St. Albert news

• Mounties warn drivers to stay off roads due to icy conditions

  23-12-2017 23:30 via edmontonjournal.com
  Police have been busy responding to collisions due to poor road conditions across the province Saturday. 
  “Motorists are requested to slow down and avoid travel if at all possible,”Alberta RCMP said in a news release. 
  Highway 43 in northern Alberta is down to one lane after a collision involving at least 17 vehicles, police said. Details on exactly where the incident occurred were not provided.
  “Icy conditions, poor road conditions and whiteout conditions are occurri
  
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• NORAD set to begin annual tracking of Santa's sleigh ride

  23-12-2017 23:05 via edmontonjournal.com
  The agency that monitors North American skies is set to begin its annual tracking of Santa’s gift-giving journey around the world, and will get a little extra high-tech help this year.
  “We’ve been doing this since 1955 and Santa still keeps us on our toes,” said Cpt. Chase McFarland, of the U.S. Air Force and spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defence Command.
  NORAD tracks the 260-pound, five-foot-seven, rosy sleigh rider using satellites, ground-based radar
  
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• Flu-related deaths in Alberta rise to 19

  23-12-2017 20:35 via edmontonjournal.com
  The number of flu-related deaths continues to creep up in the province, with Alberta Health Services reporting 19 deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations.
  New statistics released by the health agency show Alberta recorded 3,355 confirmed cases of the virus and 867 hospitalizations as of Dec. 16.
  The Calgary region remains the hardest hit, accounting for 12 deaths and 488 hospitalizations. The Edmonton zone has reported four deaths — an increase of one from last week — and 218 hospita
  
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• 'Christmas miracle' as long-lost service dog returns to Spruce Grove from 1,100 km away

  23-12-2017 20:26 via edmontonjournal.com
  It was a holiday miracle five months in the making for Ashley Power as a Canada-wide non-profit reunited the Spruce Grove resident with her beloved service dog after five months and 1,100 km of separation.
  Power, who moved to Spruce Grove 14 years ago from Newfoundland, adopted Frankie — an American Staffordshire terrier — in October 2016 from a friend. The service dog helps her cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and to monitor her blood sugar levels as part of her hypoglycemia
  
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• Ho ho ho, Edmonton woman's Santa collection grows

  23-12-2017 18:18 via edmontonjournal.com
  Bernice Gordeyko sits in the living room of her 100-year-old Edmonton home, surrounded by her vast collection of jolly old St. Nicks.
  There’s a Cowboy Claus, a fur-coated Kris Kringle, even a couple of puppy Pere Noels that look like Gordeyko’s old English sheepdog, Harley.
  “I can honestly say in the last few years I have not bought many,” she said with a laugh. “Cause I have enough! Everybody says, ‘What are you going to do with all these Santas, Bernie?'&rdq
  
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• 3rd Canadian Division on recruitment drive for 1,000 more reservists

  23-12-2017 17:59 via edmontonjournal.com
  An “ambitious” countrywide army reservist recruitment drive will begin next year in order to bring 1,500 fresh faces into the military family, the vast majority of whom are required to bolster numbers in 3rd Canadian Division.
  Be it from the urban drift of youngsters from remote small communities to larger centres, reservists deciding to join the regular force or leaving altogether, the ranks of Canada’s Western Army have taken a hit, division commander Brig.-Gen. Trevor C
  
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• University of Alberta law student turns entrepreneur with new beauty product

  23-12-2017 17:58 via edmontonjournal.com
  Law student Ola Cislik isn’t daunted by the long hours needed to keep up with her studies — she has also launched a company she hopes will take the world of beauty products by storm.
  Cislik, 24, has created GlamPods, ventilated plastic shells she sees filling a niche created by the need to properly store popular tear-shaped sponge brushes such as Beautyblender used to apply makeup.
  “They’re very common. There’s millions of them sold a year … (but) they hadn&r
  
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• RCMP warn of multiple scams during holiday season

  23-12-2017 17:58 via edmontonjournal.com
  A number of telephone scams are popping up over the holiday season, warn Mounties trying to prevent citizens from getting grinched. 
  One of the most prevalent involves residents in northern Alberta receiving phone calls from people claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
  The caller informs the victim that they are behind on tax payments and must send the owed amount as soon as possible to prevent arrest. In some cases, the caller is asking for payment in iTunes and other gift c
  
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• Paula Simons: Festivus a good time to air Edmonton grievances.

  23-12-2017 17:50 via edmontonjournal.com
  This month marks the 20th anniversary of Festivus.
  Festivus, as Seinfeld fans will know, was a holiday created by George Constanza’s father as a secular alternative to Christmas (and Hanukkah). In the Seinfeld TV universe, Festivus was celebrated with the raising of an aluminum pole, the eating of meat loaf and the annual Airing of Grievances, where people complained about the way their loved ones had disappointed them over the course of the year. 
  The holiday started as an in-univers
  
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• Cult of Hockey Game Day #36: The Edmonton Oilers hope Santa is good to them, in a pre-Christmas jingle with the Habs

  23-12-2017 16:49 via edmontonjournal.com
  The Edmonton Oilers have an opportunity, tonight, to get back to a .500 record for the first time since Game 2 of their 2017-18 NHL season.
  That may not seem like much. But considering the sort of year it has been for the Oilers, the meager milestone is a necessity, if they hope to earn a playoff berth come April. Thanks in-part to a 3-2 Montreal road win in Calgary last night, the Oil is now just 5 points out of a wild card berth in the Western Conference.
  As they prepare to hang their stocking
  
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• De-stress at Christmas with simple, inexpensive family activities

  23-12-2017 16:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  What’s the meaning of of the holiday season?
  We celebrate Christmas, and to us, it’s a time for friends, family, food and drink. For kindness, generosity and charity — for being selfless and helping others when possible. But let’s face it: whether you celebrate anything or not, the December holidays are a time to take a break. A break from work, a break from routine, a break from technology.
  For parents of young kids, that can be tough. But there are ways to unwind while
  
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• Saturday's letters: Acts of kindness

  23-12-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  This month, we invited you to share with us, and Journal readers, your tales of kindness to celebrate the season of good will. The stories we have received will help reaffirm your faith in people. Here are the first letters; more will follow during the holidays.
  Good doctor prescribes Christmas miracle
  In 1955 when I was nine years old, Mom and Dad decided to emigrate to Canada.
  The trip took about two weeks — travelling by train, boat, and train again. I learned my first words of English
  
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• Opinion: How to make strides toward gender equality for the new year

  23-12-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  In the years ahead we might look back on 2017 as a year of watershed moments in gender empowerment.
  The #MeToo campaign called attention to the prevalence of sexual harassment, assault, and violence against women. Powerful men in Hollywood were publicly shamed for decades of disgusting and illegal behaviour, shedding light on the very commonplace issue of workplace sexual harassment. In Canada, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and the Truth and Reconcili
  
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• A variety of cherished holiday traditions worth repeating

  23-12-2017 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  The holiday season comes with heaps of hustle and bustle, and in that there are special moments worth recreating year after year. Journal reporters asked some well-known Edmonton-area personalities to share some of their favourite family traditions and the stories of how they came to be.
  Daryl Cloran: At home with Edmonton’s icy traditions 
  When Citadel Theatre artistic director Daryl Cloran moved to Edmonton in September 2016 with wife, Holly Lewis, and sons Liam and Jack, the family
  
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• Students place handmade winter clothing on school fence to help those in need

  23-12-2017 06:20 via edmontonjournal.com
  Hand-knitted mittens, crocheted scarves and socks hung from the fence at the Victoria School of the Arts early Friday. The school left these warm winter accessories outside as a way to give back to those less fortunate during the holiday season.
  “We don’t really want them to be cold and we don’t want them to be sad, because if it snows of course they’re going to try and find somewhere where it’s warm. So if they have a hat and a scarf at least they’re somewhat
  
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• Man severely injured in hit-and-run wants van driver to come forward

  23-12-2017 03:58 via edmontonjournal.com
  A 64-year-old man who was hit by a white van on Dec. 13 wants to know what was going through the head of the driver who fled the scene.
  Gerry Boudrias and a 49-year-old woman had just got off a transit bus and were walking eastbound in a marked crosswalk at 96 Street and 71 Avenue when a white van — likely either a Chevrolet three-quarter-ton Express van or a GMC Savana,  2013 or later, with no rear windows — hit the two and took off.
  “Next thing I know, I’m flat out
  
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• If only the government had called it a carbon levee …

  23-12-2017 03:28 via edmontonjournal.com
  Instead of calling it a carbon levy, maybe the government should have called it a carbon levee.
  Levy is a fancy word for a tax while a levee is a fancy word for a party.
  Albertans can partake in both on Jan 1, although participation, come to think of it, is voluntary in only one.
  Lt.-Gov. Lois Mitchell will hold the annual New Year’s Day levee at Government House in Edmonton. If you’re in the neighbourhood, I highly recommend you pop in to say hello. Government House is not usua
  
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• Holy Trinity Anglican Church finds art a straight shot to the soul

  23-12-2017 02:51 via edmontonjournal.com
  There is one clear advantage that Holy Trinity Anglican Church rector Chris Pappas has over other Edmonton actors. If there’s a play, musical or opera at his church that includes a man of the cloth — from Fiddler on the Roof to Pagliacci — Pappas doesn’t even have to audition.
   
  “There is an unwritten law,” said Pappas with a small, but mischievous, smile. “I get to play the priest.”
   
  This kind of favouritism does not appear to foment di
  
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• Four more charged in connection with deadly Grande Prairie shooting

  23-12-2017 01:16 via edmontonjournal.com
  Grande Prairie RCMP have laid charges against four more men in relation to the shooting death of 16-year-old Hannah Sutton.
  Sutton was found dead around 10:30 a.m. Dec. 16 in a home near 94 Avenue and 100 Street in Grande Prairie, RCMP said. Her 19-year-old boyfriend is charged in her death, police said..
  Darian Chonkolay, 18; Austin Haynes, 20; David Comber, 21; and a 17-year-old teenager who can’t be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act were each charged with one
  
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• Press Gallery #211: The 2017 Year-End News Quiz

  23-12-2017 01:09 via edmontonjournal.com
  As is tradition on The Press Gallery podcast as each year draws to a close, the team fires up its synapses for its annual Alberta politics news quiz. 
  Join host Emma Graney as she takes Dave Breakenridge, Paula Simons and Graham Thomson back through some of 2017’s biggest (and some of the most obscure) stories, and find out who goes home as ultimate Press Gallery news quiz victor. 
  The team will be back in January for another year of analysis, hot takes and commentary of everythi
  
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• Santa shivers: Edmonton's weekend weather expected to be cold and clear

  23-12-2017 01:08 via edmontonjournal.com
  Whether or not it is a white Christmas in greater Edmonton, it will certainly be a cold one.
  “We’ve had a bit of a transition from the warmer weather of a week ago to what we’re going to get the next few days here,” said Dan Kulak, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
  “Be prepared for what some people would consider typical weather for late December — clear and cold.”
  Expect flurries Friday night and Saturday morning, but no snowfall to follow. Satur
  
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