News
Highway 20 Fatal, Rocky Cougar Shooting, Red Deer’s Emergency
11:45 am (Jun 24) – As of Friday night, about 50 homes remained without power in Red Deer. However, City officials say those properties are expected to be reconnected by mid-day Saturday, June 24th. Parks crews will also be continuing to clean-up trees and debris on trails, parks and roadways. Read More.
11:39 am (Jun 24) – On Friday, June 23, 2017 at 5:45 pm, Sylvan Lake RCMP along with Lakeside EMS, Stars Air Ambulance and the Sylvan Lake Fire Department responded to a fatal two vehicle collision at the intersection of Highway 20 and Highway 12. Read More.
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3:20 pm – The Red Deer Symphony Orchestra (RDSO) is preparing for the conclusion of the pilot phase of their education and outreach program Music + Explorers at G.H. Dawe Elementary School. A Pop Up Percussion performance from the Grades 2-5 students involved will take place on Tuesday, June 27th. Read More.
3:03 pm – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has declared the Red Deer River Watershed infected with Whirling Disease. Read More.
2:57 pm – The City of Lacombe has released an update on it’s Main Street project which has now advanced into Stage 2. Read More.
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2:46 pm – Rocky Mountain House RCMP put down a cougar with a single shot after it was spotted near an elementary school within town limits early this morning. Police say a 9-1-1 report indicated it was initially spotted walking down Main Street in Rocky and eventually climbed up a tree near École Rocky Elementary School. After consulting with Alberta Fish and Wildlife, the officers were instructed to put the big cat down. No people were hurt.
11:44 am – With the 2019 Canada Winter Games less than two years away, The City of Red Deer provided an update today on the capital projects that are underway as the community prepares to host the Games. The new facilities will leave Red Deer with new and improved recreational and cultural amenities, increasing the City’s sport hosting capabilities and benefiting the overall community. Capital Project Details Here.
11:30 am – Daddy and Me Year-End BBQ in Penhold on Saturday, June 24th! Read More.
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10:56 am – From Live Music, to Dancing, a Show & Shine and 5K Foam Fest at Heritage Ranch, there’s lots of fun things to do in the City of Red Deer this weekend! Check them out here!
10:45 am – The Quarter Horse Association of Alberta continues it’s Chinook Show at Red Deer’s Westerner Park today through Sunday (June 25)! Read More.
10:38 am – If you’re interested in giving back to your community in meaningful ways, volunteering with the Red Deer RCMP Victim Services Unit (VSU) may be just what you’re looking for. Join VSU staff and volunteer victim advocates at one of two volunteer information events to learn more: Wednesday, June 28 at 9:30 am, or Thursday, June 29 at 7 pm. Both events are held in the Community Room off the lobby at the downtown Red Deer RCMP detachment at 4602 – 51 Avenue.
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10:27 am – Power is back on in Vanier Woods, Glendale and Normandeau with crews working through the night in these three major areas. Approximately half of Riverside Light Industrial was also restored. Read More on the latest updates from Red Deer’s Windstorm Cleanup.
10:21 am – Red Deer RCMP are asking for public assistance to locate 60 year old Elaine Tirrell. She was last seen in Red Deer on June 21st and RCMP wish to verify her well-being. Read More.
10:13 am – Giant Tiger will celebrate the official opening of its first store in Red Deer on Saturday, June 24th! Speeches and a Ribbon cutting will kick-off the event at 7:30 am. The new Giant Tiger will be located at 6751 50th Avenue and will have approximately 15,500 square feet of selling space. The grand opening will be a fun-filled day with gift card and promotional giveaways, a charity BBQ with funds going to the Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter, face painting and a visit from Friendly, the Giant Tiger.
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10:00 am – On Friday, June 30th, over 150 newcomers to Canada from all over the world will be coming together at Eastview Estates Park (120 Ellenwood Drive) for a day of sports, family and fun. With many helping hands, youth and their families will be given instruction and the chance to play slo-pitch, volleyball, tennis, basketball, football, disc golf and lawn games. All this activity will be followed by a BBQ supper for all the participants and volunteers to enjoy. The event runs from 1- 5 pm.
9:52 am – Ponoka RCMP would like to thank the public for their assistance in the apprehension of Blair Hinkley. Hinkley was arrested on warrant in Wetaskiwin.
9:44 am – The first ever triathlon for kids is being held at the Abbey Centre in Blackfalds on Saturday, – July 8th. Read More.
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9:36 am – Here’s where Red Deer’s road closures are over the next few days as crews continue their road rehabilitation work.
9:25 am – The Grand Opening of the new Eagle’s Nest Rotary Lodge and the completion of the Camp Alexo Master Plan will be celebrated at Camp Alexo near Nordegg on Saturday, June 24th. There will be a BBQ, Cake and some light refreshments served from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm and Camp Tours conducted by Counsellors in training and Alumni. Read More.
9:10 am – It’s Track and Fun Day at St.Patrick’s Community School today! Elementary students will participate in a fun day of games and events on the playing field at the school.
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9:00 am – Lacombe County invites you to attend the Lacombe County Farm Safety Day, which will be held on Friday, June 23, 2017 at the Lacombe County Operations Building. The event will run from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., when the County will be hosting 250 Grade 5 students from across Lacombe County. A barbeque lunch will also be served from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
8:53 am – It’s Field Day today at Mountview Elementary School in Red Deer. From 1 – 3 pm, students will celebrate an awesome year outside doing fun things no doubt! Elsewhere, it’s Alternative School Graduation tonight starting at 6 pm at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites – Red Deer South. Students will be celebrating their graduation with family and friends.
8:30 am – Grade 9 students from École Camille J. Lerouge School are working in conjunction with Kevin Traptow, owner of the “Cool Beans Coffee Company” to launch an initiative called “Pay Ahead for Daily Bread.” The aim of the project is to encourage Red Deerians to pre-pay for various food or drink items at the Cool Beans Coffee bus so that when someone in need stops by the coffee shop, there is a cup of warm coffee or a small snack available for them to have free of charge. The event runs today from 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Energy
House GOP approves broad bill to ‘unleash’ American energy

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is flanked by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., left, and Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., as he talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, March 24, 2023. House Republicans are set to approve a sprawling energy package that counters virtually all of President Joe Biden’s agenda to address climate change. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
By Matthew Daly in Washington
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Thursday approved a sprawling energy package that seeks to undo virtually all of President Joe Biden’s agenda to address climate change.
The legislation would sharply increase domestic production of oil, natural gas and coal, and ease permitting restrictions that delay pipelines, refineries and other projects. It would boost production of critical minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt that are used in electric vehicles, computers, cellphones and other products.
By a 225-204 vote, the House sent the measure to the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it “dead on arrival.” Four Democrats joined with all but one Republican to support the bill.
Biden has threatened to veto the bill, saying it would replace “pro-consumer policies” adopted in the landmark climate law approved last year “with a thinly veiled license to pollute.” The bill would roll back Democratic investments in clean energy and ”pad oil and gas company profits,” the White House said.
Republicans call the bill the “Lower Energy Costs Act” and gave it the symbolic label H.R. 1 — the top legislative priority of the new GOP majority, which took control of the House in January.
The measure combines dozens of separate proposals and represents more than two years of work by Republicans who have chafed at Biden’s environmental agenda. They say Biden’s efforts have thwarted U.S. energy production and increased costs at the gas pump and grocery store.
“Families are struggling because of President Biden’s war on American energy,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., one of the bill’s main authors.
The GOP bill will “unleash” abundant U.S. natural resources “so we can produce energy in America,” Scalise said. “We don’t have to be addicted to foreign countries that don’t like us.”
Democrats called the bill a giveaway to big oil companies.
“Republicans refuse to hold polluters accountable for the damage they cause to our air, our water, our communities and our climate,” said New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“While Democrats delivered historic wins for the American people by passing historic climate legislation, Republicans are actively working to undermine that progress and do the bidding of their polluter friends,″ Pallone said.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the bill “restores American energy leadership by repealing unnecessary taxes and overregulation on American energy producers,” and “makes it easier to build things in America” by placing a two-year time limit on environmental reviews that now take an average of seven years.
“Every time we need a pipeline, a road or a dam, it gets held up five to seven years and adds millions of dollars in costs for the project to comply with Washington’s permitting process,” McCarthy said in speech on the House floor. “It’s too long, it’s unaffordable, it’s not based on science and it’s holding us back.”
He pointed to a project to modify and improve Lake Isabella Dam in his central California district that has lasted 18 years and still is not completed.
“Permitting reform isn’t for everyone,” McCarthy added. “If you like paying more at the pump, you don’t want to make it faster for American workers to build more pipelines. If you’re China, you’d rather America sit back and let others lead. And if you’re a bureaucrat, maybe you really do enjoy reading the 600-page environmental impact studies.”
Most Americans want lower prices and more U.S. energy production, McCarthy said — results he said the bill will deliver.
Democrats called that misleading and said the GOP plan was a thinly disguised effort to reward oil companies and other energy producers that have contributed millions of dollars to GOP campaigns.
Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, derided the bill as the “Polluters Over People Act” and “a nearly 200-page love letter to polluting industries.”
Instead of reining in “Big Oil” companies that have reported record profits while “hoarding thousands of unused leases” on public lands and waters, the GOP bill lowers royalty rates paid by energy producers and reinstates noncompetitive leasing of public lands, Grijalva said.
The bill also gives mining companies “a veritable free-for-all on our public lands” and “makes mockery of tribal consultation” required under federal law, he said.
Under the GOP plan, mining companies will “destroy sacred and special places” throughout the West, “ruin the landscape and leave behind a toxic mess that pollutes our water and hurts our health — all without paying a cent to the American people,” Grijalva said.
Schumer called the measure “a giveaway to Big Oil pretending to be an energy package.”
The House energy package “would gut important environmental safeguards on fossil fuel projects,” locking America “into expensive, erratic and dirty energy sources while setting us back more than a decade on our transition to clean energy,” Schumer said.
Schumer said he supports streamlining the nation’s cumbersome permitting process for energy projects, especially those that will deliver “clean energy” such as wind, solar and geothermal power. “But the Republican plan falls woefully short on this front as well,” he said, calling on Republicans to back reforms that would help ease the transition to renewable energy and accelerate construction of transmission lines to bolster the nation’s aging power grid.
The Republican bill would repeal a new $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and other parts of the climate and health care law passed by Democrats last year. The fund, also known as a “green bank,” is set to provide low-cost financing for projects intended to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
The House bill also would eliminate a new tax on methane pollution that would charge companies for methane leaks from oil and gas wells.
Four Democrats voted in favor of the bill: Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzales of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., opposed the bill.
Sports
Springer’s 5 hits help Jays outlast Cards 10-9 in opener

Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Jordan Romano, right, and catcher Alejandro Kirk celebrate a 10-9 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in an opening day baseball game Thursday, March 30, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
By Steve Overbey in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS (AP) — George Springer had five hits and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in three runs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat St. Louis 10-9 on Thursday despite the Cardinals’ Tyler O’Neill tying a major league record by homering on opening day George for the fourth straight season.
Making his Cardinals debut, catcher Willson Contreras left after the eighth inning because of an injured knee and was sent for a scan.
Springer was 5 for 6 with five singles in the fourth five-hit game of his big league career to go along with a six-game game for Houston at Oakland in May 2018. Springer set a Toronto record for hits in an opener and combined with Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman to become the first pair of players with five hits each on opening day since at least 1901.
“It’s awesome, obviously you want to start off good,” Springer said. “It’s only one game. But, I’ll take all the hits I can get.”
Bo Bichette had four hits and Matt Chapman three for the Blue Jays, who outhit the Cardinals 19-15 and set a team record for hits in an opener.
“It was a grind. It was a roller-coaster,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “But up and down the at-bats were great.”
Toronto won its fourth straight opener by overcoming a 9-8 deficit in the ninth against Ryan Helsley (0-1). Springer tied the score with an RBI single and Guerrero followed with a sacrifice fly.
Cleanup hitter Daulton Varsho added a hit and two RBI. The top four hitters in the Blue Jays order were a combined 12-for-21 with seven RBI and seven runs scored.
“Our offense went out there and had an amazing day,” Varsho said. “We continued to battle no matter what. That’s the kind of team that we are.”
O’Neill’s two-run homer in the third off Alek Manoah cut the Cardinals’ deficit to 4-3. O’Neill matched the mark for consecutive openers with home runs shared by the New York Yankees’ Yogi Berra (1955-58), Montreal’s Gary Carter (1977-80) and the New York Mets’ Todd Hundley (1994-97).
Contreras was hit on the left knee by a 102.7 mph fastball from Jordan Hicks on the first pitch to Guerrero in the eighth inning, which bounced away for a wild pitch. Guerrero followed with a two-run single for an 8-7 lead.
“He’s hurting pretty good,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “It squared him up in the knee.”
Contreras was scheduled to get an MRI later in the evening.
“Hope it’s just day to day,” Marmol said.
Nolan Arenado hit a two-run double in the bottom half off Yimi García (1-0) and had three RBIs.
Jordan Romano struck out two in a perfect ninth for the save, fanning World Baseball Classic fan favorite Lars Nootbar on a slider to end the game.
St. Louis 41-year-old right-hander Adam Wainwright sang the national anthem to the surprise of the standing room only crowd of 47,649. The 41-year-old is an accomplished musician who plays guitar.
“Adam did a real nice job,” Marmol said.
Despite the pitch clock, the game lasted 3 hours, 38 minutes
Brendan Donovan hit a solo homer that tied the score 5-5 in the fourth off Manoah, who gave up five runs and 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings.
St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas allowed five runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings.
YOUNG PUP
St. Louis OF Jordan Walker at 20 years, 312 days became the youngest player to make his debut for the Cardinals since Rick Ankiel at 20 years, 35 days on Aug. 23, 1999. Walker went 1 for 5 with an RBI groundout.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: Wainwright remains on the 10-day IL with a groin injury sustained while working out with the U.S. during the World Baseball Classic. He is eligible to be activated on April 9.
UP NEXT
St. Louis RHP Jack Flaherty (2-1, 4.25 ERA last season) will face RHP Kevin Gausman (12-10, 3.35) in the second game of the three-game series on Saturday. Flaherty was the opening day starter in 2021 and 2022. Gausman is 1-4 with a 4.05 ERA in nine appearances against St. Louis.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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