the area.

In light of the recent tariff war with the United States, how would you like to flag a Canadian flag on your lawn and show your patriotism?

You can do just that for over the summer during the Victoria Day May long weekend, on Canada Day and for the Labour Day long weekend.

The now 7th annual program now has 500 Canadian flags ready to fly.

The Foothills Falcons are going to compete in the Provincial Regional tournament, thanks to their success at a recent tournament.

Both of the Senior Falcons teams participated in the South-Central Zone Championship this past weekend, where they took the top spots, earning their way into the Provincial competition.

The senior girls had opened the Zone Championship against the WH Croxford Cavaliers from Airdrie, which was the first competitive game they had played since winning the Magrath Heartbreak tournament several weeks ago.

That high wind the area saw yesterday brought along some snow with it.

The area just west of Diamond Valley, Bragg Creek, and Turner Valley is under a snowfall warning today, as they could receive up to 20 cm of snow.

Snow will also spread southward along the foothills this morning and should come to an end later this morning.

The snowfall totals are expected to vary due to the terrain, but Environment Canada believes it will be between 10 and 20 cm of snowfall.

Over the weekend, the Carstar Okotoks Bisons kicked off the HJHL South Division finals against the Medicine Hat Cubs.

The Herd struck first on Friday, but it was the Cubs who came back to beat the Bisons 5-4 in overtime.

Even though the Bisons outshot the Cubs 50-28, the Bisons got into penalty trouble in the third period with the Cubs scoring a pair to tie it up and send the game into O.T.

Kyle Woolridge scored the O.T. winner, his second goal of the night and third point in the game.

The Okotoks Oilers got a much-needed win on the road over the weekend.

They headed up to Spruce Grove on Friday night for a tilt against the Saints, coming away with a 3-1 win.

Olivier Cialo was in net, stopping 31 of 32 shots faced for the win.

The Green and Gold got out to a 2-0 lead in the second period off goals from Hunter Sawka and Jacob Goudreau with Kade Duell adding his 19th of the season to stretch their lead to 3-0. The Saints broke Ciarlo's shutout in the final minute of the game.

The Bank of Canada's interest rate announcement arrives on Wednesday in a cloud of uncertainty thanks to a shifting trade war with the United States.

Most economists expect the central bank will deliver another quarter-point rate cut while it waits to see how long the dispute with Canada's largest trading partner lasts.

The Bank of Canada faces a difficult task: setting monetary policy at a time when inflation has shown signs of stubbornness and the economy picks up steam, while risks of a sharp downturn tied to U.S. tariffs loom on the horizon.