- Eight citizens spoke to the Edmonton Police Commission on Thursday to criticize how police have handled the trucker convoy and related noise over the past three weekends. Supt. Dean Hilton said police are expecting another demonstration on Saturday and are reviewing their strategies for traffic management and ticketing. "We will do what we can to hold people accountable for their behaviours and I appreciate all the comments that I've heard from the public on this," he said.
- The "confidential" plane owned by the Edmonton Police Service was never meant to be a secret, Deputy Chief Kevin Brezinski said on Thursday. "With this procurement, we went through the right process," he said. "We went through our police commission...we did go to city council and we did discuss this in-camera." Former city councillor Allan Bolstad, who was on council when the plane was purchased in 1993, told CBC News the plane was news to him. "I never heard anything about a plane," he said. "I'm sure it would have been a high-profile issue if it had been made public at that time." EPS is in the process of replacing the plane with a new one at a cost of $4.3 million.
- Coun. Michael Janz says that Michael Elliott, president of the Edmonton Police Association, has presented the LRT as more dangerous than it really is. Elliott began tweeting regularly about drug use and violence on the LRT in the wake of council's decision to redirect $10.9 million of the proposed increase in the police budget to social services. "He is going out of his way to make it look unsafe. They want their $11 million added back to the budget," Janz said. EPS spokesperson Cheryl Voordenhout dismissed the controversy as "baseless."
- Coun. Tim Cartmell has called on the Alberta government to support Edmonton's bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup as Vancouver renews its bid. "We've done our homework here. We have a thousand-page business plan that we've worked on for over three years. We've done all the leg work. We've done all the preparatory work that, frankly, British Columbia and Vancouver are hoping to leverage to their benefit," Cartmell said.
- The Cave Beastro and Cafe Bicyclette are among the Edmonton businesses that have decided to continue to require proof of vaccination. "I don't feel that squeezing all kinds of people into a place and getting more people sick is what we need to do right now," Cave Beastro owner Dave Kantor told CBC, noting that he has been slammed by some opponents of the mandate.
- Construction has started on the $153-million Coronation Park Sports and Recreation Centre which features a velodrome that will be able to host major cycling events and an enclosed bridge to the nearby Peter Hemingway Fitness and Leisure Centre. "That's to allow for triathlons to occur year-round," said Michael Rivest, the project architect.
- The Kingsway branch of Edmonton's Royal Canadian Legion is at risk of closing due to mounting bills and the need for a roof repair. "That could be as soon as three months depending on what other bills we have coming in, so is it critical? Absolutely," past president and financial chairman Ron Wills told Global News.
- The University of Alberta and its academic staff are entering formal mediation as negotiations have stalled and the possibility of a staff association strike looms. Should the mediation efforts fail, the association can apply to the Alberta Labour Relations Board for a supervised strike vote.
- A four-bedroom, five-bathroom mansion at 5122 Woolsey Li NW just hit Edmonton's real estate market for $3.5 million.
- Alberta doctors are being asked to push back not-urgent blood tests as the province is seeing a shortage of vials. "We are prioritizing our limited supplies for tests required for urgent and acute care purposes," Alberta Health Services said.
Headlines
By Mack Male and Doug Johnson and Madeleine Stout