St. Albert news

• Edmonton man drowns in B.C. lake — police thank people who tried to save him

  06-07-2017 23:40 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  KELOWNA, B.C. — Police on Thursday said a 25-year-old Edmonton man drowned while swimming in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia.
  West Kelowna RCMP were called to assist paramedics who were responding to a report of a possible drowning at a campground early Wednesday evening.
  Emergency crews took over from bystanders who’d pulled the man from the lake and were performing CPR, but the young man died at the scene.
  Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said the man was swimming when he suddenly wen
  
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• Bridge arsonist ‘thought it would be cool’ to be seen fighting fires

  06-07-2017 23:35 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A former volunteer firefighter who told a psychiatrist that responding to the scenes of his own arsons made him feel like a “hero” was sentenced to 24 months in jail on Thursday.
  Lawson Michael Schalm pleaded guilty to four counts of arson on Mar. 31, admitting to setting a number of fires around the town of Mayerthorpe, including a blaze that destroyed a wooden train trestle bridge.
  Schalm, 20, was among the local volunteer firefighters who responded to fight the 18 to 19 fires that
  
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• Housing surge could eliminate chronic homelessness by 2020

  06-07-2017 23:26 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Housing officials are calling for a major surge to get all the chronically homeless in stable homes by 2020 and functionally end homelessness in Edmonton.
  Homeward Trust officials believe they can house 4,000 individuals within three years to achieve that, but their annual operating budget will need to grow to $65 million from $35 million, plus $230 million will be needed in capital spending over six years to build new housing.
  Some capital is promised but it’s not clear how much will come
  
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• Alberta WCB focuses too much on policies, not workers, review says

  06-07-2017 23:16 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The Alberta Workers’ Compensation Board needs a culture change to become “worker centred,” a panel has concluded after a yearlong review.
  On Thursday afternoon, Alberta’s labour ministry released a 189-page report by a three-member panel that took a deep look inside the system that compensates workers who are injured or fall sick on the job.
  The panel made 60 recommendations for change, 27 of which would require amending the law or provincial regulations.
  Many of those re
  
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• NDP tries to connect with grumpy rural politicians

  06-07-2017 23:09 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  SANGUDO It just might be the toughest job in Alberta politics — convincing skeptical rural politicians that the city-centred NDP government is their friend.
  It is a crucial job for the government this summer as political attention is focused on the unification forces trying to merge the province’s two opposition conservative parties into one NDP-killing conservative party.
  When it comes to complaining about the government, there is some grumbling in Edmonton, a lot in Calgary and vir
  
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• Rona Ambrose resigns from federal politics

  06-07-2017 21:15
  
  Rona Ambrose, Former interim Conservative leader and MP for Sturgeon River – Parkland, has officially stepped down from federal politics.
  
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• Memorial grows for 21-year-old woman shot to death

  06-07-2017 20:51 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A small memorial now stands outside the north Edmonton apartment where a 21-year-old woman was fatally shot Wednesday.
  Edmonton police were called to the apartment in Alexander Plaza, 11915 34 St., just after 5 a.m. Wednesday where Jordin Amber Aksidan, 21, was found shot.
  Aksidan was taken to hospital by ambulance where she died as a result of her gunshot injuries.
  The apartment building where Aksidan was shot was also the scene of another shooting death in 2016.
  Derek Alexander Garnham, 32, wa
  
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• MMIW hearing dates released following high-profile staff departures

  06-07-2017 20:41 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Canada’s inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women will hold hearings in Edmonton in November. 
  On Thursday, Chief Commissioner Marion Buller announced the inquiry will hear from families who have lost loved ones to violence in Edmonton the week of November 6 — one of nine hearings to be held in communities across Canada between September and December.
  “Staff of the national inquiry, the commissioners and myself are well-prepared and ready and eager and excited to
  
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• City approves ambitious new targets for snow and ice removal

  06-07-2017 20:30 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  City officials are taking a full overhaul of the snow and ice policy to council’s community services committee Thursday, aiming to get out ahead of the storm.
  The new plan is to use an anti-icing agent, calcium chloride, to spray on major roads 12 to 24 hours before a storm to prevent ice from forming. It’s a common solution many other cities use and the province uses on the Anthony Henday.
  When the new approach came out last week, deputy city manager Doug Jones said he hopes it will
  
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• Off-duty Mountie dead after being hit on bike near Edson

  06-07-2017 19:05 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Flowers adorn a flag pole outside of the Edson RCMP detachment where the flag hangs at half mast for an off-duty RCMP officer killed after being struck by a vehicle while riding his bike near Edson Wednesday. 
  Alberta RCMP confirmed Thursday morning that the victim of the 9 p.m. crash on Range Road 181, west of Edson, was an off-duty member with the Edson detachment. The officer — identified by community members as Const. Austin MacDougall — was pronounced dead at the scene.&nbs
  
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• Mayerthorpe trestle bridge arsonist gets 24 months

  06-07-2017 18:19 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A former volunteer firefighter who admitted to a string of arsons in the Mayerthorpe area, including the destruction of a wooden train trestle bridge, has been sentenced to 24 months in jail.
  Lawson Michael Schalm, 20, pleaded guilty to four counts of arson on April 1. 
  Crown prosecutor Dallas Sopko argued Schalm should be handed a five-year global sentence, while Schalm’s defence lawyer argued for an 18-month sentence with probation. 
  Tweets by paigeeparsons //platform.twitter.c
  
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• Edmonton Police Association defends use of street checks

  06-07-2017 18:03 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The Edmonton Police Association represents over 1,850 uniformed members of the Edmonton Police Service and we are concerned that the recent false and inaccurate comments by special interest groups in the media are threatening the relationship between the public and police.
  I’m a proud member of the Edmonton Police Service. Before and above that, I am a member of this community. In the face of comments made the other day by a member of the media that questioned how great a place Edmonton, A
  
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• The realities of the salary cap means Mark Fayne may be back in AHL

  06-07-2017 15:35 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Mark Fayne’s stay in the American Hockey League may not be over. Unless Fayne, a veteran NHL d-man on a pricey contract, can clearly demonstrate he’s superior to new Oilers signing Ryan Stanton, the realities of the National Hockey League’s salary cap may push Fayne to Edmonton’s farm team in Bakersfield.
  Fayne, 30, is set to earn $3,625,000 in the final year of his four year deal with the Oilers. But new signing Ryan Stanton, 27, will be paid $700,000 this year. 
  If
  
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• Thursday's letters: Thanks for saving baby eagles

  06-07-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Re. “Rescued 6-week-old eagle on flight path to recovery,” June 29.
  Thanks are due to the two people who rescued the only surviving youngster of a brood of four eagles from a riverside nest that blew down June 26. Four young is an unusually high number for bald eagles, but two of about the same age were added to this nest on June 8 after their nest near Lac La Biche blew down.
  This is the second time the nest of this territorial pair
  
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• Edmonton-Leduc annexation deal allows smart regional growth

  06-07-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  The amicable resolution last week of Edmonton’s long-standing proposal to annex part of Leduc County is good news for the entire capital region.
  Former Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel announced in 2013 that the city wanted 154 square kilometres from its southern neighbour to ensure it had space for orderly residential and industrial development over the next 50 years.
  Many residents in the mainly rural area were concerned that what some called a tax grab would eat up prime agricultural land,
  
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• Artisan Yvan Chartrand breaks bread with fussy local chefs

  06-07-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Just as little things make me happy, they also make me sad. I was discouraged recently after seeing a sign outside a local gas station, advertising a sale — yes, a sale — on Wonderbread. No doubt it serves a purpose, but the thought of stocking up was frankly dispiriting.
  But I am my old self again after spending an hour with baker Yvan Chartrand of Boulangerie Bonjour (8608 99 St.), who is part of my summer series, Where Can I Get That? The series explores where A-list restaurants g
  
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• New Rec Room location underway in West Edmonton Mall

  06-07-2017 13:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A new amusement experience is set to open in West Edmonton Mall by early fall, the second of its kind in the city. 
  The Rec Room, owned by Cineplex Entertainment, will be the third in Canada after the first opened last September at South Edmonton Common. 
  “West Edmonton Mall’s always been on our list and we always thought that we’d do at least two in Edmonton,” Dave Terry, vice-president and general manager of The Rec Room, said Wednesday. 
  The two-storey,
  
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• Mayerthorpe firefighter sentenced for multiple arsons

  06-07-2017 13:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  A former volunteer firefighter who admitted to a string of arsons in the Mayerthorpe area, including the destruction of a wooden train trestle bridge, is expected to be sentenced on Thursday.
  Lawson Michael Schalm, 20, pleaded guilty to four counts of arson on April 1. 
  Crown prosecutor Dallas Sopko argued Schalm should be handed a five-year global sentence, while Schalm’s defence lawyer argued for an 18-month sentence with probation. 
  Schalm was a volunteer firefighter for the M
  
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• All Alberta provincial exams to go digital by 2019

  06-07-2017 13:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Provincial tests for Alberta students in grades 3, 6, 9 and 12 will all be taken online within two years, Alberta’s education ministry says.
  To do it, the Alberta government is spending $12.6 million to write its own provincial exam software, and dispensing with the Quest A+ system that crashed while 8,000 students attempted to write diploma exams in 2015.
  “I think a computer would be a good idea,” said 15-year-old Vivica Addo, who wrote Grade 9 provincial achievement tests las
  
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• Edmonton Oilers' upward trend has NHL team's prospects excited

  06-07-2017 12:30 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  JASPER, Alta. — With the team back in the playoffs in a new arena, with talented young impact players emerging at every position and with Connor McDavid under contract for nine more years, it’s an exciting time to be an Edmonton Oiler.
  Even the guys who aren’t quite Edmonton Oilers yet are feeling it.
  Make no mistake, any young player would be thrilled to play anywhere in the National Hockey League, even Edmonton during the lowest points of their decade-long rebuild, but now th
  
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• Mounties investigate fatal collision west of Edmonton

  06-07-2017 06:55 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Police were investigating after a 21-year-old man died in Wednesday night crash west of Edmonton. 
  Stony Plain-Spruce Grove-Enoch RCMP responded to a call at 6:30 p.m. on Secondary Highway 628 near Range Road 271.A Kia Sorrento left the roadway and struck a tree, police said in a news release. 
  Officers were investigating. 
  
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• Town halls galore as conservative unity vote draws near

  06-07-2017 05:23 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Thursday marks one year since Jason Kenney rumbled onto Alberta’s political scene and launched his plan to unite the province’s conservatives.
  He spent last summer in a blue pickup festooned with Unite Alberta decals, trundling around the province peddling his unity message.
  Now Progressive Conservative leader, Kenney faced bare-faced scepticism at first, but it seems conservatives who want to find out more about the July 22 unity vote are spoilt for choice. 
  On Wednesday alone,
  
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• Mill Creek fish fix could cost up to $130M

  06-07-2017 02:40 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  It could be a long wait, up to three decades, before Edmontonians see fish spawning again in Mill Creek.
  The urban planning committee heard a proposal Wednesday for “daylighting” Mill Creek, or bringing it out of the pipe in which it currently runs.
  The creek spills into the North Saskatchewan River from a culvert five metres above the river’s surface near the Old Timers Cabin. Fish can’t get into the creek because of the drop, but reopening it could double their spawning
  
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• Alberta Education minister tasked with combating hate

  06-07-2017 02:32 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Alberta needs a provincial strategy to combat racism, says an Edmonton advocate for the Somali community.
  As Education Minister David Eggen embarks on a summer homework assignment compiling potential approaches to fight racial discrimination, Ahmed Abdulkadir said Wednesday a provincial strategic plan with measurable outcomes, like Ontario has adopted, is essential.
  “We’ve seen higher (numbers of hateful incidents), a lot right now, more than any other time. Thanks to (U.S. President
  
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• Everyone's a little bit Celtic this weekend at Fort Edmonton Park

  06-07-2017 02:21 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Sean Langford started competing in traditional Scottish games for practical reasons.
  “I was dating a Highland dancer at the time,” he said Wednesday while on a break from practising the hammer throw.
  Twenty years later, he’s still competing. Langford is among more than 30 athletes who will be part of the Celtic Gathering at Fort Edmonton Park on Saturday and Sunday. The annual, weekend-long celebration of all things Celtic traditionally attracts 3,000 to 4,000 attendees ea
  
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• Barnes: McDavid's new Oilers contract 'insane' but 'logical'

  06-07-2017 02:05 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  In the National Hockey League’s salary cap era, now 12 years on, only seven general managers have massaged the numbers well enough to produce a Stanley Cup winner.
  One of them, Peter Chiarelli, just committed US$100-million to fuzzy-cheeked phenom Connor McDavid on an eight-year extension of his entry-level deal. The Edmonton Oilers captain will haul in an average of $12.5-million per year, the bulk of it in signing bonuses, after next season.
  That’s crazy money. It comes with intens
  
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• Jones: McDavid's commitment gigantic plus for Oilers

  06-07-2017 01:45 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  On January 26, 1979, his 18th birthday, with a cake in the shape of 99 and a bottle of “baby” champagne presented by his teammates, Wayne Gretzky stood at centre ice and signed a 21-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers.
  His brothers and sister stood with him wearing silly felt alpine hats and his dad, Walter, who urged Wayne to sign for long-term security, watched over his shoulder.
  “I’m signed until 1999,” said Gretzky. “Everything is great here. There is n
  
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• Paula Simons: U of A scores AI coup with Google DeepMind deal

  06-07-2017 01:29 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Edmonton, we’ve been Googled. 
  DeepMind, the London-based artificial intelligence research division of Google, announced Wednesday it was setting up its first international AI research lab in downtown Edmonton.
  The 10-person lab, which will operate in partnership with the University of Alberta, will be headed by three of the U of A’s top AI academics: Rich Sutton, Michael Bowling and Patrick Pilarski. 
  “This is a huge reputational win for the University of Alberta,&rd
  
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• Council Briefs for July 4th

  06-07-2017 01:18
  Council Briefs are provided for the benefit of community members with the intent of giving a short, informal report on... Read Post
  
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• Police identify woman found fatally injured in Beverly apartment

  06-07-2017 01:11 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  City police have identified a 21-year-old woman as Edmonton’s latest homicide victim after she was fatally wounded in a Beverly apartment building Wednesday morning. 
  An autopsy conducted by the Edmonton medical examiner found that Jordin Amber Aksidan died as a result of a gunshot wound, said a news release Wednesday afternoon. 
  Northeast division officers responded to a call just after 5 a.m. at Alexander Plaza, 11915 34 St., and found Aksidan suffering life-threatening in
  
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• Six Alberta communities will benefit from new investment in transit

  06-07-2017 01:08 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Six new Alberta public transit projects were announced Wednesday by the provincial and federal governments.
  Federal Infrastructure and Communities Minister Amarjeet Sohi, provincial Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Brian Mason and Leduc Mayor Greg Krischke announced more than $733,000 in investments for the six new initiatives.
  “This announcement shows that we are committed to making life better by ensuring Albertans in our cities, towns and counties have reliable access to
  
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• Committee members approve major changes to transit system

  06-07-2017 01:05 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Edmonton’s city councillors voted to support a massive bus route overhaul Wednesday and speed up implementation for it to be ready by 2020.
  Transit officials originally asked for five or more years to roll out this new approach across the city, tackling the city quadrant by quadrant.
  But Coun. Andrew Knack convinced colleagues the system can’t wait — it’s losing riders now.
  “It’s a system that’s running inefficiently … and it’s one of our bi
  
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• 10 things to do in Edmonton this week

  06-07-2017 00:18 via edmontonjournal.com
  
  Follies
  A reunion involving veteran performers in a crumbling old theatre is the setting for Follies, now running over at the Walterdale. Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman are the visionaries behind this Tony Award winning musical, which first opened in 1971 and has since been revived on Broadway and in touring companies around the world. Barbara Mah directs and choreographs the Walterdale production, with Leslie Caffaro, Monica Roberts, Dustin Berube, and Gavin Belik among the cast.  
  Whe
  
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