FortSask

Police are saying that a former director of services for Strathcona County stole over $16,000 in public funds over the course of the last two years. 

Local RCMP received a fraud complaint in June from Strathcona County management as a result of an internal audit which led to an investigation. 

On Wednesday (Dec. 21) Darrell Reid, the chief commissioner of Strathcona County, and Constable Chantelle Kelly with Strathcona County RCMP held a press conference to go over the details of the investigation. 

Gas prices in the area have been all over the place lately.

This is where you can find the best bang for your buck, according to GasBuddy.com at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday (Dec. 21).

Dr. John Cowell says AHS is open for business to get more properly equipped vans on the road to transport non-emergency patients.

Today it was announced AHS will now be utilizing alternate transportation for non-medical transfers to free up paramedics and ambulances. By doing so, officials believe it will divert about 15 per cent of transports from EMS, allowing paramedics to respond to about 70 more transports daily.

With this week's extremely cold weather, requests for vehicle tows and boosts are through the roof. 

On Tuesday (Dec. 20) morning, the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) reported seven times the normal volume of service requests for tows and winches since the cold weather hit.

"The biggest things right now are holiday travel and cold weather," Brandon Klassen, supervisor of roadside assistance with AMA. "The cold always gives people issues when it comes to batteries."

The former director of agriculture and transportation services for Strathcona County has been arrested on fraud charges.

In June, the Strathcona County RCMP General Investigation Section received a fraud complaint that initiated an investigation. 

As a result of that investigation, 44-year-old David Churchill was arrested and charged with the following: 

Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) will be launching a mental health pilot project for students in the new year. 

The school division recently received $1.9 million from the province as a part of a mental health grant. 

Mental health has become a much bigger issue since the pandemic hit in 2020. 

A key highlight for the Agriculture sector in 2022 was the agreement around the new five year Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP).

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says she was pleased that she was able to reach an agreement with her Provincial and Territorial counterparts. 

A levy of school buses are not running this (Dec. 20) afternoon due to extremely cold temperatures. 

Every single route for Elk Island Public and Catholic Schools has been cancelled and will not be running. 

On the flip side, it does appear all the school buses for Sturgeon Public Schools are running on time. 

Check back here regularly for any changes. 

The government of Alberta has announced that they plan on suspending the provincial fuel tax. 

The suspension will come into effect on January 1 and will last for six months. 

Alberta's Minister of Finance, Travis Toews, issued a statement on the manner on Tuesday (Dec. 20) afternoon. 

"This means that Albertans will save 13 cents per litre on gasoline and diesel from January to June," said Toews. "These are meaningful savings that will have a real impact on Albertans’ finances."

Utility costs are rising in Morinville. 

After approving the town's 2023 operating budget at a council meeting on December 6, a layout of what residents can expect was brought into place. 

Travis Nosko, the manager of financial services with the town, explains that the town doesn't own any of the major infrastructures for water and wastewater.