HighRiver

Many people have noticed a marked increase in wasps in Southern Alberta, including the Foothills, this summer.

According to Tony O'Neill, supervisor at Absolute Pest Control, this is one of their busiest years when it comes to wasps.

"This season is probably the busiest in the last five years," says O'Neill. "Being August now, they're naturally a nuisance, anyways, for foraging around and you just see more of that simply because there's more nests this time of year, this season."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may be bracing for an earful from his caucus when Liberal MPs gather in Nanaimo, B.C. today to plot their strategy for the coming election year.

It will be the first time he faces them as a group since MPs departed Ottawa in the spring.

Still stinging from a devastating byelection loss earlier this summer, the caucus is now also reeling from news that their national campaign director has resigned and the party can no longer count on the NDP to stave off an early election.

The High River RCMP and Citizens on Patrol teamed up last Thursday night (Sept. 5) for a 'lock it or lose it' campaign.

High River RCMP Constable Manpreet Kaler says they check vehicles to see if they are locked and valuables, if there are any, are out of sight.

Kaler says they didn't give out tickets, just reminders.

"We were in Montrose doing a lock it or lose it campaign with High River's Citizens on Patrol and it went well. We tagged a bunch of cars, and we spoke with a bunch of citizens there and just reminded them to keep all their valuables locked up."

Christmas is coming early at The Stash Luxury Garages north of Okotoks.

Larry and Leslie Stadnick, a local couple who developed and built the garages, are holding a STASH Show & Shine on September 19 to kickstart this year's Christmas Charity Truck campaign.

The Stadnicks launched the Christmas Charity Truck last year and it saw an enthusiastic response, appearing at events like Light Up Okotoks and the High River Santa Claus parade, and being booked for numerous events and functions in the Foothills and Calgary.

The Okotoks Oilers' first full season in the BCHL got underway on Friday night with the Oils' first preseason game of the season.

The Green and Gold were unable to pick up the win as the visiting Sherwood Park Crusaders won 5-4 at the newly named Vikings Rental Centre.

Both teams scored twice on the power play with the game tied up at four going into the third period.  The Crusaders would score at the 6:31 mark and would hold on for the win.

New goalie for the Oilers, Simon Westing faced 33 shots, stopping 28 in the loss.

The High River Flyers of the Heritage Junior Hockey League picked up two wins in exhibition play over the weekend.

The preseason kicked off on Friday night with the Flyers in Didsbury taking on the Mountainview Colts. The Flyers skated away with an 8-5 win.

Then on Sunday, the boys doubled up on the Copperheads in Coaldale 4-2.

A Saskatoon high school student remembers the pungent smell of burned hair going up her nose, and something like the strong scent from a Sharpie marker, moments after she watched a schoolmate being set on fire.

She had just stepped out of her Grade 9 social studies class for lunch on Thursday, she says, when she saw two other girls in a hallway. A girl in a crop top poured liquid from a black canister onto the head of the girl standing next to her.

When a father and son were arrested this summer in Ontario over an alleged terrorist plot, U.S. authorities say the news spooked a 20-year-old Pakistani national and Canadian resident named Muhammad Shahzeb Khan.

They say Khan used encrypted messaging to warn that because of the arrests "here in Toronto," there was a need to "lay low" on his own alleged plans: killing as many Jewish people as possible in New York around the Oct. 7 anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israel.

Lucky the Lobster's cross-country voyage came to an end today (Sept. 6) when he landed back home in Okotoks. 

The plush lobster hitched a ride home from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, all the way to Okotoks over a span of about four months.

His journey started because Chris, whose parents are from PEI, wanted to bring home a lobster trap for decor during a trip out east back in April.

"We wanted a little bit of east in the west, eh? We thought 'Well, this trap would be super cool,' but we were flying and we couldn't send it."

Tributes poured in Friday for Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, who died after collapsing outside the Winnipeg Law Courts building. 

Merrick, the first woman elected to the role, was talking to reporters about two court cases when she said she felt dizzy and fell to the ground. 

Fire and paramedic crews arrived, performed chest compressions and carried Merrick away on a stretcher to an ambulance, which sped off with its siren on.