Winter has officially arrived in the Peace Country.The Old Farmer's Almanac says the Winter Solstice officially took place at 2:21 a.m. Alberta time on Saturday, December 21.The almanac says the solstice is the moment when the Northern Hemisphere was tilted as far from the sun as possible on the Earth's axis.The Winter...

The City of Grande Prairie has released their hours of operation for the holidays.City Hall & City Service CentreDecember 24: 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. December 25: Closed December 26: ClosedDecember 27: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.December 28: ClosedDecember 29: ClosedDecember 30: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.December 31: 8:30 a.m. ...

The Grande Prairie RCMP provided an update on one of two collisions along Range Road 63, also known as 116 Street yesterday. (Thursday, December 19)Mounties say at 12:30 p.m., they responded to a report of a two-vehicle collision, along Range Road 63, between the Highway 43 X traffic circle and Township Road 720.Mounti...

Mercer Peace River is reporting it has had no serious workplace injuries in over a year.As of November 30, Mercer Peace River's Total Recordable Incident Rate has been a 0.0 for 12 months.Mercer calls the achievement a testament of the hard work, dedication and commitment of the entire teamThe company adds recognizing ...

STARS has announced that Dr. John Froh will be stepping into the role of president and CEO of STARS, effective January 20, 2025.Dr. Froh was appointed by the volunteer board of directors and has been a leader at STARS since 2012, currently as the organization's chief medical officer. He offers decades of practical expe...

In an effort to update the province's approach to combatting homelessness, the Government of Alberta will begin streamlining grant administration for housing with supports; providing provincial funding directly to front-line service providers, including Indigenous-led organizations; and establishing an expert panel to ...

The Government of Alberta says it wants to allow for the development of coal mines, as long as it is done in a responsible way.Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean has announced the Alberta Coal Industry Modernization Initiative (CIMI).It will provide guidelines for coal mining practices, with the goal of ensurin...

A former employee of Alberta Health Services (AHS) has been fined $12,000 for falsifying COVID-19 immunization records of nearly 200 people from September 3, 2021 to November 24, 2021. Hind Mahmoud Dabash was employed in an administrative support staff role with AHS when he knowingly used and created health information...

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the province has heard back from Canada's chief actuary on its bid to leave the Canada Pension Plan but says there's no estimate on how much the province should get.The province has been waiting for months for the review and a figure.Smith said Thursday her government will follow up ...

EDMONTON - The Alberta government says it has heard back from Canada's chief actuary on its bid to leave the Canada Pension Plan, but there's no estimate on how much the province should get. The province has been waiting for months for the review and a figure. "We received their interpretation of the legislation, ...

OTTAWA - An "overheated" immigration system that admitted record numbers of newcomers to the country has harmed Canada's decades-old consensus on the benefits of immigration, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said, as he reflected on the changes in his department in a year-end interview. The system, he said, n...

Eighty-eight-year-old Lorne Collie has been making musical instruments for more than three decades, creations that dazzle for their unique materials as much as their sound. There's a hefty bass guitar and a cello made of moose antlers, a baseball bat violin, ukuleles made of cookie tins, and guitars fashioned from pitc...

The mayor of the suburban Victoria community of Colwood says he's getting calls from municipal leaders across Canada who have heard about his community's "out-of-the-box" plan to recruit family doctors as city workers. Mayor Doug Kobayashi announced this week that Colwood has hired its first family doctor for...

VICTORIA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced the appointment of longtime businesswoman and philanthropist Wendy Lisogar-Cocchia as British Columbia's 31st lieutenant-governor. Trudeau says in a statement that Lisogar-Cocchia is a respected entrepreneur in the hospitality industry and a dedicated community lea...

OTTAWA - The fall sitting of the House of Commons featured non-confidence votes, plenty of partisan bickering, and very little actual passing of laws. The session that ended Dec. 17 will go down as one of the least productive in Canadian history, and possibly one of the most partisan. Here's a look at what happened, by...

GATINEAU, Que. - Justin Trudeau's Liberals haven't prepared enough for the next federal election, Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos acknowledged in an interview this week in which he sidestepped questions about the prime minister's future. The party must do more to make Canadians understand the difference betwe...

ROME (AP) - Pope Francis is suffering from a cold and will deliver his Sunday blessing from indoors, the Vatican said, announcing the precautions ahead of a busy Christmas period and launch of the Holy Year that will sorely test Francis' stamina and health. The Vatican cited the cold temperatures outside and Francis' s...

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) - The death toll in the attack on a busy Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg has risen to five, the state governor said Saturday. Saxony-Anhalt Gov. Reiner Haseloff also said that more than 200 people in total were injured, many seriously, when a Saudi doctor intentionally drove a b...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate passed legislation early Saturday to boost Social Security payments for millions of people, pushing a longtime priority for former public employees through Congress in one of its last acts for the year. The bipartisan bill, which next heads to President Joe Biden, will eliminate longtime re...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A judge ruled Friday that Missouri's near-total abortion ban is unenforceable under a new constitutional amendment, ensuring abortion will be legal in the state. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jerri Zhang issued an order blocking the state's strict abortion law after a new abortion-rights co...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A judge ruled Friday that Missouri's near-total abortion ban is unenforceable under a new constitutional amendment, ensuring abortion will be legal in the state. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jerri Zhang issued an order blocking the state's strict abortion law after a new abortion-rights co...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri's governor commuted the sentence of a white Kansas City police officer who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black man whose death fueled racial justice protests. Gov. Mike Parson commuted Eric DeValkenaere's sentence to time served on Friday, weeks...