July 18 Edmonton Headlines
It was all bright lights and stormy skies and then, boom, blue sky and sun.
Good morning, Edmonton. Were you awake early enough to catch that freaky-sky storm this morning?
The construction on 99 Street is a mess. Neighbours wanted to be consulted. Urban planning wasn’t so much a part of the project as basic transportation fixes. (A bias note: I’m on the Strathcona Centre Community League and we are also not pleased about how the City of Edmonton handled any of this.) It’s a disappointment when considering that major projects such as the 99 Street and Scona Road work will not be revisited for decades.
Speaking of poor planning…sounds like councillors forgot about getting the City to lead development in the northeast. It’s an important piece of Edmonton’s land plans, since it could be key agricultural land for years to come.
Northlands doesn’t want to sign a non-compete clause over the downtown arena. Shocking. So, neither the provincial nor federal governments want to put in $100-million for a new Edmonton arena, and Northlands doesn’t want to give up Rexall Place. This could not be going better.
Edmonton’s 29th homicide of the year is the fourth of a Somali man.
Police, medical examiners, and Crown prosecutors are all busy with Edmonton’s murders and killings this year.
Speaking of medical examiners…the outgoing Chief Medical Examiner is Graeme Dowling…
The Edmonton Police Service is looking at getting new cars. Mostly because Ford isn’t going to make Crown Victorias anymore and that’s what currently makes up the cruiser fleet.
Feels like there are a lot of missing persons cases this summer…and social media is a big part of the latest…
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More than half of the people who come to Canada each year don’t get to stay. Alberta’s Employment and Immigration Minister wants to see more temporary foreign workers actually stay here as immigrants (and bring their families).
Oil and gas drilling stimulus might have been a terrible idea. But it will take an audit of the government programs to really figure it out.
If the governing Tories can get out of deficit (basically, if oil and gas prices rise more) they’ll be looking to increase travel budgets.
On healthcare…more nurses are being hired!
Health Link made a sexy mistake. Also, people still use phone books.
Slave Lake fire victims are getting some Alberta government-built temporary homes.
Six candidates came up with $40,000 and are running to be the next Premier of Alberta.
On education…the candidates are coming out swinging against, well, against their own governing party. It’s so weird when one party has been in power so long and leadership candidates have to differentiate themselves from themselves.
In other political news, the Alberta Party is setting up headquarters on Alberta Avenue. That seems very fitting.
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And St. Albert is hosting the Alberta Indigineous Games this week.
Snow Day(s)
We braved the snow this weekend. Yeah, we’re not sure why we did it either. But here’s some of our Edmonton Snow Adventures from the weekend.
Sally vs. the wall of snow. We haven't seen her since she went out for a pizza.
Bundle up if you dare continue this journey. (more…)
Hail, hail
Yowza.
Thanks to Scott for the hail shots. What a storm tonight!
Remember that you can follow storms as they move around the city, by following tweets. Search #yegstorm or #yegwx. Following those hashtags will also get you a great selection of storm shots. Lots of lightning pics out there after this storm.
Our home base was pounded by rain, shaken by thunder, lit up by lightning, hit with hail, but we stayed fairly flood free and the power remained on. Sounds like other parts of Old Strathcona (and Edmonton, in general) were drenched a little more, and had power knocked out. Stay safe, Edmonton!
It’s storm time, buddy
The headline alludes to an inside joke. A laundromat inside joke.
But the storm rolling into Edmonton this afternoon is not a joke. It’s going to rain, again. Does it seem like we’re having more of these daily storms to anyone else?
So what you're telling me, is that this is the last blue sky I'll see today.
Scenes of a snowstorm
Here are just a few shots I took while braving the big storm of December ’09, and its chilly fallout.
If you want to see more snowy shots of Edmonton, look out your window.
Seriously though you should surf around Flickr because there’s lots of good stuff there.
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- One of my favourites. Winterize indeed.
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- Poor guy.
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- It was not an easy walk, Friday.
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- The first thing I saw when I looked out my window.
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- Somewhere, through all that white, is downtown.
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- You have my respect.
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- I really don’t think I could bike in this weather.
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- Let’s play “King of the Hill.”
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@whiverwill, you be famous!
A shout out to our friend Trevor (@whiverwill), whose Capital Ex youtube storm video has racked up more than 28,000 hits! We’re so proud to say we got on board the Trevor train during simpler times – and by simpler times, I mean like a week and a half ago when he sent us some photos of the Street Performers’ Festival. It’s like digging a band before they get really big, and being able to act all superior when other people discover them later on. We knew Trevor’s work before the Journal got on board – that gives us mad street cred.
Seriously though, Trevor, the video is really, really good. Nice work, sir!
