TMCnet News
BC-Prairie-Update(Canadian Press Broadcast Wire (Canada) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) (CRIME-Officer-Crash) (Alta note) A former Edmonton city police officer who was convicted for his role in a fiery crash has escaped jail time. Instead, a judge has fined Douglas Kurtis Brown 16-thousand dollars for the May 2008 collision that severely injured an 18-year-old man. Brown was found guilty of four counts of dangerous driving after a car he was operating collided with a pickup truck at a city intersection. Five counts of impaired driving were thrown out when a judge determined investigators breached Brown's charter rights. (CTV Edmonton) (CRIME-Identity-Theft) (Alta note) More than a dozen charges have been laid against a 29-year-old Alberta man in connection with an identity theft operation involving nearly 100 alleged victims. Police in Edmonton say officers stopped a vehicle late last month and discovered a vast quantity of credit and debit cards, along with other personal identification. A follow-up investigation found that items were allegedly stolen during break-and-enters in the city and several other communities around the province. Ryan Stuart Johnson of Kingman, Alberta has been charged and police say they are trying to find a second suspect. (CHED) (CRIME-Dead-Baby) (Alta note) A woman in the Edmonton region who was found guilty of in the death of her newborn son has officially launched an appeal of her second-degree murder conviction. The lawyer for Katrina Effert has filed notice with the province's highest court, saying the jury's verdict was unreasonable and a miscarriage of justice. Effert's trial was told that just hours after giving birth in April 2005, she strangled her baby and tossed his body across a fence into a neighbour's yard. During her sentencing hearing, defence lawyer Peter Royal said the death was not murder but the lesser crime of infanticide. (CBC) (Alta City-Hall-Lockdown) A man who reportedly drove up to the doors of Calgary city hall and demanded to see Mayor Dave Bronconnier (brahn-KAHN'-yay) has been arrested. Police moved in quickly today and took a man into custody after he said he had a package for the mayor. A baseball bat was found near the man's vehicle. City hall was also locked down as a precaution. (CHQR, CTV Cgy) (Prairies-Drought) There's a severe need for rain in western Saskatchewan and eastern Alberta. Saskatchewan Agriculture says precipitation is needed soon to help speed up development of crops before frost arrives. Alberta Agriculture says hay and canola fields in eastern regions of the province have been hit the hardest by drought. The department says if there isn't a good rain within the next week or so, farmers won't be able to save their crops. (CBC, The Canadian Press) (Mba-Phone-Fire) M-T-S Allstream estimates it will be another three days before fire-disrupted phone service to three northern communities is restored. Connections to Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids and South Indian Lake were disrupted last Sunday when a blaze destroyed M-T-S buildings, diesel generators and microwave equipment at a site northwest of Thompson. The telecommunications company has been providing satellite phones to medical and public safety personnel in all three of the affected communities. (CJOB) (Prairie Update by Ken Trimble) (c) 2009 The Canadian Press |