Although motorists may disagree, things are moving along as planned on the Southridge Drive improvement project.

The contractor, South Rock Ltd., said they are about a week behind due to rain we had last week, but the target completion in November is still in sight.

Project Engineer Carlie Collier said they have had to do things such as close down intersections in order to keep things going.  "We've had some tie-ins with the storm main into the manholes in the intersections," she said.  "With the equipment and the work required in the intersection, it just made sense to close off the roadways."

Collier added people have not really been complaining about the construction, which was one thing she expected throughout the project.  She said more questions have been asked rather than people complaining.  While the target completion is set, if the weather does not co-operate, Collier said they will do what they can and finish up at a later time.  "If it turns wet and we are not able to go as fast as we hope, the portion from Strachan Road to Vista Drive would get completed next year," she said.  "As it stands now, we hope to get everything completed by next year."

(Story by:  Greg Garbutt)

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The latest statistics show Medicine Hat is not the only one experiencing growing pains in our region.

According to Statistics Canada's 2011 Hamlet Census, Dunmore has experienced steady expansion over the past 15 years.  Cypress County Senior Planner Jeffrey Dowling said a combination of factors have led to the population increase.  "People move out to Dunmore because there are bigger lots available," he said.  "With those new lots being available, growth could occur.  In conjunction with that, we've also been able to acquire more water from the City of Medicine Hat to accommodate that growth."

While establishing good partnerships in order to get that clean, treated water have been vital over the past several years, Dowling said it hasn't always been a smooth relationship.  "There's times when political issues have to be addressed and both municipalities have to look out for their own rate payers," he said.  "At the end of the day, we've been able to work out agreements and that says a lot for both municipal councils."

Since 1996, the population of Dunmore has grown from 420 residents to 1025, with steady increases in each census taken every five years.  The total population of 11 hamlets surrounding the Medicine Hat area currently sits at over 7500. 

(Story by:  Steve Krysak, Greg Garbutt)

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The City of Medicine Hat is being praised for its active and energetic involvement when it comes to increasing public awareness about people with disability issues.

An advisory committee on the issue filed a year-end report with the Public Services Committee on Tuesday, and Community Inclusion Co-ordinator Leslie Jerry said City staff in particular have been eager to learn about issues that face people with disabilities, leading to steady progress over the years to improve accessibility for those people.  "We have been making progress for sure," she said.  "We definitely could not have done it without the help of several City departments."

Some improvements include the replacement of narrow sidewalks and the installation of improved curb ramps.  Jerry said the addition of "Accessible Medicine Hat" to the City's website has also been a great step forward.  "You might be a senior who struggles with arthritis but does not use a wheelchair and is still fairly mobile," she said.  "You might appreciate having those stairs that go down not so steeply that you would climb in and out of a pool on."

The "Accessible Medicine Hat" program provides information on how to access City facilities such as parks, City Hall, and the Family Leisure Centre.

(Story by:  Harv Speers)

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The Medicine Hat Youth Advisory Board wants to take a step beyond the current ban on smoking in vehicles where children are present and include parks, playgrounds and sites of major events where children are present.

Rebecca McCubbin, Advisory Board member, said they came to the decision after hearing a presentation from students of Notre Dame Academy on the dangers of second-hand smoke and a wish to decrease negative role-modeling for young people.  "We don't want to have kids when they are little to see everybody smoking outside because they can't smoke inside," she said.  "We just want them to stop going to public places to do it."

The Canadian Cancer Society agrees this ban would be a good thing.  Michelle Sauve said the health issues associated with second-hand smoke have been well documented, and they hope to phase in the ban over a three year period.  "Initially we'd like to see a ban on any facility that has outdoor recreation for youth," she said.  "Year two would be events such as Spectrum or Canada Day.  Year three would include parks, trails, those kinds of things."

Other cities, such as Edmonton, are also considering this type of ban.  The recommendation was passed on to the urban environmental and recreation advisory boards for their input. 

(Story by:  Harv Speers)

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After calling his verdict unreasonable and being sent to prison for life without parole for 25 years, Jeremy Allan Steinke, 29, has decided to drop his appeal for his 2008 triple murder conviction.

Steinke, who is now known as Jackson May, slaughtered a Medicine Hat family back in April of 2006, with the help of his then 12 year old girlfriend, who was also the daughter and sister of the murder victims.  Steinke was hoping to receive a new trial, but withdrew his application in the Alberta Court of Appeals on Tuesday. 

Steinke said he did not apply for a new trial sooner because he was new to the system, did not know what he was doing and could not find a lawyer that would take his case. 

The girl, who cannot be named, was also convicted of three counts of first degree murder.  She is now 18 years old and is completing the maximum youth sentence and will be free when she turns 22. 

It did not take Medicine Hat Police very long to find the suspects accused in a home invasion and stabbing in the city on Saturday night.

Officers have charged Nathan Sheridan, 32, and Melissa Fehr, 30, with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, and break and enter.  Fehr also faces one additional charge of uttering death threats.

Around 11:00 Saturday night, officers responded to a home in the 100 block of Cypress Way S.E., after someone allegedly broke in.

A fight broke out, and two men were brought to hospital.  One had life-threatening injuries as a result of an alleged stab wound, while a second victim received serious, but non-life threatening injuries.  The more serious victim had his status upgraded from critical to serious condition.

Both Fehr and Sheridan were expected to make their first appearance in Medicine Hat Provincial Court on Tuesday Morning.

 A new look, a new grant program and a new study were all announced at the Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta office on Tuesday.

The Foundation, United Way and Medicine Hat Community Housing Society combined for a $40,000 investment toward a preliminary study related to poverty in the city.

$8,500 each was given by the Foundation and United Way, while the Housing Society invested $23,000.

Robin Miiller, Chief Administrative Officer with the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society says the money will help answer three key questions.

"There are three specific research questions that are being addressed," she said. "One is who is affected by poverty, the second is how are people affected by poverty, and the third is how do we establish a living wage for Medicine Hat."

The study is expected to be complete by the end of September.

Meantime, $3000 - half of the amount was matched by Criterion Catalyst - was also donated to the Medicine Hat Public Library via the new Vital Impact Grant.

The  funding will be applied toward the youth program.

Community Foundation Executive Director Mike Christie says that the new grant stems directly from issues identified in their annual Vital Signs report.

"The Board of the Community Foundation decided we would do something more practical and more active in trying to find some solutions to some of the things we had discovered through Vital Signs."

He noted that this way, instead of waiting for grant applications to come in - they'll find out out where the money is needed and apply it that way.

"We are going to go proactively and look and seek out people that are addressing issues that we believe need looking into," he said. "And if we can help them or enhance- or maybe create brand-new programs that will improve our quality of life, then that's what we'll do."

Finally, the Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta 20th year will see a new image - including an updated logo, and new website - as they move forward.

(Story by:  Courtney Amirault)

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Consumer confidence and low mortgage rates are just a couple of factors contributing to strong real estate sales in Medicine Hat so far in 2012.

The Medicine Hat Real Estate Board is showing that 510 properties have changed hands in the first four months of the year, compared to only 390 over this same time frame last year.  Board President Jeff Lanigan said he is not quite sure where the buyers are coming from, considering the employment situation in our city.  "I don't know where they're working," he said.  "It still seems like they're heading north or east to work in the oilpatch, but they're still buying up the houses here."

In April alone, 176 sales were made, amounting to $46.5 million, which is up from 119 sales in April 2011 at a price tag of $31.5 million.  For the year, $127.8 million in property has changed hands, well above the 2011 mark of $97.7 million.

That's a good thing, according to Lanigan, who noted they have not seen strong sales numbers like this since 2008.  He agrees that the housing market is a good indicator of where your economy is headed, no matter where you live.  "It's the life blood of everything," he said.  "If your housing market is doing well, your economy will continue to do well."  He said while the economic situation of 2010 and 2011 were a little gloomy, 2012 is looking more upbeat. 

(Story by:  Greg Garbutt)

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Charges have been laid against a city motorist after a pedestrian was hit in the southeast area of town.

Police say it happened around 7:30 Monday night at the intersection of Carry Drive and Cameron Road.

It is reported the vehicle tried to make a left hand turn on to Carry Drive and struck the pedestrian as they were trying to cross the street.

The victim was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, while the driver was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. 

Residents of Redcliff will find a few more dollars in their pockets this year when it comes to paying property tax.

For the past several years, town council has mandated its administration to do whatever they can to keep property tax low, and it looks like they've done it again in 2012.  The rate has increased less than one percent over last year, and Municipal Manager David Wolanski said it will be a minor burden to households.  "On the municipal portion, if all things are equal as far as assessment, the average household might see a 12 dollar per year increase."

Low taxes are just one of the factors Wolanski  attributes to the population growth in Redcliff over the past few years.  "Our businesses and our industrial development have done very well over the past 10 years because our tax rates are competitive to other areas," he said.  "We think both residentially and in business it has had an impact.  We also like to think there's a lot of other great things about our community that makes people want to live here and contribute to our growth."

The current municipal rate is 7.8866, as compared to 7.6230 in 2011.  On the commercial side, the rate is 15.0839, while in 2011 it was 14.711.  One year ago, administration was almost forced to raise taxes significantly because a harsh winter did so much damage to roads and infrastructure, but they managed to use reserves to cover much of the construction and pass along the savings to its residents.

(Story by:  Greg Garbutt)

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A pilot project has brought "Accessible Medicine Hat" online.

The City has announced their website now includes the program, which provides information for those with mobility issues about City Hall, accessible playgrounds and the Family Leisure Centre.

A spokesperson for the City said right now the content is limited, but the goal is to give people a taste of what they can offer.

Residents are invited to come and try it out at the Medicine Hat Public Library on Tuesday between 2:00 and 6:00 p.m. They are also looking to the public to provide information about the program for future development.

If you have ambitions of heading to the great outdoors this weekend, time is running out.  While several provincial campgrounds in other parts of Alberta report being completely booked, locally, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park still has a handful of sites available.

Head of Visitor Services Peter Swain said people typically wait to see what the weather holds before commiting to a camping trip, so reservations are recommended.  "Our power and water sites are pretty much booked, we have a handful left," he said.  "Otherwise up in Ferguson and Lodgepole there is still quite a bit of space for non-serviced sites."

Cypress Hills is also doing their best to ensure that families and others can enjoy a relaxing weekend without having to worry about wild parties going on.  For the fourth consecutive year, they are instituting a liquor ban in the area for the entire weekend.  "Before we had the liquor ban in place, we had a lot of issues during the May long weekend," he said.  "There just seemed to be a lot of that pent up energy that got released in the park and resulted in a lot of unhappy campers with the noise levels and vandalism to the park.  Since we've had the liquor ban, it seemed to have cleared up most of those issues."

The forecast for the weekend is calling for a slight chance of showers, but temperatures will stay in the low to mid 20's.

(Story by:  Courtney Amirault)

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It was another huge turnout at the old Wal-Mart parking lot this past Saturday for the 4th annual Saamis Rotary Club E-Waste Roundup.

Hatters were encouraged to bring any old electronic equipment in for recycling and club member Phyllis Verhoeven said this was probably their best year yet.  "It was a great success," she said.  "I don't have the final numbers on what exactly we took in, but I think this has been our peak so far.  It was great to see so many people come out and donate."

There were also about 50 volunteers who showed up to lend a hand in helping sort what is estimated to be 100 tonnes of equipment.  Verhoeven said in the past four years during the program, they have amassed almost 400 tonnes of recycled electronics.  "It's amazing how many repeat customers we get," she said.  "The thing is, most of them bring 5 items the first time and then maybe only one or two when they come back.  That's why I think this is probably the most we are going to see, but it's still encouraging."

All of the materials get shipped to a facility in Edmonton, where all of the components are broken down, recycled and re-used.  The money raised will go back into the Medicine Hat community through the Rotary Club, and will be used for environmentally friendly projects.

(Story by:  Greg Garbutt)

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The City of Medicine Hat overspent on some of its capital projects by about $5.6 million last year, but the good news is it had an underexpenditure of $64 million on capital projects that came in under budget or were cancelled altogether.

Corporate Services Commissioner Albert Bizio said the biggest factor for the savings was the energy department.  "By far and away the largest single contributor to the underspending was the elimination of a capital program of drilling in natural gas and petroleum resources," he said.  "That was $31 million right there."

The next step will be to match the source of funding, be it infrastructure reserve or grant money, with the same sources used in the overspent projects and apply them there.  There's been very little debenture borrowing used for tax side projects, so there will be minimal impact on the tax base.  "We tried to limit the debentures to a combination of retired debt from a prior year plus any growth in our assessment base," said Bizio.  "We tried to limit the amount of debenture borrowing we take on the tax side."

Any debenture borrowing from the tax side last year amounted to only $26,000.

(Story by:  Harv Speers)

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The first ever College Sector Educator Award will be bestowed on one of Medicine Hat College's own.

Elizabeth Pennefather-O'Brien, science professor at MHC, is one of five instructors from across the country to receive the inaugural award from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.  The award recognizes instructors who provide leadership in the field of teaching and learning, and go above and beyond in making quality efforts to promote and support the development of their peers with regard to teaching excellence. 

Pennefather-O'Brien said she has had brief contact with her fellow recipients via a conference call, but she is looking forward to meeting them in person.  As the first recipients of the award, they are setting the benchmark for future winners.  "It will be exciting to see how we will deal with winning this award," she said.  "We've already talked about creating our own legacy and then college sector award winners can continue on or create their own legacy after that."

Pennefather-O’Brien is highly involved with both the college and community. As an instructor, she is co-facilitator for a faculty learning community, sits on the Faculty Association Executive Board, and is a member of faculty evaluation, teaching innovation, bio-safety, and research management committees. She is also very active off campus, whether presenting at provincial and international meetings for the Alberta Introductory Biology Association and the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society or judging the local science fair and volunteering for the local Animal Care Committee.

She said throughout her years as a teacher, she finds everything boils down to one basic principle.  "I find whenever you get a bunch of educators in one room, it all comes back to no matter what or where you teach, you all have similar obstacles you need to overcome, or things you need to celebrate."

The celebration for her will begin with a conference in Montreal next month, culminating with the award presentation on June 21st.

(Story by:  Greg Garbutt, with contribution from MHC)

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Alberta Health Services says a whooping cough outbreak is affecting several communities in the South Zone, including Medicine Hat.

Local Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Vivien Suttorp, said there are similar outbreaks going on south of the border in Washington and Montana right now.  She adds it's hard to know exactly how many cases are out there, since the disease affects age groups differently.  "That will lead to mild disease in older children and adults, and more significant disease in young children and infants," she said.  "Thus the reporting of a total number of cases is under-reported.  If we see one case that's confirmed, there could be 10 others out there that may not come for medical attention."

Suttorp says the disease is cyclical and usually shows up every three to five years.  The last time Medicine Hat and area experienced an outbreak was back in 2009.  This was mainly due to lower immunization levels in the area.  "We have a large population who don't immunize and then it spreads within that population," said Suttorp.  "Then it may spread beyond non-immunizing groups."

The first case showed up about a month ago in a small community, but has since spread.  Most of the cases being reported right now are in Medicine Hat, Bow Island, Taber, Vauxhall and Raymond.

(Story by: CJOC)

For the 16th year in a row, thousands of people from across the province and the country will converge on Medicine Hat for one week of music, entertainment and special events.

The annual Medicine Hat Jazz Fest will take place from June 18-24, and boasts some of the best musicians playing at several different venues across the city.

Organizer Lyle Rebbeck said one important factor in keeping a successful festival running is consistency.  "We've established a trust with our audiences," he said.  "We try to bring back a few people that have recognizable names, we try to bring in some new names.  Above all, we try to keep a consistency."

With the cancellation of the annual Jazz Fest in Calgary, Medicine Hat now holds the title of being the longest-running consecutive festival in the province.  Rebbeck believes it is important to keep focus because there is a danger in wanting to grow the festival too large too fast.  "There were years there where the temptation was there to bring in big names," he said.  "I think we're past that.  We've seen what that approach can do to a festival, you can risk your whole festival."

Here are some of the names you can look forward to seeing next month: