Reflecting on a national symposium by the Rideau Hall Foundation and Michener Awards, urging sustained support to strengthen local journalism and democracy.

Alberta will pay 95 million to Evolve Power, returning the Chinook and Greenfield coal leases to the Crown. The province says it will not lease the lands again. In the Pass, Chinook is off the table while Grassy Mountain exploration continues under AER conditions.

Two advocates seek to finalise a bylaw creating ARCH, a committee to recruit and retain health care providers in the Crowsnest Pass. A Nov. 25 delegation is planned.

Alberta introduced Bill 2, the Back to School Act, to end the Oct. 6 teachers’ strike affecting about 750,000 students. ATA says it stifles legal action and ignores class size and supports. Plan offers 12 per cent over four years and hires more staff. Classes could resume as early as Oct. 29.

A column linked Canadian Thanksgiving with Ukraine’s Obzhynky, stressed gratitude for farmers and nature, recalled Holodomor remembrance in Canada, and closed with a family harvest and wishes for prosperity.

After 26 years, the Pass Herald is modernizing: a new website built locally with Colour Infusion, web ads, and a Dec. 1 e-edition via Local Ink. A “Pass the Popcorn” podcast is coming. The publisher continues AWNA advocacy, co-ops, and the Google ad lawsuit.

CCHS science teacher Ryan Peebles received a Regional Certificate of Achievement in the 2025 Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence, recognizing his student-centred approach and dedication to rural education.

Kinnear challenges removal of a healthy, century old Blairmore cottonwood, saying the park path could have curved to save it. Calls for a heritage tree inventory and council review process after more utility tree cuts, including a 19th Street cottonwood and firs felled in 2022.

MLA Peter Guthrie said the UCP set a constrained AHS procurement review that left key questions unanswered, citing evidence limits and absent witnesses in the Wyant process. He tied concerns to his Feb. 25 resignation and urged a full public inquiry.

Crowsnest Trails and the Alberta Hiking Association marked the completion of the 1.5 kilometre Allison Falls Trail with a celebration walk after an 18 month build that began in spring 2024 and wrapped in October 2025. The route links the Atlas Staging Area to Rainbow Road, with options to continue to the Allison Creek Fish Hatchery or Allison Chinook Lake, and features a new bridge and lookout at the base of the falls. 

For the Pass Herald, a paid subscription newspaper that has delivered trusted local reporting for generations, the strike is more than a temporary inconvenience.

This story started with an invitation by my brother to go to the Middle Kootenay Pass to my father’s favourite huckleberry patch and where he had buried dad’s ashes some years ago.

A volunteer-led clay program at the Crowsnest Pass Health Centre’s long-term care unit was described by volunteer Cori MacGregor and volunteer coordinator Madison Hayley as creative, adaptable and dependent on community help.

One of my favorite family traditions is the annual mushroom picking time. My grandmother lived in a region of Ukraine with abundant forests, and mushroom picking was a common activity for the locals.

The sorrow surrounding this search is deep, and as of this writing the outcome remains unknown.

Change should not be seen only in terms of what might be lost, but also in the opportunities and benefits our community stands to gain. 

Recent preprint on selenium in Crowsnest Lake questioned for overselling risk and overlooking modern regulations .

The 10th annual Amazing Teen Race brought together 100 youth, more than 100 volunteers and local sponsors for a milestone event

The celebrations were the brain child of Ron Hungar, a Bellevue native who had worked in the mines.