News

Dale Woodard Lethbridge Herald Small businesses in Alberta are being offered a helping hand. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hinder small businesses, the province is offering supports to help owners through a tough time with additional pandemic support through a new financial relief program, the Enhanced COVID-19 Business Benefit, beginning in April. The Enhanced COVID-19 Business Benefit provides [...] Read More »

Tim Kalinowski Lethbridge Herald tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com Blood Tribe members are calling for the reform of the current electoral system after about 300 people were not allowed to vote in the municipal election at the Lethbridge polling station back in November. A separate problem happened in Calgary when the location of the vote was changed the day [...] Read More »

Andrea Bourque-White, Library Assistant, Lethbridge Public Library People have been eating versions of pizza for centuries. What we know as pizza can be traced back to late 18th century Naples, Italy, but it wasn’t a family favourite like it is today. So, how did pizza become one of the world’s most popular foods? Back in [...] Read More »

Many people no longer attend religious services. According to the sociologists, this percentage of people is increasing as the years go by. While many who are active in religious groups decry this trend, others of us want to warn “Be careful before you assume that we’ve rejected all sense of the Great Mystery!” I’m one [...] Read More »

Are you thinking of using cannabis? Are you already using? Cannabis is a psychoactive substance that has many short- and long-term health risks including: impairment, memory issues, mental health problems, lung damage and risk of dependency and cannabis use disorder. If you are using, ensure that you read the product labels. Know what and how [...] Read More »

LETHBRIDGE HERALDDShurtz@lethbridgeherald.com Carter Dylan Rains didn’t steal the 2019 F150 truck and 2017 Jaguar that were parked at his house in 2019, but he knew they had been stolen, a judge was told Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court. Rains, who appeared in court by closed-circuit TV from the Lethbridge Correctional Centre, pleaded guilty to two [...] Read More »

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com The Lethbridge Police Service will draw on funds set aside for training, to fill vacancies and for body cams to absorb a $1 million budget cut in 2021 and 2022, says Lethbridge Chief of Police Shahin Mehdizadeh, and will continue to provide the services citizens have come to expect to fight crime in [...] Read More »

Biogas production and growing Alberta’s agriculture in the coming years was front and centre as the Southern Alberta Council of Public Affairs met Thursday. Taking the virtual podium for the morning session was Chris Perry, the co-founder and president of CKP Farms Ltd. and Grow the Energy Circle Ltd. (GrowTEC), explaining the lengthy regulatory process [...] Read More »

Tim Kalinowski Lethbridge Herald tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com With a few minor tweaks based on the feedback received from parents, the Lethbridge School Division Board of Trustees approved most of the boundary changes previously proposed during Tuesday’s meeting. Board chair Christine Light said she and her fellow trustees realize these changes would be hard for some parents, but [...] Read More »

Delon Shurtz Lethbridge Herald dshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com A Fort Vermillion man who was expected to resolve dozens of criminal charges, but then fired his second lawyer late last year, is still hoping to resolve his matters without having to stand trial. During a brief hearing Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court, lawyer number three, Ingrid Hess, said she [...] Read More »

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Feb. 26 … What we are watching in Canada … OTTAWA – The pandemic diplomacy at work between the United States and Canada is continuing, [...] Read More »

The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021. There are 858,217 confirmed cases in Canada. _ Canada: 858,217 confirmed cases (30,335 active, 806,017 resolved, 21,865 deaths).*The total case count includes 13 confirmed cases among repatriated travellers. There were 3,094 new cases Thursday. The rate [...] Read More »

The latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2021. In Canada, the provinces are reporting 55,116 new vaccinations administered for a total of 1,707,398 doses given. The provinces have administered doses at a rate of 4,505.094 per 100,000. There were 3,510 new vaccines delivered to the [...] Read More »

WASHINGTON – The pandemic diplomacy at work between the United States and Canada is continuing, this time with the secretary of state. Antony Blinken will visit virtually with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau as part of the Biden administration’s post-Trump fence-mending campaign. Blinken’s “virtual trips” to Canada and Mexico mark [...] Read More »

VANCOUVER – As British Columbia teachers argue for broader mask requirements in elementary schools, some families and educators say it’s been easy for kids to adapt to the rules in other provinces. Heather Thompson, a special-education teacher at Whitehorn Public School in Mississauga, Ont., said masks were introduced to students from grades 1 through 12 [...] Read More »

CALGARY – A judge has sentenced a man with a benign brain tumour, who lost consciousness while driving and killed a Calgary woman, to 27 months in prison. James Beagrie, 48, was originally charged with criminal negligence causing death after his truck hit Anjna Sharma, a mother of three, who had been on a walk [...] Read More »

CALGARY – A man who killed and dismembered his father has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance at parole for 15 years. A jury found Zaineddin Al Aalak guilty in December of second-degree murder in the death of 53-year-old Mohamed Al Aalak. He was also convicted of offering an indignity to the [...] Read More »

CALGARY – Pembina Pipeline Corp. is reporting a $1.2 billion net fourth-quarter loss thanks mainly to $1.6 billion in non-cash after-tax impairment charges on its proposals to build an Alberta petrochemical plant and Oregon LNG export facility. The Calgary-based company said in December it and joint venture partner Petrochemical Industries Co. of Kuwait had decided [...] Read More »

EDMONTON – An Edmonton Police Service officer has been charged with sexual assault. Alberta’s police watchdog, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), says the alleged assault happened on Jan. 20 when the officer was off duty. In a release, ASIRT says the man knows the woman and during an encounter committed a sexual assault. [...] Read More »

CALGARY – Many Albertans hoping to book COVID-19 vaccination appointments for older loved ones Wednesday instead spent hours being kicked off the government’s booking website or getting busy signals on the phone. Some 230,000 people born in 1946 or earlier are now eligible to be immunized at 58 sites across the province. Appointments are being [...] Read More »

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Two U.S. Navy warships operating in the Mideast have been struck by coronavirus outbreaks, authorities said Friday, with both returning to port in Bahrain. A dozen troops aboard the USS San Diego, an amphibious transport dock, tested positive for COVID-19, said Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the Bahrain-based 5th [...] Read More »

LAGOS, Nigeria – Hundreds of girls are missing after a large group of gunmen raided a school in northern Nigeria early Friday morning, residents say. The Government Secondary Jangebe School in Zamfara state was the scene of the latest mass abduction of school children in northern Nigeria. Nasiru Abdullahi tells The Associated Press that school [...] Read More »

LONDON – A woman who as a teenager ran away to join the Islamic State group has lost her bid to return to the U.K. to fight for the restoration of her citizenship, which was revoked on national security grounds. Shamima Begum was one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria in 2015. [...] Read More »

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Two U.S. Navy warships operating in the Mideast have been affected by the coronavirus, authorities said Friday, with one already at port in Bahrain and another heading there now. A dozen troops aboard the USS San Diego, an amphibious transport dock, tested positive for COVID-19, said Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a [...] Read More »

WASHINGTON – The Senate parliamentarian dealt a potentially lethal blow Thursday to Democrats’ drive to hike the minimum wage, deciding that the cherished progressive goal must fall from a massive COVID-19 relief bill the party is trying to speed through Congress. The finding by Elizabeth MacDonough, the chamber’s nonpartisan arbiter of its rules, means Democrats [...] Read More »