St. Albert news

• Flames, smoke seen from Edmonton's Varscona Theatre

  25-01-2018 22:10 via edmontonjournal.com
  Edmonton fire crews responded to a blaze at the Varscona Theatre Thursday afternoon. 
  A neighbour reported seeing smoke and flames coming from the building’s vents at 1:04 p.m., Edmonton fire spokeswoman Maya Filipovic said. The fire was contained to one room and was under control by 1:19 p.m. 
  An Old Strathcona landmark located at 10329 83 Ave., the 200-seat theatre had recently been renovated. 
  Filipovic said the fire was contained to either an electrical room or sprinkler
  
  Read more

• Fence or 24-hour security needed to keep City Hall pool knee-deep

  25-01-2018 21:44 via edmontonjournal.com
  City of Edmonton officials say it’s possible to keep a deeper wading pool in front of City Hall but provincial regulations will require a two-metre fence or a 24-hour security guard.
  Officials plan to report to city council on renovation plans next Tuesday after the city decided to drop water levels to ankle deep.
  The fountains are knee-deep now and a popular downtown attraction. 
  Officials released new details in a report Thursday. They now say there are several new rules the pool wi
  
  Read more

• Alberta seeks 'firm commitment' from Ottawa on Indigenous kids in care

  25-01-2018 21:42 via edmontonjournal.com
  Anything less than a firm commitment from the federal government will be a “big disappointment” for Alberta Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee when she walks away from meetings in Ottawa about Indigenous children in care. 
  Larivee and her provincial and territorial colleagues will spend the next two days in Ottawa figuring out how to best address the ongoing over-representation of Indigenous families in the child welfare system. 
  She will be joined at the t
  
  Read more

• Snowfall warnings issued for Edmonton, central Alberta

  25-01-2018 20:21 via edmontonjournal.com
  Much of central Alberta, including Edmonton, was placed under a snowfall warning just before noon Thursday. 
  Environment Canada was expecting snow with total amounts of 10 to 20 cm as a low pressure system tracks across the southern prairies. 
  The system is forecast to pull away Friday, and now will taper off for northwestern Alberta on Friday morning. In the central and eastern parts of the province snow will continue through the day Friday.
  Environment Canada said to expect 10 to 15
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Man transported to hospital after morning apartment fire ignited by smoking materials

  25-01-2018 20:09 via edmontonjournal.com
  A man was transported to hospital as Edmonton fire crews battled a Thursday morning apartment blaze in the Eastwood neighbourhood. 
  Crews responded to the basement suite fire — later determined to have been caused by smoking materials — at a three-story walk up near 118 Avenue and 86 Street about 3:16 a.m. Thursday, said Edmonton Fire Rescue Services spokeswoman Maya Filipovic.
  Everyone in all 10 suites had already evacuated the building when fire crews arrived.
  The man from the
  
  Read more

• 17 reasons to be positive about the Edmonton Oilers in a new and dark time

  25-01-2018 18:59 via edmontonjournal.com
  GAME DAY 49, Oilers vs Flames
  OK, it’s a down time. As down as any time during the Decade of Darkness, right?
  No, not really. 
  Here are 17 reasons why:The Oilers have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl locked up through their prime years. In other words, in terms of the most important position on the team, other than maybe No. 1 d-man and No. 1 goalie, the Oilers are exceptionally strong for years to come. And as for any discussion of McDavid’s work ethic, the man has proven hims
  
  Read more

• Four arrested in investigation of Grande Prairie dial-a-dope ring

  25-01-2018 18:29 via edmontonjournal.com
  Alberta’s guns and gangs unit seized drugs, a stolen firearm and $34,000 in cash in a Grande Prairie dial-a-dope investigation that resulted in four arrests.
  Four people were arrested after Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) and Grande RCMP searched a home in the city Jan. 22. The investigation into the alleged dial-a-dope scheme began in December. 
  The search turned up 85 grams of cocaine, 11.5 grams of methamphetamine, 65 millilitres of GHB and one gram of psilocybi
  
  Read more

• City pitches LRT crossing at grade for 109 St.-104 Ave. intersection

  25-01-2018 18:21 via edmontonjournal.com
  Edmonton officials are recommending the city leave LRT tracks running at grade across downtown’s busy 109 Street-104 Avenue intersection, even though it’s already congested.
  Project manager Eva Cheung said raised tracks would be an eyesore and tunnelling would be expensive, giving little extra value since traffic backs up from the High Level Bridge. 
  But the decision shocked some drivers at Wednesday’s open house at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, 10127 145 St. 
  &ld
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Matt Mays glad to be one of the 'rare breed'

  25-01-2018 18:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  When it comes to his career, Matt Mays is just following his gut.
  “I’m not trying to work to a clock or anything,” the 38-year-old Ontario-based singer-songwriter says, explaining the five-year gap between his late 2017 release Once Upon a Hell of a Time and 2012’s Juno Award winning Coyote. “There’s a bit of instinct involved, because you don’t want to release music just for the sake of releasing it. I’ve been creative during those five years, but
  
  Read more

• One person taken to hospital after early morning fire in Eastwood

  25-01-2018 16:41 via edmontonjournal.com
  One person has been taken to hospital as Edmonton fire crews battle a blaze in the Eastwood neighbourhood. 
  Crews responded to a fire that started in the basement suite of a three-story walk up near 118 Avenue and 86 Street at 3:16 a.m. Thursday, said Edmonton Fire Rescue Services spokeswoman Maya Filipovic.
  Firefighters arrived at the scene at 3:21 a.m. and had the fire under control by 3:47 a.m.
  Everyone in all 12 suites had already evacuated the building when fire crews arrived.
  The fire
  
  Read more

• Alberta cabinet ministers retreat to Banff for the week

  25-01-2018 15:57 via edmontonjournal.com
  This promises to be a momentous week in Alberta.
  Not that you’d notice.
  The NDP government is holding a cabinet retreat in Banff where ministers will be discussing a category of issues, but none more categorical than the provincial budget.
  This will be “the” issue of 2018. The NDP has to show Albertans it has a plan to balance a provincial budget plagued with year-after-year deficits in the neighbourhood of $10 billion.
  How can the government bring that deficit to zero? And how
  
  Read more

• Dog therapy helps stressed students deal with writing exams

  25-01-2018 15:30 via edmontonjournal.com
  Exam time can be stressful for students. Strathcona School in Edmonton offers a unique opportunity for Grade 12 students to relieve their exam jitters by interacting with Harlow, a nine-year-old golden labrador retriever.
  Georgina Lawrence and her retired service dog Harlow have visited students more than 100 times to offer support. The duo arrives about an hour before exams are scheduled to start so students have some time to visit with Harlow before sitting down to write their test.
  According
  
  Read more

• Snow this morning as winter begins reappearing in Edmonton

  25-01-2018 15:12 via edmontonjournal.com
  Snow is coming to Edmonton this morning as winter returns.
  There is a 60 per cent chance of flurries this morning and early afternoon. Today’s high is -5 C.
  Tonight five to 10 centimetres of snow is expected, with a low of -10 C.
  Friday, the high is -8 C and the low is -13 C.
  Saturday’s high is -11 C, with a low of -15 C.  
  
  Read more

• Police investigate suspicious death after 118 Avenue robbery call

  25-01-2018 14:25 via edmontonjournal.com
  Homicide detectives are investigating a suspicious death following a robbery in northwest Edmonton.
  An injured male was found after Northwest Division officers responded to a report of a robbery near 118 Avenue and 82 Street shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday.
  The male died after being taken to hospital by emergency crews.
  More to come …
   
  
  Read more

• Thursday's letters: Great opportunity to hear the Davis Organ

  25-01-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Thank you for the wonderful picture of the Davis Organ in the Winspear Centre as well as the informative video clip on your website.  
  On Sunday, Feb. 4, 3 p.m., there will be a great opportunity to hear this spectacular instrument. Canadian-born, Juilliard-trained virtuoso organist Isabelle Demers will perform her own arrangements of Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony and John Williams’s Harry Potter Suite, as well as organ symphonic movements by Widor and Vierne, a trio s
  
  Read more

• New clinic for transgender Albertans first of its kind in prairies, psychiatrist says

  25-01-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  A novel program that plans to transform health care for transgender Albertans aims to reduce wait times and improve access to medical treatments.
  “Persons who suffer from gender dysphoria while waiting and frustrated … have really high rates of low mood, anxiety and even self-harm and suicide,” psychiatrist Dr. Michael Marshall said Tuesday.
  Marshall is one of five psychiatrists qualified to diagnose gender dysphoria in the province, but it takes up to six months for pati
  
  Read more

• Education minister hopes school boards can resolve bus fuss

  25-01-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Alberta’s eduction minister won’t rule out forcing Edmonton’s public and Catholic school boards to share a bus system.
  A lack of respect from public trustees is preventing the two boards from creating a joint bus system that could save $2.5 million a year and see students spend less time on the bus, Catholic board chairman Terry Harris said Tuesday.
  However, new legislation grants Education Minister David Eggen the power to direct two or more school boards to co-operate on
  
  Read more

• Editorial: Kids come before hurt feelings

  25-01-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Serving the public in elected office is no easy gig and school board trustees may have one of the toughest yet most unheralded jobs in politics.
  They juggle the competing demands of students, parents, teachers, staff and government while coping with limited resources and ubiquitous criticism — all without enjoying many of the perks, pay and recognition enjoyed by politicians in senior levels of government.
  But the majority of school trustees knew this before seeking office. Many trustees w
  
  Read more

• Container of donations from Ontario 'like another Christmas Day' for Onion Lake First Nation

  25-01-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Onion Lake Cree Nation resident Linda Naistus says a container of donations being sent by an Ontario charity should help bring her community together.
  The steel shipping container, set to arrive Jan. 31 at the First Nation straddling the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, 50 km north of Lloydminster, includes 2,600 dried food packages, five pallets of snowsuits, 700 gift parcels, vanloads of hockey equipment, clothes and 25 quilts.
  “It’s like another Christmas Day for us here in Onion Lake
  
  Read more

• Alberta cabinet minister retreat to Banff for the week

  25-01-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  This promises to be a momentous week in Alberta.
  Not that you’d notice.
  The NDP government is holding a cabinet retreat in Banff where ministers will be discussing a category of issues, but none more categorical than the provincial budget.
  This will be “the” issue of 2018. The NDP has to show Albertans it has a plan to balance a provincial budget plagued with year-after-year deficits in the neighbourhood of $10 billion.
  How can the government bring that deficit to zero? And how
  
  Read more

• Edmonton Oil Kings take the Medicine Hat Tigers into overtime

  25-01-2018 06:45 via edmontonjournal.com
  The Edmonton Oil Kings fought back in the third period of their Western Hockey League game against the Medicine Hat Tigers to secure a point after a close overtime loss at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Jan. 24, 2018.
  
  Read more

• 'Time to throw out the old political playbook,' first Alberta Party leadership debate told

  25-01-2018 05:10 via edmontonjournal.com
  With one month left until Alberta Party members begin casting ballots for a new leader, the three hopefuls vying for that job faced off Wednesday night in Edmonton.
  The first of two scheduled debates was a mild-mannered and polite affair. The next one is set for Feb. 8 in Calgary.
  About 300 supporters listened to Rick Fraser, Kara Levis and Stephen Mandel weigh in on more than a dozen topics in a sold-out room at the Lister Conference Centre at the University of Alberta.
  The debate swung the pen
  
  Read more

• City pitches LRT crossing at grade for congested 109 Street-104 Avenue intersection

  25-01-2018 04:16 via edmontonjournal.com
  Edmonton officials are recommending the city leave LRT tracks running at grade across downtown’s busy 109 Street-104 Avenue intersection, even though it’s already congested.
  Project manager Eva Cheung said raised tracks would be an eyesore and tunnelling would be expensive, giving little extra value since traffic backs up from the High Level Bridge. 
  But the decision shocked some drivers at Wednesday’s open house at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, 10127 145 St. 
  &ld
  
  Read more

• Child intervention panel pushes recommendations

  25-01-2018 02:02 via edmontonjournal.com
  The all-party panel tasked with improving Alberta’s child intervention system approved its final draft of recommendations Wednesday, aiming to forge better relationships with Indigenous communities and update legislation.
  The ministerial panel — mandated to identify systemic problems in child intervention services — was set up after the death of Serenity, a four-year-old Indigenous girl who died in 2014.
  She was covered in bruises and severely malnourished when she wa
  
  Read more

• 'This was murder': Jury hears closing arguments in alleged domestic killing

  25-01-2018 01:32 via edmontonjournal.com
  A man accused of murdering his estranged wife struck her head repeatedly with a two-by-four, a prosecutor told a jury Wednesday.
  Gilbert Robinson, 62, is on trial for second-degree murder in the death of Aileen (Gina) Robinson. The 54-year-old died in hospital days after being found badly injured in the basement of her former marital home on April 21, 2014, a jury heard during a trial that began earlier in January.
  A piece of wood with blood spattered on it was found in Gilbert Robinson&rsq
  
  Read more

• Police urge cooler heads as threats made against women charged in child abuse case

  25-01-2018 01:17 via edmontonjournal.com
  Edmonton police are asking the public to temper their emotions after two women were charged with attempted murder in a case that a detective called “shocking.”
  Police responded to a call from a babysitter concerned about children left in her care Dec. 16, 2017.
  When officers arrived, they found five children under the age of 10 “in what can be best described as a shocking environment and physical state,” Det. Aubrey Zalaski, with the Edmonton police child protection secti
  
  Read more

• Potential Strathcona County pot plants still face 'hoops' despite zoning change: cannabis company

  25-01-2018 01:03 via edmontonjournal.com
  The head of a company hoping to build Strathcona County’s first legal marijuana operation says new zoning rules still require lots of work before such developments are approved.
  Councillors voted this week to allow cannabis production facilities in large-parcel agriculture areas and locations intended for medium industrial buildings such as warehouses, changing from an earlier policy requiring them to be built only on property classified for intensive horticulture.
  Aaron Barr, chief execut
  
  Read more

• Paula Simons: No magic school bus deal for Edmonton school boards

  25-01-2018 01:01 via edmontonjournal.com
  When my little brother and I would fight in the car on long family road trips, my exasperated father would pull over and roar: “This is the last time I’m saying this is the last time.”
  Now I know how he felt.
  The Edmonton Public and Edmonton Catholic school boards were on the brink of entering into a joint agreement on school busing. Under the terms of the arrangement, the school districts would create a something called the Edmonton Student Transportation Authority, a standalo
  
  Read more

• Oilers try to regroup after crushing defeat by the Sabres

  25-01-2018 00:24 via edmontonjournal.com
  For the sixth time this season the Edmonton Oilers were shutout at home with a 5-0 defeat by the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. 
  After the game, coach Todd McLellan said the Oilers’ special teams were “horrendous.”
  They took to the ice Wednesday to prepare for their next opponents when they host the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
  
  Read more

Follow @StAlbertNews on Twitter!