Eight people have been arrested after Dawson Creek RCMP conducted a three month project, targeting street level cocaine dealers in the community.  Between November of last year and January of this year, RCMP say they were able to purchase cocaine or heroin a total of 24 times, from 14 different people. A total of 13 charges of either trafficking cocaine or possession for the purpose of trafficking have been laid against the accused, who range in age from 21 to 57.   They have all been released with conditions, with no court dates announced as of yet.  Police add they plan to charge another six people in relation to this investigation.

Grande Prairie Catholic School District will hold their second and final community consultation tonight, concerning the new K-9 school that will be built in Royal Oaks.  The two story school will house up to 700 students and will be modeled after Westmount school in Okotoks.  School board officials are looking for input as to what areas the school will serve, and what kind of programs should be offered in the school.  The meeting begins at 7pm tonight in the library of Mother Teresa school.

With the chefs lined up and the secret ingredient revealed, the stage is set for the second ever Top Dino Chef Competition set for August. The five chefs, including the 2012 winner Shaun Paton, will be preparing 150 servings of dishes that must include locally sourced honey. Paton, who is the executive chef at the Stonebridge Hotel, says even though he has the advantage of experience, this year’s competition will be different from the last.

“In 2012 we kind of catered to 1000 people and there was really no cap on how many pieces we could provide or how many different ways we could prepare it. This year’s a little bit different, we’re only providing 150 pieces, so we’re going to be on our A game for sure.”

One of the new competitors is Bryan Theaker, Executive Chef for Padrino’s. Theaker says it’s a great opportunity for him and other chefs in the area.

“I haven’t been to too many competitions, there aren’t too many avenues for us here in Grande Prairie to really show our stuff aside from, you know, what we get paid to do in our own restaurant so, it’s good to get more recognition.”

The competition is set for August 8 at the VIP Garden Party reception, part of the festivities of the Dino Ball ribbon cutting weekend.

The proposed December 1st opening of the Philip J Currie Dinosaur museum is facing some crucial time deadlines in the coming weeks. Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative Executive Director Brian Brake says financial commitments have to be made by May 25th to start the exhibit castings, and by June 1st to have all of the museum displays purchased and installed.

“We need to get the work on the displays out there, so that we can identify a fabricator, and get that work started.  That is 3.5 million dollars for the work, and if we do not get it started, it is not going to be finished on time.”

Brake suggested the museum opening could be pushed back to June of next year, if work on the displays does not start soon.

Back in December, the County forecast a 3 percent increase in residential property taxes due to what they thought would be higher market values for homes within their borders. On Wednesday they finalized their 2014 budget, and the actual tax increase for residences will come in a 2.9 percent. Non residential properties may also see a small increase depending on market assessments, while farmland will see no tax increase. Reeve Leanne Beaupre says this continues with their commitment to keep taxes as low as possible.

“We did see growth in the area and we continue to provide quality of life and the investment in our community that they bring for us, while also striving to maintain that reasonable rate for the taxpayer as well.”

An average home in the County, assessed at 315 thousand dollars, would see an overall tax increase of 55 dollars for the year, or around $4.58 a month.