Okotoks

The arrival of warm weather and resulting melt saw some localized flooding on local roads on Monday (Feb. 24).

That includes the southbound lanes of Southridge Drive just before CImarron Boulevard in Okotoks.

Drivers are slowing down and switching to the left lane when possible, causing some minor disruptions in the area.

Crews recently left the scene, and the water levels are now decreasing.

Elsewhere, deep pools have accumulated in some parking lots and alleyways.

A Foothills man just became $100,000 richer.

At first, Daniel Floyd of Heritage Pointe thought he'd only just missed, as the first number on his ticket didn't match the January 11 EXTRA draw.

It wasn't until he scanned it that he realized he'd won 100 grand, since the last six digits on his ticket matched the draw.

Floyd's already decided on what to do with his winnings.

“I’m going to pay off my mortgage,” he said in a WCLC media release. “The rest of the money will go straight in the bank!”

While emergency situations may cause uncertainty, stress, and anxiety, Alberta's local fire services are there to help out.

The province's local fire services hold a leading role in helping to ensure Albertans can make their way through those uncertain times through their quick response and education around fire safety and prevention.

Because of that, the Alberta government is providing some extra funds this year to help strengthen the public's safety during emergency situations.

Canadians have noticed an unexpected detail in Google Maps, where several provincial parks are labelled as "state parks," prompting questions and concern.

The issue came to light over the weekend as Canadians began sharing screenshots in Facebook groups dedicated to supporting Canadian businesses amid tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. The screenshots showed several provincial parks across Canada being mislabelled as "state parks" in Google Maps.

Members of CUPE Local 5040 are among the latest education support workers to join the ongoing strike action.

The union branch represents about 300 workers with the Foothills School Division (FSD), including education assistants, secretaries, and youth development coaches.

They're one of four groups to join the ongoing strikes, with workers from the Calgary Board of Education, the Calgary Catholic School Division, and the Black Gold School Division also starting strike action.

Over the weekend, 14 seniors wrapped up their high school regular basketball season with a celebration before they even started their games versus the McNally Wolves.

Seven Senior Girls and seven Senior Boys are all graduating this year with some moving on to post-secondary and some just moving on.

Now that the weather is enjoyable enough to spend time outside, several outdoor rinks in Okotoks are closed due to how warm it is.

The Kinsmen Rink at the Okotoks Rec Centre, the rink at JP II, and Suntree Park were closed today (Monday, Feb. 24), due to the warm weather we have been experiencing.

Meanwhile, the rinks at Cedar Grove Park and Sheep River Cove have been closed for some time.

Crews are completing some avalanche control in Kananaskis Country, causing some areas to be intermittently closed.

As part of the avalanche control methods, crews are using explosives to set off a controlled avalanche to help keep hikers and climbers safe.

On top of that, thanks to an ongoing avalanche cycle in the Spray Valley region and more snow than what is expected in the southern parts of the Spray Valley area, have caused very dangerous avalanche conditions.

Due to that, it is being advised to not travel in the avalanche terrain.

The Carstar Okotoks Bisons charged into the playoffs over the weekend and scored big-time over the Cannex Cochrane Generals.

The Herd led the charge with a 3-2 win on Friday night at the Murray Arena in the best-of-five round two HJHL playoffs.

They were up 3-0 after 20 minutes and hung on for the win after peppering the Gens netminder with 53 shots on the night.

The Okotoks Oilers of the BCHL swept the weekend with a pair of wins.

They took down the visiting Vernon Vipers 3-1 Friday night at the Viking Rentals Centre.

Kade Duell scored first for the Green and Gold with Ryan Boyce and Jamie Hikida adding goals with Olivier Ciarlo stopping 20 of 21 shots faced in net for the win.

The hometown crowd of just over 1000 from Friday night weren't able to watch Sunday's game as it was up in Spruce Grove at the Grant Fuhr Arena.