Local News

People from at least four rural Alberta counties packed the Harmattan Community Hall last week to find acceptable ways for oil and gas well fracking to occur in the West Central Alberta area, as opposed to finding ways to stop it.

Mountain View and Red Deer counties have just experienced their driest 180-day period in more than a half-century.

The Chinook's Edge School Division decided at its board meeting last Wednesday to sign a letter of intent with the Commodity Purchasing Program to explore the option of purchasing wind power from it at some point in the future.

Beiseker's pricey water woes are causing frustration for village council and residents.

A provincial advisory body on the Red Deer River watershed appears to be no more than a “propaganda machine” for industry, Mountain View County councillor Paddy Munro charged last week.

About 35 people made their way to the AltaLink open house in Innisfail last Tuesday to learn about the preferred and alternative routes for new transmission-line upgrades in the region.

The populations of both Mountain View and Red Deer counties dropped slightly between 2006 and 2011, according to federal census numbers released last week.Red Deer County's population went down by 1.

Provincial government plans to give a larger role to the volunteer-based health advisory councils is welcome news, says Sundre's Gerald Ingeveld.

The plan to turn solid waste into energy in Central Alberta was shelved late last week as the Central Waste Management Commission announced it would no longer be pursuing the Plasco gasification plant.

Family and Community Support Services funding to organizations in Mountain View County will rise by 25 per cent from last year after council approved this year's grants at its Feb. 1 meeting.