The Everything Red Deer Podcast: Revisiting rdnewsNOW’s top local NEWS stories of 2025

JANUARY

January 7 – For the fourth time in nine days, a vehicle falls through the ice on Sylvan Lake. The RCMP had previously put out a warning to keep vehicles off the lake.

January 9 – Five people are sent to hospital after explosions inside a school bus mechanic shop near downtown Red Deer. There were no fatalities, but reports came out that guests at the nearby homeless shelter assisted medical staff at the time of the incident.

January 16 – Injunction granted to maintain hours at Red Deer’s overdose prevention site. The site would eventually close April 1, but an application on multiple Charter grounds to reverse the decision stayed in the courts through August. That application was ultimately denied.

January 17 – CHUB BIG105 radio marks 25 years on the air in Red Deer with names like Peter Michaels still on the air on CFDV 106.7 REWIND Radio!

January 17 – Dangerous blizzard conditions lead to 149 collisions around the province on Jan. 16 and 17, with winds in Red Deer reaching 100 km/h.

January 27 – Red Deer-based Peavey Industries, which operates more than 90 Peavey Mart locations, announces it will close all of them. In late 2025, the company reopened several locations, including in Lacombe.

FEBRUARY

February 12 – Claude Lapalme, longtime face of the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, receives a second Juno nomination for his work on Marie Hubert’s Fille du Roy album.

February 13 – Red Deer-North MLA Adriana LaGrange is named in a $1.7 million lawsuit filed by former AHS CEO Athena Mentzelopoulos.

February 13 – ASIRT says there was no wrongdoing by officers in relation to an April 2023 shooting at a home in Anders which left one man dead.

February 14 – It’s reported that a Red Deer man is facing child exploitation charges in Florida. 30-year-old James Hjelmeland now faces trial in February 2026 in Florida.

February 14 – Red Deer Polytechnic announces it is suspending five programs to address a projected $10 million deficit. Programs being halted are the administrative professional certificate, the executive assistant diploma, the human resources management post-baccalaureate certificate, the pre-health sciences certificate, and the university transfer bachelor of education.

MARCH

March 4 – Following concerns from students, Red Deer Polytechnic responds to allegations of utilizing an artificial intelligence professor, saying they do not use AI instructors to teach any courses.

March 10 – Nova Chemicals, which operates a massive plant in Joffre, Alberta, north of Red Deer, is acquired as part of an international merger between Austria-based OMV, and Abu Dhabi-based National Oil Company. The deal is worth $13.4 billion.

March 17 – A Red Deer company is awarded just shy of $7 million for a defence contract to provide Canada with top-tier radar technology for securing the Arctic.

March 21 – Red Deer is awarded $12 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund to fast-track investments over the next three years. But the stipulation that the city approve what’s called four-as-of-right doesn’t sit well with many residents, and in July, council says thanks, but no thanks for the funding.

APRIL

April 3 – RCMP said they had located human remains in the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary. It wasn’t until September they had been identified as those of 22-year-old Caden Worme, of Red Deer. Police would go on to say his death was non-suspicious.

April 5 – rdnewsNOW reports on the Government of Alberta making the AISH top-up exempt, despite Ottawa asking provinces not to do so, all resulting in AISH recipients missing out on a $200 federal boost.

April 12 – RCMP Major Crimes charge and issue a warrant for a 21-year-old man in a homicide in Red Deer that they allege occurred March 10. The victim was identified as 23-year-old Mandeep Kaur. The accused continues to have a warrant out for his arrest.

April 16 – Red Deer Polytechnic receives a $600,000 donation from RBC Foundation to support Energy Test Hub.

April 25 – A former rodeo athlete from Red Deer, now 29-years-old, is sentenced to four years in jail for a sexual assault which occurred in June 2020.

April 28 – Dr. Sarah Walton, a beloved physician-in-training, and her mother Lucy Walton, are killed in a crash west of Sylvan Lake. The two women, 29- and 58-years-old, were from Rocky Mountain House.

April 24 – More than $100,000 is raised for the family of Josh Reimer, a local teacher who passed away two days prior in a two-vehicle collision south of Bentley. Reimer was a Grade 7-9 teacher at Rimbey Christian School.

April 28 – Local businessman and former executive assistant to Adriana LaGrange, Burton Bailey is elected for the federal riding of Red Deer, representing the Conservative Party of Canada. He beats out Penhold Mayor Mike Yargeau, and Red Deer Public Schools board chair Nicole Buchanan, both of whom return to their positions.

MAY

May 26 – The City of Red Deer announces it will seek a new operator for Red Deer’s Heritage Ranch area. They say the operator has not met the obligations of their contract. While the operator, Joel Martens, says he’s shocked, the city says their goal is to bring in a new operator as soon as possible.

May 30 – Red Deer Emergency Services responds to a large fire in the area of West Park. Three townhomes were destroyed, with significant damage to a fourth. Investigation determines two kids were playing with a lighter under one of the home’s back decks. No one was hurt.

May 30 – Our most read story of the year: Red Deer RCMP issued a public notice that they had found a young boy alone near a local high school, and that they were searching for the child’s parents. Later that night, the parents had been located.

JUNE

June 11 – A crash just west of Castor claims the life of a 79-year-old Red Deer senior. RCMP say a truck driving eastbound on Highway 12 veered into oncoming traffic and collided with an SUV.

June 11 – A pharmacist who practiced in Red Deer has his registration revoked by the Alberta College of Pharmacy due to unprofessional conduct.

June 13 – Red Deer Polytechnic receives a $200,000 donation from central Alberta’s Vellner family.

June 18 – A 31-year-old man from Penhold is charged with manslaughter in connection to the death of a 39-year-old man, following an alleged hit and run in Blackfalds two days prior.

June 23 – Following the departure of Nathan Cooper, the UCP’s Tara Sawyer is elected MLA in a by-election for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills. The by-election was one of three that took place in June, which also featured for the first time, the Republican Party of Alberta.

June 26 – Carnival Cinemas announces it will relocate downtown, to what was most recently the Welikoklad Event Centre, but also the former home of the Uptown Theatre.

JULY

July 6 – A passenger dies in a helicopter crash west of Red Deer, near Eckville. The victim is identified as a 54-year-old woman from Benalto. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which notes the pilot suffered serious injuries, continues to investigate.

July 7 – Red Deer prepares to feature on the season premiere of The Amazing Race Canada.

July 8 – A central Alberta company near Gull Lake is fined in connection to a workplace fatality which occurred in November 2022. Delta Land Co. pleads guilty to one count under the Occupational Health and Safety Code and is fined $350,000.

July 14 – Central Albertans remember the Pine Lake tornado, 25 years after it devastated a local campground and took the lives of 12 people, making it the second deadliest tornado in Alberta history.

July 11 – News gets out that the provincial government is planning to double the width of the QEII Highway as it passes Red Deer, causing it to cut through Maskepetoon Park and precious wetlands. The province says the aging bridges must be replaced, adding they are committed to making sure the environmental impact is minimal.

July 15 – More than 450 people attend the first Alberta Next Panel meeting in Red Deer.

July 20 – Who the heck is Bonnie Critchley? Pierre Poilievre’s primary foe emerges in the federal by-election for Battle River-Crowfoot, east of Red Deer. Poilievre, the CPC leader, goes on to a landslide win.

July 22 – An independent investigation finds corruption allegations at Red Deer County are unsubstantiated.

July 24 – Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), with support from Red Deer RCMP, seize illegal cigarettes worth $602,000 from a Red Deer home.

AUGUST

August 13 – Charges are laid against 33-year-old Ryan Allan Bell in connection to a crash that happened two days prior. The crash kills 46-year-old Shelley Thornton, a treasurer with CUPE 417 and City of Red Deer employee for over a decade in municipal policing services. In October, Bell is sentenced to 10 years in jail for criminal negligence causing death, accident resulting in death, housebreak commit theft, and assault.

August 14 – Turning Point Society, which has been serving some of Red Deer’s most vulnerable for 37 years, announces it is losing all provincial funding, effective Nov. 1. The provincial government says all its services will be transferred to other providers.

August 15 – A Red Deer man was sentenced to four years in jail for his role in a June 2024 incident where he fled police during a traffic stop, but was later arrested, and found with various amounts of drugs, as well as weapons and cash.

August 22 – A 27-year-old Red Deerian is killed while riding a motorcycle at 77 Street and Keast Way. The collision, which also involved a truck, also sends a 30-year-old woman to hospital.

August 27 – More than 400 people attend the Alberta NDP’s ‘Better Together’ town hall in Red Deer.

August 29 – Two Red Deer families share their grief following a fatal dirtbike accident which happened in an alleyway behind Erickson Drive. A 32-year-old man is deceased, and a 29-year-old woman is sent to hospital.

August 30 – One person dies in a collision on Highway 2A, north of Red Deer. The victim is identified as a 48-year-old motorcyclist; the driver of the SUV which collided with him is identified as an 18-year-old woman. The teen is eventually charged with impaired driving.

SEPTEMBER

September 5 – Francis the Pig statue re-revealed downtown.

September 9 – A new superintendent is hired at Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools, but it’s revealed she was the subject of a grievance at the school division she left in Kamloops, British Columbia.

September 10 – Red Deer-based Fire and Flood Emergency Services announces expansion to California.

September 11 – A Sylvan Lake volunteer football coach is removed from his position because of a social media post about quote — “transgender ideology.” A month later, Teej Johannesson is elected to Sylvan Lake town council.

September 11 – Habitat for Humanity Red Deer breaks ground on its 51st home, this time on Adamson Avenue.

September 18 – A Blackfalds resident is charged after allegedly stealing over $500,000 from their employer.

September 20 – A powerful citizenship ceremony in Red Deer welcomes 111 new Canadians.

September 25 – RCMP seek public assistance to locate a suspect believed to have robbed a downtown bank. Alberta Mounties later linked the suspect to incidents in Banff and Airdrie.

OCTOBER

October 1 – Red Deer records its sixth driest September in 112 years, with just 5.8 mm of rain.

October 6 – A man is charged after targeting three Co-op gas bars – one in Deer Park, another in Eastview, and a third downtown. The 20-year-old from Innisfail is charged with one count of robbery and two counts of theft under $5,000.

October 20 – Longtime city councillor Cindy Jefferies becomes mayor of Red Deer, taking over from the retiring Ken Johnston. New mayors are also elected in Lacombe, Blackfalds and Red Deer County.

October 25 – Red Deer’s Beamish family makes a generous donation of $2.3 million to four local organizations — the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation, Gaetz Memorial United Church, Red Deer Hospice Society, and the Golden Circle Senior Resource Centre.

October 29 – Kimberley Goddard, KC, is set to return to Red Deer as a judge of the Alberta Court of Justice. Goddard is from Red Deer, and began her career as an articling student in Edmonton.

October 30 – Red Deer students walk out in support of teachers, who had just been forced back to work by the provincial government’s use of the Nothwithstanding Clause.

NOVEMBER

November 3 – The new Red Deer city council is sworn in. It includes Mayor Cindy Jefferies, plus councillors Bruce Buruma, Adam Goodwin, Tristin Brisbrois, Dianne Wyntjes, Cassandra Curtis, Chad Krahn, Jaelene Tweedle, and Kraymer Barnstable.

November 8 – A Ponoka County woman is cleared of wrongdoing in relation to a previously reported horse theft.

November 13 – Red Deer sets a new temperature record, hitting a daytime high of 16.8 degrees Celsius. The old record was 15.0 degrees and was set in 1946.

November 17 – Red Deer RCMP charge a 23-year-old employee of a Telus store at Bower Place Shopping Centre for allegedly distributing intimate images.

November 25 – Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan says a recall petition quote — “will fail.” The organizer has until February 23, 2026 to collect 14,508 signatures.

November 25 – Red Deer arts and culture groups are dissatisfied with how the municipality doled out its community culture development fund grant for 2025. The city says it received far more than usual applications. Two weeks later, city council increases the grant’s annual budget by $150,000 during capital and operating budget debate.

November 26 – Sunchild First Nation purchases the former BMO property in downtown Red Deer, which will become home to their Child and Family Services department.

DECEMBER

December 5 – Chartered surgical facilities in Red Deer and Lethbridge are cancelled, the provincial government shares. The decision, says Minister Matt Jones, is based on the time elapsed since the proponent was selected, and changing economic circumstances.

December 5 – Red Deer-North MLA Adriana LaGrange has recall petition launched against her. The organizer has until March 5, 2026 to collect 11,174 signatures. LaGrange and fellow Red Deer MLA Jason Stephan are two of 21 MLAs facing recall, with 20 of those being United Conservatives. The total becomes 26 MLAs on Dec. 23.

December 9 – Three people are charged following a significant drug and weapons seizure in Red Deer. Officers find fentanyl, cocaine, crystal meth, GHB, unstamped cigarettes, and $12,000.

December 9 – Red Deer city council approves a 3.97 per cent property tax increase – down from the initially proposed 7.36 per cent.

December 15 – After much outcry throughout the year, and dating back to before 2025, the City of Red Deer opts to move away from dynamic staffing within Red Deer Emergency Services.

December 15 – Red Deer sets an all-time temperature record hitting 11.8 degrees Celsius, just beating the old record of 11.7, which was set in 1962.

December 19 – It’s learned that Hope Mission will take over operations of Red Deer’s homeless shelter from longtime operator Safe Harbour.

by Josh Hall | @Vancan19