Good morning, Edmonton, and welcome back to the work week.

How do you commute to work? Is speed your choice? Cost? Convenience? (There’s also a video.)

Here are some updates on Edmonton’s transportation network.

All this commuting stuff comes with the end of the Journal’s summer series on the suburbs. Living on the Edge looked at everything from commuting, to density, shopping, churches, who’s moving to the ‘burbs, and what’s working well out there.

If you followed the series at all, or are about to dive into it, there’s a survey you can fill out. I’d suggest filling out the survey if you appreciate long-form, in-depth reporting like Living on the Edge.

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Wow. Could it really be?

Could the old Esso (Imperial Oil) lot at the corner of Whyte Avenue and 105 Street finally be moving toward sale? After more than a decade is the contaminated land finally going to be ready for new development? It’s a miracle!

And it’s a good reason why the City of Edmonton needs more and tougher rules for contaminated lots, or “brownfields,” and owners who would let properties sit vacant for more than a couple of years. (This one has sat empty and dirty for 13 years.)

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Edmonton Police are going to start using black and white cruisers.

Alberta festivals, including a couple of Edmonton big ones, are getting some federal funding.

News on new beers after the jump.

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Alley Kat has two new beers officially coming out this week! Let me know if you’ve had either of them yet, or get a drink by week’s end.

I’m good with calling it UAlberta.

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The school year is underway, and calls are on for the Alberta government to fund education with a longer-term deal, so budget cuts don’t overflow classrooms.

Edmonton’s Francophone School Division wants to use older, abandoned schools but needs some money from the Alberta government to get the buildings up to snuff.

Preschool is moving out of school.

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If you work at a restaurant and a “health inspector” calls and asks you for your social insurance number, don’t give it to them.

Are Ontario and Quebec’s dairy farms helping keep Alberta beef from European markets?

Somebody needs to explain the the Stelmach cabinet how our parliamentary system of democracy works. (At least the Solicitor General is going to try and restore funding he cut to a restorative justice program. It seemed like such an odd, and inexpensive, program to cut for budgetary purposes.)

Voting is on for the leader of the Alberta Liberal party! I know you’re excited.

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We’ve got a championship series starting Thursday night in Edmonton.

CTV Edmonton’s Natasha Staniszewski is now working the sports desk at TSN.

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It’s good advice for students back in post-secondary, and good advice for anyone else: get insurance.

You probably know more than a few drivers that have parked like an ass.

Speaking of animals…goodbye, sheep!

I guess, more accurately, that headline should “Hang up, put down the sandwich, don’t do your hair and makeup, shave before you get into the car, stop tweeting on your iPad and drive.”

Alberta is not the first province to have this kind of law.

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Edmonton councillors will talk about the community revitalization levy (CRL) in October. This is the tax zone that’s supposed to help fund the downtown arena downtown revitalization projects. I hope it goes through and we finally see something productive happen on 104 Street, at 109 Street, at the old Canada Post property, with LRT expansion, and…what? That stuff is already happening?

Are you sure? I mean, how can it happen without an arena?

Speaking of LRT…Engineering design is to begin on Edmonton’s expanding LRT system.

Edmonton’s deficit for the year is improving.

One community in each of Edmonton’s five police divisions is going to get a little more policing. This is part of a new crime reduction strategy from the Edmonton Police Service. The EPS, by the way, is stretched thin trying to solve this year’s extra homicides.

I’m a little boggled on this one. Three Edmonton newsrooms (the Sun, CTV, and CHED/iNews) have a story today on a fatality report being released. Yet, CBC had it two weeks ago. Just a strange delay.

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This school year will be the first for public education in Morinville. Which sounds really weird when I read that back. (Today is the first day of school for most students.)

A new way to move patients through the University Hospital faster will likely be applied at other hospitals after successful wait time reductions. We’re also performing more surgeries in Alberta.

Being the start of a new month all the monthly magazines are out with new issues. Alberta Venture’s got a look at the Slave Lake fire.

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The photocopiers were flying, more textbooks are likely to be required, and more online links will be provides, because the University of Alberta’s getting out of its copyright agreement with Access Copyright. (Also, check out that new Gateway website! They’ve also got a refresher on top U of A summer stories.)

U of A students are depressed, not getting exercise, and not eating enough fruits and vegetables. But they’re not doing as many drugs as you may think.

The U of A’s Faculty of Arts is cutting some language classes to save money.

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Libraries are not just “warehouses for books” anymore.

And that library story probably has a tie-in to this one about Blockbuster closing their remaining Canadian stories. (Locally, you can still find movies at Videodrome and The Movie Studio.)

Old and new co-exist for just a little bit.

Good morning, Edmonton. We were so close to making it to September before really having to think about fall…but that morning chill is reality.

Edmonton’s city council wants a little more time for the municipal election and spending rules for third-party advertisers (like Envision Edmonton campaigning to keep the City Centre Airport open, during the 2010 election).

I’m yet to be won over by the idea of Edmonton’s open boundary school system, so I agree with the sentiment of kids going to their local school.

Pregnant homeless women have a new service just for them at Boyle Street.

We were just talking about naming things around the city the other day, and now a stretch of train tracks is getting a new name.

Edmonton’s Alley of Light should be among our first moves to beautify, and occupy, the many unused and forgotten spaces around out city.

An Edmonton author is set to release her new book this weekend. Yay for Edmonton writers!

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Nobody likes how the Alberta government is protecting our province’s rivers. Except maybe the Alberta government. And people who own water licenses.

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Hey, companies and businesses, jump into social media already.

I stumbled upon this dance floor at Churchill Square last night. Downtown is not dead!

Good morning Edmonton. I’ve got to say, I’m totally into this summer weather we’ve been having lately. It feels so good.

You know, you’d think people creating ads would take some time to think about what they were doing. But, I guess, some businesses still have to learn about social media the hard way. And by “hard way” I mean doing something that’s not all that thought out and being lambasted by people far and wide.

Hey, advertising doesn’t always work. Sometimes things get lost in translation or execution; that’s totally fair. And if something falls flat, or offends, you can apologize and explain that it wasn’t your intention. Then everyone can move on.

But then, you get businesses like Fluid Salon, which doesn’t really apologize, blames the rest of us for not “getting” their “art” and not doing enough to end domestic violence (again, you and me, not them) and you can’t help but wonder what is going on…

Also, I don’t think I saw the “media” talking about boycotting your salon so much as regular people.

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Sidenote: This is a good example of news and objectivity. Newsrooms are covering the story, but their headlines offer items like “a campaign for a local hair salon is raising eyebrows”  and “ad being called ‘disgusting.’” That leaves a lot of room to say glorifying domestic violence might not offend everyone, or shouldn’t. By way of clarifying that point I offer a fake headline of  ”Certain neighbours don’t like new condo plan” which is a totally acceptable place for objectivity because it’s going to be a subjective decision-making process.

If newsrooms, and the humans working in them, expressed that this was unacceptable (which I think they’re doing by non-objectively choosing to cover the story) they’d be saying to the audience that they are a part of the community and want the best for Edmonton. That’s not to say you can’t get the salon owner’s take on the ads and issue.

A couple of journalists did express actual human emotions about the ads on Twitter (and in opiniony places like blogs), but we need to see that become part of news coverage. Your audience knows you’re humans, knows you have reactions and emotions, and it’s ok to show that. It might even make stories better. Leaving room for people who might welcome domestic violence in ads, or who don’t think the moon landing happened, doesn’t make you fair and balanced, it lets down your audience.

Balancing that journalism criticism, is this story from Fish Griwkowsky in the Journal. He’s writing about local filmmaker Trevor Anderson and it says at the end of the story that the two know each other and work together. That doesn’t make the story about Anderson’s new movie any less interesting. More of this please!

I promise to keep the journalism discussions at a minimum in the rest of today’s Headlines. 

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My input on a late-night bus for Whyte Avenue is to create city-wide 24-hour transit. It doesn’t have to be as many routes as even the weekend or evening schedule, just a handful of Edmonton-crossing routes to move nightlifers and shift workers around.

(Speaking of neighbours not liking condos…) Interesting facts jump out at me in this story on some new condos at 125 Street and 102 Avenue. If nothing has really changed at the intersection since 2001, how can the City go from looking at 75 units, denying 250 more housing units, to considering an approval of 250? Maybe the story just needs more detail, but something feels strange…

West Rossdale, however, is getting new housing approvals.

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Happy Birthday, Alberta Progressive Conservative government. I didn’t get you a cake, but Dave found some 1971 election ads you might like to get nostalgic over.

Speaking of the ever-governing PCs…Doug Griffiths may have hurt the slim chances he already at becoming the next Premier…But he apologized.

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A small justice program, that brought together offenders and victims, is being scrapped because of cost. The restorative justice grant was going to cost $351-thousand next year. Yet, in a $678-million budget it might the only program cut.

So you’re telling me I can’t just create my own landfill? Where’s the Alberta Advantage?!

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Hope it was a good Ramadan. Enjoy the food and festivity at Eid.

Good morning, Edmonton!

When school resumes in the Edmonton Public School Board, junk food will not be back in class. Jamie Oliver would be so proud.

Perhaps talking about Edmonton being a big city will be the way to get Edmonton Transit to create some late-night, or 24-hour transit. It’s overdue, so let’s make it happen!

It sort of feels like Mayor Mandel has given up on his “no more crap architecture” stance when quoted about the Royal Alberta Museum designs. People have been panning the four choices for our new museum since they were unveiled by the provincial government. I’ll admit I don’t mind one of them, but nothing is really wowing me.

Cynical folks would say Mandel is backing off criticizing because he wants the provincial government to find $100-million for a downtown arena. But, hey, he could just like the designs.

Speaking of the downtown arena… “…if the same amount of money that might go into pro sports facilities could be spent on something else with a bigger impact, that’s where the money should go.”

$100-million could go a long way toward a lot of things.

Question: How can everybody love downtown without a downtown arena? Do these people hate nice things?!

Alright, before I get all riled up about the downtown arena, let’s move on.

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The city’s Naming Committee has a fascinating job. They get to approve neighbourhood and street names. That’s so cool.

Edmonton’s got a movie sound stage. Now that you know that, you can read about how Calgary is planning to build an even bigger one to attract larger, more Hollywood, productions.

You might spot some coyotes if you’re in the river valley. Keep your dog on leash and don’t run away.

For the first time in 15 years, the High Level Bridge Streetcar got stuck on top of the bridge. It took a couple of hours to get the streetcar pulled from the bridge.

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A giant, and controversial, pipeline from Alberta to Texas has environmental approval, and is closer to being built. This pipeline, the Keystone XL, has seen its share of protests.

Sure, we could do something to protect woodland caribou, or we could just kill a few wolves. One of those means we can still make lots of money.

Slave Lake is going to start seeing home construction, after a devastating wildfire this summer.

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The Alberta Progressive Conservative government is celebrating 40 years in power. The key, it seems, is always doing enough to convince the voting public the Alberta Progressive Conservatives are different from those Alberta Progressive Conservatives you don’t like anymore.

Pity the opposition leaders and politicians who never got to cross the floor to govern.

While the PC Party of Alberta looks back, so is outgoing Premier Ed Stelmach (yes, this is another goodbye Eddie story).