- The City of Edmonton has set up a transit safety oversight committee and a response plan for encampments after criticism of the way officials treated homeless people during the extreme weather response in February. The reports in response to an inquiry from Mayor Don Iveson did not adequately address the lack of empathy and compassion, community advocate Rob Houle said. "I am appalled by the content of the reports," he said in the Edmonton Journal. "I am appalled by the approach of administration to this issue."
- With variant cases of COVID-19 reaching another record high in Alberta — including community spread of the Brazil variants — the province may need to consider more restrictions, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said during her briefing on Wednesday. "If spread escalates, if we're seeing the spread and the transmission of our cases, and particularly variant cases, continuing to rise, it may be possible — it may be necessary — to bring in additional restrictions," she said.
- Alberta's tech firms attracted $455M in venture capital last year, says a year-in-review report released by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. That record high included the $76 million raised by Edmonton's Jobber, CBC noted.
- Soccer star Alphonso Davies has been named a global goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Bayern Munich player was born in a refugee camp in Ghana and grew up in Edmonton.
- Former family doctor Vincenzo Visconti was sentenced to house arrest on Wednesday after pleading guilty to billing thousands of dollars for house calls he never made.
Headlines
By Karen Unland