FortSask

The City of Fort Saskatchewan has revealed some more information about a theft that occurred at the JRC in mid-February. 

On February 13, RCMP say that thieves stole copper from the complex and did about $125,000 in damage to the rink's ice cooling systems. 

Grant Schaffer, the director of fleet, facilities, and engineering with the city, says that it is believed that the thieves attempted to extract copper from the pipes of one of the two cooling systems. 

Some big changes for Alberta drivers have been delayed. 

Last year, changes were introduced to the Traffic Safety Amendment Act. These changes included different laws for passing emergency vehicles.

Earlier today, the Alberta government announced that they have delayed the initial start date of March 1 to September 1.

The reason for the delay was to give time to educate the public about the changes to prevent unneeded tickets.

Hosting Ukrainians in Fort Saskatchewan (HUFS) is March's Half Grand Helping Hand winner, courtesy of South Fort Chevrolet and MIX 107. 

Francee Kaehn, the chairperson and one of the founders of HUFS, was at South Fort Chevrolet to accept the $500 cheque. 

"I think for the moment [the money] will go into general funds," said Kaehn. "We feel it'll go into general funds to continue to provide financial assistance for the families moving out, and also for the hosts." 

Challenges and breakdowns in Canada's supply chain became evident during the pandemic.

Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, established a National Supply Chain Task Force to examine the key issues affecting supply chain operations.

The Task Force's mandate was to produce recommendations on how we can make our transportation supply chain stronger.

In the agriculture sector, a key challenge has been trying to get raw commodities to port in a timely fashion.

On Monday, Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced $13 million for the Youth Employment and Skills Program, to help support approximately 1200 jobs for youth in the ag sector. 

She says the program helps to eliminate barriers to employment by providing meaningful work opportunities for youth wanting to pursue a career in agriculture.

The Youth Employment and Skills Program offers support for 50 per cent of wages to a maximum of $14,000 to agriculture employers hiring youth. 

The province has filed charges against Douglas Alf Larson and Bravo #1 Aerial Application Ltd. for not following Alberta pesticide regulations and environmental legislation. 

The two are alleged to have applied a pesticide on August 30, 2021 in a way that did not follow the directions on the pesticide label and without a valid registration.

Both Larson and the company are facing nine charges:

- seven charges for contravening the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act

- one charge for contravening the Pesticide (Ministerial) Regulation

Some members of Parliament want to see Google in the hot seat over the tech company's move to temporarily block news access to some of its Canadian users.

The House of Commons heritage committee is meeting today and members are expected to discuss whether to summon leadership from Google to testify. 

Last week Google confirmed to The Canadian Press that it was limiting news access on its search engine to less than four per cent of its Canadian users. 

The City of Fort Saskatchewan is looking at a few different options with Harbour Pool. 

An assessment of the pool, led by ACI Architecture, was recently done to determine the current state of the facility. 

"This assessment was done as part of a bigger indoor recreation infrastructure service level review that council approved in May," said Brad Babiak, the director of recreation and culture with the city. "The first part of that work was to actually look at the Harbour Pool in terms of a couple of things." 

Saskatchewan and Alberta are urging the Pest Management Regulatory Agency to reconsider its decision to restrict the use of lambda-cyhalothrin (products like Silencer and Matador) in controlling grasshoppers and flea beetles.

Grasshoppers are expected to be a significant concern for the 2023 growing season.

The PMRA changes mean lambda-cyhalothrin can no longer be used for any crop that may end up as livestock feed and as a result, its manufacturers have pulled their products from Western Canada.

If you happened to miss the northern lights on Sunday (Feb. 26) night, there's still a chance to see them this week.

Tam Andersen, the owner of Prairie Gardens & Adventure Farm, took some spectacular images of the aurora borealis.

Andersen said that she had gotten a notification from the University of Alberta's aurora watch program.

"I did get my notification that there was a high likelihood of northern lights last night," Andersen said. "I made a point of stepping outdoors around 10:30 in the evening, and they were truly amazing."