Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
City reopening municipal boat launches on Wednesday, landfills coming soon:
Greater Sudbury will be reopening municipal boat launches on Wednesday, May 13. A source of considerable consternation among some members of the public, the city announced the reopening today. Another source of consternation — the closure of landfills — is expected to be addressed in the coming days, the city said today. The city said the decision to reopen aligns with recent directives from the province for the reopening of some seasonal and outdoor businesses and services, including permitting private marinas to allow people to access their properties. Formerly, access to private marinas was only permitted to people with primary residences. “It’s been just over three weeks since we closed boat launches,” Mayor Brian Bigger said in a news release. “After monitoring this ever-evolving situation, consulting with our partners at Public Health, and aligning with recent announcements by the Province, we have decided that the time is right. While this is a positive first step, we’re not out of the woods yet, and it’s important that people continue to make smart decisions and practise physical distancing.” Use of boat launches will be monitored by city staff and the city said signage will be put in place to inform residents on proper physical distancing rules while using these amenities. Full story here.
City is $150K over budget for 2020 winter maintenance:
So far in the 2020 fiscal year, the city is approximately $148,000 over budget between January and the end of March, not taking into account the record-breaking snowfall that hit the city last week, a report headed to council next week states. “During the month of March, there was only one significant snow event that required full deployment of city crews and contractors. Temperatures were generally favorable for a manageable and slow snowmelt with warm days and cool nights," said the report. "These temperature fluctuations did lead to many freeze-thaw cycles resulting in the formation of potholes, particularly earlier in the month. The relatively mild weather, with fewer interruptions for regular snow plowing activities, allowed for greater opportunities to address maintenance concerns such as drainage and potholes." The city saw a below average snow accumulation during the month of March, where just 30.8 cm of snow fell, about 4 cm less than the 30-year normal of 34.9 cm. Despite the below average snowfall in March, the city did see above average snowfalls in January and February, which led to additional snow removal being necessary in early March. More on this story here.
International Nurses Day: Meet the Sudbury nurses helping the fight against COVID-19:
It's National Nursing Week in Canada and May 12 marked International Nurses Day. While we recognize the efforts and compassion of the dedicated nurses around this time each year, it has never been so significant than right now. For the past few weeks, Sudbury.com has been spotlighting various essential workers from our community in a new daily feature called Essential Worker of the Day. We've received more than 100 nominations so far, which have included fast food employees, personal support workers, pharmacy assistants and hydro workers, just to name a few. But a large number of the nominations we received are for nurses who continue to work hard to serve our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. On International Nurses Day, Sudbury.com would like to celebrate all nurses for their remarkable service. To show our gratitude we have made a photo gallery including the names and faces of just a fraction of the nurses who are working tirelessly to help keep our community safe. Check out the photo gallery here.
Ontario reports 361 new COVID-19 cases, 56 more deaths:
There were 361 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Ontario over the past day, for a total of 20,907 cases since the pandemic began. The province also reports 56 more COVID-19 deaths, for a total of 1,725 deaths associated with the virus to date. Of those confirmed to have contracted the virus in Ontario, 15,391 people have recovered. A total of 450,921 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Ontario, with 11,957 tests conducted yesterday. There are still 10,811 people under investigation as potential COVID-19 cases. There are currently 1,025 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario, with 192 of these patients in the ICU and 146 on ventilators. There are now 249 COVID-19 outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes — an increase of four outbreaks over yesterday — accounting for 812 deaths among residents and two among staff. There have also been 98 outbreaks in Ontario retirement homes, with 105 deaths among residents/patients, and 73 in hospitals, where there have been 52 deaths of patients. Public Health Sudbury and Districts reports 61 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The last confirmed case was on May 10. Of those cases, 56 people have now recovered, and two have died. Thirteen of these cases are related to outbreaks in six long-term care homes, as well as one of the two deaths.
COVID-19 taking its toll on Queen's Park coffers:
Queen's Park's measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus will result in the largest budget deficit in Ontario's history. The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) released its Spring 2020 Economic and Budget Outlook with a forecast that indicates the partial shutdown of Ontario's economy due to the pandemic will deal a "severe blow to the province’s revenues," causing an increase in spending, and result in substantially higher deficits and debt. The FAO projects Ontario’s budget deficit will quadruple to $41 billion in 2020-21. Higher deficits will result in sharply increased borrowing and debt, raising Ontario’s net debt-to-GDP ratio to a record 49.7 per cent in 2020-21, up almost 10 percentage points from last year. Even as the economy recovers through 2021, the FAO said Ontario’s debt burden would remain elevated at 48.7 per cent of GDP next year.
Up Here makes the call: Summer festival cancels original plans, promises ‘reimagined’ programming:
The Up Here Urban Art and Music Festival, which was supposed to take place Aug. 14-16 this summer, announced today it will not go ahead as originally planned. But organizers say people can still expect some reimagined Up Here programming. “At this point, it has become increasingly obvious that the best thing we can do is not go ahead with the festival we had originally planned,” stated a May 12 press release put out by Up Here 6. “Up Here 6 will still happen, just not the way we envisioned it. Up Here always promises the unexpected, but this year, exceptionally, everything is being reimagined. “We may not be able to gather under the Dome, but one thing is for sure — we will still find ways to celebrate, create and make art together while apart. “Over the past few weeks, we’ve talked to our partners, our team of volunteers, and our friends. They want to dream with us.” Festival organizers said whatever they dream up, the reimagined programming will be free. Up Here will be issuing refunds to all passport holders requesting them.
Sudbury Blueberry Festival 2020 cancelled due to COVID-19, running contest instead:
Another one of Greater Sudbury’s summer festivals has been cancelled due to COVID-19. A press release from the Sudbury Blueberry Festival said that due to the pandemic “the Sud-Berry Bear this year will be social distancing picking blueberries rather than attending events as part of the Blueberry Festival.” Festival organizers said that hopefully, the festival will be back in 2021. In the meantime, people are invited to take part in the “Blue is Beautiful Contest.” Entries must show or contain a reference to the colour blue or blueberries, either visually, musically or in a story, poem or recipe. Entries accepted from all ages. There is no cost to enter and submissions will be accepted by e-mail from June 1 to Sept. 1, and will be posted on the Blueberry Festival website. Judges will be from the Blueberry Festival Committee and the Sudbury Arts Council, contest partner. Prizes for winners in each category and age group. Find the full contest details at www.blueberryfestival.ca. Send entries to [email protected].
Awesome educators: Léane Koskela couldn’t be with her kindergarteners, so she made them ‘Mini Madames’:
With the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering schools this spring, teachers have been thrown into an unfamiliar role — trying to teach their students at a distance. We wanted to throw a spotlight on Greater Sudbury educators who have gone above and beyond the call of duty for their students in these unusual times, and perhaps shown a bit of creativity as they engage their students. Sudbury.com asked readers for their nominations for local teachers who fit this bill, and one of the names we received was Valley View Public School kindergarten teacher Léane Koskela. Koskela — along with teaching partner Megan Mott, a registered early childhood educator — created the “Mini Madames” for their students, or a paper version of themselves. The idea is based on the Flat Stanley Project, where children create paper Flat Stanleys, and document the places Flat Stanley visits and the adventures he has. Get the full story here.
Wednesday Weather:
The spring weather is slowly trying to make its way to the Nickel City. Mainly sunny for Wednesday with the high getting up to around 12. Clear skies overhead into the evening becoming partly cloudy after midnight. Overnight low will be sitting at 1. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
