St. Albert news

• Meet Bama and Crimson, Edmonton's newest police puppies

  05-04-2018 23:05 via edmontonjournal.com
  Crimson comes out first, whining and straining against his leash, stopping to smell everything he can get his nose on.
  Next comes Bama, the younger of the two, bounding forward in hopes of catching up with his half-brother. They spot each other and wrestle, joyously, in the atrium of Edmonton police headquarters.  
  Bama and Crimson aren’t yet the fearsome urban crime fighters Edmonton police hope they will become. The two are still very much puppies, starting the year-long t
  
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• Tyler Benson reportedly heading to Bakersfield Condors to finish out 2017-18 season

  05-04-2018 23:03 via edmontonjournal.com
  At long last it begins in earnest, Tyler Benson’s pro career. With his Vancouver Giants eliminated from the Western Hockey League playoffs, Benson is now off to play for the Bakersfield Condors, the farm team of the Edmonton Oilers.
   Reports Rick Dhaliwal @DhaliwalSports of Sportsnet650: “#WHLGiants captain Tyler Benson is off to Bakersfield (AHL) tomorrow start his pro career.”My take
  After a late start to the year, Benson had a solid season, putting up 80 points in 65 ga
  
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• Alberta organics, local food week gives boost to producers

  05-04-2018 23:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Alberta will soon have a new local food council and provincial organic food standards, which the government hopes will grow the local food industry beyond its current billion-dollar economic footprint. 
  It’s also proclaiming an annual Alberta Local Food Week, set to coincide with Open Farm Days each August.
  The changes are part of an ongoing push to diversify Alberta’s economy, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier said Thursday. 
  Around $1 billion worth
  
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• More than 100 charges laid after hours-long Edmonton crime spree

  05-04-2018 22:55 via edmontonjournal.com
  Five people involved in a crime spree last week that resulted in a motorist being shot are collectively facing more than 100 charges including kidnapping and possession of a prohibited weapon, police said Thursday.
  Police arrested the group late last Tuesday night when the vehicle they were driving was forced off the road by police after earlier hitting a spike belt deployed on Highway 28A north of Edmonton.
  The dramatic end to the pursuit was the culmination of events that began at around 4:15
  
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• Second-degree murder charge laid in St. Paul hotel assault death

  05-04-2018 22:36 via edmontonjournal.com
  Mounties charged a man with second-degree murder Thursday in relation to an aggravated assault at a motel in St. Paul in late March.
  RCMP officers went to the motel on March 29 at 10:44 p.m. and found Emery John Large suffering from serious injuries.
  The 39-year-old was transported to an Edmonton hospital for treatment but he died Wednesday morning. 
  An autopsy determined Large’s death to be a homicide.
  William Adaire Cardinal, 42, has been remanded into custody and is scheduled to ap
  
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• Fentanyl overdose deaths continue to plague Alberta, report shows

  05-04-2018 21:49 via edmontonjournal.com
  Deaths from fentanyl overdoses during the first six weeks of the year rose 32 per cent compared to the same period last year, an interim report on opioid use by Alberta Health shows.
  However, deaths were down significantly from the previous six-week period at the end of 2017 when 119 people died from fentanyl overdoses.
  Of the 74 fentanyl overdose deaths reported in January and early February, 25 were in the Edmonton zone and 36 were in the Calgary zone.
  During the first six weeks of 2017, 56 pe
  
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• Legendary CFCW morning man Bev Munro dead at 89

  05-04-2018 20:12 via edmontonjournal.com
  Country musician and long-time CFCW radio announcer Bev Munro has died at age 89.
  Born in Boissevain, Man., Munro started his broadcast career in Brandon before being named Mr. DJ USA in 1959 and being hired by CFCW four years later when it became Canada’s first country music station, according to a company news release Thursday.
  Over the next 30 years he became known for such features as his Mystery Artist Request Line and Kneeslapper jokes, as well as his deep voice and Stetson hat.
  He w
  
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• Undercover a heartfelt collaboration between actors and audience

  05-04-2018 18:19 via edmontonjournal.com
  It’s your first day on the job, and someone gets murdered. It’s your responsibility to find out who did it. A large crowd, sipping alcoholic beverages, watches you.
  If that feels stressful, do not volunteer for the lead role in Undercover, Rebecca Northan’s new production in The Club at the Citadel until April 29.
  Undercover is another example of “spontaneous theatre,” Northan’s description of her particular brand of improv revealed in the hit show, Blind
  
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• Scenic Route to Alaska happy to call Edmonton home bas

  05-04-2018 18:18 via edmontonjournal.com
  When Edmonton-based indie-rockers Scenic Route to Alaska opted to work once again with producer Howard Redekopp on their latest album, Tough Luck, it was less to do with familiarity and more to do with a particular shared sensibility.
  “It’s always nice to have a producer who speaks your language,” notes guitarist-vocalist Trevor Mann, taking his ease poolside in Los Angeles after a morning radio interview. “If you tell Howard that you want something in the song to so
  
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• Alberta tourism spending sets $8.5 billion record

  05-04-2018 18:12 via edmontonjournal.com
  Tourism spending in Alberta reached a record $8.5 billion in 2016, the latest figures from Statistics Canada show.
  The amount spent during almost 35 million visits was up 4.7 per cent from the year before, partly driven by a rise in overseas and American tourists, according to a Thursday news release from the provincial government.
  “The strong performance of Alberta’s tourism sector in 2016 shows its resiliency and continued potential to diversify the economy, create jobs and generat
  
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• Leduc Mountie OK after cruiser rammed during traffic stop

  05-04-2018 18:09 via edmontonjournal.com
  A Leduc RCMP member was uninjured after the driver of a truck that he stopped for speeding attempted to ram his cruiser. 
  RCMP said in a news release Thursday that the incident highlights the danger members face even during routine traffic stops. 
  On April 3, a member of the Leduc RCMP’s traffic unit was using a laser to monitor traffic speeds on Highway 2. 
  The officer pulled over a truck that was travelling at high speeds. But when he was about to exit the police vehicle,
  
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• Alberta NDP tops 2017 party donations with $2.11 million raised

  05-04-2018 17:57 via edmontonjournal.com
  Alberta’s New Democrats pulled in $2.11 million last year, topping the list of 2017 political donations for the province.
  The United Conservative Party was close behind, with 2017 revenues hitting $2.07 million. 
  The bulk of the NDP’s cash — around $1.21 million — came from receipted donations greater than $250, with half a million from smaller donations. The party also raked in $329,698 through fundraising and close to $60,000 from other means. 
  Over at the UCP
  
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• Jump at the pumps: Gas prices in Edmonton rise to $1.21

  05-04-2018 17:32 via edmontonjournal.com
  Yikes, that’s going to hurt the wallet.
  Edmontonians are waking up Thursday to discover a hike at the pumps with the average cost of regular gasoline rising from $1.13 to $1.21 per litre at locations across the city, according to GasBuddy.com.
  There are still select locations selling gas at $1.12 per litre for those shopping for a bargain.
  According to GasBuddy.com, the average price of fuel in Alberta Thursday is $1.18 per litre, which is up 16 cents from the this time last year when the
  
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• RCMP identify man found shot to death in truck near Redwater

  05-04-2018 17:12 via edmontonjournal.com
  RCMP have launched a homicide investigation into the death of a man found with gunshot wounds in a pick-up truck near Redwater.
  Twenty-five-year-old Gunner Christie was found dead March 31 in a Ford Ranger discovered in a ditch on Range Road 234, north of Township Road 580.
  On Thursday, RCMP announced the medical examiner had ruled the death a homicide. 
  The RCMP have not made any arrests, but information gleaned indicates that this was not a random event, RCMP said in a news release. &ldqu
  
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• If Andrej Sekera's isn't healthy for next season that's horrid news for Edmonton Oilers

  05-04-2018 15:43 via edmontonjournal.com
  Game Day 81: Oilers vs Golden Knights
  In a season of bad news, Edmonton Oilers fans were this week given another kick in the shins — or perhaps a knock on the knee would be a better way to put it — with news that Andrej Sekera had “tweaked” his old knee injury and would miss the final two games of the season.
  The best case here is that the tweak was mild and him sitting out is mainly just a precautionary move , one that will give Sekera a head start on the off-season of h
  
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• Today's Top Three: Dogwood Cafe closes; MacEwan recovers $10.9 million; City to battle loud vehicles

  05-04-2018 15:06 via edmontonjournal.com
  Today’s Top Three is a daily online feature highlighting a few of the most interesting and newsworthy stories you can expect to see on edmontonjournal.com.
  Local restaurateur loses to big multinational
  A moving van will pull up to the Victoria Golf Course clubhouse in the river valley Monday to clear out the Dogwood Cafe, a much-loved restaurant that has operated there for three years. 
  The city has given the contract to Civeo, a giant, Houston-based provider of global workforce accom
  
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• Edmonton weather: Waking up to a -25 windchill in April is the best

  05-04-2018 14:38 via edmontonjournal.com
  A look at today’s Edmonton weather by Environment Canada.
  Thursday morning temperatures at the Edmonton Blatchford station measure -14 C with a 7 km/h wind contributing to a -19 wind chill. But things are expected to (somehow) get worse as the winds are expected to pick up bringing a -25 windchill along with them.
  Today:  Mainly sunny. Increasing cloudiness this morning then 30 per cent chance of flurries this afternoon. Wind becoming north 20 km/h gusting to 40 this morning. High -10
  
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• Thursday's letters: Councillors should actually use LRT

  05-04-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Re. “City reveals 20 most congested intersections,” April 4
  Every day I watch empty LRT trains going back and forth on the Metro line at 111 Avenue and Kingsway, holding up hundred of people trying to get to their appointments at the hospital, shopping, and heading home at the end of the day.
  Every day I read about council and their single-minded fixation on public transit with billions spent here and millions spent there.
  But what’s really amazing and is very telling about how
  
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• Opinion: Time to move past carbon-tax repeal debate

  05-04-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  This week, the Ecofiscal Commission released results from a new survey by Abacus Data that interviewed 2,250 Canadians on their perceptions of carbon pricing and climate change.
  Unsurprisingly, the majority of Canadians agree that climate change is real and caused by human behaviour. The results also showed that Albertans recognize the need to reduce greenhouse gases and associated emissions and in fact, only 27 per cent want the government to place less emphasis in their policies on emission re
  
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• Editorial: Lessons learned after hard tests

  05-04-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterward,” goes the quote by American baseballer Vernon Law.
  That certainly applies to natural disasters that strike quickly and without much warning but leave lots of time afterwards for survivors to pick up the pieces and for authorities to scrutinize the aftermath — what went wrong and how to do better next time. 
  By dint of recent history, Alberta then, should be well-schooled and prepared f
  
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• Wildlife: Film of Richard Wagamese's Indian Horse has Alberta connections

  05-04-2018 11:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Last year, one of the best Canadian novels started circling the festivals as a feature film directed by Stephen Campanelli — and on this run, Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse premiered at the Edmonton International Film Fest. Treme and Game of Thrones actor Michiel Huisman is amid the largely Indigenous cast, which also stars Sladen Peltier, Forrest Goodluck and Ajuwak Kapashesit as the main protagonist at three different ages.
  The movie, both harrowing and hopeful, follows the l
  
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• Roots acts tap personal experience for revelatory songs

  05-04-2018 11:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Tapping real sincerity as a songwriter sometimes involves addressing difficult issues.
  For Erin Kay, singing about her experiences in an abusive relationship was an important step in moving forward, to finding the inherent value and power that she had in her own person.
  “With this album I’m more comfortable in telling my story and the things I’ve been through,” she explains. “When you become comfortable enough to share your experiences, you know that it doesn’
  
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• Liane Faulder: The city's new slogan? Make Something Bland: Local restaurateur loses to big multinational

  05-04-2018 11:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Every once in a while, I look around Edmonton and think to myself, “Now it’s a city.” The reaction is usually in response to something amazing developed by a local innovator. I love the sky-scraping Stantec Tower, and the downtown buzz created by the sprawling arena. I cheer when The Citadel tackles something gutsy, and the Edmonton Fringe Festival makes me burst with pride.
  But a real city is more than big art and architecture. It’s also about smaller projects initiated
  
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• Liane Faulder: The city's new slogan? Make Something Bland

  05-04-2018 11:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Every once in a while, I look around Edmonton and think to myself, “Now it’s a city.” The reaction is usually in response to something amazing developed by a local innovator. I love the sky-scraping Stantec Tower, and the downtown buzz created by the sprawling arena. I cheer when The Citadel tackles something gutsy, and the Edmonton Fringe Festival makes me burst with pride.
  But a real city is more than big art and architecture. It’s also about smaller projects initiated
  
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• Pride Centre throws open doors to bigger space

  05-04-2018 04:19 via edmontonjournal.com
  Randy Boissonnault, Liberal MP for Edmonton-Centre, narrated a little story Wednesday.
  A few years ago when he was at the University of Oxford for a conference, and on his way to brunch with a friend, he noticed rows and rows of rainbow pride flags on that campus.
  His friend’s two-year-old son pointed to the flags and asked his mother what they were, and she explained.
  When she asked her son to tell “Uncle Randy” what the rainbow flag meant, Boissonnault said the litt
  
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• Edmonton councillors raised $1.2 million to fund 2017 election campaigns

  05-04-2018 03:25 via edmontonjournal.com
  Winners collectively raised more than $1.2 million for signs, Facebook advertising and food during the last municipal election in what’s expected to be the last campaign fed by corporate and union donations.
  Mayor Don Iveson raised a war chest of nearly $397,000 for his re-election bid, even though he was running against a crowed field of little-known challengers.
  Of those donations, 156 came from private citizens, roughly 45 per cent of the total number of donors. But corporations gave mo
  
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• Paula Simons: Old Domtar site no brownfield of dreams for worried homeowners

  05-04-2018 02:32 via edmontonjournal.com
  It’s a cold spring afternoon in Verte Homesteader, a new subdivision in northeast Edmonton. The streets are full of 150 handsome houses, some still under construction. It’s a walkable neighbourhood with a new playground in its centre. It’s all a picture of suburban infill bliss. And that’s what the people who bought homes here — for between $400,000 and $500,000 — were promised.
  “Verte Homesteader sits in a prime development location, long coveted in Edm
  
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• Government quietly stretches $1.2-billion affordable housing plan

  05-04-2018 01:37 via edmontonjournal.com
  A much-vaunted affordable housing investment by government has quietly had its timeline extended by two years. 
  The provincial government announced in June 2016 it was throwing $1.2 billion at affordable housing builds in Alberta over five years. 
  But Seniors and Housing Minister Lori Sigurdson told a legislative committee Wednesday in Edmonton that the timeline has been extended by two years. 
  When asked by Postmedia why the plan won’t meet its deadline, Sigurdson cited &ld
  
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• 'Not a lady who should ever be forgotten': Family, friends of murdered woman pack sentencing hearing

  05-04-2018 01:23 via edmontonjournal.com
  A line of 11 women, each draped in a purple scarf, stood shoulder to shoulder in an Edmonton courtroom Wednesday and spoke about how they each lost a part of themselves when their friend Aileen Robinson was murdered.
  Known as Gina to her friends and family, the 54-year-old died in hospital in April 2014 after being found badly injured at the bottom of her estranged husband’s basement staircase.
  Her death came in the midst of an acrimonious divorce with Gilbert Robinson, 62, who was convict
  
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• Council Briefs for April 3rd

  05-04-2018 00:49
  Council Briefs are provided for the benefit of community members with the intent of giving a short, informal report on... Read Post
  
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• Alberta opens bidding for more renewable power generation

  05-04-2018 00:48 via edmontonjournal.com
   
  The province is taking more bids from companies interested in producing renewable electricity as part of a plan to shift 30 per cent of Alberta’s grid to green sources by 2030.
   
  The competition seeks proposals to generate a total of 700 megawatts of solar, wind, biomass or other sustainable energy, enough to supply nearly 300,000 homes, Energy Minister Margaret McCuaig-Boyd said Wednesday.
   
  One of the two rounds under the Renewable Electricity Program will allow partners
  
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• Wetaskiwin man faces sexual assault charges against teen girls

  05-04-2018 00:43 via edmontonjournal.com
  A 47-year-old Wetaskiwin man is facing a raft of sexual offence charges after an RCMP child exploitation investigation. 
  The man, who is not being named to protect the victims’ identities, was charged Wednesday by Mounties in relation to sexual encounters with three teenage girls.
  On top of a child luring charge, the man has been charged with four counts of sexual interference, four counts of sexual assault and one count of obtaining sexual services for consideration. 
  The m
  
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• Player grades, Games 71-80: Edmonton Oilers gained a little momentum, then promptly lost it

  05-04-2018 00:39 via edmontonjournal.com
  For just a little while there, Edmonton Oilers’ fans saw at least a glimpse of the team they’d been expecting in 2017-18. A pair of gimmick-time wins over the Coyotes and Islanders kicked off a solid 10-game stretch where the club posted a 7-2-1 record, scoring 33 times and allowing just 22. The run both started and ended with three-game winning streaks, the second of these all occurring in regulation, a rare feat indeed for this bunch.
  That run occurred from Games 66-75, and like mo
  
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