Airdrie

Airdrie realtor David Dempsey has filed nomination papers for the 2025 municipal election, joining the race for one of six council seats.

In a May 13 interview, Dempsey said a conversation with friends last December pushed him to run, citing frustrations over rising taxes, slow project delivery, and what he called a gap in council’s advocacy efforts.

"We’re getting all these tax increases, but where is that money going?" he said. "We need things like the new hospital… but the delivery is very slow on those things."

Families registering for school bus service in Rocky View next year will pay $70 more, as the division rolls out 2025-26 transportation details and deadlines.

In a May 13 notice on its website, the division stated: “While the RVS Board of Trustees has successfully maintained transportation fees over the last four years, mounting costs required the Board to increase fees for 2025/26.”

The notice cited “driver shortages and training costs, inflation, climbing insurance premiums and maintenance” as contributing factors.

Good news for Airdronians who like to fish close to home, Nose Creek Pond has been restocked.

Yesterday, 400 Rainbow Trout were released into the pond, 350 regular-sized fish and 50 larger fish.

Andrew Foulston, a Smoky Trout Farm Limited technician, stated the conditions were just right for the fish to be released.

"They're healthy, awesome-looking fish this year, and it seems like they're already hungry and they're feeding good in there (the pond)."

He also shared that the conditions were just right for the fish to find their new home.

Airdrie's Hayley Isabel will see a dream come true this summer as she plays at one of Alberta's largest country music festivals.

Isabel was asked to play on the secondary stage this year at Country Thunder Alberta.

"Ed Harris runs the booking for Country Thunder, and I was at the Alberta Country Music Awards hanging out with my friends, and he asked if I wanted to play."

Isabel explained It was just so exciting when he asked.

"I didn't expect that at all. I was very excited and I still am to play."

Alberta’s government has made 11th-hour changes to controversial proposed legislation, declaring that no separation referendum question could threaten First Nations' existing treaty rights.

Premier Danielle Smith’s government is working to considerably lower the threshold to allow for citizen-initiated referendums, including whether the province should separate from Canada.

Her government's proposed bill has yet to become law, but it's faced backlash from Indigenous leaders since its introduction in the house more than two weeks ago.

On May 13, Chinook’s Edge School Board announced it has selected two individuals to receive the Roy E. Cope Award for 2025.

Ted Harvey was the division's Director of Technology until his recent retirement. Kurt Sacher will retire at the end of this month after serving as the school superintendent for 15 years. Both are receiving the prize in recognition of the impact they have had on students.

When a church in Toronto's west end was converted into affordable housing nearly 15 years ago, the group behind the project was already thinking ahead. 

Andrea Adams, the executive director of the non-profit developer St. Clare's, said she was "daydreaming" about what could be built on the yard next to the 20-unit building on Ossington Avenue. 

She was eventually introduced to Assembly Corp., a company that builds mass timber modular housing, around the same time that the city was looking for proposals for "shovel ready" affordable housing projects. 

Some outdoorsy Canadians are planning to build their tents with elbows up this summer as the season unofficially kicks off this long weekend.

Sally Turner says she and her husband plan to do their camping, canoeing and biking this year in Canadian national parks, including at Jasper National Park this weekend, because of the U.S. trade war and U.S. President Donald Trump's calls to make Canada a 51st state.

"I have, in the past, camped in the United States, but that's not going to happen in the near future," Turner said while shopping for camping gear in Edmonton.

Severe thunderstorms need rising air, and to get that you need heat, or rather, you need a large difference in temperature between two areas.

Many people associate thunderstorms with a very hot day, but just having one of those does not mean that there is a large difference in temperature.

To get thunderstorms on a hot day, you need to have cool air aloft.

Initiatives in Saskatchewan and Alberta recognize some of the country’s most extensive and unique remaining prairie ecosystems.

There’s a new focus on protecting biodiversity in native prairie grasslands in southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta.

It’s coming in the form of new “key biodiversity area” designations, denoting they’re home to species at risk in this rapidly vanishing landscape.