The EPS Financial Crimes Section has charged a man and a woman in a $7.8 million alleged Ponzi scheme targeting investors in Alberta and British Columbia. In early 2020, police became aware of a Ponzi scheme reportedly being run by a man and a woman operating primarily out of Kelowna, BC and Edmonton, AB, although some victims were located as far away as Nevada, USA and Australia. The two suspects were allegedly offering securities in the form of promissory notes to guarantee investors a set return on their investment. The scheme was run under the company name Group Venture Inc., and is believ

The Alberta government has levied more than $11,000 in fines for wildfire-prevention violations this year. Nineteen violation tickets, with fines totalling $11,520, were given out between April 1 and July 31, according to statistics provided by Alberta's forestry and parks ministry. Most of the tickets were for failing to extinguish an open outdoor fire during a fire ban, which comes with a $600 fine. More fines have been levied this year than last year, but in the past five years, 2020 saw the highest number handed out.That year, 60 tickets were issued, most of which were related to fire ban

The body of a hiker missing since August 27 has been found in Banff National Park.Officials say the death is not suspicious.Banff RCMP were notified of a missing person on August 27 at 3:50 p.m.Officers found his vehicle at the Banff airstrip, after which assistance was sought from Parks Canada.At 11 a.m. Monday, aerial search crews found the 64-year-old Calgary resident dead on Cascade Mountain, officials said in a release.Police have not released the hiker's name or any other details about him.

Post-secondary schools in Edmonton are seeing record-high enrolment rates for international students. The University of Alberta will welcome 44,036 students total this upcoming school year across their undergraduate and master's programs. accounting for 20 per cent of this year's total enrolments. For comparison, in fall 2021, there were 8,216 international students at the U of A. MacEwan University made 756 admissions offers to international students for undergraduate programs. Of the 361 students confirmed to arrive, the majority are coming from India, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Internat

Sheila Annette Lewis, the Alberta woman who was denied an organ transplant because she refused to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, has died. In recent months, Lewis had been crowdsourcing funding to travel to the United States to get an organ transplant, but she died before that happened. She was 58. In 2018, Lewis was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease, and was placed on the Alberta transplant wait list. In 2021, Lewis was told she would also need the COVID-19 vaccine to receive the transplant. Given the high risks of death following a transplant, and the immunos

A clean energy think tank says Alberta's pause on approvals for new renewable energy projects is affecting 118 projects worth $33 billion of investment. In a new report, the Pembina Institute says those projects would create enough jobs to keep 24,000 people working for a year. Earlier this month, the province's United Conservative government said it would pause all renewable energy approvals until February as it considers issues such as land use and reclamation. The move has stunned Alberta's booming renewables industry, with several companies with projects in the works saying the uncertainty

The Edmonton Transit Service is starting 'super express' bus service this fall from the Leger Transit Centre near the Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre to the University of Alberta. "Students can get on this bus and get to university in 20, 25 minutes and from there connect to the LRT to go wherever they want to go," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said while riding the new Route 31 during a media demonstration on Thursday promoting the new seasonal service, which will begin Sept. 5. Construction to turn Terwillegar Drive into an expressway began two years ago. Crews are adding bus lanes, a shared-u

Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has been fined $273 for speeding.Freeland was speeding in Grand Prairie and Peace River, Alberta, when she was stopped and issued a $273 ticket.However, Freeland spokeswoman Katherine Cuplinskas said Freeland has paid the full amount of the fine.Freeland was driving at a speed of 132 km per hour in a 110 km per hour zone.It is worth noting that Chrystia Freeland claimed last month that she does not even have a car and travels by train while her children walk, cycle and use the subway.

A reception centre for Yellowknife wildfire evacuees opens today in Edmonton.The Edmonton EXPO Centre is expected to start accepting evacuees at noon.It is to provide temporary lodging, food, clothing, pet daycare and health care.Some 20,000 residents of the capital of the Northwest Territories have been ordered to leave by noon today as a wildfire threatens the main highway out of the city.