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Headlines: Aug. 17, 2026

· The Pulse
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  • The Alberta Avenue Business Association is urging city council to find a way to charge vacant commercial properties the same BIA levy businesses pay, arguing empty buildings can attract disorder while owners get a tax break. Mayor Andrew Knack said administration is examining whether empty sites could be treated as pending businesses.
  • Downtown Edmonton businesses told a public safety forum they are paying for cameras, repairs, and extra security while asking governments for more help with vandalism, break-ins, and visible drug use. The Downtown Revitalization Coalition said increased police patrols helped but did not solve the broader problem.
  • Edmonton Public Library said in a release that Canada Place Child Care Society will move into the Stanley A. Milner Library this fall and rebrand as Early Chapters Child Care Society. The library said the third-floor space will include a kitchen, gym area, and secure outdoor play yard.
  • Edmonton Transit Service riders should expect Capital Line LRT disruptions from Aug. 22 to 24. Trains will not run between Churchill and Clareview stations on Aug. 22 and 23 or between Coliseum and Stadium stations on Aug. 24. Replacement buses will run every seven minutes until 7pm, then every 10 minutes.
  • Edmonton is seeing widespread erosion and slope failures after months of heavy rain, more than two decades after the 1999 Whitemud Road landslide, Postmedia reported. Saturated soil and July downpours have damaged roads, bridges, trails and riverbanks, while experts warn increasingly extreme weather could make erosion harder and more costly to manage.
  • The Edmonton Police Service is investigating the suspicious death of a 16-year-old girl in northeast Edmonton on Aug. 16. Officers responded to a shooting, where they found the girl seriously injured. She died at the scene. Police said the homicide section is investigating.
  • The Alberta Court of Justice will rename Gladue reports as Indigenous background reports starting Sept. 1 after consulting members of the Gladue family, Indigenous leaders, and court workers. The court said the change does not alter the reports' purpose of giving judges fuller context at sentencing.
  • The Alberta government has postponed new school flag rules, while draft regulations show schools would be allowed to fly Alberta and Canadian flags, sports flags, municipal flags, Vatican City, and some Treaty and foreign flags for limited periods, Postmedia reported. The draft does not mention Pride flags.
  • Support sessions for people seeking compensation under the federal Indian hospitals class-action settlement are coming to Edmonton this week, with free claims help plus wellness and cultural supports for survivors of abuse at segregated hospitals, including the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital. The settlement can pay eligible claimants between $10,000 and $200,000.
  • A Court of King's Bench judge has cleared the way for a Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation judicial review over a water licence tied to the proposed Wonder Valley AI data centre near Greenview. The First Nation argues Alberta had a duty to consult before approving annual diversion of six million cubic metres from the Smoky River.