FortSask

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau has announced an initial list of designated regions in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba where Livestock Tax Deferral has been authorized for 2022 due to extreme weather conditions.

The Livestock Tax Deferral provision allows livestock producers who are forced to sell a significant amount of their breeding herd due to drought or flooding to defer a portion of their income from sales until the following tax year.

Statistics Canada's latest crop yield estimate is showing that Western Canada is poised to make a rebound this year.

Last year's drought caused yields and total production to plummet, which has been made up this year in many areas with good growing conditions.

Wheat is projected to increase 55.1 per cent and Canola is rising 41.7 per cent, with others close by.

Leftfield Commodity Research Vice President Jon Driedger says that the overall figures are echoing what he's seen from earlier trade estimates.

Two people have been charged with stealing catalytic converters, one of which is a Fort Saskatchewan woman who was charged with the same crime less than a month ago.

Yesterday (Aug. 29) at 3 a.m, Fort Saskatchewan RCMP received a complaint of a catalytic converter theft on Santana Crescent. 

RCMP arrived and located a man and woman hiding in a pickup truck. The two were arrested. A power saw and one catalytic converter were found on the suspects upon arrest.

Amy Gummeson (42) of Fort Saskatchewan, was charged with:

With bags of chips, mini donuts, and the all-refreshing lemonade, the Nerbas and Kalyn families have already raised over $3,000 for the Stollery Children's Hospital on Lemonade Stand Day.

Last Saturday (Aug. 27) from 11 a.m to 2 p.m the families set up their 'Squad Squeezers' lemonade stand to help raise money for the Stollery, a tradition the families have been doing for the last five years. Since then they've raised thousands of dollars for the hospital.

Gibbons is reporting vandalism after bathrooms near the community outdoor rink were damaged last Thursday (Aug. 25). 

The vandals entered the washrooms to turn on all the water taps and then left the building with the water running. This has prompted the city to close the washrooms to the public while proper repairs are done. 

The identities of the vandal(s) are not known. 

To combat this from happening again, new push taps that prevent water from running for extended periods of time will be installed. 

Police are asking for the public's help identifying a couple of suspects. 

Just after 5:30 a.m. on Sunday (Aug. 28), Morinville RCMP say two men broke into Morinville Home Hardware on 100 Street and stole tools. 

The men are described as White and wearing dark clothing. They fled the area in a white GMC truck. 

Morinville RCMP hope the public can help identify the suspects; anyone with information is asked to contact the detachment at 780-939-1600. 

A heat warning has been issued for the region.

Temperatures near 30 C in the daytime and overnight lows in the mid-teens are expected Tuesday (Aug. 30) and Wednesday, according to Environment Canada.

The heat warning is in effect for Fort Saskatchewan, Sherwood Park, Morinville, as well as all of Sturgeon County, Strathcona County, and Lamont County.

Those in affected areas should consider taking extra precautions, including: 

A Sherwood Park teen is facing impaired driving charges. 

Police responded to multiple 911 calls last Friday (Aug. 26) about a possible impaired driver heading south on Highway 21 in Sherwood Park. 

Upon arriving on the scene RCMP found the driver’s SUV in a collision with another vehicle at the intersection of Highway 21 and Baseline Road. Luckily, no injuries were reported at the scene. 

A lone 19-year-old woman was arrested for impaired driving and will appear in a Sherwood Park Provincial Court on Oct. 26.

Pete the peacock flew the coop on his first night in Kingsbrae Garden, on the southern shores of New Brunswick. That was about two months ago — and it's been a wild goose chase ever since.

The fowl arrived June 16 in the town of Saint Andrews and was placed in quarantine before the one-year-old peacock could be introduced to others. 

"The following morning — Saturday morning — the cage was empty," said Brad Henderson, managing director of Kingsbrae Garden, a public garden that describes itself on its website as a "multi-award-winning, 27-acre horticultural masterpiece."

Despite the test launch of NASA's new moon rocket being postponed on Monday morning, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it was "still a good day for Canada."

Champagne, who was in Florida for a two-day trip that included meetings with Canadian astronauts and NASA officials, got up at 1:30 a.m. to head to the launch pad in Cape Canaveral only to see the mission delayed.

"Obviously we all wanted to be there to witness history," he told Canadian reporters in a teleconference from Orlando.