EDMONTON — Alberta reported fewer than 200 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday for the seventh consecutive day, with 153 new infections recorded.

The province is nearing 70 per cent of eligible Albertans to have received at least a first dose with 69.7 per cent as of Wednesday afternoon. Stage 3 of the province’s reopening plan, which lifts almost all public health restrictions, starts two weeks after the 70-per cent goal is hit.

Stage 3 would start on Canada Day if Alberta achieves the milestone on Thursday.

Active cases fell to 2,639, their lowest number since mid-October.

Four more Albertans, including two in their 50s, were reported to have died Wednesday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths to 2,278 which includes 181 individuals under the age of 60.

The are now 255 people in hospital including 67 in intensive care units. 

The province reported a 2.19 per cent test positivity based on approximately 6,700 tests.​

EDMONTON — Two people are in custody after multiple carjackings in St. Albert which prompted the city’s schools to enter a hold and secure Wednesday morning.

A third carjacking suspect “still unaccounted for” is believed to be armed and in the Edmonton area Wednesday afternoon, RCMP said.

The three stole a blue Toyota Corolla at the intersection of St. Albert Trail and Sturgeon Road, police said. There were some attempted carjackings in the downtown core before the three stole a red Jeep Compass on Marion Crescent.

The Corolla was recovered on Madison Avenue, Mounties said, but it’s in that Jeep Compass with licence plate CHV 5953 where they believe the third carjacker is.

“We’re hoping to locate the Jeep Compass to give us more information about the individual that we have not been able to locate,” said Cst. MJ Burroughs. “Again, a firearm was involved in the incidents here in St. Albert so we don’t anyone to approach the Jeep Compass and just to call police immediately.”

It’s because of that firearm that the RCMP called for the hold and secure in St. Albert schools and daycares.

The hold and secure began at approximately 8:45 a.m. and ended at 10:15 a.m.

No one was injured during the carjackings, RCMP said.

EDMONTON — The Law Society of Alberta says criminal charges may be warranted against a lawyer who allowed sexually explicit photos of a woman to be included as part of an affidavit in a custody case.

The self-governing body has sanctioned lawyer Karen Herrington of Sherwood Park, Alta., for bringing the administration of justice into disrepute and failing to provide competent legal services. She has been suspended for one month and ordered to pay $5,400 in costs.

Herrington was representing the husband in a common-law custody dispute.

The law society says the husband sent an affidavit to Herrington that was aimed at preventing his former partner from leaving the province and included intimate photos of her.

Herrington asked other members of her law firm what she should do, but ultimately decided to include the pictures in the affidavit, the regulator says.

“It was thought by Ms. Herrington that the pictures showed a pattern of behaviour from the wife and that she needed the affidavit for the emergency application the next morning,” Ryan Anderson from the law society wrote in the ruling.

“She consulted other lawyers in her office for their advice and made this decision to proceed. This does not leave Ms. Herrington blameless, but goes to show this was not a simple situation,” he said.

“Ms. Herrington appears to be a capable lawyer who made a poor choice.”

The opposing lawyer asked that the nude photos of his client be removed. They were blacked out before being filed in court.

Herrington admitted her guilt in that she failed to provide legal services to the standard of a competent lawyer and said it was an error to include the nude and explicit pictures.

Law society lawyers noted that Herrington may have broken the law under the Criminal Code for publication of an intimate image without consent.

They recommended the file be sent to the Alberta justice minister to see if charges are warranted.

“The Committee finds that there are reasonable and probable grounds that Ms. Herrington contravened Section 161.1 of the Criminal Code and as such we are obligated to make a referral to the Solicitor General,” the panel found.

“Ms. Herrington may very well have a defence but that is not up to our committee to decide.”

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the office of Justice Minister Kaycee Madu.

EDMONTON — A family in southeast Edmonton is feeling grateful no one was injured after a car barrelled through their home Monday night.

The Summerside homeowners, Ricky and Ada Yu, said they were at the beach with their two kids when Ada’s father called around 5 p.m.

“Got the call from my father in law and he says, ‘You got to come home now… There’s a car in the living room,’” Ricky recalled.

Ricky and Ada told CTV News they were in shock when they heard the news and “didn’t believe it at first.”

“I’m thinking maybe the car hit the side of the house, maybe hit the garage, maybe it’s just siting on the grass,” Ricky explained.

But, it was indeed in their home, and fortunately Ada’s parents were on the other side of the house when the driver lost control.

“The biggest thing out of here is that ours kids are safe and we are safe,” Ricky said. “Typically we are sitting there in that spot watching the news, getting ready for dinner in there.”

“We hope that the driver is OK as well, but it definitely hit home, that’s for sure.”

“The house can get fixed,” Ada added.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s David Ewasuk

EDMONTON — Residents who have lived in the north Edmonton neighbourhood of Lago Lindo for 11 years would likely remember June 20 of 2010 well. 

It was on that day that a house explosion rocked the community. The blast was so powerful that it shook items off store shelves blocks away from its epicentre.   

In the aftermath, four bodies were recovered from the rubble created by the explosion, two houses were leveled and $3.5 million in damages were caused to 40 others.

An investigation revealed 47-year-old Cathie Heard was already dead before the explosion, a victim of strangulation at the hands of her common-law husband Dwayne Poirier.

Police determined Poirier caused the house to explode when he tampered with the home’s natural gas line.

Next-door neighbours Craig Huber and Brad Winter were also killed in the blast, along with Poirier.

Now, 11 years later, the land where that exploded house once sat serves as a difficult reminder of that Sunday, for neighbours who remember.

“We have to look at this property every year, every day, and we’re tired of it.” 

That’s the sentiment next-door neighbour Bernie Meunier expressed to CTV News Edmonton when asked about the land.

Meunier says his wife was home that June day in 2010, but managed to escape unharmed.

“My wife was in the house,” he said, “and she got out, barely, and it’s awful for her. We’re fed up with this.”

‘THE CITY SHOULD COME IN AND DO SOMETHING’

The lot remains vacant, but for an overgrowth of weeds and a notice from the city that’s addressed to the property’s deceased owners, instructing them to clean those weeds up.

Edmonton city councillor Jon Dziadyk posted a video to social media last week to protest the state of the property, and the city’s response to it.

“The city should come in and do something,” Dziadyk said in the video. “Since being on council, I’ve tried to get the city to acquire this property, which as you can tell, it’s not being maintained well.” 

“This is a daily reminder for those that live around here,” he added.

CTV News Edmonton captured an interaction between Dziadyk and a man who identified himself as Brad Winter’s father, near the vacant lot.

“You’ve been elected for four years,” the man shouted at Dziadyk. “The last three years, you’ve known about the situation and you’ve done nothing.”

But now it seems something is being done.

According to internal city emails sent to Dziadyk and shared with CTV News Edmonton, the city will soon become the interim owner of the land in the area of 180A Avenue and 91A Street through the “tax forfeiture process.”

Once that happens, according to one of the emails, the city will put the parcel of land up for sale.

Perhaps some good news for Meunier.

“I want this cleaned up so we can look after our house and move on,” he said. “This is a reminder every day and I am tired of it.”

In a written response, a City of Edmonton spokesperson confirmed the tax forfeiture to CTV News Edmonton.

“This is not full ownership but is a form of interim ownership allowable under the (Municipal Government Act),” the statement read in part. “The documentation is in the process of being sent to land titles.” 

The city spokesperson was unable to give any timelines for the tax forfeiture process.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dan Grummett