July 12 Edmonton Headlines
Hello Edmonton!
Speed on green cameras are back! Govern your driving accordingly. (And this will likely help balance the police and City budgets because we all know you’re going to get caught speeding.)
It’s raining and raining but the last decade was still too dry, and we lost plenty of trees.
As the war in Afghanistan, or, rather, the Canadian military’s fighting role in Afghanistan, comes to a close, there will be plenty of looks back at what was accomplished. Edmonton’s military base certainly played a central role since the first invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The observatory at the University of Alberta has a permanent home. Though, I’m sure they’ve heard that one before.
If you notice a guy sitting outside of SUB at the University of Alberta campus it’s because he’s on a hunger strike, looking to get a PhD supervisor.
A very public killing has resulted in a teen getting the maximum youth sentence for second degree murder. That’s seven years, with four in custody and three under community supervision. Meanwhile…in adult court…a Sherwood Park woman gets five years in prison for driving drunk and killing two people – one in her car and one in an oncoming vehicle.
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Triathlete Paula Findlay got an MRI right away for her sore hip. The head of diagnostic imaging in Edmonton says anybody with a potential injury on load-bearing joints can get one right away to avoid bone breaks. But, when you throw in the fact 450 people are waiting to get an MRI each week, and Findlay’s father is a doctor who helped get the medical scan set up it does raise some questions about healthcare wait times and queues.
Speaking of diagnostic imaging…there’s a new cardiac MRI at the Mazankowski Heart Institute… Paula Findlay has already given it a whirl. (I’m kidding!)
Alberta’s Persons with Developmental Disabilities program (or PDD) is under scrutiny after the Journal discovered a man’s violent tendencies were never disclosed to the agency providing his care in Camrose. He is alleged to have killed his caregiver – though he found mentally unfit to stand trial.
South of the city, the Chief of the Samson Cree First Nation at Hobbema lost his five-year-old grandson in a shooting. The boy was just sleeping in his bed. For years, Hobbema has been plagued by violent gangs – and this is not the first child hit by a bullet while inside a home – and this comes as RCMP report they were making progress. Just like Edmonton’s Somali community (among others) needs to turn its back on gangs and realize there’s as much risk reporting criminals as not, Hobbema residents who want to live in peace need to keep up the struggle.
RCMP in Vegreville are cleared after shooting a man dead, and the judge in the inquiry is making no suggestions for similar situations in the future.
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Internet rates are up for debate with the CRTC. This is the follow-up to the CRTC’s decision to allow the big Internet companies to all but wipe-out unlimited Internet plans from smaller companies.
Wow. Most of the news today is a real downer.
Edmonton Ides Headlines
Tuesday morning and we’re going to get right to it!
I’m going to start with a couple of provincial stories, since I think they’re pretty important.
The opposition parties continue to push, together, for more healthcare answers from the governing Alberta Conservatives. In the Legislature the opposition got an emergency debate on healthcare (which pushes aside the business of the day). The pressure mounts for a full public inquiry into our provincial government’s handling of healthcare, especially as it pertains to doctors who challenge budgets policies, with more doctors coming forward and found to have claimed they were being silenced.
It’s a step in the right direction for temporary foreign workers. A small portion will be able to remain in Alberta after applying to the provincial government – not their employer – for permanent residency. Alberta’s got around 65,000 people here for temporary work.
Now, right into Edmonton we go.
(First, more on the Ides of March.) (more…)
Time for some Juggalo news
The other day we were talking about Edmonton’s new radio station, it’s umpteenth on your FM dial, and joked about Sally applying to the CRTC for all Juggalo-news radio.
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Hey, if we get to 50 radio stations do we all win free iPods? Because there’s no Nickelback on those!
Anyway…we’re trying to add some firepower to our potential on-air lineup.
Next time, the CRTC won’t so easily dismiss the idea of the Juggalo-nation having its own broadcasting power.
Oh, and if you aren’t quite sure who, or what, a juggalo is, you can catch up thanks to the wonders of the Internet. I’m pretty sure juggalos invented the Internet.
Save Local TV. No, Save Local Cable. Or the CRTC?
This really has nothing to do with the story.
By Gregg Beever
Fall is upon Edmonton and with it the onset of a brand new season of television. What a great time of year to plunk yourself down in front of your TV! The days are getting short, it’s cold outside, your couch is warm and inviting, it’s the perfect occasion for a little escapism.
Every time I turn to bask in TV’s warming glow, however, I get caught in a shouting match between Canadian broadcasters and the cable and satellite TV providers. You’ve probably witnessed yourself the Local TV Matters spots where a little wormy guy talks to people (read: actors) on the street about the state of local television programming.
The conversation goes something like this:
“Did you know that cable and satellite providers hate local television and want to drive it out of business?”
“No, that’s horseshit!”
“They also said they slept with your Grandmother.”
“Gram gram?”
You get more of the same when the cable providers step up to the soap box, wailing about an unforgivable tax on TV.
I decided that neither ad campaign was helping me, in any way, understand the issue. If the Canadian broadcasters and cable providers ran dueling campaigns comprised entirely of wet fart noises I would be just as informed. That being the case, I thought I’d try and figure it out with the best investigative journalism Google could provide. (more…)
