St. Albert news

• United Conservative Party caucus picks Nathan Cooper as interim leader

  24-07-2017 23:22 via edmontonjournal.com
  Former Progressive Conservative and Wildrose MLAs put aside old rivalries Monday, selecting Nathan Cooper to serve as interim leader of the new United Conserative Party. 
  The new caucus gathered at the Federal Building Monday afternoon after a weekend that saw members of both parties endorse merging under the UCP banner. 
  Cooper is MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills. He previously served as Wildrose house leader. The interim leader of the United Conservative Party caucus is Nathan
  
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• Blue-green algae advisory issued for Hastings Lake

  24-07-2017 22:14 via edmontonjournal.com
  A blue-green algae advisory was issued for Hastings Lake, about 45 kilometres east of Edmonton, on Monday morning by Alberta Health Services.
  Residents and visitors are being warned a bloom of the toxic algae was found on the lake and should take precautions to avoid contact with it. Blue-green algae can cause serious skin irritation, sore throats and eyes, fevers, nausea and diarrhea. Symptoms can onset in a matter of hours.
  Anyone at the lake should avoid swimming near the bloom and not eat wh
  
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• Edmonton had Canada's second-highest homicide rate last year: StatsCan

  24-07-2017 21:33 via edmontonjournal.com
  Greater Edmonton — including outlying communities like Strathcona County and Fort Saskatchewan — had the second-highest homicide rate in Canada in 2016, according to new crime data from Statistics Canada. 
  The greater Edmonton area had 47 homicides last year, a rate of 3.39 slayings per 100,000 population. Only Thunder Bay, Ont., and its surrounding communities had a higher rate, with eight homicides or 6.64 per 100,000.
  The data is included in StatsCan’s annual crime-seve
  
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• Man accused of sexually abusing his daughters has case moved to Queen's Bench

  24-07-2017 21:21 via edmontonjournal.com
  The case against man accused of sexually abusing his three daughters over a six-year period was elevated to the Court of Queen’s Bench on Monday.
  The charges allege one of the man’s daughters was “procured for sex” with strangers online, instances of which he recorded on video. Other charges include human trafficking, incest, sexual assault with a weapon and making child pornography. His name is covered by a publication ban to protect the victims.
  The 41-year-old man is n
  
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• Children with special needs enjoy the midway at Monday morning magic

  24-07-2017 21:07 via edmontonjournal.com
  The K-Days midway welcomed hundreds of special guests Monday morning as families made the best of a rainy day and marked the 40th anniversary of Monday Morning Magic.
  About 500 special needs children attended the free event, which runs annually in the morning time slot when the park is normally closed. Special guests including the full lineup of the Edmonton Eskimos, members of the Oil Kings, RCMP officers, Disney princesses and cartoon mascots, joined the kids on rides and posed for pictures.
  M
  
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• Sturgeon County Bounty arrives at Cardiff Park Aug. 11

  24-07-2017 19:26 via edmontonjournal.com
  The third-annual Sturgeon County Bounty gathers top producers from Peas on Earth to Gold Forest Grains, as well as local restaurants from XIX Nineteen to Urbano Pizza to Savior’s Cafe in a one-day celebration of food, fun and farms on Friday, Aug 11.
  A cook-out component for this event runs from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Cardiff Park and a full list of vendors and foods is available here. The site will also be home to plenty of other activities, including an entertainment stage, kids cookin
  
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• Richard Starke says 'no' to joining United Conservative Party

  24-07-2017 19:23 via edmontonjournal.com
  At least one MLA will not join as the newly united Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties hold their first combined caucus meeting Monday afternoon.
  PC MLA Richard Starke announced through a Facebook post that he will not join the new United Conservative Party, saying he does not feel welcome.
  Starke ran for leadership of the PC party earlier this year but was defeated by Jason Kenney, who made it known he hoped to merge the party with the Wildrose. Starke, who was less supportive of an i
  
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• Saturday letters: Fair salaries for post-secondary executives

  24-07-2017 17:33 via edmontonjournal.com
  In a fast-changing global economy, our most important economic asset is the knowledge we carry in our heads. Give our kids the tools they need to realize their dreams, and they will turn those dreams into new opportunities that will drive tomorrow’s economy.
  That’s why post-secondary education is one of the most important investments. But in tight fiscal times we have to make choices about how we get the most bang for our buck.
  That’s why the Alberta government is taking a clos
  
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• Opinion: Responding to call for action on climate change

  24-07-2017 17:32 via edmontonjournal.com
  In the July 20 column, “Alberta should hold inquiry into oilsands subsidies,” the authors raise some interesting questions about possible future policies and comment on Emissions Reductions Alberta (ERA). 
  The Government of Alberta has provided specific statements in its Climate Leadership Plan on the strategies it will pursue to reduce carbon emissions while diversifying our economy. One of several strategies in the plan is capping oilsands emissions to 100 megatonnes per year.
  
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• Saucy and sticky: Visitors chow down on ribs at K-Days

  24-07-2017 17:26 via edmontonjournal.com
  The Ribfest is back for another messy year on the K-Days grounds.
  Three vendors from across Canada can be found hooting and hollering with the crowd, offering ribs and a variety of barbecue favourites: 
  Prairie Smoke & Spice BBQ, based out of Regina, Sask.
  Boss Hogs BBQ, based out of London, Ont.
  Gator BBQ, based out of Port Dover, Ont. 
  We paid a visit Sunday to some of the vendors and K-Days guests getting their rib on. 
  The first stop was Prairie Smoke & Spice, back at
  
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• The most popular books at each Edmonton Public Library branch

  24-07-2017 14:46 via edmontonjournal.com
  People in Edmonton’s Abbottsfield neighbourhood are interested in hygge, the amorphous Danish concept of living well.
  In Clareview, readers want to learn more about the life story of new Daily Show host Trevor Noah.
  And large-print John Grisham novels are in high demand in Callingwood. 
  Those are a few facts gleaned from hold data from the Edmonton Public Library (EPL), which offers a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood glimpse of what Edmontonians are reading this summer. 
  Each week,
  
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• Conservation group concerned wildlife plan won't protect species

  24-07-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  It’s already tough to spot a common nighthawk or an olive-sided flycatcher in Jasper National Park and a new plan for protecting the species’ habitats doesn’t go far enough, according to a regional advocacy organization.
  Parks Canada’s draft Multi-species Action Plan for Jasper lays out new protection measures for four of the park’s at-risk plants and animals and reiterates existing plans for others.
  The plan relies on “incidental observations” to monito
  
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• Athabasca University faculty wins cost-of-living pay increase

  24-07-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Faculty at Athabasca University have been awarded successive two per cent cost-of-living increases over the next two academic years and kept key benefits despite the university’s attempts to roll back and suspend them because of tough economic times in the province and at the institution. 
  The ruling handed down last month was welcome news for staff who are facing uncertain times following the release of a third-party review into the future operations of the university.
  That repo
  
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• Will Peter Chiarelli's harshest critics get it wrong two years in a row?

  24-07-2017 09:17 via edmontonjournal.com
  Rating Peter Chiarelli, Part 3
  Corsi analysts savaged Chiarelli for the Hall-Larsson trade and aren’t much happier this summer. But are they right this time?
  Peter Chiarelli was absolutely roasted by hockey commentators, bloggers and Oilers fans last summer after he traded Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson.
  This summer? Not so much.
  Most Oilers fans are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Chiarelli, if not outright praise. Chiarelli did, after all, put together much of the supporting ca
  
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• Edmonton girl dies after trying to rescue dog from pond

  24-07-2017 06:05 via edmontonjournal.com
  A girl who drowned in a north Edmonton pond on Saturday was a sweet, polite animal lover who would walk neighbours’ dogs with her sister.
  On Sunday, neighbour Vanessa Freeman identified the girl as Khrystyna Maksymova, 14, who just finished Grade 9.
  Maksymova and her younger sister had been walking Freeman’s Chihuahua-Papillon mix Bullet on Fridays for about a year and the sisters were well known throughout the neighbourhood for walking dogs as a way to prove to her parents she
  
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• Bullrider Josh Frost following in legendary cousin's footsteps

  24-07-2017 05:47 via edmontonjournal.com
  Josh Frost is by no means a movie buff, but he can recite the movie 8 Seconds almost word-for-word.
  That’s because the 1994 movie starring Luke Perry is based on the life of his second-cousin Lane Frost.
  It’s been nearly 28 years since Lane Frost’s life was tragically taken in Cheyenne, Wyo., after a bull named Takin’ Care of Business gored him with a vicious horn that punctured his heart and crushed his ribs after the 1987 world champion scored a 91-point ride, but
  
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• First-time business innovation contest at K-Days gives out $20,000 in prizes

  24-07-2017 04:48 via edmontonjournal.com
  Four Alberta small businesses are $5,000 richer after a business innovation competition that ended Sunday at K-Days.
  Northlands, in conjunction with the Canadian National Exhibition, hosted the first Edmonton CNE Innovation Garage Competition. Entrepreneurs from across Alberta pitched their business concepts to a panel of judges on Friday and Saturday.
   
  Winners were chosen in four categories and their companies received a $5,000 cash prize and a spot in the semifinal competition
  
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• Edmonton girl dies while trying to rescue dog from pond

  24-07-2017 04:29 via edmontonjournal.com
  A girl who drowned in a north Edmonton pond on Saturday was a sweet, polite animal lover who would walk neighbours’ dogs with her sister.
  On Sunday, neighbour Vanessa Freeman identified the girl as Khrystyna Maksymova, 14, who just finished Grade 9.
  Maksymova and her younger sister had been walking Freeman’s Chihuahua-Papillon mix Bullet on Fridays for about a year and the sisters were well known throughout the neighbourhood for walking dogs as a way to prove to her parents she
  
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• Thoughts turn to leadership after conservatives vote to unite

  24-07-2017 03:23 via edmontonjournal.com
  The NDP will face a single united conservative force in the next election after Alberta’s Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties voted overwhelmingly on the weekend to merge forces.
  Both secured more than 95 per cent pro-unity votes from their members, setting into motion a monumental shift in provincial politics and sounding the death knell for the Tory dynasty that ruled Alberta for 44 years.
  Rooms erupted as yes-vote wins were declared Saturday afternoon in Red Deer at a Wildrose
  
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• Adrenalin rush in high supply as trampoline show makes K-Days debut

  24-07-2017 03:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  K-Days soared into new heights with a brand new trampoline show featuring past United States national team members and up and comers.
  Featured in the Adrenalin Rush hall, the extreme trampoline show from Flippenout Productions highlights four athletes from the United States performing three times a day.
  Sean Kennedy, operations manager and team leader, was on the United States national team, placed fourth at the Olympic Trials and is currently the Guinness World Record holder for highest bounce.
  
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• Conservatives enjoy unity vote right before divisive leadership race

  24-07-2017 01:57 via edmontonjournal.com
  MLAs for the Wildrose and Progressive Conservatives are now members of the same party — but it’s not clear yet whether they are more like a Band of Brothers (with a couple of sisters) or a Team of Rivals.
  They will be meeting Monday afternoon for a joint caucus meeting to figure out how to move forward together, even as a leadership race is about to tear them apart.
  A vast majority of both parties (95 per cent each) may have voted Saturday to join forces under the new United Conserva
  
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• Terry Jones: Edmonton triathlon building to be the best ever

  24-07-2017 00:01 via edmontonjournal.com
  It’s a bit of a reboot in a lot of ways. But mostly it’s a rebuild toward something bigger and better than ever before.
  The indefatigable Sheila O’Kelly and her celebrated long-time team of organizers aren’t just holding another Edmonton stop on the ITU Triathlon World Series this weekend. They’re building toward the greatest hosting in history in 2020.
  “By 2020 we expect to have people lining the entire course. By 2020 we expect we’ll have 150,000 peopl
  
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