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Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day

150222_linda-derkacz band of ice fog superstack
On a particularly cold morning, Sudbury.com reader Linda Derkacz captured this photo of a band of ice fog hovering around the stacks at Vale's Copper Cliff smelter. Sudbury.com welcomes submissions of local photography for publication with our morning greeting. Send yours to [email protected].

Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Thursday morning.

City staff cleared to secure another $103 million in debt

The City of Greater Sudbury’s debt load will soon total $355 million, with the city’s elected officials approving the addition of $103 million during tonight’s meeting. Although city staff were cleared to secure the debt during tonight’s finance and administration committee meeting, city council’s decision was almost a foregone conclusion. The expenditures were all previously approved, with the only question on the table being whether city staff should secure the debt now or later. It was a question that low interest rates of today, which are only expected to rise, made short work of. The added debt load will include $43 million toward 2020 and 2021 roads and bridges program investments and $59.9 million toward the Pioneer Manor Bed Redevelopment project.

Read the full story here.

Laurentian floats timeline to move on from CCAA proceedings

After a year of court-supervised insolvency restructuring, Laurentian University’s president has given some timelines for what could be the beginning of the end of LU’s journey under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Laurentian was recently granted a stay of proceedings protecting it from its creditors until May 31 of this year. In his Feb. 15 report to Laurentian’s senate, LU president Robert Haché said that when the university returns to court in May, it expects to present a request to the court for a “meeting order.” He explained that a meeting order is the order that authorizes Laurentian to schedule a meeting of creditors to vote on a formal plan of arrangement, which would set out the terms under which they’d be paid out by LU. Haché explained to members of LU’s senate that after the May 31 court date, there would be a six-week notice period for that meeting, “and then there’s a few other things that need to happen, but it clearly puts a timeline to the end of the CCAA process and the successful emergence of Laurentian from the CCAA process.” In his written report, Haché called the meeting with creditors “a critical milestone step in our exit from the CCAA proceedings. “There is a great deal of work to do between now and May to have a Plan of Arrangement that will receive the support of our creditors, but we are all committed to doing what it takes to meet that milestone,” he said.

Read the full story here.

Property tax bills are in the mail and the first installment is due March 1

Interim property tax bills are in the mail, with the first installment due March 1 and the second due April 1. The city issued 27,000 notices, which excludes those properties enrolled in a monthly pre-authorized tax payment plan and those whose taxes are remitted by their mortgage holder. Those who do not receive their interim tax bill by Friday should phone 311. Interim property taxes help the city fund services until the final tax bill is collected later this year. This year’s budget deliberations ended with a tax levy increase of 3.1 per cent. The 2022 property tax policy, which will establish how this increase will affect property owners, will be finalized by city council in May. 

Read the full story here.

Public Health Sudbury warns COVID-19 is still out there, urges continued caution

The announcement by Premier Doug Ford that pandemic restrictions are gradually being lifted in Ontario will come into effect on Thursday. But that doesn't mean the pandemic has ended.  The official word from Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) is be careful, stay vigilant. Things like wearing a face mask, washing your hands and keeping a physical distance from others are still good ideas. Burgess Hawkins, a health protection manager at PHSD, said Tuesday that COVID-19 has not gone away. "What they're seeing is a drop in the incidence of COVID. Okay, so based on that, they have decided to remove some of the restrictions. But that doesn't mean it's not still there,” Hawkins said. “So things like mask use, physical distancing. All that is still important.”

Read the full story here.

With two local officers heading to disciplinary hearings, we wondered: How are the police policed?

With two Greater Sudbury Police officers facing a disciplinary hearing from the Professional Standards Bureau, and a third having recently resigned over discreditable conduct, Sudbury.com decided to find out what happens when a complaint is made against a police officer, either from the public or the Chief of Police. GSPS officers Const. Thomas van Drunen and Const. Melisa Rancourt are facing disciplinary hearings stemming from complaints in 2021. A third officer, Const. Kyle Cartwright, resigned in the face of a discreditable conduct charge. To better understand how complaints against the police are pursued, it is best to examine the various groups that monitor conduct, and the legislation: the Police Service Act. 

Read the full story here.

Sudbury’s world-renowned SNOLAB celebrates 10 years plumbing the mysteries of the universe

It sounds like a James Bond villain’s lair, but SNOLAB’s operations are aimed at the greater good – namely, solving fundamental mysteries of the universe’s existence. Greater Sudbury’s hidden gem is in Vale’s Creighton nickel mine, where a team of 150 researchers work alongside another 1,000 physicists from around the world in laboratories located approximately two kilometres underground. Although some components of the laboratory space have been in operation for a couple of decades, the expanded laboratory as we know it today is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. While SNOLAB has teamed up with researchers and 46 North Brewing for a special beer to mark their 10th year, the occasion also offers an opportunity to highlight both their history and horizons. The facility, after all, is billed as the deepest and cleanest lab in the world, and includes 5,000 square metres of clean lab space used for various experiments that require the unique environment the facility is able to offer. It’s a space that created an environment that assisted in the furthering of neutrino research, which earned Sudbury Neutrino Observatory researcher Art McDonald the Nobel Prize in physics in 2015, who received the award alongside Dr. Takaki Kajita of the Super-Kamiokande detector in Japan. Their work demonstrated that neutrinos, subatomic particles, carry a mass.

Read the full story here.

Fairly mild day with chance of flurries

Expect cloudy skies today with a few flurries ending in the morning, and then a 40-per-cent chances of flurries for the day. There is a risk of freezing drizzle in the morning. The wind will be out of the north at 20 km/h, gusting to 40. Now, today’s high is -7, but the temperature is expected to drop to -12 in the afternoon. Expect a -10 wind chill in the morning and -19 in the afternoon. Tonight, there will be cloudy periods with a 40-per-cent chance of flurries. The overnight low is -26.

Current Weather

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly Cloudy

-4.0°C

Pressure
101.5 falling
Visibility
24.1 km
Dewpoint
-8.0 °C
Humidity
74%
Wind
W 7 km/h

Radar Satellite


Hourly Forecast

Today
3 AM
-6°C
Cloudy
Today
4 AM
-6°C
Cloudy
Today
5 AM
-6°C
Cloudy
Today
6 AM
-6°C
Cloudy
Today
7 AM
-6°C
Cloudy
Today
8 AM
-6°C
Cloudy
Today
9 AM
-4°C
Cloudy
Today
10 AM
-2°C
Cloudy
Today
11 AM
0°C
Cloudy
Today
12 PM
0°C
Overcast
Today
1 PM
0°C
Overcast
Today
2 PM
0°C
Overcast

7 Day Forecast

Chance of flurries

Tonight

-6 °C

Cloudy. 60 percent chance of flurries early this evening. Wind southwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming light this evening. Low minus 6. Wind chill near minus 10.


Overcast

Friday

3 °C

Overcast. Wind becoming west 20 km/h near noon. High plus 3. Wind chill minus 8 in the morning. UV index 2 or low.


Cloudy

Friday night

-7 °C

Cloudy. Wind up to 15 km/h. Low minus 7. Wind chill minus 12 overnight.


Chance of flurries

Saturday

3 °C

A mix of sun and cloud with 40 percent chance of flurries. High plus 3.


Chance of flurries

Saturday night

-6 °C

Cloudy with 40 percent chance of flurries. Low minus 6.


Sunny

Sunday

6 °C

Sunny. High 6.


Clear

Sunday night

-4 °C

Clear. Low minus 4.


Sunny

Monday

9 °C

Sunny. High 9.


Cloudy

Monday night

-3 °C

Cloudy. Low minus 3.


A mix of sun and cloud

Tuesday

4 °C

A mix of sun and cloud. High plus 4.


Chance of flurries or rain showers

Tuesday night

-3 °C

Cloudy periods with 30 percent chance of flurries or rain showers. Low minus 3.


Chance of flurries or rain showers

Wednesday

5 °C

A mix of sun and cloud with 40 percent chance of flurries or rain showers. High plus 5.


Yesterday

Low
-4.4 °C
High
1.6 °C
Precipitation
1.2 mm

Normals

Low
-7.1 °C
High
3.2 °C
Average
-2.0 °C

Sunrise and Sunset

Sunrise
7:08 AM
Sunset
7:50 PM

Record Values

Type Year Value
Max 1977 14.7 C
Min 1970 -22.2 C
Rainfall 2009 26.6 mm
Snowfall 1975 8.1 cm
Precipitation 2009 27.2 mm
Snow On Ground 1959 94.0 cm

Based on Environment Canada data