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.)

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).

Good Friday to you, Edmonton.

Do you want government money to go into the downtown arena proposal?

If your answer is “no” then I guess you hate downtown Edmonton.

The new idea from City Hall is to tax the entire downtown area to help pay off loans and construction costs of the Oilers’ new home, as well as help put some money into a few other downtown projects. It would also take away nearly a quarter-of-a-billion dollars in provincial education money (giving it to downtown projects), and potentially raise taxes across the city because extra tax revenue in this giant CRL (community revitalization levy) area would be dedicated to downtown projects and couldn’t cover any other items in the City budget.

I like downtown Edmonton. I think it’s coming along nicely. Don’t make me a bad guy for not wanting to pay Daryl Katz for an arena, City of Edmonton.

Never before had $15 sparked such anger, such fury. When the provincial government announced it was going to charge municipalities for license plate information searches done on a vehicle pulled over for a moving infraction, or a parked car breaking the rules, municipalities, including Edmonton, and police forces, couldn’t believe it. They fought, they pouted, they got their way.

My hunch is that oil prices went up enough this year to allow the provincial government to drop this fee to future budget debates. But, then, I can be really cynical.

Also, if the Alberta government really needs the $15, they should just tack it on to provincial traffic fines.

We aren’t done yet!

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Edmonton Police are out with a second commmunity crime video. This week, it’s all about knives and edged-weapons:

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One of the most interesting parts of this story is way down at the end, where our Information and Privacy Commissioner is asking for a fine for dumping personal information. Why wait until something bad happens with stolen information if you can do something to prevent it?

The Royal Alexandra Hospital has made necessary changes to its psychiatric ward and security, after a patient killed another patient, and a fatality inquiry does not have any more recommendations.

Edmonton Police have laid 176 charges against a graffiti tagger. I’m ok with tagging being banned, but let’s keep some of that great street art.

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More of Alberta’s child services needs to be out in the open. That red tape and bureaucracy contributed to the death of a little girl is just terrible. (Of course, the killer is ultimately responsible.) The sad thing is this kind of stuff has happened for years across the country, so there are plenty of examples to learn from, but that requires admitting things need to be done better.

When I first saw the headlines I thought this story was going to be about safety improvements for construction workers. It sounds like ways to keep unions out of construction. Well, as long as the provincial government has its priorities.

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The road work on 99 Street has unearthed parts of Edmonton’s old streetcar line. A member of my community league is looking to put some of those items together in a display at the Strathcona commmunity garden.

An Edmontonian is a new host on the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet.

Hey, Edmonton, tell this guy about all the cool stuff we’ve got.

Good morning, Edmonton!

There’s a double-edged effect to revitalizing a business zone. Owners can charge more for rent and smaller, local, business can’t always afford to rent, and you get left with chain stores that sap the area of character. Building and property owners need to take more responsibility if they want to be part of character neighbourhoods, heritage districts, and promote local industries.

When if the downtown arena gets built I wonder what the spin-off costs to the City of Edmonton (and you and me as taxpayers) might be with Rexall Place and Northlands. There are costs there that are not part of the proposed $450-million arena pricetag.

Speaking of the downtown arena…it’s kind of tied into the entire downtown plan now. So, I guess, you either like the downtown arena getting a bunch of government cash or you hate downtown Edmonton.

Edmonton’s got the shortest commute (by a few minutes) in Canada’s largest cities. Startling: 85% of drivers have never stepped on a bus, streetcar, or train to get to work. That seems an almost impossible number to believe. People taking transit to work are riding buses and the like for about 44 minutes, compared to the Edmonton drive time of 23 minutes. BUT! Drivers are far more cranky about their commute.

Speaking of commuting to work…It was not your imagination, the Whitemud was worse than usual Wednesday morning.

Now that you’ve commuted to your office, let’s keep going. 

The City might have to get into the church business.

It’s just about time to go back to school for most Edmonton students, and looming job and teacher cuts make for a difficult start to the year.

Edmonton needs more cabs. Or it doesn’t. It’s going to depend on what the Edmonton International Airport decides before November 1. It sounds like the hope is to award the contract to an Edmonton company, which would then hire a bunch of extra drivers because it could eliminate the need to return to the city empty.

Have you seen Boyle Street’s community garden?

There’s something astounding in the size of the crowd that showed up to the Alberta Legislature last night to remember Jack Layton.

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There will be a fatality inquiry to see what can be done to prevent future deaths like that of Camrose mental health worker Valerie Wolski. She was killed in a home, and her client was charged with manslaughter, but found mentally unfit to stand trial.

I’m going to take a better look at the workers at new building sites in my neighbourhood. It sounds like they probably aren’t protecting themselves from serious injury.

The Wildrose Party doesn’t want to see a new Royal Alberta Museum.

I don’t need the Information and Privacy Commissioner to tell me lots of people are at risk of getting hacked. I just check all my Twitter DM spams.

The Supreme Court of Canada won’t hear the appeal of manslaughter sentences for two men convicted for their roles in the death of four RCMP officers near Mayerthorpe.

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After a summer of headlines to PC leadership candidates Alison Redford and Gary Mar, Ted Morton is popping back onto the radar. Perhaps he timed this to try and peak closer to the leadership vote itself.

Oh, and the Liberals are also choosing a new leader. (I always forget about that.)

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This is not an Edmonton, or Canada, related headline I saw coming from Libya.

Finally! Puppets and spaceships are good for something. (Seriously though, we like Ben Disaster and are glad as heck he’s back playing guitar.)