Good morning, Nickel City! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Saturday morning.
Unused since 2020, Laurentian pool empty due to cracks, leak
The status of Laurentian University’s 50-year-old swimming pool, which has sat unused since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, was on the agenda at the May 17 meeting of LU’s senate. Senate member Ernst Gerhardt asked for an update on the status of the Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool. He said this facility has been instrumental in the delivery and support of academic programming within the Outdoor Adventure Leadership program, as well as within the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences. Laurentian president Robert Haché deferred the question to LU vice-president, finance and administration Michel Piché. But before he did, Haché added the preface that with any courses that require access to a pool, the university would ensure access is provided, although “not necessarily the Olympic pool on campus.” As has been previously reported, there are significant structural issues affecting the on-campus pool, which was built in 1972.
St. Ben’s girls tackle football team makes Canadian history
St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School made history Wednesday night when they hosted the first-ever Canadian girls tackle football game at the high school level. The idea of a tackle football team for girls has been in the works for two years now, since coach Kim Labrosse saw an opportunity to play girls football teams in Ottawa who had no one to compete against. “Basically, I reached out to coach Andy Castellarin at St. Mark's (St. Mark High School in Ottawa) because he had started a girls’ program (for tackle football) and he had no one to play,” coach Labrosse said in an interview with Sudbury.com. “So I had put forward a team here at St. Ben's, and then COVID hit. And we had 60 girls, everything was going fine. And we never returned back to school,” Labrosse said. While the COVID-19 pandemic put a pin in sports for most schools, when regulations started lifting this year, Labrosse was adamant about making it finally happen. “There's 42 girls on the team and then there's my coaching staff,” Labrosse said, describing the members of the team. “And a lot of volunteer coaches and two teachers that are on the coaching staff as well.”
Sudbury continues to have highest opioid death rate in Ontario
The approval of a new supervised drug consumption site for Sudbury comes at a time when public health has revealed that more than 100 people died from opioid related overdoses last year and Sudbury continued to have the highest per capita death rate. The figures were presented Thursday afternoon during the regular monthly meeting of the Sudbury Board of Health. Shana Calixte, manager of mental health and substance use in the health promotion division at Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) presented the information as part of a formal briefing to the board on the new consumption site that is located at 24 Energy Court, at an industrial area near Elm and Lorne Streets. "The opioid poisoning crisis continues to take the lives of many, including citizens in Sudbury," Calixte said. "Both pre-pandemic and during the pandemic, Sudbury had the highest per capita rate of overdose deaths in the province."
Health Canada warns of formula shortage for babies with food allergies
The closure of a large infant formula manufacturing plant in the United States has prompted Health Canada to issue an advisory to parents with children with food allergies experiencing shortages north of the border. According to Health Canada, the closure of Abbott Laboratories has resulted in a global shortage of infant formula, the health angency said in its advisory issued on Thursday, May 19. Canada, in particular, is experiencing a shortage of infant formulas designed for babies with food allergies and certain medical conditions. As Health Canada explains, there are two types of formulas for babies with food allergies: extensively hydrolyzed infant formulas and amino acid-based formulas. In certain provinces, the supply of these products is not meeting the demand. Because of this issue, Health Canada is urging parents to speak with their healthcare professional to discuss their baby’s needs and possible alternative products and how to transition them into their infant’s diet.
Stonewall protester gives students a lesson in LGBTQ+ history
A participant in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City gave local students a first-hand look at a pivotal moment in gay history this week. Activist Martin Boyce was invited to take part in the Rainbow District School Board’s Embrace Diversity: Free to Be Me symposium. On May 19, the 74-year-old Boyce participated in an “Oprah style” interview at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School conducted by Jeremy Dias from the International Day of Pink organization. The Stonewall Uprising was a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of New York City. The uprising is widely considered the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States.
Judge reserves decision in Michael Cady’s trial
Just because Michael Cady enjoyed the comfort of a perceived legitimate combined income, it does not raise his complacency in family finances to the level of criminal intent, Cady’s lawyer argued in his final submissions on Thursday. “It's very easy from where we sit today to say that Michael Cady should have been suspicious of this, and made inquiries of that, and must surely have known, but we are not Michael Cady,” said defence lawyer Glenn Sandberg. “All we can know is what was in his mind and how his marital household functioned is the evidence we have from him.” Sandberg said it is clear that (Henninger’s Diesel president and owner) Diana Fuller's trust in Karen Cady was misplaced, and that, so, too, was Michael Cady’s trust in his own wife. Cady was not a perfect witness, said Sandberg, as he struggled for details of things to which he had paid little attention in those years.
Long weekend forecast mixed
Expect a mix of sun and cloud and a high of 20 for Saturday, with a 30-per-cent chance of showers in the afternoon. The UV index today is eight, or very high. Tonight, expect rain and a low of eight. For Sunday, expect a high of just 11 degrees with periods of rain all day. The temperature is expected to fall to around four for Sunday night with cloudy periods. Monday is a bit better with a mix of sun and cloud, and a high of 18. Monday night, clouds are expected to roll in and the temperature is expected to fall to seven.
