Wow, what a rainfall late this afternoon in Kanata. I left work around 5:15pm, and drove home along Terry Fox Drive. The intersection of Terry Fox and Winchester was totally flooded, with the sewers backed up and cars pulling over. A neighbour told us that Castlefrank Road in Glen Cairn was impassable, and firefighters were called to help homeowners on Barra Street and Winchester Street with flooded basements. ...

In the aftermath of the horrible hit-and-run cycling accident on Sunday, David McClelland has some thoughts about how to make cycling safer in Ottawa . ** Related: ** Ottawa Cycling Guide

If Larry O’Brien is found guilty of the influence-peddling charges against him, he’ll have to step down as mayor of Ottawa . Justice Douglas Cunningham is expected to deliver his verdict on August 12 , so we thought that in the meantime we should start talking about how we should pick the new mayor, just in case it comes to that. ...

The Ottawa Citizen is doing live coverage of the KISS show at Bluesfest tonight and doing a pretty good job of conveying the atomsphere down there. They’ve got a kind of crowd-sourced-stream-of-consciousness thing going. It’s just like being there, but way quieter and a lot textier. ...

If you’re a Bluesfest fan, here are some blogs that are providing regular updates of shows - previews, reviews, photos and more. In no particular order: * [ Apartment 613 ](http://www.apt613.ca/) * [ The Big Beat ](http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/bigbeat/default.aspx) * [ Ming Wu Photography ](http://www. ...

[ ](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/16597290.jpg) Constance Bay’s racy roadsign. (Photo above is from RonEade / Twitpic ) ** Related: ** Ottawa Photography Guide

[ ](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Alex-Kovalev-27s-Official-Web.jpg) Some quick links about Alex Kovalev, the newest member of the Ottawa Senators: ** ** * [ AK27.com ](http://www.ak27.com/) - Alex Kovalev's Official Web Site * [ SensTV: Taking to the air ](http://senators.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=24&id=44704) - A video about Kovalev's off-ice hobby, flying * [ Kovalev on Legends of Hockey ](http://www. ...

[ ](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Drew-27s-Birthday-2009-and-more-170.jpg) Today we went to check out Merveilles de sable (Wonders of Sand) at Lac-Beauchamp in Gatineau. Good citizens of Gatineau, you’ve been keeping this a secret for far too long. We had a blast – and can’t believe that we haven’t heard of this before. ...

Some quick visitor stats from OttawaStart the month of June, as measured by Google Analytics . Search engine referrals: Microsoft’s Bing sent a small but significant number of searches our way for the first time in June. Here’s are the top three search engine referrals: ...

Check out OttawaSenators.com this week for some great coverage of the annual Development Camp for the team’s top prospects. Over 30 players are taking part in on-ice and off-ice training and team-building exercises. In particular, check out the player blog by Ottawa native Corey Cowick , who was drafted last week by the Sens. ...