A6
The roundabout at 67 Street and 30 Avenue is now open.
IN PICTURES: SOAP BOX DERBY
7650860
ARE YOU ROUNDABOUT READY? Check out the videos at roundabout.how to learn the rules of roundabouts.
B5 WHAT’S THE BEEF?
PENGUINS WIN THE CUP
M O N D A Y
J U N E
1 3
B1
ONLINE SHOPS GET REAL: A9 PHYSICAL STORES ARE THE NEWEST TREND
$1.00
2 0 1 6
www.reddeeradvocate.com
AN ACT OF HATE
Downturn hits school budgets MARY-ANN BARR ADVOCATE STAFF
Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
An injured person is escorted out of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting rampage, Sunday morning in Orlando, Fla. A gunman wielding an assault-type rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub early Sunday, killing at least 50 people before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. It was the deadliest mass shooting in American history
WORST MASS SHOOTING IN U.S. HISTORY AS 50 SLAIN AT GAY NIGHTCLUB BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ORLANDO, Fla. — It had been an evening of drinking, dancing and drag shows. After hours of revelry, the party-goers crowding the gay nightclub known as the Pulse took their last sips before the place closed. That’s when authorities say Omar Mateen emerged, carrying an AR-15 and spraying the helpless crowd with bullets. Witnesses said he fired relentlessly — 20 rounds, 40, then 50 and more. In such tight quarters, the bullets could hardly miss. He shot at police. He took hostages. When the gunfire finally stopped, 50 people were dead and dozens critically wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Mateen, who authorities said had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a 911 call shortly before the attack, died in a gun battle with SWAT team members. Authorities immediately began investigating whether the assault was an act of terrorism and probing the background of Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida, who had worked as a security guard. The gunman’s father recalled that his son recently got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami and said that might be related to the assault. Thirty-nine of the dead were killed at the club, and 11 people died at hospitals, Mayor Buddy Dyer said. Jon Alamo had been dancing at the Pulse for hours when he wandered into the club’s main room just in time to see the gunman. “You ever seen how Marine guys hold big weapons, shooting from left to right? That’s how he was shooting at people,” he said. “My first thought was, oh my God, I’m going to die,” Alamo said. “I was praying to God that I would live to see another day.” Pulse patron Eddie Justice texted his mother, Mina: “Mommy I love you. In club they shooting.” About 30 minutes later, hiding in a bathroom, he texted her: “He’s coming. I’m gonna die.” As Sunday wore on, she awaited word on his fate. At least 53 people were hospitalized, most in critical condition, and a surgeon at Orlando Region-
COMMENT A4
al Medical Center said the death toll was likely to climb. The previous deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. was the 2007 attack at Virginia Tech, where a student killed 32 people before killing himself. Mateen’s family was from Afghanistan, and he was born in New York. His family later moved to Florida, authorities said. A law enforcement official said the gunman made a 911 call from the club in which he professed allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. See SHOOTING on Page A8
See SCHOOL on Page A2
RED DEER WEATHER
INDEX NEWS A2,3,5,7,8
Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ray Rivera, a DJ at Pulse Orlando nightclub, is consoled by a friend, outside of the Orlando Police Department after a shooting involving multiple fatalities at the nightclub, Sunday
LOTTERIES
Local Today
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SPORTS B1-4
FOOD: B5 COMICS B8
SATURDAY/SUNDAY 6/49: 9, 28, 36, 37, 40, 46, bonus: 47 Western 6/49: 2, 7, 21, 30, 47,
ENTERTAINMENT: B10 BUSINESS: A9-10
While the economic downturn has shrunk student numbers in one Central Alberta school district, it has had the opposite affect on another one. At the same time, operational reserves in Chinook’s Edge, Wild Rose and Wolf Creek rural school divisions have been depleted to the point that they have all been doing some serious number crunching in their 2016-17 budgets. Wild Rose School Division superintendent Brad Volkman superintendent said that they are forecasting a significant drop of 239 students come the next school year, resulting in between 45 and 50 positions being lost. These would include about 13 teachers plus various support staff. Communities tied close to the oil and gas sector such as Rocky Mountain House and Drayton Valley have been affected by the downturn, and Volkman believes the expected drop in students can be attributed to people leaving. At the same time, the district will be unable to use reserves in the 2016-17 school year. This means that a reduction in per student funding as well as not being able to call on their much-reduced reserves anymore will have a total impact of about $3 million less in the upcoming budget. The district pulled $1.3 million from its reserves this current school year but is no longer able to do that and must have a balanced budget next school year, Volkman said. Student numbers have been stable the past six years, swinging by about 150 students either way but always hanging in just above the 5,000 mark, he said. But the next school year is showing the sharp dropoff, resulting in the district dipping below 5,000 students, to an anticipated 4,798. “We’re seeing in some of our communities, houses up for sale, businesses closing down. … but I’d say the farming rural areas are a little bit more stable.” A lot of the funding school districts receive is tied to the number of students, including maintenance funding. Yet they still have the same number of facilities to maintain even when student numbers drop, said Volkman. An added cost in 2017 to the district will be the province’s new carbon tax levy when it kicks in, he said. While Volkman expects that the district will be able to find jobs for all their tenured teachers, some of their new teachers they won’t be able to keep. The district is currently in the midst of issuing layoff notices. He said he is confident that class sizes will continue to be reasonable and the quality of programs and services offered will be “just as excellent as they have ever been.” Over at Chinook’s Edge School Division, superintendent Kurt Sacher is expecting to see an increase of between 75 and 100 students in 2016-17. And a large part of that increase is being attributed as well to the downturn in the economy. While the district has seen some students leave as their parents lose their jobs and leave Alberta, some people have decided to return to their home communities and take educational upgrading. The career high school in Gasoline Alley for example is seeing a significant increase in those adult students who want to go back to school. The net result is a boost in the division’s numbers, Sacher said. People returning to one of their five career high schools are typically in their early 20s who have been working in the oilfield, their job is no longer there, and they think this is a great time to upgrade and go back to school, Sacher said.
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48, bonus: 45 Pick 3: 263 Extra: 4926148 Numbers are unofficial.
PLEASE
RECYCLE