St. Albert news

• Cougar shot outside of elementary school in Rocky Mountain House

  23-06-2017 23:32 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Rocky Mountain House RCMP officers shot and killed a cougar with a single bullet outside of an elementary school only a few hours before students were expected to arrive.
  A witness called the RCMP after seeing a cougar walking down Main Street at 4:20 a.m. Friday, just a few blocks west of École Rocky Elementary School at 4703 50 Ave.
  Recognizing the cougar posed a significant risk to the community, officers quickly tracked down the animal.
  The cougar then climbed into a tree near É
  
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• Officials seek to calm fears over dramatic new transit strategy

  23-06-2017 23:06 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Transit officials sounded a note of caution Friday to calm jitters over what would be the largest transit overhaul in more than 20 years.
  “It doesn’t end here. All the stuff you’re seeing is conceptual planning,” said Eddie Robar, Edmonton’s head of transit.
  “We’re going to be going out to communities, to the people impacted by these changes in their neighbourhood,” said Robar, promising a new series of area-based consultation to finalize both loca
  
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• Jones: Russell signing shows Oilers all in to win sooner than later

  23-06-2017 22:55 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Fancy-stat fans absolutely detest the deal.
  Eyeball fans unquestionably like it. *
  (*Well, maybe all but the four-year part.)
  Thirty-year-old defenceman Kris Russell has signed a four-year, US$16-million extension with the Edmonton Oilers.
  I’m an eyeball guy, and I see Russell blocking 213 shots and playing a lot of tough minutes well. And I see a team that is now playing to go all the way with everybody around him, players, coaches and general manager believing him to be an important piec
  
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• Edmonton Oilers sign Kris Russell to four-year contract worth $4-million per season

  23-06-2017 21:50 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The Edmonton Oilers have signed defenceman Kris Russell to a four-year contract worth $4-million per season.
  Russell, 30, was due to become an unrestricted agent on July 1. The Caroline, Alta., native joined the Oilers late in training camp last October when the National Hockey League club signed him to a one-year deal worth US$3.1-million.
  With Top 4 defenceman Andrej Sekera out of the lineup long-term with a knee injury suffered in the playoffs, the Oilers were looking to bring Russell back an
  
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• City hires structural engineers to look at widening High Level Bridge

  23-06-2017 21:36 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The City of Edmonton just hired structural engineers to evaluate if it’s possible to widen the more than 100-year-old High Level Bridge for cyclists and pedestrians.
  Pedestrians are feeling threatened by cyclists, especially as they cross on the narrow east side, and city officials say they are looking at all options as they prepare for a bridge for regularly-scheduled rehabilitation.
  “It’s a technical feasibility investigation,” said Jason Meliefste, branch manager for i
  
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• The return of Kris Russell to Edmonton Oilers' blueline is defensible, but for FOUR years?

  23-06-2017 21:17 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  It’s official:Coming as it does on the heels of the Jordan Eberle-for-Ryan Strome trade, some are parsing it that the cap savings from that deal have been passed on, with interest, to Kris Russell. That doesn’t account for the fact that Russell himself was already on the payroll at a $3.1 MM cap hit, which from a budgeting perspective means $900 K in “new money” over and above the existing structure. That’s a cool 30% raise, which is significant, but by far the bigg
  
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• Quality delivers better results than quantity, no matter what the magazine says

  23-06-2017 21:04 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Tighten muscle and lose fat now with these revolutionary new exercises.
  With summer comes a hot list of innovative exercises that flood print and video (much the same for fall and winter by the way). That’s 10 new exercises you aren’t currently doing.
  Oh well, change everything or add 10 more movements to your existing list (then ask for time off work because your workout just passed the three-hour mark).  
  Just how many resistance exercises are too many?
  As with most thing
  
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• Post-Bowie, saxophonist Donny McCaslin is busy charting his own beyond-genre course

  23-06-2017 20:55 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Donny McCaslin already had an accomplished career before he became David Bowie’s bandleader. But when Bowie released his final album Blackstar on Jan. 8, 2016 and then died two days later, a lot of attention was suddenly directed toward the Brooklyn-based saxophonist who had helped shape the popstar’s last musical project.
  Some 18 months later, McCaslin has had “quite the experience” dealing with his sadness over the loss of someone who had become a friend and mentor, hum
  
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• Is the Kris Russell contract a win for the Edmonton Oilers?

  23-06-2017 20:51 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Twitter reacts to Russell contract: “Small price to pay to watch Oiler fandom go bananas on Twitter.”
  This in from TSN’s Ryan Rishaug at 8:00 a.m.: “Excellent chance Russell and the Oilers finalize a deal today. Expect the range to be 4m x 4 years. Hearing there will be a modified no trade as part of the Russell deal.”
  UPDATE at 11:35 a.m.: TSN’s Pierre LeBrun: “Kris Russell has signed his deal with the Oilers. Front loaded contract but as @TSNRyanR
  
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• A hypnotic desert walkabout

  23-06-2017 20:45
  
  It’s unclear where The Bad Batch resides on the cultural landscape of films. Is it purely for fans of post-apocalyptic fictions? Would it be better suited to viewers who enjoy hypnotic, intimate dramas of lost people trying to survive in a strange...
  
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• Edmonton vet convicted of animal mistreatment surrenders dogs

  23-06-2017 20:33 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  An Edmonton veterinarian convicted of mistreating two of his own dogs that he kept in his northeast clinic surrendered the animals to the City of Edmonton on Friday.
  The two dogs – a black Labrador retriever named Heza and a brindle Staffordshire terrier named Tiggor – were seized by bylaw officers who arrived at Dr. Jun Yang’s clinic in April 2016 to investigate allegations of mistreatment.
  Yang was arrested and charged in June 2016 with wilfully causing unnecessary pain, suff
  
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• Nineteen homeowners say property was damaged by infill excavation

  23-06-2017 19:52 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Nineteen homeowners complained to the city last year over damage to their property during an infill excavation.
  Two saw foundations cracked from vibration, five worried piles of dirt would cause flooding in their yards, two saw other damage to their property, three people complained neighbouring infill damaged sidewalks — but community league officials don’t think even that city list tells the full story. 
  “I don’t trust the data on that,” said Bev Zubot, plann
  
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• Wainwright-based soldier charged with child porn offences

  23-06-2017 19:33 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A Wainwright-based soldier is charged with child pornography related offences after a joint investigation by the province’s Internet Child Exploitation unit and the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.
  It’s alleged the man attempted to arrange to meet up with a Texas girl for sex, says a Friday news release from the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams. In March, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations based in Laredo, Texas, began the child luring probe.
  The accused — w
  
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• City to discuss details around transit network rethink

  23-06-2017 19:28 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The City of Edmonton is holding a presentation this afternoon on a draft plan that will radically reshape transit service.
  The details of the plan were first released Thursday.
  The new approach to transit will have a network of high-frequency routes in the core of the city with new crosstown routes and rapid-bus commuter routes for the suburbs.
  The report also includes sample community routes, which are simplified into more of a direct grid in each area. The strategy is scheduled to be debated&n
  
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• Kris Russell contract 4 years, $4 million per, modified no trade clause, insiders say

  23-06-2017 19:03 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Twitter reacts to coming Russell contract: “Small price to pay to watch Oiler fandom go bananas on Twitter.”
  This in from TSN’s Ryan Rishaug: “Excellent chance Russell and the Oilers finalize a deal today. Expect the range to be 4m x 4 years. Hearing there will be a modified no trade as part of the Russell deal.”
  And from TSN’s Pierre LeBrun: “Being finalized as we speak…”
  And from TVA’s Renaud Lavoie: “With the Jordan Eberl
  
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• Northeast suspicious death witness complains of bad tenants: 'They get drunk, get in fights'

  23-06-2017 18:59 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  City police are investigating a suspicious death of a man discovered Friday at a northeast Edmonton rental complex.
  Police arrived at the Parkridge Estates scene near 29 Street and 116 A Avenue around 7 a.m. and the homicide unit was called in.
  A command post has been set up in the area of the town home complex as officers investigate.
  Stephanie Faelker, who lives in the complex, said she believed the victim lived in the 200 block of the unit.
  A neighbour told her she saw two men enter the unit
  
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• Frustration after Edmonton meetings cancelled by inquiry into missing, murdered indigenous women and girls

  23-06-2017 17:25 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Advocates say they’re frustrated the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls hasn’t released more information following confirmation earlier in the week that meetings are cancelled in Edmonton.
  “To have all this delay is so disappointing and frustrating,” said Muriel Stanley Venne, president and founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women on Thursday. “All of us have been so anxious to get things done and resolve th
  
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• Meuwly's to feature hand-crafted charcuterie for Edmonton meat lovers

  23-06-2017 17:01 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  When people ask me to describe the local food community, I often explain its growth in terms of bench strength. In the last 10 to 15 years, our city has seen ever more food leaders move into the culinary rotation, adding to the overall complexity of the game in Edmonton.
  The city has a great culinary school in NAIT, churning out new talent for growing numbers of independent restaurants. New specialty retail, such as olive oil shops, cheese and fishmongers, artisanal bakeries and wine stores, ope
  
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• Police investigating north Edmonton suspicious death

  23-06-2017 16:51 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  City police are investigating a suspicious death discovered Friday in north Edmonton.
  Police arrived at the scene near 29 Street and 116 A Avenue around 7 a.m. 
  A command post has been set up in the area as officers investigate.
  The city has had 25 homicides to date, two of which Edmonton police are not counting as one involved an officer fatally shooting a suspect and the other is a fatal hit and run. 
  
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• Accused kidnapper handed prison sentence after admitting to unlawful confinement

  23-06-2017 16:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A man accused of a crime spree that included a kidnapping and leading Edmonton police on a high-speed chase apologized for his actions in court Thursday.
  Kemol Delano Creary, 28, was handed a four-year global sentence after entering guilty pleas in March to some of the numerous charges he faced. Though he did not admit to kidnapping, he pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible confinement, along with several other charges.
  With credit for time served, he has two years and eight months left to se
  
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• MacEwan sessional professors upset over exclusion from pay-grade vote

  23-06-2017 15:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  To Marco Katz Montiel and some of his fellow MacEwan University professors, a potential change affecting the pay grades of sessional instructors is not sitting well.
  At the MacEwan University Faculty Association’s last annual general meeting, its board put forward a motion that would, to varying degrees, standardize pay for sessional, contracted instructors.
  Some sessional professors, including Katz Montiel, an English instructor with a PhD, will see a pay increase if the change goes throu
  
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• Opinion: What happens to moderate conservatives in Alberta?

  23-06-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The end of the “progressive” Conservative Party in Alberta, caused by possibly uniting with the Wildrose party to form the United Conservative Party is reminiscent of a similar demise of the “Progressive” Conservative party nationally.
  Both did this to unite two parties and both seem likely to have their policies now moving away from much of the moderate approaches the progressives in these parties had in place in years gone by.
  In Alberta, this also seems to end the exis
  
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• Oilers GM happy to be selecting 22nd at NHL Entry Draft

  23-06-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  CHICAGO — The Edmonton Oilers have no choice but to lower their expectations heading into the first round of the NHL entry draft Friday night.
  And that’s fine by them.
  Drafting 22nd overall instead of first means the organization is finally heading in the right direction.
  “It’s good news-bad news that we’re at 22,” said Oilers General Manager Peter Chiarelli. “But I’m actually OK with it.”
  The scouts all agree that this year’s draft isn
  
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• Friday's letters: Don't waste money on risky park

  23-06-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Re. “Saving the city’s best valley view,” David Staples, June 21
  Let’s not throw money away on “The End of the World.”
  Let’s be sure that river bank is stable long-term before spending millions of dollars on a viewpoint. The design phase alone is expected to cost $440,000.
  The previous collapse — unforeseen by city engineers — was catastrophic. The upper section of Keillor Road is gone. The river is geologically active. Erosion is non-st
  
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• Activists frustrated after Edmonton meetings cancelled by inquiry into missing, murdered indigenous women and girls

  23-06-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Activists said Thursday they’re frustrated the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls hasn’t released more information following confirmation earlier in the week of the cancellation of meetings in Edmonton.
  “To have all this delay is so disappointing and frustrating,” said Muriel Stanley Venne, president and founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women on Thursday. “All of us have been so anxious to get things done
  
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• Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt launches 'United Liberty' group

  23-06-2017 06:47 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  “United Liberty” is the name Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt has given to a new group with the stated purpose of supporting the unification of the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties.
  Fildebrandt made the announcement Thursday at a town hall meeting in Strathmore discussing the proposed Wildrose-PC merger that would lead to the United Conservative Party.
  “First things first, we need to get a ‘yes’ to unity from grassroots Wildrose and PC members,” Fil
  
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• Nate Behar takes part in his first Eskimos practice

  23-06-2017 04:59 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  So, what’s it like for a rookie to dive into his first Canadian Football League practice after missing out on training camp?
  Nate Behar summed it up succinctly after donning the No. 82 and participating in his first test drive with the Edmonton Eskimos club that drafted him fifth overall in May.
  “A chicken with his head cut off,” the five-foot-11, 205-pound receiver out of Carleton said, smiling. “I haven’t put a helmet on in God knows how long, so that’s the
  
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• West Edmonton Mall water park hosts free swimming lesson in attempt to set record, promote safety

  23-06-2017 04:47 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Swimming pools around the world hoped to make a big splash into the Guinness World Records Thursday by hosting a free swimming lesson. 
  In its eighth year, the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson, held over a 24-hour period in more than 600 locations, aims to spread the message through a free introductory lesson that swimming lessons save lives.
  World Waterpark in West Edmonton Mall was the only Edmonton-area swimming pool to participate and one of four in Alberta. About 26 eager young sw
  
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• The biggest reason the Edmonton Oilers needed to trade Jordan Eberle

  23-06-2017 04:45 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Eberle had to go for his own good and the team’s good
  When Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli explained the Jordan Eberle trade, he gave a number of reasons for the trade: “It was a function of a number of different things. One, the chance to acquire a player like Ryan Strome. Two, no secret we have got to clear up some space to sign both Connorn (McDavid) and Leon (Draisaitl). And three, there are times that these deals come about and you have to act on them and we just felt it woul
  
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• 'It's a dramatic shift': Edmonton releases complete rethink of its transit network

  23-06-2017 03:01 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The City of Edmonton released a draft plan for the largest reworking of its bus network in decades, promising to focus on service that is “safe, fast, convenient and reliable.” 
  “It’s a dramatic shift. It feels like a complete rethink,” said Coun. Andrew Knack, going through the details for the first time after it was posted online late Thursday.
  The new approach to transit will have a network of high-frequency routes in the core of the city with new crosstown
  
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• Ryan Strome happy to be joining surging Oilers

  23-06-2017 02:57 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  CHICAGO — Just about every player who has ever been traded to the Edmonton Oilers has gone on and on about how excited he was to be coming to a young, fast and exciting team.
  And for a good 10 years there, during one losing season after another, most of them were lying.
  But as the Oilers embark on a new era, lead by a pair of young superstars and a state of the art downtown arena, newcomers don’t have to fake it anymore.
  Ryan Strome certainly isn’t.
  The 23-year-old former New Y
  
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• To chase or not to chase? Report details Edmonton police's high-speed pursuit policy

  23-06-2017 02:55 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Decades ago, a suspect fleeing the Edmonton police was typically met with lights, sirens and liberal application of the gas pedal.
  Now, it’s not so simple. 
  Helicopters, as well as lessons learned from deadly police chases, have changed how the force approaches so-called criminal flight events. 
  According to a report to the Edmonton Police Commission on Thursday, suspects in a vehicle fled police 804 times last year.
  Insp. Jonathan Coughlan said in those cases, officers
  
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• Contractor enters guilty plea in massive Windermere condo arson

  23-06-2017 02:43 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A contractor pleaded guilty to arson Thursday in relation to a blaze that razed a southwest Edmonton condo development, causing millions of dollars worth of damage.
  Dressed in a dark suit, Eric Gould arrived at court with his lawyer to enter the guilty plea to one count of arson.
  Gould, 31, was the framing contractor for the four-storey condo development being built in the Windermere neighbourhood, near 10 Avenue and 173 Street, by developer Cove Properties.
  According to an agreed statement of f
  
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• Edmonton homebuyers can compare energy efficiency using new online map

  23-06-2017 02:25 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Edmonton homebuyers have a new tool to learn how energy efficient a house is when they’re making their buying decision. The EnerGuide for Homes pilot program involves an evaluation where properties are assigned an EnerGuide rating for energy efficiency.
  An EnerGuide evaluation provides information about a dwelling’s energy performance that can be used to make decisions regarding operating, renovating or purchasing a home. Homeowners can sign up to share their energy rating and l
  
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• Terry Jones: McDavid and Draisaitl influence Eberle trade

  23-06-2017 02:17 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  It was a trade more about Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and John Tavares than about Jordan Eberle and Ryan Strome — the actual two players involved.
  Sooner or later it was a deal Peter Chiarelli had to make. Garth Snow didn’t have an option when it came to later.
  For Edmonton Oilers general manager Chiarelli, it was about clearing cap space to sign McDavid and Draisaitl to new long-term contracts. For New York Islanders GM Snow, it was finding a proven 20-25 goal per season offensiv
  
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• Man whose trial was stayed now in custody on assault charge

  23-06-2017 02:03 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A man who walked away free from an aggravated sexual assault trial last September is back behind bars.
  Blair Hinkley, 44, was arrested in Wetaskiwin on assault charges stemming from a June 8 incident at a rural residence in the County of Ponoka and is currently in custody, an RCMP K Division spokesman said Thursday.
  Hinkley was charged with aggravated sexual assault on Feb. 3, 2014. The charge was stayed Sept. 28 in Wetaskiwin as a result of the Supreme Court’s 2016 Jordan decision, which
  
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• Q and A: Stantec's incoming CEO has eye on international expansion

  23-06-2017 01:23 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The senior executive at Edmonton-based engineering services company Stantec is changing in the new year.
  Gord Johnston, currently executive vice-president of the infrastructure business unit, will take over as president and CEO when current president and CEO Bob Gomes retires at the end of 2017 after eight years leading the company. We spoke Thursday with Johnston about the upcoming transition.
  Where would you like to take the company as president and CEO?
  Now that we’ve got a global platf
  
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• Cap space biggest reason Oilers traded Jordan Eberle

  23-06-2017 01:04 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  CHICAGO — Rather than dancing around the issue and trying to pretend it was a talent-for-talent hockey trade, Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli got right to the truth, breaking down the Jordan Eberle-Ryan Strome trade to its simplest form:
  Six million dollars for $2.5 million dollars.
  Those are the 3.5 million reasons why Edmonton moved Eberle to the New York Islanders for a 23-year-old right winger/centre with 21 goals over the last two seasons.
  There is also a hockey component in th
  
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• Major new transit strategy for Edmonton released Thursday

  23-06-2017 00:58 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The City of Edmonton released a draft plan for the largest reworking of its bus network in decades, promising to focus on service that is “safe, fast, convenient and reliable.” 
  The map posted at edmonton.ca late Thursday outlines a new network of high-frequency routes in the core of the city with new crosstown routes and rapid bus commuter routes for the suburbs. The report also includes sample community routes.
  The strategy will be debated July 5 at council’s urban plann
  
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• Judges aim to launch special court to handle high volume of those with mental health issues

  23-06-2017 00:36 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  People suffering from mental illness and neurological issues accused of crimes may be appearing before a specialized court in Edmonton by this fall, provincial court officials told the Edmonton Police Commission on Thursday.
  Assistant Chief Judge Larry Anderson said the provincial court has been working for about a year to establish a mental health court that will better consider the needs of the mentally ill and conditions such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
  “Over time, a large numbe
  
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• Update by city hall includes new Jasper Avenue construction dates, LRT train cab photos

  23-06-2017 00:31 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Turning Jasper Avenue into a festival street, re-routing buses and finalizing construction of bike lanes across the city — city officials had lots to share in an alternative-transportation update Thursday.
  Edmonton Transit shared renderings for three transit stations that will be completely reworked with new architectural designs, public washrooms and heated seating areas starting this summer. And TransEd shared photos of the first new Valley Line LRT train cab.
  Bombardier shared a photo o
  
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• Bless Viewing Platform Closed due to Safety Concerns

  23-06-2017 00:26
  Preliminary Assessment Recommends City Close Platform The City of St. Albert has closed the Big Lake Environment Support Society (BLESS)... Read Post
  
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• Oilers' GM Chiarelli: Cap space a huge component of Eberle-for-Strome swap

  23-06-2017 00:20 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli had a 10-minute media avail in Chicago this afternoon, in advance of this weekend’s draft and in the aftermath of this morning’s one-for-one trade of Jordan Eberle to New York Islanders for Ryan Strome. That item dominated the early portion of the presser, with a few questions about contract negotiations with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Kris Russell creeping into the later part of it.
  Here’s a transcript of the majority of Chiarelli&rsq
  
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