St. Albert news

• Bigstone Cree Nation sues Ottawa, Alberta over school funding, treaty violations

  01-03-2018 23:51 via edmontonjournal.com
  Bigstone Cree Nation is taking the provincial and federal governments to court over what it says is a series of funding and treaty violations that have caused sub-par education for its children. 
  The nation filed a statement of claim in the Court of Queen’s Bench Wednesday in Edmonton. None of the statements in the claim have been proven in court.
  In essence, the nation says it was failed by successive levels of government when it comes to education on the reserve and in schools
  
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• Ethan Bear makes NHL debut. Is he the leading edge of the Edmonton Oilers' next wave?

  01-03-2018 23:19 via edmontonjournal.com
  Game 64: Predators at Oilers
  One of the major contributors to Edmonton Oilers’ voyage to the bottom of the standings in recent years has been the club’s persistent inability to develop NHL players from its own draft picks. Sure, early first-round picks like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, Leon Draisaitl, and Connor McDavid are core players on the current edition Oilers while Jesse Puljujarvi factors heavily into the future, but… All were top-7 picks who jumped more or less
  
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• Damages from house fire that left woman clinging to life pegged at $200,000

  01-03-2018 23:05 via edmontonjournal.com
  An early Tuesday morning house fire that sent a woman to hospital with life-threatening injuries caused close to $200,000 worth of damage, say fire authorities. 
  Crews were called to the blaze near 58 Avenue and 109 Street about 7:30 p.m., arriving to find two men had escaped but the woman had not. She was found unconscious in the home and rescued by firefighters. 
  A dog perished in the blaze.
  While the probe into the cause of the fire is ongoing, investigators Thursday estimated
  
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• Edmonton bomb squad finds empty bag after downtown threat

  01-03-2018 18:23 via edmontonjournal.com
  A suspicious package turned out to be an empty bag after an explosives disposal unit was called to a downtown building after a threat was made, Edmonton police said Thursday.
  Edmonton Tower building security discovered the package at around 6:54 a.m. and called police.
  The building, located at the corner of 101 Street and 104 Avenue, is being evacuated and traffic is also being diverted. Police said that 102 Street between 103 and 104 Avenues has been shut down.
  Because of the evacuation, a
  
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• Teachers descend on downtown Edmonton for annual Teachers' Convention

  01-03-2018 18:15 via edmontonjournal.com
  Downtown Edmonton streets are being flooded with thousands of local educators as the Greater Edmonton Teachers’ Convention kicks off at the Shaw Conference Centre Thursday.
  Speakers at this year’s convention include the likes of former CBC National anchor Peter Mansbridge, comedian, actor and Corner Gas star Brent Butt, Edmonton city councillor Aaron Paquette, journalist Mohamed Fahmy and actor Henry Winkler.
  The convention, which runs through Friday, also features events at Harry Ai
  
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• Record number of restaurants launch 2018 Downtown Dining Week

  01-03-2018 17:41 via edmontonjournal.com
  Downtown Dining Week kicks off in Edmonton next week, running from March 9 to 18. There are a record-setting 37 downtown restaurants participating, each with a carefully curated menu for this 10-day event hosted by the Downtown Business Association. Diners can enjoy two-course lunches for $18, three-course dinners for $30, or an executive dinner for $45.
  Five new restaurants are on board this year: Black Pearl Seafood Bar, Botegga 104, Doan’s Vietnamese Restaurant, Match Eatery and Wishbon
  
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• Rooftop firefighters help raise $100,000 for Muscular Dystrophy

  01-03-2018 17:05 via edmontonjournal.com
  Edmonton firefighters will be coming down off the rooftop of Fire Station #2 Thursday morning after raising $100,000 for Muscular Dystrophy.
  The members have spent four days living on the rooftop in downtown Edmonton to raise money and awareness of the neuromuscular disorders.
  Muscular Dystrophy refers to a group of more than 150 types of disorders “characterized by the wasting away and progressive weakness of the voluntary muscles that control voluntary movement.”Funds raised will b
  
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• Sixties Scoop survivors to share experiences ahead of government apology

  01-03-2018 17:04 via edmontonjournal.com
  Sixties Scoop survivors who were torn away from their Indigenous communities will share their stories Thursday in Edmonton as the government develops an apology.
  “For many of them, (it’s) the first chance they’ve ever even talked about what happened to them, their experience and what their life has been like since then,” Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee said Tuesday. 
  During the 1960s, thousands of Indigenous children were ripped from their familie
  
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• Jim Cuddy brings pure hootenanny fun to Edmonton's Jubilee Auditorium

  01-03-2018 16:54 via edmontonjournal.com
  Jim Cuddy knows the score.
  The co-leader of Blue Rodeo has been touring for over thirty years now with the parent organization, adding alternating jaunts with the Jim Cuddy Band since 1998. He’s got 19 albums worth of material to choose from, including a new solo record in this year’s Constellations, but Cuddy wasn’t under any illusion that most of the audience at Wednesday night’s Jubilee Auditorium concert were hankering for a complete album run through, or a selection
  
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• Edmonton weather: Winter storm warning in effect

  01-03-2018 15:25 via edmontonjournal.com
  A winter storm warning for Edmonton, St. Albert and Sherwood Park was issued Thursday morning by Environment Canada.
  Snow is expected to fall in Edmonton tonight and continue Friday and throughout the weekend. By the time the Pacific system finishes moving east on Sunday morning, 15 to 25 centimetres of snow is expected to have fallen. 
  Along with the snow, there will be strong winds coming from the east, meaning blowing snow and reduced visibility on open areas and highways.
  Winter storm w
  
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• Thursday's letters: Will riverwalk survive high water?

  01-03-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  While I understand the desire for more access to the river from Government House Park to the Walterdale Bridge, I have some serious concerns about the lower trails.
  I spent my childhood on 87 Street in Riverdale. And my family is still there (since 1952). At one time, the city thought it would be a great idea to build a trail along the river between the Dawson Bridge and what is now Accidental Beach.
  They hauled fill and heavy gravel in and built a 12-15-foot wide trail six feet above the water.
  
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• Opinion: When is the last time you saw an Indigenous juror?

  01-03-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  In the aftermath of the jury verdict acquitting Gerald Stanley in the killing of Colten Boushie, I was contacted by the Edmonton Journal to comment on juries and the jury system in the Canadian criminal justice system. “Scrapping Peremptory Challenges would increase Jury diversity: Edmonton lawyer.” (Edmonton Journal, Feb. 15, 2018).My suggestion was met almost immediately with scorn from some of my defence colleagues with thinly veiled comments, “you don’t know what the
  
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• Editorial: More electoral choice is good

  01-03-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  For much of its history, Alberta politics have been simple and straightforward. One party so dominated the ethos that it won election after election, no matter what.
  Yes, there was always opposition, earnest and sometimes effective, but in the eyes of most voters — those parties were never credible enough to win more than a handful of seats, let alone form a government.
  Alberta’s political landscape remained as monocultured and monochromatic as a field of wheat. But the ecosystem shi
  
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• So you want to be a firefighter?

  01-03-2018 11:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  For the month of March, Edmonton Fire Rescue is accepting applications for firefighters. The job application process takes about a year and one of the steps along the way is the physical aptitude test. 
  Following the VO2 Max test, which measures cardiorespiratory fitness, applicants are tested at six stations that simulate the job-related physical requirements of structural firefighting, such as ladder climbs, vehicle extractions and victim rescues. The tests stress muscular strength,
  
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• Sixties Scoop survivors to publicly share experiences ahead of government apology

  01-03-2018 11:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Sixties Scoop survivors who were torn away from their Indigenous communities will publicly share their stories Thursday in Edmonton as the government develops an apology.
  “For many of them, (it’s) the first chance they’ve ever even talked about what happened to them, their experience and what their life has been like since then,” Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee said Tuesday. 
  During the 1960s, thousands of Indigenous children were ripped from thei
  
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• Students paint their hands pink for Pink Shirt Day

  01-03-2018 06:09 via edmontonjournal.com
  In recognition of Pink Shirt Day students at Balwin School in Edmonton painted their hands pink to add pink hand prints to the school’s anti bullying pledge on Wednesday Feb. 28, 2018.
  In 2007, two teenage boys in Nova Scotia saw a schoolmate was bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school. Travis Price and David Shepherd bought 50 pink tank tops to school and handed them out to classmates to wear, so the boy would feel less alone.
  
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• Cannabis retailer Fire and Flower plans to open 30 stores, hire hundreds of people

  01-03-2018 05:27 via edmontonjournal.com
  Toronto cannabis retailer Fire & Flower is moving its headquarters to Edmonton, its CEO said Wednesday.
  Fire & Flower stores will open in Alberta with an educational component before cannabis product is actually stocked, Trevor Fencott told the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.
  “Our approach is education-driven,” Fencott said. “It’s not about cannabis culture — it’s about a new product that’s legally available in Canada. We’re appr
  
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• Paula Simons: Rachael Longridge's death a preventable catastrophe

  01-03-2018 04:17 via edmontonjournal.com
  “What happened was a tragedy. More than that, it was a catastrophe.”
  That’s how Justice Wayne Renke on Wednesday described the death of Rachael Longridge, 21, who was killed by her mother, Christine Longridge, on Dec. 23, 2016.
  There was never any doubt that Christine Longridge stabbed her daughter, a young nurse. Her son, Michael, then 18, actually arrived home to witness his mother doing her best to chop off his sister’s head with a cleaver.
  Instead, we should ask why R
  
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• Power goes out, manhole cover blown off, in south Edmonton

  01-03-2018 02:49 via edmontonjournal.com
  Epcor was investigating a power outage Wednesday in south Edmonton caused by an equipment failure.
  The outage was near the Edmonton Research and Development Park and affected Karl Clark Road, Parsons Road, 17 Avenue, 20 Avenue and 94 Street.
  The power was expected to be restored by 4 p.m. Wednesday. The cause of the equipment failure was under investigation.
  Edmonton Fire Rescue was called around 3 p.m. and responded five minutes later, said spokeswoman Maya Filipovic. Epcor crews were
  
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• Illegal cannabis operation busts net charges

  01-03-2018 02:49 via edmontonjournal.com
  Two of the people charged after several cannabis operation busts across the city are accused of causing a child to be drug endangered, say police.
  Officers from the Edmonton Drug and Gang Enforcement (EDGE) unit executed several warrants Feb. 2, including one at a commercial address near 109 Avenue and 156 Street, seizing cannabis, seeds, oil, shatter, edibles such as cookies and candies — even dog treats — with an estimated street value of $50,000.
  Investigators also executed w
  
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• Finance Minister Joe Ceci finally enjoys some smoother waters

  01-03-2018 02:37 via edmontonjournal.com
  The upside-down world of Alberta’s economy isn’t right-side up yet, but it’s headed in that direction, according to the government’s latest fiscal update.
  What’s supposed to be up — employment and economic growth — is indeed headed up. And what’s supposed to be down — the deficit — is finally headed down.
  It’s like watching a capsized boat slowly right itself.
  Clinging to the wheel is Finance Minister Joe Ceci, who has been holdin
  
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• The Needle Vinyl Tavern won't reopen, building ownership being negotiated

  01-03-2018 01:44 via edmontonjournal.com
  The Needle Vinyl Tavern won’t reopen, while ownership of the Jasper Avenue building where the bar is located is being renegotiated. This comes after the club closed its doors following sexual harassment allegations.
  “I can guarantee it’s going to be different,” Tegan Martin-Drysale, president of the RedBrick Group of Companies, which co-owns the building, said Wednesday.
  Last November, the Needle shut down “indefinitely” following social media reacti
  
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• Red Bull Crashed Ice track promises to be longer, faster than 2015

  01-03-2018 01:25 via edmontonjournal.com
  The track is longer, the jumps are bigger and the beer gardens will flow more freely as the Ice Cross Downhill World Championship, a.k.a. Red Bull Crashed Ice, returns to Edmonton.
  “I think it’s going to be a huge success again,” Patrice Drouin, president of Gestev Inc. — the company producing the event — said Wednesday. 
  He was confident the experience, from both the perspective of the public and the athletes, will be better than in 2015, which drew 70,000 spe
  
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• Jobs up, deficit down: Joe Ceci unveils fiscal sunshine for Alberta

  01-03-2018 01:19 via edmontonjournal.com
  After two years of fiscal updates that landed anywhere between sad and downright depressing, Alberta’s latest fiscal update forecasts lower unemployment, economic growth and a $1.4-billion drop in the deficit.
  But the effects of the recession continue to linger, particularly around sluggish business investment. 
  Presenting third-quarter figures Wednesday, Finance Minister Joe Ceci acknowledged the province isn’t yet out of the hole and said Albertans can expect more “prude
  
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• 500 abandoned animals rescued from West Edmonton Mall pet store

  01-03-2018 01:03 via edmontonjournal.com
  More than 500 animals, including small mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and spiders, have been seized from a pet store in one of the Edmonton Humane Society’s largest seizures to date.
  A member of the public alerted society staff earlier this week that animals may have been abandoned at the My Pet store in West Edmonton Mall.
  Peace officer Danika Bodnarchuk, the society’s supervisor of animal protection services, said Wednesday the concern was deemed justified and the seizure began. It
  
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• Edmonton Oilers have tried everything with Milan Lucic. Now what?

  01-03-2018 00:42 via edmontonjournal.com
  Ten terrible truths and takes on Milan Lucic
  I was about to suggest this great idea to Edmonton Oilers coach Todd McLellan that he greatly reduce Milan Lucic’s ice time and play him as a third-line checking winger, but in researching this piece I realized that McLellan has essentially already tried that as well as just about everything else with Lucic.
  This doesn’t mean that Lucic should not be given the job of third line checker playing 12 to 14 minutes per game.
  That’s exactl
  
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• Amarjeet Sohi says he didn't know Jaspal Atwal when they were photographed together in India

  01-03-2018 00:42 via edmontonjournal.com
  An Edmonton federal cabinet minister says he didn’t know he was being photographed last week beside a convicted attempted murderer with links to a Sikh terrorist group.
  Jaspal Atwal, jailed for taking part in the shooting of an Indian cabinet minister on Vancouver Island in 1986, had his picture taken with Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, at a Mumbai reception during their tour of India.
  But
  
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• Wildfire exercise helps prepare Alberta officials

  01-03-2018 00:18 via edmontonjournal.com
  It was all hands on deck Wednesday as more than 150 officials took part in an exercise ahead of wildfire season. 
  “You can never be too prepared,” said Scott Long, spokesman for the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
  The annual exercise — which incorporated about 100 people at the provincial operations centre in Edmonton and more than 50 in Grande Prairie — simulated what would happen if a fire had affected six communities in Grande Prairie County over fi
  
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• Nailbomb's 25-year-old scream of nihilistic punk rage seems more relevant than ever on tour

  01-03-2018 00:09 via edmontonjournal.com
  They only lasted for a year, but Nailbomb certainly made an impact in a short amount of time.
  A spontaneous project started by metal guitarist/vocalist Max Cavalera (Soulfly, Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy) and producer/noise-rocker Alex Newport (Fudge Tunnel) in 1994, Nailbomb was an outlier in both musician’s discographies. Mashing up of thrash riffs, guitar skronk, samples and drum machines, the band’s single album, the cult classic Point Blank, screamed with the purest of nihilis
  
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