HighRiver

If you've noticed that the water level on the Highwood River is a bit low, you'd be right.

The Town of High River is paying attention too, and they reached out to Rivers Alberta and confirmed that we are experiencing low flow conditions.

This won't affect residents yet, and according to the Outdoor Water Use and Restrictions Bylaw, we're not there yet.

Mother's Day isn't until next Sunday, May 11, but the celebration starts this Saturday, May 3rd, at the High River Good Shepherd Lutheran church.

The church is hosting its 5th annual Mother's Day market from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.

The family-friendly event will host local vendors along with a bake sale and a raffle.

The raffle is for a custom-made outdoor bench worth $800, and tickets are only $2 each.

They'll make the draw on Mother's Day.

Conservative MP Damien Kurek is set to step aside to allow Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to run in a byelection in the Battle River—Crowfoot riding in Alberta.

Kurek says he is "temporarily" stepping aside as MP for the riding, which he has held since 2019.

The Conservative party confirms that Poilievre will run in the Battle River—Crowfoot byelection once it's called.

Alberta

The St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID) is notifying irrigators that they are now accepting water orders.

For the 2025 irrigation season, water allocation will remain at 12 inches at the farm gate based on the recent Irrigation Water Supply Forecast from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation.

Crews have started flushing lines and are charging the system for water startup, expected to be available across the entire district by May 5th to 9th.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is deflecting accusations that she's stoking the fires of separatism, despite her government moving to lower the bar for holding a referendum.

Earlier this week, Smith's government proposed legislation that would make it easier for citizens to call for a vote to secede from Canada, drawing heated condemnation from Indigenous leaders who warn it would violate treaties.

A vocal set of right-wing supporters are pushing for an Alberta exit following the federal Liberals' election win Monday.

In the last issue we discussed warm and cold clouds, and we learned that most of our local precipitation is produced in cold clouds, which means that most of it starts off as snow, even in the summer.

This week we are going to look at the different types of precipitation we experience and examine how each type forms.

Next on our list of precipitation types is sleet or ice pellets.

This form of precipitation is created when raindrops freeze in the air before they reach the ground.

It's that time of Spring when the Town of High River tests its emergency sirens.

The loud sirens are located in the southeast at the Fire Hall and up in the northwest at the community garden.

They're scheduled to go off at 1:55 p.m. on Wednesday.

The test is also being held in conjunction with the Alberta Emergency Alert, which conducts its test province-wide.

Emergency Preparedness Week also kicks off this Saturday, May 10.

A year-and-a-half after announcing it would massively reorganize the health-care system, Alberta's government says it's now in the final stages of the still-controversial revamp.

The United Conservatives are dismantling the provincial health authority, Alberta Health Services, reducing it to a hospital services provider and putting four new agencies in charge.

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange is proposing legislation that would officially shuffle workers represented by five different unions from AHS to a different agency and the Health Ministry.

The idea of Alberta opting out of the Canada Pension Plan isn't moving ahead — at least for now.

Premier Danielle Smith says she won't be putting the creation of a provincial pension plan to a referendum any time soon.

"I'm not seeing that there's an appetite to put it to the people at the moment," Smith told reporters at an unrelated press conference Thursday.

"I have said that I would put it to the people if I saw evidence they wanted to vote on it (but) I'm not seeing that at the moment."

Dr. Greg Powell, founder of the non-profit air ambulance services STARS, passed away on April 30.

STARS announced on May 1 that Dr. Powell had died at the Foothills Country Hospice surrounded by his family at age 77.

“From the very beginning of his distinguished medical career, Dr. Powell was committed to saving lives. Early on, he recognized too many patients were dying because they couldn’t get the care they needed fast enough and was motivated to change that,” said STARS' current president and CEO, Dr. John Froh.