FortSask

Strathcona County, the City of Edmonton and the River Valley Alliance (RVA), are partnering up to build a footbridge that would connect the municipalities.

The bridge will cross the North Saskatchewan River between Township Road 540 in Strathcona County and 167 Avenue in Edmonton, connecting about 75 km of trail. The Edmonton-Strathcona County Pedestrian Footbridge is a collaborative project that came from a document the RVA created in 2007.

A program run by the Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation (JMMF) has expanded to Fort Saskatchewan.

The Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART) is a partnership between the JMMF and Alberta Health Services. The purpose is to bridge the gap between health care workers and domestic abuse resources.

If someone goes to the hospital, the staff are meant to screen for domestic violence. 

Foul play is suspected in a Fort Saskatchewan fire.

At around 4:24 p.m. Saturday (Apr. 9), city workers noticed smoke coming out of the washrooms at Legacy Park. They called 911, and Fort Saskatchewan, Strathcona County firefighters and the RCMP responded.

Firefighters arrived to find a small smouldering fire in one of the bathroom stalls. It was quickly extinguished before the fire could spread to the rest of the structure. However, the building is closed until further notice.

It may be spring, but the weather appears to have missed the memo.

The weekend forecast is colder than usual, with Good Friday (Apr. 15) reporting a high of -3 C and Easter Sunday predicted to be around 2 C. The average high for this time of year is about 12 C.

"[There are] big troughs of low pressure all over Western Canada. What that's doing is giving cooler than average temperatures across all of Western Canada," explained Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

The temperature should start improving sometime next week.

After almost two decades of working together, Kelley and Reilley McKinlay, originally from Fort Saskatchewan, announced their dual retirement.

Kelley and Reilley both had a passion for dance at a young age, first performing at the age of three. They met each other at the Alberta Dance Company; after performing in The Nutcracker together, the young dancers fell in love.

"We started doing the usual - sharing music, sitting next to each other on the bus, trips to Edmonton, and it kind of evolved from there," Kelley said.

A Lamont County firefighter has hit a historical milestone.

Robert Mitchell has been with the Lamont County Fire Department for over 70 years, 25,773 days of service, making him the longest-serving firefighter in Canadian history.

He surpassed the previous title holder, Walter Thomas, of the Fort Saskatchewan Fire Department.

The Fort Saskatchewan U16 Rangers took home some hardware at provincials this past weekend.

Held in Grande Prairie, the Rangers came out of the round-robin with one win, one tie and two losses. This put them in the bronze medal match against the Calgary Flames.

The Rangers got the ball rolling early with a goal from Braxton Patenaud less than five minutes into the first period.

Canadian Pork Council Chair Rick Bergmann gave his annual report last week at Manitoba Pork's AGM.

He commented on the labour situation.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, retired teacher Lois Armstrong said local health officials where she lives in Kingston, Ont., provided daily updates about outbreaks, cases and deaths in the community. 

Now, Armstrong, 68, said the public is being asked to take a bigger role in managing their risk but information from health authorities is less available than before. Data such as the location of outbreaks, meanwhile, is no longer made public, she added.

The Fort Saskatchewan Mixed Slo-Pitch Association is looking to repair a dugout in time for the beginning of their season. 

Over the weekend, strong wind gusts knocked the dugout shelter off its base, flipping it to the ground. 

“After those couple days of the big windstorm, it appeared that one of the dugouts had basically blown right off, so it definitely has to be repaired,” said Adam Henry, president of the Fort Saskatchewan Mixed Slo-Pitch Association.