Okotoks

The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth wrapped up on Championship Sunday with a full house.

While hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the Calgary Stampede this year, they were just shy of breaking an attendance record.

Just over 1.47 million came through the turnstiles at 1,470,288, which is about 7,000 people short of last year's attendance.

Calgary Stampede CEO Joel Crowley was pleased with the attendance but said it's more important that every visitor has a good time.

Instead of asking for gifts, eight-year-old Nate Leskiw recently chose to donate his birthday money to help animals in need at a local shelter.  

Leskiw asked each of his friends attending his birthday party to bring $5 to be donated to Heaven Can Wait Animal Rescue Foundation.  

Kim Hessel, Founder of Heaven Can Wait Animal Rescue Foundation, received an email from Leskiw’s mother, Amelia, explaining what Nate had done.  

Given the significant rainfall we have been experiencing this summer, how does it compare to previous years?

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada Scientist Christy Climenhaga, we have seen almost a full summer's worth of rain in the last couple of months.

"We've been seeing soggy conditions through much of southern Alberta, especially over the last 24 hours, but even so into June," Climenhaga explains. "I mean, just looking at some of the totals from yesterday, seeing 30 to 50 millimetres around the Calgary area of precipitation."

A grizzly bear with cubs recently bluff charged hikers in K-Country, prompting a trail closure.

The bluff charge happened at the Rawson Lake trail and Sarrail Ridge route in Kananaskis Country, prompting Alberta parks to issue a trail closure for that area on July 11.

While this bear encounter happened at the Rawson Lake trail and Sarrail Ridge route, people can encounter bears anywhere in the Kananaskis region, at any time.

Okotoks Fire & Rescue responded to a fire just south of town on Friday, July 11.

The fire broke out shortly before 8 p.m. on Range Road 293, off 32nd Street.

A black plume of smoke from the blaze was visible across Okotoks.

"It came in as a structure fire," said Okotoks Fire Chief Trevor Brice. Crews arrived on the scene in about 10 minutes.

The annual pace of inflation accelerated to 1.9 per cent in June as consumers were paying more at car dealerships, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

The June price hike is up from 1.7 per cent in May and was largely in line with economists’ expectations.

StatCan said gasoline prices were nearly unchanged in June as higher crude oil prices and geopolitical conflicts ratcheted up pressure at the pumps. Motorists saw a steeper monthly decline in prices this time last year, which the agency said led to a rise in headline inflation.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to convene the Incident Response Group in Ottawa today to discuss the ongoing wildfire situation across the country.

Carney also convened the group of ministers and senior officials a little over a month ago in response to an earlier wave of wildfires, which peaked in May and June, then receded, and have now flared up again.

More than 6,000 people are currently out of their homes in Manitoba, and the communities of Lynn Lake and Snow Lake ordered residents to flee for the second time in just weeks.

As we enter the heart of July and the back half of the 2025 growing season, producers are looking to protect their crops to help ensure they don’t lose any yield come harvest time. That’s especially the case for canola, as plants start heading towards full bloom and will start forming pods and seeds.  

The Conservatives want Prime Minister Mark Carney to sell all the assets in his blind trust to avoid any possible conflicts of interest.

Carney set up the blind trust after he was sworn in as prime minister in March and the details of how it works were made public on Friday.

They show that the prime minister has set up screens to avoid potential conflicts related to his previous interests in Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Corporation and Stripe Inc.

But Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre believes that's not enough.

A public alert has been issued by Alberta Health Services (AHS) due to potential measles exposures in Okotoks, Calgary, and Banff.

AHS was notified of two people with confirmed measles cases who were in public settings while infectious during the second week of July.

The locations and exposure times include: