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July 28, 2010
A local mother is speaking out after a woman charged with manslaughter was released on 500 dollars bail.
Day home worker Erin Jackman is accused in the death of a 19 month old Medicine Hat toddler.
Thea Hirsche just pulled her daughter out of a day home operated by the same company that owns the facility where the toddler was fatally injured last week.
The mother admits she is appalled by our legal system for letting the accused woman walk free.
But the Crown Prosecutor's office says bail was appropriate because the accused was not a flight risk and doesn't have a previous record.
Jackman was released on strict conditions that include no contact with children under 12 and only supervised visits with her own children.
She is charged with manslaughter and failing to provide the necessities of life.
Her next court date is September 14th.
Meanwhile, autopsy results on the body of the 18 month old victim indicate she died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.
Police say they believe it was not an accident but do not know if a weapon was involved.
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A 26 year old man from Bashaw will be in Brooks court this morning to answer to charges of robbery with violence stemming from two incidents in Brooks late Monday night.
RCMP say the Heritage Inn and Suites and the 7-11 on 2nd street west in Brooks were held up by a man late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
A suspect was arrested a few minutes after the 7-11 robbery.
Justin Whynott of Bashaw is charged with 2 counts of robbery with violence, uttering a death threat, failing to comply with a probation order and impaired care and control of a motor vehicle.
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The Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede moves into high gear today with the opening of the grounds and midway at noon.
Travis Tritt will kick off the night show entertainment this evening.
The annual Stampede parade will start at 9 am tomorrow.
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A nine-year-old boy has died after falling from the 28th floor of a downtown highrise building in Calgary.
Officers were called to the building at about 2 p.m. yesterday afternoon.
Emergency crews found the boy dead in the building's back alley.
Police believe the fall was an accident.
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Saskatchewan officials hope to roll out more Wi-Fi hotspots for campsites within provincial parks.
Mary-Anne Wihak, the head of visitor services for Saskatchewan parks, says it's not unusual for people looking for a wilderness experience to enjoy modern services.
In Saskatchewan, only Cypress Hills Inter-Provincial Park, a shared park with Alberta, has wireless internet capability.
Wihak says service should be installed at Moose Mountain Provincial Park by the summer of 2011. She says adding Wi-Fi to more locations is under consideration.
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The union that represents Environment Canada meteorologists says the Winnipeg forecast centre needs more staff to get warnings about severe weather out faster.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada says cuts in recent years have left just three meteorologists working days in Winnipeg and two overnight.
A tornado touched down about 30 kilometres northeast of the city Monday night and people in the area say a twister warning should have been issued much faster.
But Environment Canada spokeswoman Christine Best says super computers are being used more, and there's no concern about a staff shortage at the forecast level.
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A big Canadian bank is launching a Prairie-wide program to help flood victims deal with cash flow problems.
The Bank of Montreal says clients can apply for deferred principal payments, or have their fees waived on new loan applications or renewals.
B-M-O says the move compliments federal and provincial aid, as well as crop insurance and excess moisture programs.
The program will run until November 2011 to give farmers time to market a portion of next year's crop.
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An Alberta woman has launched a Facebook campaign that proudly promotes ranches, rodeos and oil rigs as the backbone of the province's culture.
Tayla Fraser of Bassano says she's sick and tired of environmentalists and animal rights activists who take what she calls potshots at the Alberta way of life.
She says her online campaign has collected more than 16-hundred members in two weeks.
Fraser doesn't plan to hog-tie her campaign to the Internet.
She's expanding it to include a line of t-shirts.
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A wildfire is threatening hundreds of homes in Kamloops, B-C.
As many as 150 people have been evacuated from a trailer park on the eastern edge of the city and hundreds more residents of area suburbs are on standby.
The fire broke out last night and Kamloops Fire Captain Sheldon Guertin says the blaze tripled in size within hours.
It's now burning about 30 hectares of steep grasslands and bush.
Guertin says they're developing a plan for helicopter water drops or other air support.
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A union spokesman says they knew this day was coming, but it doesn't make the end any easier.
Today marks the last shift at the General Motors transmission plant in Windsor, Ontario.
CAW Local president Bill Reeves says it's tough on the 500 workers who will lose their jobs.
G-M has a 90 year history in Windsor, but today's closure is the end of the line.
The automaker's trim plant there shut down a couple of years ago.
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A pillar of traditional culture is falling in Spain's Catalonia region.
Animal rights activists are celebrating after lawmakers there voted to outlaw bullfighting.
It's the first major region to ban the centuries-old ballet between matador and beast.
The ban takes effect in 2012.
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