A pedestrian's critical fight and a parasite's grip on the watershed — Calgary, May 29

A man lies hospitalized in critical condition after being struck by a vehicle that fled the scene Thursday night in Ogden, the kind of sudden violence that reminds the city how quickly a life can pivot. Emergency crews responded to 25 Street and 76 Avenue SE around 9 p.m., but the driver did not remain. Police have no description of the suspect vehicle or driver, leaving investigators and the man's family in the dark.

The hit-and-run unfolded as Calgary police are also renewing their appeal to identify a man involved in an indecent act near a Whitehorn playground last December. The incident, reported around 12:45 p.m. on December 12, involved an intoxicated man engaging in inappropriate behaviour near children. Witnesses told police he may have been recording with a phone. The renewed appeal suggests leads have stalled and frustration has deepened.

Beyond the city, whirling disease—a microscopic parasite that devastates young fish populations—has been confirmed in the McLeod River, triggering a federal order that designates the entire Athabasca watershed in central Alberta as a contamination zone. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's declaration covers 159,000 square kilometres and represents a cascading threat to fisheries and ecosystems across the region. The parasite attacks the cartilage and nervous system of juvenile fish, and its arrival marks a turning point for water management in the foothills.

For those seeking lighter relief, the Bleriot Ferry—one of Alberta's last surviving cable ferries—opened its summer season May 1 near Drumheller along the North Dinosaur Trail. The ferry has been shuttling people across the Red Deer River since 1913, free of charge, and will operate through October. It's the kind of small continuity that anchors a region: a 113-year-old cable and a seven-minute crossing that connects one bank to another, unbothered by the crises that move around it.

The week's tensions sit uneasily together—immediate violence in the city, ecological threat in the watershed, and a small ferry still doing what it has done for generations.