By Beacon student-reporter Elizabeth Sande

By the end of 2008 a Canadian Cancer Society survey found that 18% of Canadians, 15 years or older, were smokers. Most of these smokers are educated about the health issues that come with every inhale from the time they start primary school. What most people do not know is that smokeless tobacco can be just at lethal. Spit tobacco can cause mouth and throat cancer. Continue Reading

RCMP are warning residents of Airdrie about a young man with a scheme to scam people out of their money.  Claiming he is unable to access his own account, a young male has been attempting to get people to deposit his pay cheques into their accounts in return for cash.  Should the prey fall for his story and agree to help, they learn from their banks that the cheques are not valid. Continue Reading

Craig Chandler, left, and candidate Mark Dyrholm of the Wildrose Alliance Party

Leadership candidate Mark Dyrholm and Craig Chandler, his strategy manager, have come out throwing haymakers in the final days of the fight for the Wildrose Alliance leadership.  They say certain Alberta journalists are too close to candidate Danielle Smith and they’re not afraid to name names.  Ms. Smith has received more favourable coverage from certain media, they say, because some of the reporters and managers involved are card-carrying members of the Wildrose Alliance Party.  Many in the media consider it a serious breach of journalistic ethics to belong to a political party because it creates a perception of bias and a lack of objectivity. Continue Reading

Campers join KCCFA founder Christine Wandzura to cut the ribbon marking the official opening of Camp Kindle.

Children in Alberta stricken with cancer will now be able to attend a camp of their own following the purchase of a recreation area by The Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta (KCCFA).  Camp Kindle is a 160 acre camp situated in the Foothills 83 km northwest of Calgary. With a price tag of $2.2 million the camp includes natural features such as a pond and forest, and top-notch camp amenities including stables, a craft cottage, and music hall. Continue Reading

Elizabeth Sande, student-reporter

On Wednesday Oct 7th, the Standing Policy Committee on Utilities and Environment, are meeting to hear recommendations for a pesticide bylaw. Calgary is the largest municipality in Canada without a pesticide regulation. As of Sept 2008, 133 municipalities passed the bylaw, with eleven other municipalities in the process of passing it.  Continue Reading

Harry Chase, MLA Calgary Varsity

On Wednesday in Red Deer, Harry Chase announced the “Safe Kids Save Dollars” campaign at the Annual General Meeting for the Alberta Association for Children and Families.  Mr. Chase, the official opposition critic for Children and Youth Services, encouraged delegates to lobby Premier Ed Stelmach’s government to avoid funding cuts to vital services for at-risk Alberta youth. Continue Reading

Jonathan Denis, MLA, Calgary Egmont

SE Calgary seniors are going to be much happier January 1st, 2010 when the Alberta government’s new pharmaceutical plan kicks in.  About 60 per cent of seniors will enjoy lower or no prescription drug costs. Continue Reading