News
Westerner Days Attendance Off To A Great Start!

The 2017 Westerner Days Fair & Exposition started Wednesday, July 19 with over 13,500 people in attendance. People crowded the streets of downtown Red Deer to watch the Westerner Days Parade, presented by Holiday Inn & Suites, and thousands of fans attended the Jess Moskaluke Main Stage show in the ENMAX Centrium with Nice Horse and Hey Romeo, presented by Real Country 95.5 and Real Country 93.3.
The Parade, which is the annual event that kicks off Westerner Days, had 136 entries participate this year. The winner of the Grand Award, sponsored by Etek Office Supplies, was Blue Grass Nursery, Sod & Garden Centre with their princess themed float, complete with an enchanted forest and Cinderella carriage. They also took home the 1st place award for a Commercial Entry. For a complete list of winners, visit the Westerner Days website under Community Events.
New this year, the 2017 Westerner Days Pony Steeplechase Championship Series saw the smallest horses with the biggest hearts take centre stage on the Race Track prior to the Red Deer Motors North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships. You still have a chance to see these little animals in action; races are at 4:30 pm daily, except for Sunday when they show at 12:30 pm.
Fair attendees can win Grub Hub cash by participating in the Openhwy “Come Together and Get Social” contest, sponsored by Plato’s Closet. Use free access areas to Shaw Go WiFi and post your stories on social media. Fair-goers should use #WesternerDays and #TicketsAlberta to win daily prizes! If they are a winner, they will be notified day of and can pick up their prize at the Guest Services booth.
Speaking of the Grub Hub, over 25 food vendors are available on site. With everything from mini donuts to mac n’ cheese and elephant ears, there’s something sure to please the taste buds of everyone in attendance.
Fans of Jess Moskaluke were thrilled to see her perform, including Jr Reporter Hayden Brilz (age 7) who was able to interview the Canadian songwriter for Shaw TV. You can catch that interview on The Community Producers: Westerner Days Edition.
Tonight, Thursday, July 20, the ENMAX Centrium Main Stage will be taken over by Chilliwack and Kim Mitchell. The show begins at 8:00 pm, but fans can receive reserved floor seating tickets (free with gate admission) by going to the Tickets Alberta Box Office at 4:00 pm.
For a full list of events and other Fair information, click here.
Fair Attendance
Wednesday, July 19, 2017 – 13,583
Record – 15,410 set in 2010
Red Deer Motors North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships
Top Four Wagons from Wednesday, July 19, 2017
- 1st – Louie Johner – Wei’s Westerner Wear, Red Deer 1:15:82
- 2/3 Split – Lee Anderson – A1 Rentals, Camrose/Wetaskiwin 1:17:10
- 2/3 Split – John Stott – K. Jochem Contracting Ltd, Innisfail 1:17:10
- 4th – Jack Stott – Alberta Milk, Edmonton 1:17:49
Parade Winners
- Grand Award (Etek Office Supplies) – Blue Grass Nursery, Sod & Garden Centre
- Grand Award Honourable Mention (Pivotal Chartered Professional Accountants) – Alberta Motor Association (AMA)
- Adult Community Organization (Red Deer Overdoor) – Parkland Class/Relax Crew
- Big People/Little People (Prairie Office Plus) – Ashley & Friends Playschool
- Civic Organization (ProVerus LLP) – Stettler Board of Trade
- Collector Vehicles (Fas Gas Plus) – Renny & Shannon Ceccato
- Comic and/and Novelty (Peters’ Drive-In) – Curves
- Commercial Float (Nymans Trophies Awards Promotionals) – Blue Grass Nursery, Sod & Garden Centre
- Decorated Vehicle (Copper Kettle Fudge Co.) – Red Deer Child Care
- Professionally Decorated (Doctors EyeCare) – Alberta Motor Association (AMA)
- Horse Hitch (Triple A Electric Ltd) – Double Tree Village & Museum
- Riding Group (Raven Printing) – Electric Strides Drill Team
International
Bongino announces FBI will release files on COVID cover up, Mar-a-Lago Raid and more

MxM News
Quick Hit:
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that the bureau will begin releasing information on a number of controversial investigations long shielded from public view.
Key Details:
- Bongino said the FBI is clearing information on high-profile cases, including COVID, Crossfire Hurricane, and the Trump Mar-a-Lago raid.
- The bureau is actively working with the DOJ on releasing Epstein case details and cracking down on child sexual abuse content.
- Bongino dismissed media attacks on FBI Director Kash Patel as “verifiable lies” and accused the press of fabricating stories.
Diving Deeper:
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino disclosed on Saturday that the bureau will begin releasing information previously kept under tight wraps, including cases that many Americans believe were swept under the rug for political or institutional protection.
Bongino, a former NYPD officer, Secret Service agent, and outspoken conservative commentator, took to X to announce that his office has already started cooperating with Congress and the public by providing long-requested information. Among the cases he cited: the attempted assassination of Rep. Steve Scalise, the Nashville Christian school shooting, the Crossfire Hurricane probe, and the COVID-19 origins and cover-up.
“This isn’t business as usual anymore,” Bongino wrote. “We’re clearing information to Congress, and the public, as quickly as possible.”
One of the most politically explosive revelations relates to the FBI’s handling of the Mar-a-Lago raid, an unprecedented move to search the home of the sitting president’s top political opponent, President Donald Trump. Bongino’s announcement signals that internal communications and case files may soon be scrutinized by congressional investigators and the public alike.
Bongino also confirmed that the agency is working closely with the DOJ on the Epstein case, noting the overwhelming volume of child sexual abuse material that must be reviewed. He emphasized that protecting children remains a core mission of the FBI under his and Director Kash Patel’s leadership.
“Operation ‘Restoring Justice,’ where we locked up child predators and 764 subjects, in every part of the country, is just the beginning,” he wrote. “Think twice if you’ve targeted children, because you’re next.”
The deputy director didn’t hold back in pushing back against media reports that characterized Patel’s leadership as unserious or performative. “The media continue to entirely fabricate stories,” Bongino wrote, describing reports about Patel skipping briefings and attending sports events as “a verifiable lie.”
He defended Patel’s work ethic, noting that the FBI director routinely works 10–12 hour days and meets with top counter-terror officials and global law enforcement partners.
International
UK Supreme Court rules ‘woman’ means biological female

Susan Smith (L) and Marion Calder, directors of ‘For Women Scotland’ cheer as they leave the Supreme Court on April 16, 2025, in London, England after winning their appeal in defense of biological reality
From LifeSiteNews
By Michael Haynes, Snr. Vatican Correspondent
The ruling, in which the court rejected transgender legal status, comes as a victory for campaigners who have urged the recognition of biological reality and common sense in the law.
The U.K. Supreme Court has issued a ruling stating that “woman” in law refers to a biological female, and that transgender “women” are not female in the eyes of the law.
In a unanimous verdict, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled today that legally transgender “women” are not women, since a woman is legally defined by “biological sex.”
Published April 16, the Supreme Court’s 88-page verdict was handed down on the case of Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v. The Scottish Ministers (Respondent). The ruling marks the end of a battle of many years between the Scottish government and women’s right campaigners who sought to oppose the government’s promotion of transgender ideology.
In 2018, the Scottish government issued a decision to allow the definition of “woman” to include men who assume their gender to be female, opening the door to allowing so-called “transgender” individuals to identify as women.
This guidance was challenged by women’s rights campaigners, arguing that a woman should be defined in line with biological sex, and in 2022 the Scottish government was forced to change its definition after the court found that such a move was outside the government’s “legislative competence.”
Given this, the government issued new guidance which sought to cover both aspects: saying that biological women are women, but also that men with a “gender recognition certificate” (GRC) are also considered women. A GRC is given to people who identify as the opposite sex and who have had medical or surgical interventions in an attempt to “reassign” their gender.
Women Scotland Ltd appealed this new guidance. At first it was rejected by inner courts, but upon their taking the matter to the Supreme Court in March last year, the nation’s highest judicial body took up the case.
Today, with the ruling issued against transgender ideology, women’s campaigners are welcoming the news as a win for women’s safety.
“A thing of beauty,” praised Lois McLatchie Miller from the Alliance Defending Freedom legal group.
“They looked at the whole argument, not just who goes in what bathroom and trans women. This is going to change organizations, employers, service providers,” Maya Forstater, chief executive of Sex Matters, told the Telegraph. “Everyone is going to have to pay attention to this, this is from the highest court in the land. It’s saying sex in the Equality Act is biological sex. Self ID is dead.”
“Victory,” commented Charlie Bently-Astor, a prominent campaigner for biological reality against the transgender movement, after she nearly underwent surgical transition herself at a younger age.
“After 15 years of insanity, the U.K. Supreme Court has ruled that men who say they are ‘trans women’ are not women,” wrote leader of the Christian political movement David Kurten.
Leader of the Conservative Party – the opposition to the current Labour government – Kemi Badenoch welcomed the court’s ruling, writing that “saying ‘trans women are women’ was never true in fact and now isn’t true in law, either.”
Others lamented the fact that the debate even was taking place, let alone having gone to the Supreme Court.
“What a parody we live in,” commented Reform Party candidate Joseph Robertson.
Rupert Lowe MP – who has risen to new prominence in recent weeks for his outspoken condemnation of the immigration and rape gang crisis – wrote, “Absolute madness that we’re even debating what a woman is – it’s a biological fact. No amount of woke howling will ever change that.”
However, the Supreme Court did not wish to get pulled into siding with certain arguments, with Lord Hodge of the tribunal stating that “we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not.”
The debate has taken center stage in the U.K. in recent years, not least for the role played by the current Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Starmer himself has become notorious throughout the nation for his contradictions and inability to answer the question of what a woman is, having flip-flopped on saying that a woman can have a penis, due to his support for the transgender movement.
At the time of going to press, neither Starmer nor his deputy Angela Rayner issued a statement about the Supreme Court ruling. There has been no statement issued from the Scottish government either, nor from the office of the first minister.
Transgender activists have expectedly condemned the ruling as “a disgusting attack on trans rights.” One leading transgender campaigner individual told Sky News, “I am gutted to see the judgement from the Supreme Court which ends 20 years of understanding that transgender people with a GRC are able to be, for all intents and purposes, legally recognized as our true genders.”
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