Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Lucky Sudburian wins 'gorgeous house' in 'The Ultimate Dream Home' draw:
A couple dozen people who bought some of the 77,000 $20 tickets purchased in this year's Canadian Hard of Hearing Association “The Ultimate Dream Home” draw gathered Feb. 5 to find out if they were the lucky winner. The first prize winner is Nakita Farmer of Sudbury, who won a prize package valued at nearly $678,000. That includes the five-bedroom, three-bathroom home built by BelMar Builders, located at 172 Countryside Dr. in the city's South End, and a 2020 Hyundai Kona from Sudbury Hyundai. “It is a gorgeous house,” said Canadian Hard of Hearing Association Sudbury chapter executive director Kim Scott. Also included in the first prize package are furnishings from Spencer Furniture, appliances by Bianco's Supercenter, a home security system from True Steel Security, and audio and video surveillance from Elite Technology Systems. Winners have the option to either take the entire package (the house alone is worth $590,000) or a $425,000 cash option, plus the car and furnishings. Check the full list of winners here.
Last month was the fifth-warmest January on record for Sudbury:
Sudburians were treated to some unseasonably mild temperatures throughout January, and the month finished up as the fifth warmest on record in nearly 100 years. The average high for January 2020 in Sudbury was -4.1 degrees C, with the average low coming in at -12.5 degrees C, for a mean average temperature of -8.3 degrees C. In terms of seasonal averages, Sudbury's mean average temperature for January - the coldest month of the year - is -12.9 degrees C, colder than what the average low was this year. That mean average temperature of -8.3 C comes in as the fifth warmest on record for Sudbury, and the average high of -4 C ranks as the sixth warmest. Sudbury's warmest January in terms of the average high was 30 years ago in 1990, when the average max temperature was -2.6 degrees C. Fast forward six years from the warmest January, 1996 was the coldest on record, where the average high was a bitter -15.9 degrees C. More on this story here.
GOVA: Ridership up more than 100K since transit reforms, council told:
Early returns on the major overhaul of the city’s transit system are very promising, Greater Sudbury CAO Ed Archer told city council Tuesday. When the system was rebranded GOVA last August, a number of routes were changed, new transit hubs opened in New Sudbury and the South End, and Sunday service was increased to the same level as Saturday. Archer said it was the first overhaul of the system in two decades, and problems normally associated with change of this magnitude haven’t appeared. For example, arrival and departure times are normally affected when the changes come in. But the buses have run on time 86 per cent of the time since August, compared to 74 per cent before the changes. The number of riders has increased to 1,670,563 since GOVA was launched, compared to 1,565,573 for the same period on 2018, an increase of seven per cent. Find the full story here.
Rainbow board elementary teachers to strike Monday and Tuesday next week:
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has announced its schedule of rotating strikes for next week. Students with the Rainbow District School Board will be impacted by strikes on Monday, Feb. 10 and Tuesday, Feb. 11. The ETFO has arranged its rotating strikes in such a way that its members are walking off the job two days a week in each school board across the province. The Monday, Feb. 10 strike only affects select school boards (including Rainbow), while the Tuesday, Feb. 11 strike involves all 83,000 ETFO members across the province. This week, all ETFO members who work for the Rainbow board walked off the job on Tuesday, Feb. 4. All ETFO members across the province will also strike Thursday, Feb. 6.
After controversy, property tax bills mailed out this week:
After cancelling an earlier mailout, Greater Sudbury is mailing the 2020 property tax bills this week, with due dates of March 2 and April 2. The earlier mailout moved up the due date by three weeks, a move city staff viewed as a minor change, but one that would allow the city to earn as much as $150,000 in investment income since the city would get some of the property tax money a bit earlier. While the change in due dates was part of the bylaw passed when the 2020 budget was approved in December, council wasn’t notified the due dates were being changed. When the news emerged in January, angry councillors voted at their Jan. 20 meeting to halt the mailout, redo the bills and send them out with the original due dates. That meant 26,000 tax bills set to be mailed Jan. 21 had to be shredded at a cost of about $12,000, and the added revenue was lost. Property owners should get them in the mail by Feb. 21, the city said in a news release. If they don’t arrive, you can contact the city’s tax department at 705-674-4455 ext. 2601.
Teen with kill list to be sentenced May 1:
Zachary Pilon, the Sudbury teen who pleaded guilty in January to uttering threats on social media against 40 people at College Notre Dame, will be sentenced May 1. Pilon, 19, sent the high school into lock down on March 20, 2019, after he posted his plans to commit violence against those people. An Instagram post he made warned that, on “Friday March 22nd, everyone will finally know my name... Look out CND.” He was arrested later that day, and was released on bail on March 21 under a strict set of conditions. He was charged with criminal harassment and uttering threats. After he pleaded guilty, a pre-sentence report was ordered.
Chris Mask of Wahnapitae first winner of new Food Network Canada show:
A Sudbury-based home cook is hoping to inspire people to take a chance. Chris Mask of Wahnapitae, who is originally from Timmins, is the first winner of Food Network Canada's new show Wall of Chefs. He also appeared in MasterChef Canada in 2015, as well as Sudbury Living Magazine's Cook for Me Sudbury competition in 2014. Wall of Chefs, which premiered Feb. 3, features four home cooks who prepare dishes for 12 notable Canadian chefs. One contestant is eliminated each round, with the winner taking home $10,000. Get the full story here.
Record palladium prices spur exploration near Massey:
A base metal property near Massey is going to feel the bite of the drill this winter. Canadian Palladium Resources has signed a contract with Vital Drilling of Val Caron (Sudbury) to carry out a 10,000-metre drilling program on the company’s East Bull Palladium Property. The Vancouver explorer, formerly known as 21C Metals, recently raised $4 million for a drill program expected to begin shortly. The idea is to expand the inferred resource on the property and have some core to put on display at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention in Toronto in early March. The property sits 90 kilometres west of Sudbury and 24 kilometres north of Massey. The company acquired the 992-hectare property in Gerow Township in February 2019.
Thursday Weather:
Mainly cloudy Tuesday with a 40 per cent chance of flurries in the morning and early in the afternoon. Today's high will be sitting at around -4, feeling like -6 with the wind chill. Cloudy skies into the evening with the low dipping to -13. Overnight low will feel like -22 with the wind chill. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
