St. Albert news

• Alberta ranks 7th in second annual justice report - St. Albert Gazette

  13-03-2018 23:59 via stalbertgazette.com
  St. Albert Gazette
  Alberta ranks 7th in second annual justice report
  St. Albert Gazette
  Alberta received a B grade on the second annual justice report card released by the Macdonald- Laurier Institute. The report card ranks each province and territory based on five categories of the justice system: public safety, support for victims, cost ...
  
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• Housing sales up in St. Albert - St. Albert Gazette

  13-03-2018 23:43 via stalbertgazette.com
  St. Albert Gazette
  Housing sales up in St. Albert
  St. Albert Gazette
  February was a strong month for housing sales in St. Albert, according to the latest report from the Realtors Association of Edmonton. Darcy Torhjelm, chair of the association, said realtors weren't expecting the increase in sales across the market ...
  
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• Former St. Albert councillor dies - St. Albert Gazette

  13-03-2018 23:43 via stalbertgazette.com
  St. Albert Gazette
  Former St. Albert councillor dies
  St. Albert Gazette
  A St. Albert lawyer, Liberal, and city councillor who was known to some as the Baron of Bishop Street has died. Long-time St. Albert resident Richard Gordon Wheatley died peacefully at the CapitalCare Norwood palliative care facility in Edmonton on ...
  
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• Pollution spikes after warm air hovers over Edmonton

  13-03-2018 23:26 via edmontonjournal.com
  A swathe of warm air high over the city is trapping pollution in Edmonton, St. Albert and Sherwood Park, prompting Environment Canada to issue an air quality advisory Tuesday.
  The Air Quality Health Index was at seven on a scale of 10, or “high risk,” and a haze was visible in downtown Edmonton on Tuesday afternoon, according to Environment Canada.
  A phenomenon called an inversion, where colder air is trapped close to the ground by a layer of warm air above, is holding Edmonton&rsquo
  
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• NDP scraps tourism plan as outdated

  13-03-2018 23:22 via edmontonjournal.com
  A 2013 plan to grow Alberta’s tourism sector to a $10.3-billion industry by 2020 has been scrapped and replaced with “specific strategies” for rural and Indigenous tourism. 
  Alberta’s Tourism Framework was developed in consultation with industry under the Progressive Conservatives. 
  The framework envisioned a flourishing, unified industry, with traveller-focused authentic experiences that provided sustainable economic benefits to all regions of Alberta.
  Deputy t
  
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• Edmonton Food Bank use surges: report

  13-03-2018 23:17 via edmontonjournal.com
  Food bank use in the city jumped by over 10,000 people from 2014 to 2017, show new numbers from the Edmonton Social Planning Council. 
  “Food banks continue to have high usage,” Susan Morrissey, executive director, said Tuesday of the council’s latest Tracking the Trends report, done every two years.
  “So there are still people out there who are not able to access nutritious food and so usage continues to go up. And I think it is a really, really strong indicator of po
  
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• Notley's former chief of staff investigated by privacy commissioner

  13-03-2018 21:35 via edmontonjournal.com
  Alberta’s privacy commissioner is investigating John Heaney, Rachel Notley’s former chief of staff, over a series of deleted emails. 
  The investigation will include an oral hearing, and commissioner Jill Clayton expects to issue notices compelling staffers to attend and produce records. 
  The United Conservative Party wants that hearing to be public, it said in the house Tuesday. 
  Ongoing investigation
  Clayton launched an investigation last year after opposition freedom
  
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• Lack of lift from their wings has grounded Edmonton Oilers on the attack this season

  13-03-2018 21:06 via edmontonjournal.com
  Game Day 69: Oilers at Flames
  Four weeks and fourteen games remain in the Edmonton Oilers’ 2017-18 season, but it’s not too early to start writing its epitaph. How about this one?
  HERE LIE THE 2017-18 EDMONTON OILERS.NEVER COULD GET OFF THE GROUND.NO WINGS.
  Granted that’s just one more alternative in a season that goaltending, defence, special teams, coaching and management have all come under fire, and with cause. A strong case can be made to weave an ineffectual group of wing
  
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• West LRT budget estimate climbs to $2.24 billion: new report

  13-03-2018 20:55 via edmontonjournal.com
  The proposed West LRT line from downtown to Lewis Estates will cost roughly $2.24 billion if an underpass at 149 Street is included. 
  The new figure is part of a report to council released Tuesday on the city’s website. The proposed line, which was in 2016 pegged at $1.8 billion, is going to public hearing March 21. 
  City officials have not changed their stance on the 149 Street underpass, which would reduce vehicle congestion. It could also require the sale or expropriation of r
  
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• NDP scraps tourism plan

  13-03-2018 20:39 via edmontonjournal.com
  A 2013 plan to grow Alberta’s tourism sector to a $10.3 billion business by 2020 has been scrapped and replaced with “specific strategies” for rural and Indigenous tourism. 
  Alberta’s Tourism Framework was developed in consultation with industry under the Progressive Conservative administration. 
  The framework envisioned a flourishing, unified industry, with traveller-focused authentic experiences that provided sustainable economic benefits to all regions of Alb
  
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• Citadel Theatre apologizes for harassment and bullying

  13-03-2018 17:43 via edmontonjournal.com
  The Citadel Theatre’s artistic director is apologizing in an open letter for harassment and bullying behaviour at the theatre.
  Daryl Cloran said he dealt with several allegations of workplace harassment after taking the top job 18 months ago.
  “I have spoken with many artists, and it has became clear to me that through its history, there have been times that the Citadel has been a negative workplace for artists and staff,” Cloran wrote in a statement posted online Tuesday.
  
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• 'Physician' tops list of Edmonton's highest paid jobs: Indeed

  13-03-2018 17:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  If you’re looking to make the big bucks then a career as a health care physician is the way to go, according to data compiled by Indeed.com.
  Based on estimated salaries from employees, users, and past and present job advertisements on job-posting site Indeed between Feb. 2016 and Feb. 2018, physicians in Edmonton rake in an average of $235,863 a year. Second on the list is a senior project manager with an average annual salary of $122,737, and in third is pharmacy manager raking in $1
  
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• 'We love her more than anything': Family and friends to remember bus crash victim

  13-03-2018 15:48 via edmontonjournal.com
  A celebration of life service for a teen girl killed when a dump truck slammed into the back of a school bus in Thorhild County last Wednesday will be held this weekend.
  Maisie Watkinson, 15, died at the scene of the crash near Range Road 223 and Township Road 593 as she and 14 other students were headed for the K-12 Thorhild Central School.
  The school bus had turned southbound on Opal Road from Township Road 594 when it was rear ended in foggy conditions by the dump truck.
  Maisie Watkinson
  
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• Santana lets his fingers do the talking at Edmonton's Rogers Place

  13-03-2018 15:26 via edmontonjournal.com
  Carlos Santana is a man of few words.
  He prefers to let his fingers do the talking, and while that might sound like a corny way to describe the legendary guitarist he’s actually quite voluble when wringing notes out of his six-string. Even when backed by equally talented players (including vocalists Andy Vargas and Ray Green) grappling for musical space he’s still the voice of his band, a charismatic, cool grandpa adept at pulling jazz licks out of rock, the blues and funk out of Lat
  
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• Edmonton weather: It's not cold, but it's not warm either

  13-03-2018 13:38 via edmontonjournal.com
  A look at today’s Edmonton weather forecast by Environment Canada.
  Morning temperatures at the Edmonton Blatchford station measured at -8 C with a 9 km/h wind contributing to a -13 wind chill.
  Today: Sunny. High 2 C. UV index 3 or moderate.
  Tonight: Increasing cloudiness this evening. Fog patches developing this evening. Low -6 C.
  Tomorrow: Cloudy. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud in the morning. Fog patches dissipating in the morning. Wind becoming east 20 km/h in the afternoon. High 1 C.
  
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• Tuesday's letters: Ridiculous projects don't meet expectations

  13-03-2018 13:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Blizzards cause havoc on our streets while pristine bicycle lanes lie unused. Money is wasted on a trial run beautifying Jasper Avenue with ping pong tables and picnic tables on the thoroughfare.
  Who thinks of those ridiculous things? Then it was talk of a beach along the river. Now, a gondola in the sky? Really. And who’s going to pay for all this?
  Our city council is elected by the people for the people. Our mayor and his followers are promoting agendas and ideas that do not jive wi
  
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• Opinion: The Edmonton Project gondola will be done right

  13-03-2018 13:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Edmonton, The Edmonton Project was for you. 
  Sure, we are entirely committed to demonstrating the feasibility of a commuter gondola that will shape our city in new and positive ways but we are also humbled, grateful, and inspired by you.
  We have a heck of a lot of work to do now but we want you to know that you did something special for us. You probably don’t even realize it.
  The Edmonton Project was a crazy idea itself. No community has ever embarked on such an upside-down and backwa
  
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• Graham Thomson: Much-anticipated Jason Kenney-Rachel Notley fight a bit of a fizzle

  13-03-2018 13:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  After Jason Kenney spent months promising to bring civility and decorum to the Alberta legislature, the first question period of the new legislative session on Monday afternoon was, um, civil and decorous.
  Oh, the government MLAs pounded noisily on their desks, broke into raucous applause and at one point gave the premier a gratuitous standing ovation.
  But the official Opposition MLAs under Kenney’s leadership reacted by, figuratively speaking, sitting on their hands. No heckling and no je
  
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• Councillor pitches gondola as Whyte Avenue LRT solution

  13-03-2018 13:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Edmonton now has a city councillor pitching a gondola — but for Whyte Avenue, not the river valley.
  Running a gondola instead of LRT to connect the new Bonnie Doon Mall LRT station with the University of Alberta campus and stops in between could be a much cheaper, faster and less invasive solution, said Coun. Tim Cartmell in an interview Monday. 
  It would be “complementary to the (traffic) system, not compromising it.”
  City officials are in the middle of designing a new L
  
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• Graham Thomson: Kenney's first day in Question Period quiet and controlled

  13-03-2018 12:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  After Jason Kenney spent months promising to bring civility and decorum to the Alberta legislature, the first Question Period of the new legislative session on Monday afternoon was, um, civil and decorous.
  Oh, the government MLAs pounded noisily on their desks, broke into raucous applause and at one point gave the premier a standing ovation.
  But the official Opposition MLAs under Kenney’s leadership reacted by, figuratively speaking, sitting on their hands. 
  It was a clear 
  
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• Gondola could be cheaper than LRT, pitches Edmonton city councillor

  13-03-2018 10:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  An Edmonton city councillor is pitching the idea of a gondola for Whyte Avenue.
  City officials are in the middle of designing a new LRT line for the high-density corridor, but running a gondola instead to connect the new Bonnie Doon Mall LRT station with the University of Alberta campus and stops in between could be a much cheaper, faster and less invasive solution, Coun. Tim Cartmell told city hall reporter Elise Stolte in an interview Monday. 
  Gondolas have been popular on ski hills for
  
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• Leon Draisaitl contract an "overpay" says TSN's Ray Ferraro. Hmm

  13-03-2018 07:23 via edmontonjournal.com
  Ferraro: “I have no idea why they had to go to $8.5 million with Draisaitl.”
  This in from Ray Ferraro on Toronto 1050 Overdrive on Leon Draisaitl’s eight year, $8.5 million per contract and the Oilers cap situation. Ferraro was talking with former NHLer Jeff O’Neill, who started off by speculating that no one might want the Oilers GM job if Peter Chiarelli were fired because the situation in Edmonton is so bad.
  “What would you do? I don’t know. What the hell
  
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• Offender's violent history 'a tragedy, authored by the state': defence lawyer

  13-03-2018 03:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  A man with a history of physical and sexual violence should not be declared a dangerous offender since there is a “reasonable possibility” his risk to the community can eventually be controlled, court heard Monday.
  The lengthy criminal record of Lance David Blanchard, 60, is at least partly the product of incarceration and abuse he suffered from authorities starting at the age of eight, defence lawyer Tom Engel wrote in his submission.
  Yet it is not a forgone conclusion Blanchar
  
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• Alberta legislative assembly debates Trans Mountain pipeline expansion

  13-03-2018 02:02 via edmontonjournal.com
  Premier Rachel Notley said Alberta’s lack of pipeline access to tidewater is maddening as she introduced a motion Monday in support of the Trans Mountain expansion.
  “I’m hard-pressed to think of another country that so willingly handcuffs its economy in this way,” she said, adding Alberta is limited to selling oil at a discounted price to the United States.
  Legislators from across the political spectrum quibbled over details while they voiced support for the $7.4-billion
  
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• Paula Simons: 'Baby steps': Edmonton's proposed new suicide prevention strategy step in right direction

  13-03-2018 01:31 via edmontonjournal.com
  On Wednesday, Edmonton city council’s community and public services committee will field an unusual request.
  The city administration is asking councillors to add $1.39 million to the spring supplemental operating budget.
  That, in itself, is not so unusual. But administrators aren’t asking for money for a road or park. It’s asking for the extra funding to launch a municipal suicide prevention strategy.
  The question is — is suicide prevention a municipal responsibility?
  No
  
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• Notes from the Dome: Jason Kenney in the house, retail cannabis, input on workplace harassment

  13-03-2018 00:21 via edmontonjournal.com
  Monday marked opposition leader Jason Kenney’s first Alberta legislature question period, and it was a markedly restrained affair.
  The order of the day was repeated questions about the carbon tax — but the United Conservative Party asked them quietly, and without any of the desk-thumping or applause usually associated with the house.
  That, Kenney told reporters, was by his request.
  “My expectation is to have a business-like question period. I don’t think we need too
  
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