- About 200 city employees are off work after testing positive for COVID-19, including 51 firefighters following an outbreak in the service.
- Lisa Holmes, former mayor of Morinville, has accepted the position of chief of staff for Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, effective Jan. 5. "This opportunity gives me the chance to work with an incredible leader, friend and human that I admire greatly to inspire positive, meaningful changes to this city that I love and have deep roots in," she shared.
- Concordia University faculty members went on strike on Jan. 4, halting the start of the winter term. The faculty's union and the school have been unable to make a deal after months of talks.
- Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid missed practice in Toronto after he tested positive for COVID-19. McDavid said he had the disease before in October 2020, but that it was mild.
- Fire chief Joe Zatylny looked back on 2021's opioid crisis, mental health, and fire-related deaths. "This is something that is impacting our members, it's impacting the public, and we need to better co-ordinate … and look for ways to share information so that we can get better outcomes than we're seeing today," he said in a year-end review.
- This last year saw 15 people killed in crashes on Edmonton streets — the highest total since 2018, which saw 19 deaths. The city hopes that lowering some streets to 40 km/h will decrease the number going forward.
- Edify has announced the winners of its 2022 Edifiers Awards. For the second year in a row, the awards highlight the organizations and people making waves in the city.
- Despite Alberta getting "its swagger back," as Premier Jason Kenney has said, the UCP will face a politically challenging year ahead. "[Kenney is] between a rock and a hard place," said Brendan Boyd, a professor of anthropology, economics, and political science at MacEwan University.
Headlines
By Mack Male and Doug Johnson