St. Albert news

• Oilers prospect Benson hopes injury curse is behind him

  03-07-2017 23:29 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  JASPER, Alta. — Tyler Benson held his breath a little for the first few minutes of Edmonton Oilers development camp.
  When you’ve been chased and tormented by injuries as much as he has, hoping for the best and bracing for the worst becomes part of the daily routine.
  But so far so good for last year’s 32nd overall draft pick, who is once again trying to fight his way back from another season of frustration and pain.
  “It felt good out there,” said the 19-year-old left
  
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• Ty Rattie starts fresh with Edmonton Oilers

  03-07-2017 22:18 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  First-round draft picks often get second, third and fourth chances.
  Anyone else? The clock’s ticking.
  Which brings us to right-winger Ty Rattie, who did so much damage as a junior with the Portland Winterhawks in their Western Hockey League playoff battles with the Edmonton Oil Kings.
  Rattie was the St. Louis Blues’ second-round selection in 2011, 32nd overall, but he couldn’t gain any traction with them although he made the National Hockey League team out of training camp last
  
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• Northwest Alberta councillors worry province's caribou plan will hurt forestry industry

  03-07-2017 21:24 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Councillors in six northwestern Alberta municipalities are worried a “cookie-cutter” solution to dwindling caribou populations would cause a serious drag on the local forestry industry.
  Each province and territory is required to develop caribou range plans by October, which the federal government will then adopt or reject. The plans are to help the threatened species’ low populations recover. Preliminary plans from the provincial government set aside 1.8 million hectares for pe
  
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• A fair contract for Leon Draisaitl? Eight years at $7.0 million per

  03-07-2017 20:55 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A fair contract for Leon Draisaitl? Eight years at $7.0 million per year.
  A generous contract? Eight years at $7.5 million.
  A very generous contract? Eight years at $7.8 million.
  The Draisaitl contract should not be some impossible riddle to solve. It’s not like the Connor McDavid contract. While you have to go back to July 2007 and to Sidney Crosby’s second contract to find a comparable contract to NHL MVP McDavid, that’s not the case with Draisaitl.
  In the last year alone the
  
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• Pulling up stakes a difficult decision for homeless camper in Edmonton's river valley

  03-07-2017 20:49 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Frank Welsh is proud of his home.
  It lies down a wooded path, over a fallen tree and past a discarded shopping cart in an Edmonton river valley park.  
  “Sorry for the mess,” he said, pulling back a curtain, revealing a foyer beneath a faded orange tarp.
  There’s enough room to stand, and there are two tents on either side for sleeping. He’s got a stove, room to store his bikes and trailers — which he repairs with parts he finds or buys around town — and en
  
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• Lees: Local golfers tee off to raise over $400k for Aga Khan Foundation Canada

  03-07-2017 20:39 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A full slate of 144 golfers took a swing at global poverty last week and raised $407,550 at the Glendale Golf and Country Club. during the 19th annual World Partnership Golf Tournament (WPG).
  Proceeds will go to support Aga Khan Foundation Canada’s development program in Africa and Asia, initiatives that help women and men lift their families out of poverty.
  “Funds raised this year will help build and strengthen education and health care systems in Central Asia and East Africa, inclu
  
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• Paying for suburbs, rebranding city expected to be hot topics at city hall

  03-07-2017 16:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  City council has embraced a massive agenda this week, cramming 39 reports and agenda items into the last week of committee meetings before summer break.
  Council has extended orders late into the evening Tuesday and nine people are already registered to speak to a contentious transit strategy going forward Wednesday. Others are expected to sign up right before the meeting.
  That’s in addition to discussions on the rising downtown office vacancy rate and talks on how to encourage more afforda
  
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• Education minister will look at collecting school-discipline data

  03-07-2017 16:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Alberta’s education minister said he’ll consider collecting provincial data on school suspensions and expulsions.
  Minister David Eggen said he was encouraged to see the number of suspensions declining in Edmonton public and Catholic schools in coverage by the Journal connected to a Freedom of Information request for discipline data.
  In 2015-16, there was nearly one suspension for every 10 junior high and high school students enrolled in Edmonton Public Schools. Five per cent of
  
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• City looking at ways to reduce Edmonton's high downtown office vacancy rates

  03-07-2017 16:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The city is looking at taking steps to help reduce an 18 per cent downtown Edmonton office vacancy rate that might not return to a balanced level until at least 2030.
  Vacancies have grown for more than two years and could reach 30 per cent by 2020, partly because the towers going up near Rogers Place will create far more space than downtown typically absorbs, according to material scheduled to be discussed Tuesday by city council’s executive committee.
  Significant vacancies include the Ban
  
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• Four Edmontonians on what it's like being 'carded' by police

  03-07-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  New data shows that indigenous and black people are more likely to be the subjects of street checks — the controversial police practice also known as carding. 
  Activist groups including Black Lives Matter say the practice amounts to profiling, after obtaining data from the Edmonton Police Service about the racial background of those stopped and questioned by officers without grounds for arrest. 
  Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley called the numbers “troubling.&rd
  
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• Alberta patients waiting longer for placement in continuing care: report

  03-07-2017 05:25 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Plans to provide faster access to long-term care and supportive living flopped last year, according to new provincial statistics that show many patients actually found themselves waiting longer for a bed.
  Numbers included in the latest Alberta Health annual report show the goal of providing a continuing care bed within 30 days of assessment was achieved for 56 per cent of patients last year — the worst rate since the province began tracking the standard in 2011.
  The 30-day benchmark was ac
  
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• Severe thunderstorm watches and heat warnings issued

  03-07-2017 04:50 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Spruce Grove, Morinville, Mayerthorpe and Evansburg are under severe thunderstorm warnings Sunday night.
  Edmonton, St. Albert and Sherwood Park are under a severe thunderstorm watch, with conditions favourable for the development of storms producing large wind gusts, large hail and heavy rain.
  On social media, people shared photos of what appeared to be funnel clouds in central Alberta.Possible #tornado BY #Draytonvalley a friend just sent me this at 8:20 #ABStorm pic.twitter.com/0lkG5ESZDT
  &mda
  
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• Curtis Stock: Thomas overcomes weather to win Alberta Mid-Amateur

  03-07-2017 03:42 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Weather. All kinds of it — howling wind, hard rain and the occasional sunny day — was the story of local golf last week.
  On the bad weather front, Edmonton’s Neil Thomas didn’t let persistent rain hold him back taking the three-day Alberta Mid-Amateur after a four-hole playoff with Lacombe’s Tom Mckinlay Jr. at Grande Prairie’s Golf and Country Club.
  Thomas made a 20-foot birdie on the final playoff hole while Mckinlay Jr. barely missed a six-footer that would
  
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• Oilers promote Howson to VP of player development

  03-07-2017 03:11 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  JASPER — Scott Howson has been way under the radar the last two years, but he hasn’t gone unnoticed.
  The Edmonton Oilers are promoting him from his scouting and advisory role to Vice President of Player Development, the position previously held by Kelly Buchberger.
  “I started talking to Peter about it three weeks ago and I really think it’s going to be critical for the organization to develop its own players,” said Howson, who was at the draft in Chicago and is part
  
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• Keegan Lowe now part of the Oiler organization

  03-07-2017 03:02 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Keegan Lowe loves his dad and his legacy as a five-time Stanley Cup defenceman with the Edmonton Oilers, but didn’t want any part of following his those big footsteps in his draft year six years ago.
  Time marches on, however, and now he’s signed with the Oilers.
  Lowe signed a one-year, two-way free-agent contract on Canada Day, which means he might be going to the farm in Bakersfield. But maybe the former Oil Kings junior defenceman will get more traction with the Oilers’ organ
  
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• Hayley Wickenheiser a guest coach at Oilers camp

  03-07-2017 02:46 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  JASPER — Hayley Wickenheiser has done more in hockey than all of the young prospects at Oilers Development Camp combined, but putting on Edmonton’s colours and skating onto the ice as a guest coach still gave her chills.
  “I definitely had a bit of a surreal moment,” said the four-time Olympic gold medallist and seven-time World Champion after her first day on the job. “This is a team I grew up idolizing as a young player. I grew up loving the Oilers and I watched ev
  
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• Edmonton Police Service ask for $1-million upgrade to gun range training facilities

  03-07-2017 02:26 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Police can’t keep up with new firearms training requirements if they are stuck with old facilities.
  That’s the plea to be made before the Edmonton community and public services committee on July 6, following updated federal and provincial standards.
  The Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police will require all police members to receive annual firearms training.
  For city police, that means the number of patrol members trained annually will grow to 1,800 from 600.
  But police say there&r
  
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• 5 things we learned from Eskimos' win over Alouettes

  03-07-2017 02:22 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The Edmonton Eskimos are right where they wanted to be, heading into their first bye in the 2017 Canadian Football League schedule at 2-0 following Friday’s 23-19 season-opening victory over the Montreal Alouettes. It’s a well deserved break after an intense training camp that saw the team get off to a head start thanks to having Jason Maas and his entire coaching staff return from 2016. So far, they’ve been able to to translate that into sole possession of first place overall
  
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• Five things: Eskimos 23, Alouettes 19

  03-07-2017 02:21 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The Edmonton Eskimos are right where they wanted to be, heading into their first bye in the 2017 Canadian Football League schedule at 2-0 following Friday’s 23-19 season-opening victory over the Montreal Alouettes. It’s a well deserved break after an intense training camp that saw the team get off to a head start thanks to having Jason Maas and his entire coaching staff return from 2016. So far, they’ve been able to to translate that into sole possession of first place overall
  
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• Barbecue truck recovered hours after theft, food stolen

  03-07-2017 01:39 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The owner of an Edmonton barbecue joint has been reunited with a food truck that was stolen early Sunday morning — but not before the thief made off with the food inside.     
  Terry Sept, owner of Smokehouse BBQ, said the truck was recovered just before 1 p.m., hours after it went missing from the restaurant parking lot.  
  Police were at the location where the truck was found behind a motel at 150 Street and 111 Avenue around four kilometres away from the restaurant on
  
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