Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day.
‘Beast of a report’: City needs to spend $100M every year to maintain assets at current levels
To maintain city assets in their current condition, the City of Greater Sudbury would need to spend an additional $100 million per year. This, according to a report city corporate asset manager Nicholas Zinger prepared for Tuesday’s finance and administration committee meeting. Responding to what he described as a “beast of a report” during the meeting, Coun. Geoff McCausland called current spending levels “deplorable,” and said he “couldn’t sleep last night” after reading it. “I really feel a little bit like we’re driving the bus, we’ve put our glasses on, see that we’re going off the road, but aren’t even turning the wheel to avert disaster,” he said. “We’re going to reach a point where we’re actually taxing people out of their homes just to meet our basic needs.” Taking a more optimistic view of the report, Mayor Brian Bigger said he actually feels better about the city’s infrastructure situation now than he did several years ago. The $100-million figure, Bigger clarified, is a “very, very rough estimate that was a starting point for a process all municipalities are working on.”
Read the full story on the Sudbury.com homepage.
Victim of Hwy 69 hit and run recovering, wife pleads for culprit to come forward
A Sudbury man is recovering after being struck from behind and sent tumbling down the road on Highway 69 on Aug. 15, and his wife is asking the person who hit him to come forward and take responsibility. On Sunday at around 2:16 p.m., members from the Nipissing West (Sudbury) OPP responded to a motor vehicle collision involving a motorcycle and an SUV on Highway 69 in the French River area. “From the preliminary investigation, both vehicles were traveling north on the divided portion of Highway 69, near Highway 64,” OPP said in a release. “The SUV struck the motorcycle from behind causing the driver of the motorcycle to eject into the ditch. The SUV failed to remain at the scene and continued north on the highway.” OPP is hoping the public can help identify the SUV, which was described as being white or cream in colour. Venne’s wife, Raymonde Martin-Venne, told Sudbury.com she hopes the driver sees news media and social media posts about the incident and does the right thing by coming forward. “I wish they would come forward,” she said. “My husband is going to thankfully be OK. A lot of healing to be done.” Anyone with information regarding this vehicle of interest is asked to contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit information online at OntarioCrimeStoppers.ca where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000.
Read the full story on the Sudbury.com homepage.
Matter of the 1,200 past and present Laurentian employees owed money was in court today
Laurentian University asked the courts Aug. 17 to approve a methodology for compensating an estimated 1,200 current, former and retired university employees owed money as a result of the university’s insolvency and restructuring. That includes the 194 full-time workers laid off by Laurentian this spring as part of its efforts to trim costs. Laurentian has negotiated the terms of this compensation methodology with unions representing these workers, including the Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) and the Laurentian University Staff Union (LUSU). It’s expected that compensation calculations will be sent out to those owed money within 21 days, so approximately early September. “Each individual that has been identified as a potential claimant will receive this statement of compensation claim,” said Liz Pilon, a representative of Ernst & Young, the firm that is the court-appointed monitor of Laurentian’s insolvency restructuring.
Read the full story on the Sudbury.com homepage.
Moore: With Delta cases rising and pandemic worsening, tighter restrictions warranted
Ontario residents can expect the current pandemic restrictions to continue on for the time being as the province's chief medical officer announced Tuesday that he is pausing Ontario's exit from the Roadmap to Reopen plan. Dr. Kieran Moore, the chief medical officer of health, said he is taking action to increase protection against COVID-19 for the most vulnerable citizens, which include seniors, people who are immunocompromised and children. Moore said this would include stricter mandatory vaccine policies. Moore also explained that Ontario is "pausing" the process of the Roadmap to Reopen Ontario. He said that's because Ontario needs more residents to get vaccinated. Moore said one of the reasons is that the Delta Variant is getting out of control.
One dead after fiery plane crash at Thunder Bay airport
The head of the Thunder Bay International Airports Authority says one person died in a fiery plane crash at the airport on Monday night. Ed Schmidtke, president and CEO of the airport authority, confirmed the fatality just before 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning. A thick plume of smoke could be seen rising from the small plane following the crash, which took place at about 9:12 p.m. on Monday night. Thunder Bay Fire Rescue, Thunder Bay Police and Superior North EMS crews responded to the incident and flights were turned back and not allowed to land as the investigation took place. The airport's operational specialists were also involved in the investigation. The scene is being held by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The victim's identity had not yet been released as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Public Health Sudbury reports three new cases of COVID-19 for Aug. 17, Ontario reports 348
Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) has reported three new cases of COVID-19 in the local jurisdiction for Aug. 17. The health unit is also reporting there are now 22 active cases being monitored. Also, since the PHSD began tracking COVID-19 cases just over 17 months ago, there have been 2,227 total COVID-19 cases confirmed locally. PHSD also said 2,205 of those cases are now resolved. There are also now 1,031 cases that are "confirmed or presumed to be" positive for variants of concern. This is an increase of two new cases over Monday's online report. Provincewide, ublic Health Ontario reported 348 new COVID cases in today's update (Aug. 17). Today's update noted 280 recoveries and 10 deaths, but six of the deaths occurred more than two months ago and were previously unreported.
Gorgeous summer weather Wednesday, if a bit on the hot side
Another beautiful summer day is in store, if a bit on the hot side. Wednesday will be sunny. Fog patches dissipating in the morning. High of 28 C. Humidex of 33 C. UV index 7 or high. Wednesday night will be clear with a low of 17 C.