Headlines

Edmonton's mayor won't seek another term in office

_News Talk 770 — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:26:00 GMT

The City of Edmonton will have a new mayor after this fall's municipal election. Stephen Mandel has announced he will not run for a fourth term as mayor of Alberta's capital city. He made the announcement at a news conference this morning. Mandel had put off making an announcement a couple of months ago, many believing he wanted to see the controversial arena deal through before announcing his plans. In his news conference, Mandel says it's time to open the door to new leadership.

Alberta sees 11-12 twisters each year: Environment Canada

_News Talk 770 — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

In light of the Monday's deadly tornado in Oklahoma, the weather office in Canada is warning that tornado season is just around the corner. Although Canada doesn't have near the number of tornados the U.S. receives, Bill McMurtry with Environment Canada tells The Morning News on News Talk 770 that we still see a few twisters touch down, including about 100 in Canada and 11-12 in Alberta, while there's about 1,200 in the United States. McMurtry says three of the four most deadly tornados occurred in the prairies, two of those in Alberta.

City's latest murder suspect makes first court appearance

_News Talk 770 — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:24:00 GMT

The man accused of killing a Calgary mother and her five-year-old son last week made his first appearance in court this morning. Wilson Clorina has been given some time to find a lawyer. The 26-year-old faces two counts of second-degree murder, after the bodies of 35-year-old Chona Manzano and her five-year-old son Gabriel were found in an Evanston home during last Thursday's noon-hour. Police say they were stabbed to death and that Clorina was related to the victims, but wasn't immediate family and wasn't living in the home with them. They weren't able to say what the motive was. His case will be back in a Calgary courtroom on Monday.

Harper "upset" by Senate spending scandal

_News Talk 770 — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:39:00 GMT

Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressing his caucus publicly for the first time since the Senate expense scandal. Harper says politicians who want to benefit personally from office should leave his caucus. Harper says he's not happy about the conduct he's seen. Senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin have left the Tory caucus in the midst of the scandal, while Harper's former chief-of-staff Nigel Wright has also resigned. But Harper didn't mention any of those three in his address. Harper reiterated a few points in his address, including that Canadians want his government to deal with what is important to them, going so far as to refer to issues like the Senate scandal as a "distraction". Gregory Thomas with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation was disappointed that Harper didn't promise to do more about what has happened, adding the Conservative Party hasn't lived up to its promises of changing the Senate.

Killer tornado strikes Oklahoma City suburb

_News Talk 770 — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:55:00 GMT

The Medical Examiner's office in Oklahoma City confirms that 20 of the 51 confirmed dead following a tornado in suburban Moore, Oklahoma are children. The 1.6 kilometre wide tornado wiped out entire neighbourhood and made direct contact with an elementary school. Many residents are still unaccounted for. Area hospitals say over 120 people are injured, many of them critically.

15 year old nabbed for speeding on QE2

_News Talk 770 — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:10:00 GMT

Alberta sheriffs have issued a number of traffic tickets to a young 15 year old girl after she was clocked doing 190 kilometers an hour on the QE2.
It happened around 9 Monday morning near the Crossfield overpass.
When the vehicle stopped for officers, the 15-year old female driver attempted to switch seating positions with the front seat passenger in order to hide the fact that she did not have a drivers license.
She also failed to provide insurance and registration.

Fire at airport construction site

_News Talk 770 — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:09:00 GMT

No one was injured when a fire broke out at a construction site at the Calgary Airport Monday.
Fire crews were able to quickly extinguish the fire, despite the fact that no hydrants were in the immediate area and that diesel and propane tanks were threatened by the blaze.
Water tenders were called to the scene to shuttle water to the area to assist the firefighting operation.
The construction area is located east of the main terminaland is not accessible by the general public.

More wildfires in Alberta - most caused by humans

_News Talk 770 — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:08:00 GMT

The province is reporting 47 new wildfires over the weekend.
All are under control and are being held.
Officials say a majority of the wildfires were caused by humans and 33 of the 47 are in the southern part of the province.

PM to face tough questions over Senate expense scandal

_News Talk 770 — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:47:00 GMT

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is likely to face outraged from Members of Parliament when he meets with his caucus Tuesday morning. MPs say they've been flooded with emails and phone calls about the Senate expenses scandal.

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt says the MPs will want answers from the PM after Senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin left the Tory caucus and Harper's Chief-of-Staff Nigel Wright resigned.

Duffy and Wallin are both facing Senate audits over expense claims. Wright stepped down after writing a $90,000 cheque so Duffy could pay back taxpayers for improper housing expense claims.

Bratt says Tory MPs will upset that after railing against the Liberal sponsorship scandal and promising to do things diffently, they've been bitten by something similar. Bratt expects the RCMP will be called in to investigate.

Call to rename Victoria Day

_News Talk 770 — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:41:00 GMT

A group including some prominent Canadians wants Victoria Day renamed to recognize Canada's indigenous peoples.

Author Margaret Atwood, actor Gordon Pinsent and Green Party leader Elizabeth May are among those behind an online petition seeking to change the May long weekend to "Victoria and First People's Day." National Aboriginal Day occurs every year on June 21st, but the group says it's not recognized as a federal public holiday.