Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Wednesday morning.
Sudbury firm thinks big with its blood-lab-in-a-smartphone tech
A Sudbury-based medical biotechnology company working at the Health Sciences North Research Institute (HSNRI) is developing a home blood-testing kit that will enable people to monitor several health indicators with the results appearing on your smartphone. The company, Verv Technologies, has created the Verv Vi — a device described as "a consumer-oriented, affordable, high-quality blood chemistry analyser with disposable tests for home use, that will help individuals measure a wide range of analytes (i.e. cholesterol, vitamin levels, hormones)." The new device will let people do a home blood test with the results showing up on their smartphone in about 15 minutes. The company this week revealed it has won project funding from a British firm that will enable Verv toward commercializing their device. Dr. Victoria Coleman, Verv's Vice President of Business Development, said the new project money is coming from Randox Laboratories in the UK, a globally recognized biotechnology and laboratory services leader. "The investment will help to accelerate the completion of commercial products, expand the suite of tests for consumers, enhance our exceptional team, and complete regulatory processes over the next year," Coleman said. She said Randox has the experience in test development and laboratory diagnostics that makes them the perfect fit for Verv.
City gets $2M in fed dollars to fight gangs and drugs
Greater Sudbury will be receiving $2 million in funding for the prevention of gun violence, this according to a federal funding announcement made at the YMCA of Northeastern Ontario in downtown Sudbury on Aug. 2. Although he was scheduled to attended, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was unavailable at the last minute, and Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe made the announcement on his behalf, alongside Mayor Brian Bigger, Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré and the YMCA President and CEO Helen Francis. The funding is part of the $250-million Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF), which was first announced in March. The $2 million, said a release from the ministers office, will “help to address the underlying social conditions that give rise to crime and support community-led projects to combat violence among young people who are involved in gangs, or are at risk of joining them.” The money will flow to local community organizations to be named later. Lapointe noted the announcement was a “commence agenda,” or starting point, for the funding. Rising gun and gang violence is a problem in Northern Ontario, said Lapointe. “The allotment in communities is based upon the crime rates,” said Lapointe. “Those communities that are seeing increased crime rates, that's where the determination of funding was made.”
Policy Institute charts how COVID affected the North’s economy
COVID-19 impacted communities the world over, but a new report from the Northern Policy Institute attempts to demonstrate its unique impacts on Northern Ontario. The report Impact of COVID-19 on the Economy of Northern Ontario was published in late July and specifically explores the difference impacts of the pandemic on Northern and Southern Ontario from an economic perspective. First, infection rates and spread were much different between the two regions. “The authors found that that infection rates were much lower in Northern Ontario than in Southern Ontario, and the timing of the waves of infections in the North did not match up with those in the South,” a release from NPI summarizes. “Even in the North there were differences in the infection rates across public health units. Potential reasons for this include a regional industrial composition difference that could influence the ability of shutdowns to be effective, as well as Northern communities, are less densely populated.”
Read the full story on the Sudbury.com homepage.
Wolves swap defender for Guelph’s 6th-round pick
Sudbury Wolves defender Payton Robinson is headed to the Guelph Storm in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick in 2024. The Wolves made the announcement this afternoon. Robinson played 65 games for the Pack last season, notching nine points (1G-8A). GM Rob Papineau thanked him for his service. “We would like to thank Payton for everything he did as a Sudbury Wolf,” Papineau said. “He has tremendous character and was a great teammate. We wish Payton all the best in Guelph.” The Wolves training camp for the team’s historic 50th season opens Aug. 29 with their first regular season game scheduled at home on Sept. 30 against the Barrie Colts.
Culture Matrix Black Arts Festival happens Aug. 13
Black Lives Matter Sudbury, in collaboration with Up Here: Urban Arts Festival, will present Culture Matrix Black Arts Festival. Focused on Healing, Kinship and Celebration. Beginning at noon and running to 2 p.m. on Aug. 13, the all-ages event will be split into sections based on the themes of the event. All daytime activities are held outdoors on Durham Street. Healing related-programming is up first with a focus on “curating spaces of wellness, healing, and critical dialogue” through restorative activities such as group yoga. A release from Black Lives Matter Sudbury describes the program as “rooted in cultural traditions facilitated by Brooke McLeod and hip hop healing which merges practices of mindfulness with poetry and music facilitated by Jermaine Henry.” Held until 2 p.m. the healing portion will be located outdoors on Durham street.
Juno winner Crystal Shawanda performs in Sudbury Aug. 6
Wiikwemkoong musician and Juno winner Crystal Shawanda will be performing at the Coulson in downtown Sudbury Aug. 6. The show is presented by Sudbury Performance Group. “We are extremely excited to be bringing Crystal up to Sudbury to perform for Northern Ontario residents as part of our Her Northern Voice music festival,” said the group’s president, Mark Mannisto, in a press release. “Crystal is a true northern gem. She is an ambassador to Northern Ontario, and we are proud to bring her talents to Sudbury.” There’s a tendency these days to try to pigeonhole any artist that attempts to breach the boundaries. Chalk it up to the restrictions of radio playlists, or the media’s attempt to strictly define musicians by the music it believes artists ought to be making, creative instincts be damned.
Stormy and cloudy day in store
Expect a cloudy day for today with a high of 21. Showers are expected to begin early in the morning. The forecast calls for a few thunderstorms in the morning and the risk of one in the afternoon. The wind will be southerly at 20 km/h gusting to 60, before swinging in the afternoon to blow from the southwest at 40 km/h with gusts of 60, before diminishing to around 20 km/h with 40 km/h gusts. The humidex value today is 28. The UV index today is three, or moderate. Tonight, expect a few showers to end near midnight, then stay cloudy. There is a risk of a thunderstorm in the evening, too. The wind will be out of the south at 30 km/h, gusting to 50, before becoming light around midnight. The overnight low is 15.
