Edmonton Notes for 10/17/2010

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

• Nearly 6200 people voted in the first week of advance voting, up from 2843 during the same time period in 2007. In total, 17,658 people voted in advance voting, up from 8948 in 2007.
• On Thursday, the Province of Alberta approved the C-Line bus route that had been put on hold due to an appeal by Greyhound Canada. Edmonton Transit expects to start operating the service, which will run from Century Park to the Edmonton International Airport, within a month.
• The University of Alberta is looking to start awarding certificates as a way to make earning a degree more manageable.
• CKUA kicked off its fall fundraising campaign this week. They are looking to raise $625,000.
• Here is the PEER 1 Edmonton Startup Index for October.
• The Edmonton Valley Zoo is finally saying goodbye to the storyland characters that have welcomed Edmontonians since the facility opened 51 years ago.
• Hard hitting journalism at the Edmonton Sun: Psychic sees close mayoral race.
• Three Alberta-based companies made the Canada’s Top 10 lists in Technology, Cleantech, and Life Science, and all three are from Edmonton! Congrats to DataGardens, Optessa, and Biolithic.
• Homeward Trust is hiring a Communications & Events Coordinator. The posting closes on Thursday, October 21.
• The Edmonton Journal has a nice feature on subsidized housing, including an interactive map and searchable database.
• The 28-hectare Larch Park development in Magrath is being built to protect its natural surroundings, and will feature a number of eco-friendly features.
• Edmonton Rush fans will be happy to know that the team inked a new five-year contract with Northlands to play at Rexall Place.
• Very nice feature from Vue Weekly on what the future will bring.
• For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
• Tomorrow is election day! Get out and vote!
• The next YEGRB meetup for local Ruby developers is on Tuesday evening.
• LitFest continues this week, as does Edmonton Design Exposed.
• The Beyond 2010 conference takes place on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
• YEG Girl Geek Dinners & Microsoft have teamed up to present the Beyond 2010 Hackathon, starting on Wednesday morning! And later that evening, YEG Girl Geek Dinners is hosting The Mixer.
• Interesting event coming up on Thursday from IABC – The Changing Nature of Journalism in the Social Media Age.
• Also Thursday is the next CPRS luncheon on Communications Measurement.
• Minnesota is in town on Thursday evening to take on the Oilers, while the San Jose Sharks visit on Saturday.
• The Oil Kings are in action on Friday evening, playing host to the Kamloops Blazers.
• Just three games left this season for the Edmonton Eskimos. The Roughriders are here on Saturday.

Edmonton’s fifth Homeless Connect took place today the Shaw Conference Centre. The most popular service among guests, dentistry, was back this time. More volunteers showed up this morning than there were jobs for, which is great news considering the line-up for guests to enter was solid right through 1pm. Congrats to the Homeward Trust organizers and all the volunteers for making this important event happen again!