FortSask

Bon Accord will soon be home to several electric vehicle charging stations. 

On Mar. 29, town council approved moving forward with a funding agreement for the Electric Vehicle Charging Program. The funds, estimated at $140,709, will be rebated through the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre (MCCAC), a collaboration between Alberta Municipalities, Rural Municipalities of Alberta, and the Government of Alberta. 

Some of Elk Island National Park's wood bison are finding a new home with a northern neighbour.

On Thursday (Apr. 21,) Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Minister responsible for Parks Canada, Steven Guilbeault, announced that 40 wood bison from Elk Island National Park (EINP) had been translocated to Alaska. 

The transfer of the bison will help contribute to the Alaska wood bison restoration project.

A traffic stop by the Redwater RCMP turned into much more.

In mid-March, at around 4 a.m., an officer pulled a truck over outside Redwater and realised the driver had a warrant for his arrest. He was arrested, and the officer let him call a friend to pick up the truck from the road.

Unvaccinated children aged five to 11 travelling with a fully vaccinated adult will no longer need a COVID-19 test to enter Canada as of Monday.

Pre-entry tests will still be needed for partially vaccinated or unvaccinated travellers over the age of 12 who are eligible to travel to Canada. 

Children under five years of age don't currently require a COVID-19 test.

Government officials announced several other small changes to ease restrictions for international travellers that will take effect on the same day.

A Fort Saskatchewan restaurant is facing a difficult situation.

The Venue by Ken's Catering owner Kelsey Dalida told MIX 107 their merchant service provider Clover Canada has been withholding all of their credit and debit deposits for the last two weeks.

The message was originally put in a Facebook post on Thursday (Apr. 21).

"I'm a small business. I have three small children, I have 15 employees, I'm just trying to make a go at this. We started during COVID and I need my day-to-day sales, we literally cannot operate without our day-to-day sales."

Several local hockey players have been named to the WHL All-Star Teams.

In the Central Division, Kaiden Guhle and former Fort Saskatchewan Ranger Sebastian Cossa of the Edmonton Oil Kings were both chosen for the First All-Star Team. Riley Fiddler-Schultz with the Calgary Hitman was picked for the Second All-Star Team.

Colton Dach and Jake Lee with the Kelowna Rockets were both picked for the First All-Star Team for the B.C. Division.

Lastly, for the U.S. Division, Olen Zellweger from the Everett Silvertips was put on the First All-Star Team.

Electric vehicle sales grew almost 60 per cent last year but they need to pick up the pace even more to hit the new federal sales mandates expected by the end of this year.

Statistics Canada released the latest quarterly data on new vehicle registrations Thursday, showing in the fourth quarter of 2021, plug-in cars and SUVs made up more than six per cent of new vehicle registrations for the first time.

Strathcona County RCMP has an update on a death in Sherwood Park. 

On Mar. 29, emergency services were called to a vehicle fire on Range Road 224 just south of Wye Road. Human remains of a 38-year-old-man were discovered inside the vehicle after the fire was extinguished, leading to a police investigation.

“As a result of the investigation completed and the autopsy that was conducted on April 1, 2022, the circumstances of the death have been deemed non-criminal in nature,” said Mounties in a statement. 

A Fort Saskatchewan murder trial has been pushed back.

Damien Starrett is currently facing charges for the death of his one-year-old son Ares and the assault of his daughter, who was five at the time.

His defence claims that Starrett was asleep when he attacked his children and is pursuing a 'not criminally responsible' action, which could result in Starrett being sent to a psychiatric hospital instead of being criminally convicted.

The defence wrapped up its case on Apr. 7 after speaking to Starrett, his ex-girlfriend and several doctors and pharmacists.

Alberta has cracked The 22 Best Places To Travel Around The World: Where To Go Next list put out by Forbes. 

The list highlighted Alberta's "wonder around every bend and corner, from the spectacular Canadian Rockies to the Badlands to the culturally rich cities."

It says the province is perfect for travelers with a passion for learning and exploring the outdoors.