NDP Sweeps By-elections

Regina Douglas Park candidate Dwain Lingenfelter's back at the marble palace (representing ME!?!) and Saskatoon Riversdale elects a young, progressive and dynamic candidate in Danielle Chartier. Details here. (CBC). This result comes as a huge surprise to...no one.

Fucked Up wins 2009 Polaris Music Prize

I guess the judges wanted to stick it to family newspapers, because Fucked Up, who are this year's Polaris prize winner, have a name a lot of publications wouldn't print. The band won for their album The Chemistry of Common Life.

One interesting thing about Fucked Up: lead singer Damien Abraham was invited to become a recurring guest on Fox News' show Red Eye as the friendly, hardcore, lefty Canadian. Story's here (CBC). I have no idea how often he's been on Red Eye because I don't watch Fox beyond Youtube clips (and The Simpsons and Family Guy).

Anyway, here's some Fucked Up!

Note To Self: Vote

Oh yeah, those Provincial by-elections are today. I should vote. You should too, if you're in the Regina Douglas Park riding. Here's a link to Elections Saskatchewan for a bunch of info you might need. If you're confused about where to vote, call 787-0222.

Polls are open until 8:00 p.m.

Things To Pay Attention To Tonight Dept: Polaris Prize

The merit-based, critic-voted Polaris music prize will be handed out tonight. Here's the Polaris Prize website. Here are this year's nominees. Worth paying attention to, partly becasue a.) this is all great music and b.) two of the nominees, Elliot Brood (October 1) and Chad VanGaalen (October 8) will be through town soon. Oh, and past winner, Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) will be here Sept. 30.

Never fear ... here's Stephen LaRose's Top Six

1. DO WE REALLY WANT TO KNOW THAT? Thanks to the blog of former L-P reporter/NTR John Gormley producer Tyler McMurchy (Tyler Has Nothing to Say), I present to you Texts From Last Night, the accumulation of text message from people bragging /ashamed of what they're about to do. Hint: it usually involves drugs, booze, sex university students and stupidity. The 306 area code sction could use a little work (Texts From Last Night -- NSFW)

2. ALL THE NEWS WE MAKE FIT A Fox News Network producer is shown cheerleading for crowd of anti-government protectors at in Washington, to jazz up a news story. (Huffington Post)

3. I GOT NOTHIN' Red Tory. Go. Read. (Red Tory)

4. MULRONEY VS. HARPER They may be Liberal party bloggers, but both Impolitical (Impolitical) and A BCer in Toronto (A BCer in Toronto) think there may be a split between Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper over President Obama''s health care plans.

5. YEAH WELL, YOU DYING ISN'T A CONCERN TO STEPHEN HARPER BUT KEEPING HIS JOB IS The federal government was spending up to five times as much on an advertising campaign promoting its economic agenda than its anti-swine flu campaign (Canadian Press), the Harper government announced that they were going to spend more money on a public information campagin. Yeah. Sure. That it was just coincidence. And the dog ate Stephen Harper's homework. (impolitical)

6. HOCKEY NIGHT IN REGINA If you are one of those who can't afford, or couldn't get, tickets to tonight's Ottawa Senators-Tampa Bay Lightning game at the Brandt Centre, you might be out of luck looking for local coverage, as there's no local radio broadcast. Well, here's the websites for the Lightning broadcast (WDAE) and the Senators (Team1200).

Municipal Election Nominations Start Today

People wanting to run for city council or school board have from September 21 (today) through to September 30 to send in their nominations.

So if you or someone you know is interested in becoming a councillor or a school trustee -- or even mayor -- go to the nominations page on the city website (here) to find out how.

In related news, prairie-dog readers' favourite city councillor for 2008, Fred Clipsham, announced that he will run for another term as Ward 3's representative on city council. He'll be up against U of R professor and prairie dog columnist-on-political-hiatus John Conway. As far as I know, so far this is the only contested ward in the city.

This Week at City Hall

Monday, September 21
Crime Prevention Advisory Committee (12:15 pm): As part of a program started in 2008 to develop an evidence-based approach to crime prevention, the committee will be looking at a report from the Institute for the Prevention of Crime. There will also be a presentation of gang activity and they will be going over the mid-year crime statistics.
City Council (5:30 pm): Though there's no mention of it in the agenda, the big news items will be the Downtown Neighbourhood Plan and the plan to build a condo/hotel building on the site of the Plains. And there's a long list of items on top of that such as a proposed daycare at 1801 Toronto St, special events funding requests, and a proposed propane storage and handling facility.

Tuesday, September 22
Community Services Advisory Committee (5:30 pm): Deciding which members will attend the Canadian Urban Transit Association Fall Conference.

Wednesday, September 23
Board of Police Commissioners (9:00 am): Looking at mid-year crime stats and at year-to-year stats for July. Crimes against people in July 2009 were up 2.9 per cent over July 2008 while crimes against property were down 16.9 per cent.

Not Six In The Morning: Glenn Beck Edition

I just don't have time to post the usual morning news run-down today, so instead, here's a link to what is probably a good (I don't have time to read it!) feature on Fox News lunatic Glenn Beck. (Salon)

It's the best thing I have right now. Apologies.

Pick of the Day: Lightning vs Senators

I guess tonight's NHL pre-season game at Brandt Centre between the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning would be worth seeing. Rosie's doing an article on the upcoming NHL season, and some of the challenges the league faces, for our Sept. 24 issue, and was supposed to secure press access to the game. Whether he did or not, I don't know.

As I've opined before in the pages of prairie dog hockey really needs to shorten its season. Played with the requisite skill and intensity, it's a compelling sport. But you can't expect teams to sustain that competitive fire game after game during a season that regularly stretches from mid-September to early June. Tens of thousands of kilometres of travel, multiple time zone shifts, nagging injuries and illnesses -- all conspire to make it difficult, if not impossible, for teams to put forth an honest effort every night. The end result, a sub-par product that turns off fans and, at the minor league level in particular, causes player burn-out.

Being as this is a rare opportunity for the NHL to showcase its product in Saskatchewan, I expect both Ottawa and Tampa Bay to ice quality line-ups. So as far as exhibition games go, it should be a pretty good tilt. Tampa has a young, mobile defence plus some top-notch forwards. Ottawa, meanwhile, will be looking to rebound after a disastrous 2008-09 campaign that saw them miss the playoffs for the first time since the 1995-96 season.