St. Albert news

• Beef, poultry producers abandoning Edmonton area as agriculture faces 'tipping point'

  09-08-2018 23:29 via edmontonjournal.com
  Livestock operators are pulling out of the Edmonton area and large-scale grain farmers are planning their exit strategy, regional leaders heard Thursday.
  On the surface, it looks like the region’s agriculture sector is holding its own, said Jerry Bouma, a consultant who prepared a state-of-the-industry report for the Edmonton Regional Metropolitan Board. But that’s not the reality.
  “The agriculture food system is less than stable and may be reaching a tipping point,”
  
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• Iveson 'pissed off' about city's move to evict Heritage Festival from storage barn

  09-08-2018 23:26 via edmontonjournal.com
  Kicking Heritage Days officials out of their Hawrelak Park barn is only the latest in a string of “boneheaded” decisions from city administration, said Mayor Don Iveson.
  “As mayor, I’m pissed off. I’m not happy,” he said, speaking to several news outlets gathered at City Hall. “I think there’s a fundamental cultural issue around helpfulness.”
  City staff have told the festival it must vacate the barn the organization built 32 years ago on
  
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• City pitches new $5.8-million south side bike grid, avoids popular 109 Street corridor

  09-08-2018 23:24 via edmontonjournal.com
  City of Edmonton officials pitched a new south side bike grid Thursday, one that keeps bikes off the popular and busy 109 Street corridor.
  In a report to council’s urban planning committee, city staff say they specifically avoided heavily-used traffic corridors, such as 109 Street, even though it hosts many of the shops and local destinations cyclist might want to access.
  It’s been designated as a high-density transit avenue in earlier planning efforts.
  Instead, the new mostly-separa
  
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• No one disciplined for photos on top of Stantec Tower, union says

  09-08-2018 23:23 via edmontonjournal.com
  None of the ironworkers who posed in photos last week from the top of the Stantec Tower were disciplined following an investigation, a union official said Thursday.
  “The guys were all tied off … There really was no unsafe activity going on. That’s the normal process for putting steel up,” said Keith Stevenson, business manager for Ironworkers Local 720.
  “My understanding is the owner (One Properties) has taken this and they want a positive spin for it. I
  
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• Teen charged with second-degree murder in Buffalo Lake Metis Settlement death

  09-08-2018 23:07 via edmontonjournal.com
  A 17-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of a man on the Buffalo Lake Metis Settlement in northern Alberta.
  Mounties were called to a home at 10 p.m. Tuesday to find Brandon Ladouceur suffering from serious injuries after being attacked with a weapon. Police did not say what kind of weapon was used in the attack.
  Ladouceur, 22, was transported to a hospital in Boyle where he died in the early hours of Wednesday morning, police said Thursday.
  
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• New Edmonton assistant coach Glen Gulutzan telegraphs "concrete changes" in the Oilers' style of play

  09-08-2018 23:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  The Edmonton Oilers did not make wholesale changes to its roster in the off-season. But it absolutely re-vamped it’s coaching staff. Todd McLellan has 3 new men at his shoulder: Trent Yawney, Manny Viveiros and Glen Gulutzan.
  I liked all 3 acquisitions. But I am from the camp that thought the Gulutzan hiring in particular was really smart.
  As the former head coach of another NHL team, and also one of the Oilers oldest rivals, Glen Gulutzan has the potential to bring a truly impartial view
  
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• Emma's Asian eats: The search for delicious dim sum, Hong Kong-style

  09-08-2018 21:29 via edmontonjournal.com
  Postmedia reporter Emma Graney is sharing some of her delicious food discoveries as she travels in Asia. This week she searches for the best of Hong Kong’s dim sum
  Hong Kong — Squished into a corner, I eye three glistening shrimp and vegetable dumplings wobbling in my steamer basket.
  I wrestle with the moody little bundles of joy which seem intent on sticking to one another like a high school clique.
  The man across from me — I assume the father in the family of three with whom
  
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• City's handling of Heritage Festival storage issue 'unacceptable': Don Iveson

  09-08-2018 20:34 via edmontonjournal.com
  The planned eviction of the Edmonton Heritage Festival from its Hawrelak Park barn may be an example of officials forgetting the city exists to serve people, Mayor Don Iveson says.
  “These partner organizations the city works with provide tremendous value to the city and to the community, and should be treated as partners, not as problem tenants or a nuisance or a hinderance to the city’s business,” Iveson said Thursday.
  “The city’s business is to make life in the ci
  
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• Alberta pilot captures startling aerial photos of B.C. wildfires

  09-08-2018 19:53 via edmontonjournal.com
  An Alberta pilot who in a series of aerial photographs captured a wall of smoke moving across British Columbia’s Interior says he’s never seen anything like it.
  “I’ve been flying for 20 years and I see smoke every summer, but nothing quite as defined,” said Matt Melnyk, who snapped the pictures Wednesday during an hour-long flight from Calgary to Vancouver.
  Melnyk, a Calgary co-pilot with WestJet, said there were no clouds in the sky at 40,000 feet, just east o
  
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• Wayne Gretzky … Life After Hockey

  09-08-2018 17:17 via edmontonjournal.com
  Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky comments on life after hockey while attending the Glinka Gretzky Cup hockey tournament in Edmonton on August 8, 2018.
  
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• Edmonton's Food Bank falls short of Heritage Festival goal

  09-08-2018 17:08 via edmontonjournal.com
  Edmonton’s Food Bank fell short of its food drive goal at this year’s Heritage Festival but donations are still being rounded up.
  The organization hoped to collect 50,000 kilograms of food at the annual festival but as of Thursday, they had received 36,000 kilograms of non-perishable items.
  The food drive ends Friday.
  Anyone who wants to donate can drop off non-perishables at major grocery stores and fire stations around the city.
  Donations can also be brought to the Edmonton’s
  
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• VIDEO: Wayne Gretzky…Life After Hockey

  09-08-2018 15:53 via edmontonjournal.com
  Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky comments on life after hockey while attending the Glinka Gretzky Cup hockey tournament in Edmonton on August 8, 2018.
  
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• Edmonton weather: Don't look now but today is like yesterday

  09-08-2018 15:44 via edmontonjournal.com
  The heat warning and air quality statements issued for Edmonton Wednesday by Environment Canada remain in effect Thursday with temperatures remaining almost identical for today and tomorrow.
  Edmonton’s temperature could reach 33 C today with a minimum overnight temperature hovering around 20 C. Wind is expected out of the southwest at about 7 km/h.
  Wildfire smoke is causing locally poor air quality and reducing visibility, but that can change quickly, Environment Canada said.
  Ind
  
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• Thursday's letters: Parks need drinking fountains, toilets

  09-08-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  If I am now living in a hipster forward-thinking community why are the simple things in life so difficult?
  After riding my bike to the Heritage Festival, why does it cost me four dollars for a bottle of water? Why doesn’t the city provide free refill water stations? Britain is introducing it. Ever tried to find a water fountain when you are thirsty? Good luck.
  And if you are out for a run or walk and have the misfortune of needing a toilet, good luck again. You either need to go into a bus
  
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• Rust Magic International Street Mural Festival back for a low-cal Season 3

  09-08-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  You try arranging 40 new murals in two years and see what happens!
  Annaliza Toledo and Trevor Peters of Rust Magic International Street Mural Festival did just that over the past two summers — including bringing legendary New York City graffiti artists STASH and Wane One COD for speaking events, throwing a number of sweet street parties and even opening their own gallery to show off their local-to-international artists’ work. No biggie, right?
  “Honestly,” Toledo laughs on
  
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• Opinion: Letting weeds take over parks isn't way to natural grassland

  09-08-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  On Aug. 2, media interviewed an Edmonton resident who was complaining about shoulder-high weeds in Louise McKinney Park. He said they were unsightly and gave the city a bad image. City of Edmonton staff responded that the weeds were being left intentionally; the goal was to achieve a “pristine, natural grassland” and citizens only need patience for this to happen.
  I’m afraid this is an extreme case of wishful thinking. Where is the evidence that weeds will metamorphose into a n
  
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• Editorial: Benchmark for insensitivity

  09-08-2018 14:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  There is something inherently noble and good about a park bench bearing a memorial plaque; it is both practical infrastructure and sentimental remembrance combined in a single piece of outdoor furniture.
  A commemorative bench provides rest to the weary. It also offers family members a way to remember a loved one with a simple tribute that gives back to the community in a meaningful way. Plaques on some benches tell of the fondness the departed had for that particular space where they may have pl
  
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• Hlinka-Gretzky Cup: 2020 draft hotshots Alexis Lafreniere, Alexander Holtz, Lucas Raymond put on a show as Canada edges Sweden

  09-08-2018 13:40 via edmontonjournal.com
  Due respect to the powerhouse team that Hockey Canada puts together every summer for the U-18 tourney now known as the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, the actual hockey starts to get interesting only when the opposition is capable of holding its own out there.
  The first two days of the event — which is being played in Edmonton and Red Deer after 20+ years being co-hosted by Slovakia and Czechia — simply served as preliminaries. Each four-team group settled out into two favourites and two also-ra
  
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• Graham Thomson: Alberta government shrugs off more vexing news about Trans Mountain pipeline

  09-08-2018 11:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  I suppose all the Alberta government can do at this point is shrug.
  Which is pretty much what it did this week when news came of more potential bad news for the planned expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
  The project might end up costing $1.9 billion more and take 12 months longer to complete than planned.
  Oh, come on.
  Can’t this project catch a break?
  It’s been plagued by delays, protests, and political interference from the British Columbia government. It was so close to deat
  
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• Five deeper-cut acts to seek out at the Edmonton folk fest this weekend

  09-08-2018 11:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  The most knee-jerk of reactions to any festival tend to land squarely on its lineup — and yet the Edmonton Folk Music Festival has a definite edge over most: eight, count ’em, eight stages of music, Thursday through Sunday.
  I’ve always found it odd how much attention is paid to who’s up on the big mainstage, particularly considering how much easier it is to access the side stages, Stages 1 through 7, since intimate connection between an artist and an audience is one
  
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• 19-year-old woman killed in crash near St. Paul, Alberta's 15th road fatality since Sunday

  09-08-2018 07:01 via edmontonjournal.com
  A 19-year-old woman has died after a collision near St. Paul — the 15th person killed on Alberta roads since Sunday.
  RCMP Staff Sgt. Jeremie Landry said officers were called to the scene near Highways 881 and 646 at around 8:10 p.m. Wednesday.
  According to officers, a vacuum truck and a small car had collided. The woman driving the car was declared dead on scene. The driver of the truck was uninjured.
  An Edmonton-based STARS air ambulance was dispatched to the scene around 8:45 p.m.
  Collis
  
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• Get your folk on: City advises of transit options, parking restrictions ahead of folk fest

  09-08-2018 06:55 via edmontonjournal.com
  As music lovers prepare to swarm Gallagher Park on Thursday evening, the city wants to ensure everyone can get in and out smoothly to enjoy the melodic sounds of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Private vehicles will not be permitted to enter the Cloverdale community for pick-up and drop-off and the city is encouraging attendees to take public transit.
  ETS service
  Shuttle buses will be running to and from the park every 30 minutes from two locations throughout the four-day festival:southeast co
  
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• Six people including two Americans killed in Jasper highway crash

  09-08-2018 06:10 via edmontonjournal.com
  Jasper — Six people have died, including two tourists from the United States, following a highway crash in Jasper National Park.
  The collision happened about 5 p.m. Tuesday on the Icefields Parkway near the Honeymoon Lake campground, about 60 km south of the Jasper townsite.
  A van carrying five members of a family from Louisiana and Texas was heading north when it collided with a southbound vehicle, causing both to catch fire, said RCMP Cpl. Laurel Scott Wednesday.
  All four peopl
  
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• Buffy Sainte-Marie wants to teach up-and-comers about the music business

  09-08-2018 04:10 via edmontonjournal.com
  Before she made her way into the music business, Buffy Sainte-Marie thought she was on a completely different path.
  “I had a degree, and I thought I was going to become a philosophy teacher,” she laughs over the phone from her home in Hawaii. “The best I could get was the record business, so I’m a bit of a misfit in it.”
  The Saskatchewan-born singer-songwriter, famous in some quarters for protest-era tunes like Universal Soldier, isn’t exaggerating her status
  
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• Elderly man struck on Fort Road dies of injuries

  09-08-2018 03:13 via edmontonjournal.com
  An elderly man struck by a vehicle in northeast Edmonton early Saturday morning has died.
  Police said in a news release Wednesday that the 78-year-old had succumbed to his injuries in hospital Tuesday.
  The man was attempting to cross Fort Road just south of 129 Avenue about 12:35 a.m. when he was struck by a white Mazda CX5 allegedly driven by a 24-year-old woman.
  Police believe the man was trying to cross from the east side of the northbound lanes to the west side of the southbound la
  
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• Paula Simons: Closing the barn door: Heritage Festival told to leave its Hawrelak Park HQ

  09-08-2018 02:16 via edmontonjournal.com
  The old brown barn near the gates of Hawrelak Park doesn’t look worth fighting over.
  For more than 30 years, the Edmonton Heritage Festival has used the barn to house the equipment for its massive summer celebration of multiculturalism. This is where the festival stored its tents, its flags, its ticket booths, its water barrels, its picnic tables, its electrical plugs, its hoses, its deep-fat fryers.
  Now, the city has told the festival it must vacate the site — in two weeks.
  “W
  
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• 10 things to do in Edmonton this week: Cariwest, Batman, and Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite

  09-08-2018 02:00 via edmontonjournal.com
  Place
  Buffalo jumps! Dinosaur bones! What Southern Alberta kid doesn’t enjoy the thought of playing amongst the detritus of the Badlands in Drumheller? Choreographer and dancer Brian Webb, filmmaker Kyle Armstrong, and composer Mark Templeton have banded together to create Place, a reverie on just such matters. This Brian Webb Dance Company show steps outside its usual home at the Timms Centre for two nights at MacEwan University.
  When: Thursday, Aug. 9, and Friday, Aug. 10 at 8 p.m.
  Where
  
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• Community groups adding extra measures to help residents beat the heat

  09-08-2018 00:50 via edmontonjournal.com
  A wave of smoke and heat is taking hold of the city and community groups are taking extra precautions to help Edmontonians in need stay cool.
  With temperatures expected to peak at 36 C on Friday, centres in the city will be providing extra water and sunscreen as well as opening their doors for those who need to beat the heat.
  Bissell Centre will be extending its hours Thursday and Friday until 4 p.m., providing two extra hours to use the indoor facilities, centre spokesman Devin Komarniski said.
  
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