August 8 News....

The 2008 Summer Olympic opening ceremonies are underway in China. 91-thousand are watching the spectaculoar event at Beijing's National Stadium -- also known as the Bird's Nest. 4-billion people are wathing worldwide, in what's being billed as the largest, most costly extravaganza in the history of the Games.  Foreign Minister David Emerson is there representing the Canadian delegation. Kayaker -- and medal hopeful -- Adam Van Koeverden (KOO'-ver-den)carried in the Maple Leaf for Canada. 332-Canadian athletes will be vying for Olympic hardware over the next two weeks of competition. 

Some people attending the Beijing Olympics got a rude shock when they discovered their tickets are worthless. They say they bought them from what they thought were reliable sellers.As a result, organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver have a warning for anyone planning to attend those Games -- buy tickets from us, or you're out of luck.

City bylaw officers are going to start cracking down on speeding cyclists. After a month of educating cyclists about unsafe practices on Calgary’s pathways, bylaw officers will move into the enforcement phase of this initiative. They'll be out until the end of October, radar guns in hand, issuing tickets to cyclists who speed and don't ding their bells -- by the way, that's a $50 fine.

The western Canadian housing market is headed for a downturn. Merrill Lynch Canada says houses are more than 10% overvalued in Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Victoria, and Vancouver. Although they say Canadian housing prices are probably not going to plunge like in the US, but they caution the Canadian housing market will continue to weaken for some time. 

And this is my kind of shopping experience!!  A Cleveland clothing store wants to make sure its customers are comfortable, so it has opened a bar in the middle of its sales floor.