Thursday's letters: Let downtown developers pay their way
Edmonton city council will be hearing opinions on extending the Community Revitalization Levy to fund ongoing spending — they will say generational investment — on the downtown.
While it is true that a strong downtown is better than a weak one, there comes a point where it's time for business to invest in the projects that they will be profiting from. Developers such as Darryl Katz continue to claim that they need incentives to invest in projects — most of which primarily benefit their own bottom lines. It used to be that the profits generated by their investments were incentive enough. But now they want more and Katz and his developer colleagues see an easy mark in our current council, endlessly chanting about partnerships with the city and shared opportunities to encourage our city administration and council to handicap our future finances for developer profits today.
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Cision Canada
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Vail Resorts Cuts Lift Ticket Prices in Half for Friends of Epic Pass Holders to Celebrate the Social Side of Skiing
2025/26 Pass Holders to get new "Epic Friend Tickets", including Epic Military Pass Holders Friends save this season and next: 50% off lift tickets this season AND the cost of one redeemed Epic Friend Ticket to apply toward an eligible 2026/27 Epic Pass 2025/26 Epic Pass prices go up after September 1 BROOMFIELD, Colo., Aug. 12, 2025 /CNW/ -- Vail Resorts wants to make it easier for its most loyal guests to bring their friends to the slopes, in celebration of the social side of skiing and snowboarding. Today, the company announced "Epic Friend Tickets," a new benefit for 2025/26 season-long Epic Pass Holders to share incredible savings with those they want to ski and ride with most. Passes are on sale now, and the lowest price of the Fall ends September 1. Pass Holders with an Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, Epic Military Pass, Northeast Value Pass, and most of the company's other season-long passes will receive 6-10 Epic Friend Tickets, depending on when they purchased their Pass. Epic Friend Tickets provide 50% off lift tickets at the company's 37 North American resorts for the 2025/26 winter season. Plus, friends can also apply 100% of the cost of one redeemed Epic Friend Ticket toward an eligible 2026/27 Epic Pass – providing double the savings.* "Skiers and snowboarders know this sport is magic; a passion you can't help but pass on," said Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz. "If you ski or ride, chances are someone brought you into the sport, and we want to make it easier for you to pay it forward. Epic Friend Tickets are the next step on our nearly two-decade-long journey to find ways to make skiing more accessible to more people." "We will always give the best deal to our Pass Holders who commit to skiing with us ahead of the season," continued Katz. "That said, we know not everyone can plan ahead, so if you don't have an Epic Pass, the next best thing is knowing someone who does." With the introduction of Epic Friend Tickets, eligible Pass Holders who purchased before April 14, 2025, will receive 10 Epic Friend Tickets, and those who purchase after will receive six Epic Friend Tickets. Epic Friend Tickets replace and upgrade Buddy Tickets, a former Pass benefit, which generally offered much lower savings off lift ticket prices, and which varied by resort. Epic Friend Tickets can be used at all 37 of the company's North American resorts including big destinations like Vail Mountain and Whistler Blackcomb; regional destinations like Stowe, Heavenly, and Crested Butte; and local ski areas like Mount Sunapee and Afton Alps. Epic Friend Tickets can be redeemed through then activated in the My Epic app for direct-to-lift access. The accompanying Pass Holder must scan their Pass in a lift line before an Epic Friend Ticket becomes scannable. A gift that keeps on giving, Epic Friend Tickets provide significant savings this winter and next. Friends get 50% off lift tickets this season, and whatever they pay for that ticket can be used as a credit towards an eligible 2026/27 Epic Pass. Read more about Epic Friend Tickets here. "By making it easier for our Pass Holders to share the ski experience with friends – through savings across not one, but two winter seasons – we hope to help spark traditions that will inspire groups of friends to return to the mountains for years to come," added Katz. Last Chance for the Lowest Epic Pass Price of Fall Ends September 1 Epic Passes offer unmatched mountain access, big savings and incredible benefits – and purchasing a Pass early unlocks the best value. Epic Passes are on sale now for the lowest price of the Fall before prices increase after September 1, 2025. Whether hitting the mountain for one day or all season, there's an option for every skier and rider, from first timers to powder pros. The 2025/26 Epic Pass ($1075 adults; $548 children) offers unlimited, unrestricted access to Vail Resorts' 42 owned and operated mountain resorts including Whistler Blackcomb, Vail Mountain, Park City Mountain, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, and Stowe, plus access to iconic partner resorts and ski areas like Telluride, Colorado; Rusutsu and Hakuba Valley, Japan; Verbier 4 Vallées, Switzerland; Sölden, Saalbach and Zell am See-Kaprun, Austria; and more across Europe. The Epic Local Pass ($799 adults; $416 children) provides unlimited, unrestricted access to 29 resorts, plus access to more destination resorts with some restrictions. The Epic Military Pass with access to all of the company's 42 resorts is currently $190 for active and retired military and their dependents, and $614 for veterans and their dependents. More details on Pass options for the 2025/26 season are linked here. Epic 1-7 Day Passes provide up to 65% savings compared to lift ticket prices by purchasing ahead of the season, but do not include Epic Friend Tickets. All Passes come with Epic Mountain Rewards, which offer exclusive discounts including 20% off on-mountain food and beverage, lodging, group ski and ride lessons, equipment rentals and more – all winter long. *Friends who do not hold a 2025/26 Pass can apply the full cost of a single redeemed Epic Friend Ticket towards eligible 2026/27 Passes including Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, and other regional passes for a limited time. The full list of eligible Passes will be available once 2026/27 Passes are on sale. 2025/26 Pass Holders are not eligible for this promotion. About Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) Vail Resorts is a network of the best destination and close-to-home ski resorts in the world including Vail Mountain, Breckenridge, Park City Mountain, Whistler Blackcomb, Stowe, and 32 additional resorts across North America; Andermatt-Sedrun and Crans-Montana Mountain Resort in Switzerland; and Perisher, Hotham, and Falls Creek in Australia – all available on the company's industry-changing Epic Pass. We are passionate about providing an Experience of a Lifetime to our team members and guests, and our EpicPromise is to reach a zero net operating footprint by 2030, support our employees and communities, and broaden engagement in our sport. Our company owns and/or manages a collection of elegant hotels under the RockResorts brand, a portfolio of vacation rentals, condominiums and branded hotels located in close proximity to our mountain destinations, as well as the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Vail Resorts Retail operates more than 250 retail and rental locations across North America. Learn more about our company at or discover our resorts and pass options at
CBC
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City of Winnipeg plans to spend another $360K on troubled police HQ
The City of Winnipeg plans to spend up to $360,000 to repair the roof at the Winnipeg Police Service's headquarters, in what amounts to the latest repairs to a facility that only opened nine years ago. The city is in the process of a selecting a bidder to replace the roof over the police HQ's boiler room and solve water build-up problem up over the server room — the secure space for storing and processing police data — so that the water ends up in the drains instead of pooling above police computers. According to a tender issued by the city, the work to be done consists of removing and replacing the roof and metal over the boiler room and building up the roof over the server room. No one with the city was available Tuesday to discuss the latest problems with the Graham Avenue structure, a former Canada Post warehouse and office tower complex that was converted into a police headquarters at an initial cost of $214 million, not including subsequent repair work and interest payments on the debt used to finance the purchase-and-construction project. Previous problems that have emerged at the police HQ include crumbling concrete, burst pipes and anchors coming out of concrete, the physical manifestation of the most problematic capital project started during the administration of former Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz. The police headquarters construction project was also the subject of two scathing internal audits, a five-year RCMP fraud and forgery investigation that concluded without charges, and a city civil lawsuit that ended with a judge determining that former chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl had received a $327,000 bribe from Caspian Construction, the primary contractor on the project. The judge in that case ordered Sheegl to pay the city $1.1 million. The city and Caspian settled a second lawsuit out of court, with the company required to pay the city $23.5 million by March 2026. If Caspian misses that deadline, the required payment rises to $28 million.
CBC
22-07-2025
- CBC
Plan for Gaza decried as 'concentration camp'
Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, told journalists earlier this month that he has instructed the military to draw up plans for a camp in southern Gaza, which would eventually house the entire population of the strip. According to Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Katz said residents would not be allowed to leave once they entered — although he and other Israeli officials are still talking about plans to deport, or "voluntarily relocate," Gazan civilians. While Katz described this as a "humanitarian city," critics — including a former Israeli prime minister — have decried the plan as a "concentration camp." Today, we'll first hear from a man in the area of southern Gaza from which people would theoretically be moved into this proposed camp. Then we'll speak to Dahlia Scheindlin, a Tel Aviv-based pollster and political analyst, and author of the recent book The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled.
