News briefs: October 11 edition
By Scott Strasser, October 11 2016 —
Courtesy Dave Bloggs
University of Calgary to host conference on walkability in 2017
As many as 600 attendees from around the world will come to the University of Calgary next September to participate in the 18th annual Walk21 International Conference on Walking and Liveable Communities.
The Walk21 conference aims to bring experts together to discuss how to improve walkability in communities and implement policies to encourage walking as a means of transportation and recreation.
The U of C was announced as the host for the 2017 Walk21 conference on Oct. 6.
“We look forward to hosting international and local delegates, who will help shape this vital global conversation about creating healthier neighbourhoods and communities, as well as sustainable growth,” U of C president Elizabeth Cannon said.
The conference will occur over three days. Rather than just lectures and powerpoint presentations, the event will feature “walk-shops,” with guided tours throughout parts of Calgary to emphasize walkability.
Previous Walk21 conferences have been held in London, Barcelona, New York, Munich and Sydney.
University of Calgary alumna drops tax bomb on Donald Trump
A University of Calgary alumna has made her mark on the 2016 United States presidential race.
Courtesy Sam Chills
U of C political science graduate Susanne Craig — now a finance and politics reporter with the New York Times — was the lead reporter in a recent breaking story about Republican Party candidate Donald Trump’s income tax returns from the mid-1990s.
According to Craig’s story, Trump declared a $916-million loss on his income tax returns from 1995. A deduction of that size means Trump could have legally avoided paying federal income taxes until 2013.
Craig said she received the fragments of Trump’s 1995 returns in an anonymous envelope in her mailbox at the New York Times office.
“I can safely say I don’t get tax returns of presidential candidates in my mailbox every day,” she told the Calgary Herald.
During her time in Calgary, Craig wrote for the Gauntlet and was a summer intern with the Calgary Herald. She later worked at the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and the Wall Street Journal, before moving to the New York Times in 2010.