Pension thief jailed, explosion turns into deadly fire: The week’s top news stories

The elderly couple killed in an apartment fire in north Edmonton on Tuesday is being remembered as best friends and active community members.

These are the stories that dominated Edmontonians’ interest this week.

Pension theft sentence

A former Service Canada employee will spend 18 months in jail for stealing nearly $180,000 from seniors.

As a payment officer, Bonnie Lo altered payment information to reroute pension cheques to her own bank account.

2 dead after explosion, fire

A couple in their 80s is dead after a crash ruptured a gas line in their apartment building, causing an explosion and fire.

Major Singh Bhandal, 85, tried to escape the burning building by jumping from their balcony, while his wife Surinderjit Kaur Bhandal, 82, was found in the building after the fire was extinguished.

The Bhandals moved to Canada more than two decades ago and were active members of the community, their family says.

3-in-1 licence process causing headaches

The new requirement to provide a birth certificate or passport to renew or obtain a driver’s licence or Alberta health card is proving to be a headache for some.

An 84-year-old woman whose licence expired while she was recovering from a stroke, and who does not have a passport, needed to find her birth certificate and then her marriage licence as proof that her last name changed upon getting married.

Bad weather continues to affect city

Storms continue to impact Edmonton homes and infrastructure. Multiple city recreation centres were closed earlier this week due to flooding. One affected facility, Telus World of Science Edmonton, will remain closed at least until November. The roof of Killarney School was also partially torn off Tuesday evening.

Player pulls all gold at Pokémon trading event

A young player received an extremely rare Pokémon trading card pack at an event in Lacombe earlier this month. The pack contained 11 copies of the gold Mega Darkrai Ex card, believed to be a packaging error. The store’s owner said the odds of that happening are about one in 10 million.