Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Saturday morning.
Family delivers impact statements at Wright sentencing hearing
For Kim Sweeney, this day was 7,623 days in the making. She had waited that long to say her peace, she said in her victim impact statement as part of the sentencing hearing of Robert Steven Wright. Wright was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Renée Sweeney on March 28. “There were 7,623 days of personal torment, of fear each and every day, every morning waking up from a sleepless night,” Sweeney told the court. “The debilitating fear I carried not knowing who murdered Renée and why anybody could be so savage, to do what they did to her.” Wright was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Sweeney on March 28 after a five-week trial. He has been incarcerated since his arrest in December 2018, when he was charged with stabbing her 27 times at her workplace on Jan. 27, 1998, and causing her death. Though his decision will not be released until June 29, Gordon heard submissions from counsel May 19 regarding Wright’s parole eligibility. Prosecutor Rob Parson and Kevin Ludgate recommended 18 years before Wright could apply for parole; defence co-counsel Michael Lacy and Bryan Badali requested 10, and submitted 30 character references for Wright. The court was as full as it was during the trial, but this time, six jury members sat in the gallery, watching the proceedings. Wright will next appear in court on June 29 at 9 a.m. for the judge’s sentencing decision.
Calls to 911 jumped by 12.5 per cent in April
At 6,145 calls for police service through 911 in April, emergency responders were dispatched to 682 more calls than they responded to the previous month, representing a 12.5-per-cent jump. “The phone’s ringing,” Acting Deputy Chief Dan Despatie said during this week’s police board meeting, adding that with two groups of four in training programs, they’ll have another eight call-takers and trained communicators working in the near future. Greater Sudbury Police Services spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn responded to Sudbury.com’s request for a phone interview with a member regarding 911 call volume with a written statement. In it, she noted the monthly 911 call volume has been steadily increasing this year, from 4,099 in January to 5,287, 5,463, and then April’s 6,145. There were 8,082 police events generated in April, of which 900 were for Priority One and Two calls for service. This is a slight increase from March’s approximate total of 7,900, which was in itself a 20 per cent increase from February.
Sudburians medal at Canada-Wide Science Fair
Several young Sudbury scientists are coming home from the 2023 Canada-Wide Science Fair with some hardware. Seven area students took part in the fair, which was held in Edmonton, Alberta May 14-19. Aaryan Harshith, a Grade 12 student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, won a silver excellence award in the senior category for his project “LightIR: An Intraoperative Probe to Enhance Tumour Resections.” His project is a handheld surgical cancer detection probe he created. While surgery is one of the leading treatments for cancer, millions of these procedures lead to cancer recurrence because surgeons leave behind undetectable traces of tumour in their patients. LightIR operates on the principle of spectroscopy, differentiating between cancerous and healthy tissue based on their unique responses to light. Arthur Queiroz and Thomas Mullaly, who are Grade 8 students at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, won silver excellence awards in the junior category for their project “Can worms be part of the Styrofoam Pollution Solution?”
Cyber attack at NOSM U forces staff and students to stay home
NOSM University has asked its employees and learners not to work on campus for the time being after the medical school was the victim of a cyber attack this week. NOSM issued a statement on the incident Friday afternoon after receiving an inquiry from Sudbury.com. "NOSM University is recovering from a campus-wide service disruption due to a cyber incident that was detected on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Campus internet in both Sudbury and Thunder Bay, as well as shared and departmental drives, and many university websites and services, continue to be inaccessible," said the news release. NOSM said once the problem was discovered, university staff immediately took steps to secure and protect the network and data and information. NOSM has also retained experts who are advising as to next steps. Dr. Sarita Verma, the president, vice chancellor, dean and CEO at NOSM U, said it is understandable that the disruption has caused a lot of frustrations and questions for everyone at the school.
Youth invited to take part in Valley’s Got Talent contest
Local youth who love singing, dancing or acting are invited to take part in the Valley’s Got Talent Contest, with a chance to win prizes. The contest is being put on by Valley Community Theatre, and it’s open to youth aged 12 to 21 who reside in the Greater Sudbury area. “It did start as a fundraiser, but the main goal is to get young folks involved in theatre, and to get them involved in the performing arts,” said Heleene Cameron of Valley Community Theatre. She said the contest gives them “an avenue to get out there and perform.” “It is a juried competition, because we felt that it's important to get your performance up to a level that you were very happy with. It could be very subjective. But we just wanted to play some importance on it.” If you’d like to take part in the contest, the registration deadline is June 10.
IAMGOLD takes out loan to complete Gogama pit project
IAMGOLD said it’s now fully cashed up to complete and commence operations at its Côté Gold Project near Gogama in northeastern Ontario. The Toronto mid-tier mining company announced May 16 that it has entered into a five-year term loan for US$400 million from three institutional lenders. The loan, the company said in a news release, is part of its ongoing initiatives to boost the balance sheet during the construction, commissioning and ramp-up of Côté. Oaktree Capital Management is the lead lender with participation by Värde Partners and CI Global Asset Management. IAMGOLD is building an open-pit gold mine halfway between Sudbury and Timmins, that, when operating in early 2024, will be Canada’s third largest gold mine and the company’s flagship operation. The life of mine is pegged at 18 years but the company said there's more gold in the ground and believes this is can be longer lasting district-scale operation.
Cloudy Saturday, sunny Sunday
Expect a cloudy day for your Saturday with a 40-per-cent chance of showers or drizzle in the morning. Showers will begin in the morning with fog patches dissipating in the morning. The wind will be northerly at 20 km/h becoming light near noon. Today’s high is 13 with a UV index of three, or moderate. Tonight, showers will end early in the evening then the skies will be partly cloudy. The overnight low is 9. For Sunday, expect a sunny day with a high of 17. For Sunday night, the skies will be clear with an overnight low of 3.
