Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Up Here underway as pop-up show kicks off 2018 festival:
Downtown Sudbury was buzzing Thursday afternoon as Up Here 2018 officially got underway. Construction crews were hard at work on Durham Street, setting up for the festival that will run from Aug. 17-19, and music rang out from a back alley behind the Red Fang Tavern following a press conference held inside the downtown restaurant. Organizers Christian Pelletier and Jen McKerral welcomed a small group of partners and Mayor Brian Bigger inside of the Red Fang to kick off this year's festival, the fourth edition of an arts, culture, and music celebration that has grown year after year. There are more than 150 volunteers on staff to help ensure that the festival runs smoothly, and a number of partners who have stepped up in a variety of ways. Sponsors include companies like RBC which is sponsoring the Northern Concert Series that highlights Northern Ontario artists; Barrydowne Paint which supplies all the paint for the murals that will be completed during Up Here 2018; and Greater Sudbury Utilities that has given the go-ahead for artists to paint hydro boxes around the city's downtown through "Project Power Up". Sudbury.com will be brining you coverage from this year's festival so be sure to check back with us regularly this weekend.
Video: A look at what goes into fighting Parry Sound 33:
Sudbury.com was recently invited to tour the Parry Sound 33 Fire's Incident Command Post in Britt, ON. Check out the video here to see what the area currently looks like from the air and a glance of what goes in to fighting Parry Sound 33. As of August 16, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry said fire crews have made great progress extinguishing hot spots. The forest fire remains at approximately 11,362 hectares in size and is categorized as "being held".
Algae bloom biggest in years, Ramsey Lake group says:
The green algae blooms being reported on areas across Ramsey Lake are among the largest the city has seen in a decade, says the co-chair of the Ramsey Lake Stewardship Committee. Elaine Porter, who has a home beside the lake in the South Bay area, said the blooms are clumping together and growing. "Reports are that it has moved into the middle of the lake, as well,” Porter said Thursday. "It's just very large and is spread out across a large area of the lake. "I'm in South Bay and I live on the lake and it was there over the weekend for two days, and it was like pea soup." This summer's hot and dry weather is helping the blooms thrive, since they do well in shallower, warmer water. But even years with lots of rain are a problem as well, she said "When there's a lot of rain, then phosphorus is washed into the lake from the soil," Porter said. "But a big component to that is heat. The hotter it is, the more likely it is to grow." Find the full story here.
Lively to officially unveil Meagan Duhamel Drive:
A special event to celebrate the naming of Meagan Duhamel Drive (formerly Turner Drive), in Lively will be held today at 4 p.m. Meagan is one of Greater Sudbury’s most decorated athletes. She, along with partner Eric Radford, recently helped Canada win gold in the figure skating team event. This was followed by a bronze medal in the pairs event at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger, Ward 2 Councillor Michael Vagnini and Meagan Duhamel will all be in attendance for the celebration Friday afternoon. Sudbury.com will bring you coverage from this event so be sure to check back with us later today.
More from the mayor's race:
Greater Sudbury mayoral candidates continue to push their platforms as election day approaches. Bill Crumplin has been very active in the press lately, sending out news releases on an almost daily basis. In his most recent release, Crumplin is calling the city’s spending on the Kingsway Entertainment District project “reckless” and again calling on Mayor Brian Bigger and the rest of council to hit the brakes. Cody Cacciotti took on the contentious issue of safe injection sites, calling on Northern Ontario cities to band together and make a push for support from upper levels of government to provide sites to Northern Ontario communities. Candidate Patricia Mills says city council is taking too many unnecessary risks when it comes to the Kingsway Entertainment District project, and the risks are mounting. She says "we have to be smart about this and do all we can to protect taxpayers’ money. Taking unnecessary risks is not good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.” You can find all the latest from candidates in this year's municipal election at Sudbury.com's election page.
Nickel City among Northern Ontario's safest cities: Maclean's crunched the numbers:
Elliot Lake and Greater Sudbury are the safest cities in Northern Ontario, according to a Maclean's Magazine survey compiled using information from Statistics Canada. Sudbury ranked 115th of 305 communities with 10,000 people or more in terms of overall crime rate, with Elliot Lake finishing a little better than us at 128. Sudbury's crime severity index is 64, compared to 353 in North Battleford, Sask., the community that finished first on the list with the most severe crime problem in Canada. North Battleford was the only community to have an index rating above 300. Second-place went to Thompson, Man, who had a rate of 284, followed by Prince Albert, Sask. (244) and Williams Lake, Alta. (222). On the low end of the scale, New Brunswick's Kennebecasis Region was rated the lowest on the index, at 22, followed by Hamilton and Peterborough, both tied at 22. Communities were rated according to type of crime and given an average score. The number of homicides, assaults, break and enters, sexual assaults, impaired driving and youth crimes all fed into the ranking. Full story here.
Gentili: Trolling lefties and pushing propaganda, this is summer under Doug Ford:
This week, Sudbury.com managing editor Mark Gentili takes a look at what Doug Ford has done in his first two months as Ontario's premier. This week, the PCs announced they were abandoning the Liberals’ government-run cannabis stores (which were basically LCBOs for weed) in favour of letting the private sector handle the retail store fronts while the province handles the online sales side. "But even as the province made what I thought was a positive move, Ford and members of his cabinet — for reasons that remain murky to me — waded into a decision by Victoria, B.C., to remove a statue of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, from its city hall," writes Gentili. "They offered to take the statue off Victoria’s hands and give it a home in Ontario." Find the full column here.
Over the top: Some of Ontario's best armwrestlers hail from Sudbury:
There is far more to armwrestling in Sudbury than just simply high-school bragging rights on the line as testosterone-filled teenagers battle it out in the cafeteria. And though it may not have quite the glamour portrayed by Sylvester Stallone in "Over the Top" (1987), the sport is not to be taken lightly, at all, by the devoted members of Team Arm Machine. Gathering once a week for their practice rituals in Coniston, the group has experienced growth in recent years, all while building a resume as home to an increasing number of provincial and national champs. And almost to a person, the athletes who partake in this long-standing tradition travelled a path that would see competitors somewhat stumble into the world of competitive armwrestling, citing their start in the sport to a far less structured environment. Read the full story here.
Friday Weather:
Mainly cloudy skies expected today with chances of showers. Friday's high will get up to around 25, feeling like 30 with the humidity. There's a 40 per cent chance of showers with a risk of a thunderstorm this morning and afternoon. Skies clearing this evening with a low of 13. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
