News
Discussions Set To Begin On Red Deer’s 2017 Operating Budget
By Sheldon Spackman
Red Deer City Council is set to consider the 2017 Operating Budget. Presentations and discussions begin at City Hall starting at 1:00 pm on January 10th.
After the approval of the 2017 Capital Budget and Ten Year Capital Plan on November 23rd, Council will now turn it’s attention to the $357 million Operating Budget which aims to focus on sustainability for both people and services by keeping tax increases to a minimum while maintaining core services.
Currently, the proposed Operating Budget calls for a 2.51 percent property tax rate increase in 2017, the number City Council will try to wittle down once deliberations begin. The two and a half percent property tax rate increase being proposed represents a $3.2 million increase to the Operating Budget, which includes a 1 percent increase for Capital amenities and growth. City officials say this would translate to a roughly $50 increase per year in the municipal portion of a property tax bill on a Red Deer home assessed at $325,000.
In regards to the 2.51 percent starting point for Council, Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer says “This is the lowest recommended operational budget in about 15 years of City history, Council’s recognition of the current state of our economy.” Veer adds however that despite the lower than normal property tax rate increase being proposed, “there may very well be movement anticipated in that recommended percentage as well.” Veer also points out that in Council’s guidelines regarding the Operating Budget, the currently proposed property tax rate increase of two and a half percent is close to inflation and maintains a Capital Savings Program to relieve the City from having to Debt finance.
City Manager Craig Curtis says “This is the most challenging Budget I’ve worked on since returning to the City. There are huge challenges financially because we’re seeing much less growth, which translates into less Revenue and as we see less Revenue, we’ve also seen a decline in the use of our Transit System and our Recreation, Parks and Culture facilities, so the Revenues from those have also affected this Budget.” As a result, Curtis says one of the key initiatives in the 2017 Operating Budget is to look after the social well-being of our community, so they are recommending that user fees for City facilities remains the same next year, the first time the City has recommended that in many years.
However, Mayor Tara Veer and City Manager Curtis also point out that they are both disappointed that the Province’s new three-year pilot program for a low-income transit pass subsidy for residents in Calgary and Edmonton, is currently not extended to other municipalities, making it unfair to Albertans in mid-sized cities such as Red Deer. Curtis says “This is a total inequity. The fact that they have a pilot project stemming from their Big City Charters, that invests millions of dollars in their Transit subsidies, is not fair to those who operate Transit Systems in the middle sized cities.” Mayor Veer adds to those sentiments by saying the mid-sized cities represent close to 900,000 Alberta residents, which means they are being treated inequitably from those in the two larger centres by being less able to participate in their communities or access things like employment and educational opportunities, as well as other community and government resources.
Manager Curtis says their latest survey results indicate roughly 15 percent of Red Deer’s population currently lives below the poverty line, with residents having identified Crime, Transportation and General Municipal Government Services as their top priorities for this Budget. He says it’s important to note that this recommended Budget makes investments in Crime Prevention, Safety and Homelessness, a recognition of some of the Social challenges Red Deer is facing.
Many local organizations including the Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce however, are hoping for a zero or minimal tax rate increase this year.
Operating Budget discussions will continue on January 11th – 13th and on January 16th, 17th and 18th if needed.
(Thumbnail provided by the City of Red Deer)
Daily Caller
Watch As Tucker Carlson And Glenn Greenwald Get A Good Laugh Over CNN Pretending Biden’s Decline Is Breaking News

From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hailey Gomez
During a podcast Friday, Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson and independent journalist Glenn Greenwald couldn’t stop laughing over CNN’s sudden realization of former President Joe Biden’s mental decline.
CNN’s Jake Tapper along with Axios’ Alex Thompson released their book, “Original Sin,” on May 20, which details Biden’s cognitive slide over the last four years — a concern Republicans had raised even before the 2020 election. While appearing on “The Tucker Carlson Show,” Carlson joked that Greenwald had been “scooped” by CNN on Biden’s mental fitness.
“So you are, I think, the dean of alternative media. You’ve been doing this longer than anybody that I know personally. So it must be a little weird to get scooped by CNN on Joe Biden’s dementia, like you had no idea,” Carlson said. “None of us knew.”
“None of us knew,” Greenwald teased. ” There was that debate, and we were all shocked, but we were told he had a cold. So I was like, ‘OK, he’s on some cold medication. Who hasn’t been there before? It makes you a little dragged, a little groggy, a little just like dragged.’ But no, now Jake Tapper has uncovered the truth. It turns out Joe Biden was in cognitive decline.”
Sources told Tapper and Thompson that Biden’s mental fitness had declined rapidly during his time as president, with his mental state becoming so severe at one point that aides discussed putting him in a wheelchair.
WATCH:
Tapper has faced pushback from both Democrats and Republicans over the timing of his book and the revelations it includes. The CNN host has long defended the former president.
Carlson went on to joke with Greenwald about how he believed Tapper gathered the material for the book.
“Just a hardcore shoe leather investigative reporting,” Greenwald joked. “He’s working his sources, calling all the people in Washington, digging up FOIA documents.”
“It’s one of those things where you kind of can’t believe what you’re witnessing because Jake Tapper is pretending to have uncovered a scandal that he himself led the way in the media, or one of the leaders in the media, in covering up,” Greenwald added. “To the point where if somebody would go on his show and say ‘Joe Biden is obviously in cognitive decline.’ He would say ‘How dare you bully kids who stutter?’”
Greenwald went on to reference how Tapper had accused President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, of “mocking” the former president over his stutter during a 2020 interview.
Despite Lara Trump pointing to what she believed were signs of Biden’s problems, Tapper dismissed her remarks at the time, saying she had “no standing to diagnose somebody’s cognitive decline.”
In addition to Lara Trump, Tapper also dismissed former Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips during a 2024 interview after Phillips expressed his “concerns” about Biden running for a second term.
“Obviously, he wanted Biden to win desperately and would not tolerate anyone going on the show and saying that Biden was in cognitive decline,” Greenwald said. “Now he’s making millions of dollars off a book.”
Following the media coverage of Tapper’s and Thompson’s book, Biden appeared to tell reporters on Friday he could “beat the hell out of” the two journalists.
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.
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