It's deadline day to buy a ten-dollar Alberta United Conservative membership to vote for the next party leader and premier. The party will then go through the memberships to confirm information and expects to have the final tally on how many have been sold in about two weeks or so. Seven candidates are on the ballot seeking to replace Premier Jason Kenney in the party's top job. The next key date in the race is the second debate, slated for August 30th in Edmonton. Kenney announced in May he was quitting after receiving a lukewarm 51 per cent support in a party leadership review.

A gymnastics coach from southern Alberta who was charged with sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl at his gym is facing additional charges involving three more girls. Jamie Ellacott, who is 33, was charged last month with sexual assault and sexual interference after an investigation by the Lethbridge Police Service violent crimes unit. Investigators say three other girls, who are 10, 12 and 14, were also sexually assaulted at the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy in May 2022. Police say Ellacott has been arrested and charged with three additional counts of sexual assault and sexual interferen

The Alberta government is making the monkeypox vaccine available in more communities. Along with Edmonton and Calgary, people can also get the shot in Edson, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer and St. Paul. Health Canada says there are more than 1,000 confirmed cases in the country, mainly in Quebec and Ontario. The province says there are 19 confirmed cases in Alberta.

Calgary police say they have located part of a stolen bobsled that appeared in the 1993 movie "Cool Runnings" and returned it to its rightful owner. Police say in a social media post that the Jamaican bobsled was stolen in October 2020 from Ranchman's country bar in southeast Calgary, which has since closed. They say officers had been looking for the sled, valued at about $10,000, and finally found part of it in northeast Calgary after receiving a recent tip from the public. Police say it was returned to the owner and officers continue to look for the rest of the sled. It was a gift to the bar

A fire restriction is now in effect for a large part of southwestern Alberta as hot weather hits with no rain in the forecast. The order for the Calgary forest area issued today by Alberta Forestry suspends all fire permits, requires all outdoor fires to be put out and prohibits wood campfires on public land _ particularly the backcountry. Officials say extreme temperatures and dry conditions have persisted in the area with almost no precipitation. They say conditions in the southern part of the Calgary forest area, which runs along the eastern slopes of the Rockies but does not include the Ci

Calgary's Municipal Building reopened to the public yesterday. The move came after a break-in where several fires were set. Police say a man armed with a knife entered the building around 4 a-m last Tuesday and started lighting fires. Although the building has reopened, several service counters inside are still closed. The city is trying to assess the extent of the damage and to estimate repair costs and a timeline for completion. “The Police investigation is still active, and we will not be commenting on the individual or the investigation at this point,” said the City of Calgary.

The Alberta NDP is calling on the province's auditor general to investigate bonuses paid to the chief medical officer of health and other managers for work related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Deena Hinshaw received a record-setting bonus payment of almost 228-thousand dollars last year in addition to her regular salary of more than 591-thousand dollars. In a letter to Auditor General Doug Wylie on Monday, finance critic Shannon Phillips requested a performance audit of the bonus payment structures and processes related to the COVID-19 pandemic response. Phillips also requested a performance

One person is dead following a police shooting northeast of Edmonton. RCMP say a second person was also shot and taken to hospital in critical condition. Mounties say officers from the St. Paul detachment were looking on the Saddle Lake Cree Nation for two suspects in several ongoing investigations. They say there was a confrontation between the suspects and police, and the shooting then happened in the nearby Smoky Lake area. No officers were injured. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, the province's police watchdog agency, is investigating.

An inmate who escaped from a minimum-security healing lodge in Edmonton last summer has been captured. Correctional Service Canada says Monique Cardinal was apprehended by the Edmonton Police Service on Saturday night. The CSC says staff from the Buffalo Sage Wellness House observed Cardinal escape on July 8th, 2021, and an arrest warrant was issued. She was serving a sentence of three years, three months, 20 days for convictions that included breaking and entering, and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. CSC and BSWH will investigate the circumstances of this incident.