Estevan

St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation is getting closer to its goal of getting an MRI machine for the southeast, having recently reached the halfway point.

Over $3,750,000 has been raised so far between individuals and organizations, including Elain Walkom's initial donation of $2 million.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta’s request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.

The park's social media account says the fire has caused significant loss within the townsite, but the specific locations or neighbourhoods affected are not being reported.

On the social media platform X, the account for Fairmont's Jasper Park Lodge says the flames have reached the hotel's grounds, but the extent of damage, if any, is not yet known.

During National Drowning Prevention Week, those enjoying the many bodies of water and beach spots across the province are encouraged to practice water safety. This includes utilizing the Life Jacket Loaner Stations, in partnership with the Lifesaving Society.

The Grain Growers of Canada executive director Kyle Larkin has been on the road this week driving from Winnipeg to Calgary as part of the GGC's Summer Tour.

The tour kicked off on Monday, when he visited Doug Martin's farm at East Selkirk, Manitoba with MP Kevin Lamoureux.

"We discussed a number of issues, including the Capital Gains Tax increase, the carbon tax, potential rail strike. You know, there's a lot of issues out there right now impacting grain farmers and we're just here to raise awareness of them over the summer."

One of two raging, wind-whipped wildfires bearing down on the historic Jasper townsite reached its southern outskirts early Wednesday night as a last-ditch attempt to reroute it failed.

Around the same time, all first responders were ordered out of Jasper National Park for their safety and to give fire crews more room to operate.

Firefighters remained in the town to douse spot fires and maintain sprinkler lines. Everyone else was reminded to get out.

Golden West’s third Taste of Summer Charity BBQ was a smokin' achievement, with the money raised going to Estevan’s Lion’s Club. 

This week's gathering was held at Murray GM with Handy Andy's Mechanical providing food. The fundraising brought in $870, with the Estevan Lions Club Treasurer Nancy Brodeur explaining their upcoming project. 

“We believe it’s really important to put permanent rink boards at Rusty Duce, and it will be a year-round facility." 

The Estevan Salvation Army is accepting applications for the back-to-school backpack program as the school year is creeping closer this year.

The program operates yearly for Estevan during the summer months, with applications open until August 2nd.

Community Ministries Director Ronza Reynard describes the program and what it does to help out families.

The southeast saw RCMP officers in the area as they were executing a search warrant.

On July 24 at approximately 7:00 A.M. the RCMP’s Critical Incident Response Team executed that warrant at a residence in Alida as part of an ongoing investigation.

An adult female and a male youth were arrested at the scene. At this time, charges have not been laid by the RCMP.

The Saskatchewan RCMP continues to investigate and says they'll release more information once that's available.

Running air conditioners, fans and any other appliances to keep cool will be driving up power bills in the coming days and could lead to a new summer peak power usage record for SaskPower. 

During the first wave of heat last week, Saskatchewan came extremely close to the summer peak record. On July 11, SaskPower registered a peak of 3,655 Megawatts. It was just shy of the 3,669 Megawatt record that was set on July 31, 2023. 

An Estevan Street will be blocked off by construction lasting for a couple of days.

The 900 block of 2nd Street will be closed off through the day, overnight, and tomorrow with no through traffic.

That's expected to be cleared on Friday.

You can find an update on the ongoing 4th Street Revitalization Project here.