It's so nice to have the opportunity to spend someone else's money for a change.

15-85 is a nice lens for walk around usage. Only real drawback is the variable aperture for indoor usage. 17-55 f2.8 overcomes with a higher price tag. If you do decide to go with the 15-85, look for a used one. There are enough of them being sold by others to help fund the 17-55 f2.8 purchase.

17-40 L is a nice enough lens. I use it for landscape work as the IQ is better than my 24-105. Only real issue I have with it is there is no single AF microadjustment I can make for it that will work at all settings. There is an S-curve for back-to-front focusing that is dependant on distance to target. This curve shifts up or down slightly depending on aperture setting. It isn't enough to make the AF useless by any means, total range is 3 or 4 steps, it is just the standards that I want to maintain in my work are high enough that I discovered this early on and now use 10x liveview when I am being super critical about plane of focus.

With the photo-journalism aspect to your work, I'd suggest getting the 17-55 f2.8 for now as it will allow using lower ISO settings on T1i or 7D. Compared to the FF bodies there is a difference in workable ISO range and you will want the aperture to compensate. Even if you do go FF, and we know you will, it is a lens that will likely hold its value quite well.