Welcome to 2015! Here are my first weekly Edmonton notes of the year:
Headlines
- In case you missed it, here’s my recap of Edmonton in 2014 and collection of other local 2014-focused lists and recaps.
- Edmonton’s new year’s baby was Echo Freyja Grey Adams, born two minutes into the year at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
- Be advised the winter parking ban remains in effect as crews clean up after the big dump of snow we received this week! You can always find the latest details at edmonton.ca/winterroads and you can subscribe to email notifications too.
- If you need to travel downtown after 7pm on weeknights, try to avoid 104 Avenue as it will be closed until 6am every night to allow for construction of the Wintergarden.
- Get ready to nominate your favorite Edmonton blogs, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels, and more – nominations for the 2014 Yeggies are open! The deadline to nominate someone is February 28.
- Remember the Port Alberta plan to make Edmonton a transportation hub? Apparently it is being revived, with a narrower focus.
- A Calgary lawyer says there are not enough judges in Alberta and that’s causing delays.
- Remedy Cafe’s flagship location has expanded, and the local coffee chain is looking to open another new location in Terwillegar in March. Great to see the business booming!
- Here is Karen’s blog roundup from December 29.
- The Oilers traded Mark Arcobello to Nashville for Derek Roy this week. And on Friday they traded David Perron to Pittsburgh for Rob Klinkhammer and a 2015 first-round draft pick.
- According to Edmonton police chief Rod Knecht, the service will be focusing more on online crime in the future. An official cybercrime unit is slated to start this year.
- Here are 20 questions with Sarah Chan, wife of mayor Don Iveson.
- Uber rides are no longer free, and the City of Edmonton has said they will start issuing tickets of $1,400 or more to any drivers caught.
- As you know I don’t normally cover crime, but I did want to mention the horrible multiple-homicide that took place on December 29. Mayor Iveson issued a statement saying “it now seems clear that this is a devastating case of domestic violence.” And although he called the scale of the event “rare and exceptional” he did recognize that “domestic violence remains all too common in our society.” Premier Prentice also issued a statement, saying “on behalf of the Government of Alberta, I extend our deepest condolences to the people affected by this incident, and our appreciation to public servants who provided a professional response.”
Sharon and I braved the extreme cold warning and found this on the footbridge!
Upcoming Events
- Canada will play Russia in the gold medal game of the World Junior’s on Monday night! Here in Edmonton, the 52nd annual Quikcard Edmonton Minor Hockey Week gets underway on Friday. The tournament runs through Sunday, January 18.
- Head over to Startup Edmonton for a few tech events this week! On Tuesday, the Google Developer Group Meetup takes place, the Exchange.js JavaScript Meetup takes place on Wednesday, on Thursday the Physical Computing Meetup takes place, and all day Saturday is the Monthly Hackathon.
- The Oilers host the Red Wings on Tuesday, the Blackhawks on Friday, and the Panthers on Sunday.
- TEC Edmonton will be celebrating the launch of the 2015 VenturePrize business plan competition on Thursday afternoon at Enterprise Square.
- Saturday and Sunday my favorite winter festival of the year returns! Check out Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival on 118 Avenue all weekend long.
- I’ll be at Rexall Place on Saturday evening for the Edmonton Rush season home-opener against the Minnesota Swarm.
- The weather looks good for the weekend, so be sure to check out Swing ‘n Skate Sundays at City Hall!
- For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.
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