Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Health unit confirms first case of COVID-19 in Sudbury and Manitoulin districts
Late Tuesday evening, Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Medical Officer of Health with Public Health Sudbury & Districts, confirmed the first positive case of COVID-19 in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts. The male in his 50s presented himself to the emergency department at Health Sciences North March 7. More on this story here.
More delays as EcoLife owner's matters continue to drag:
What was supposed to be the day that embattled contractor Dave Murray would have a trial date set for his 35 charges of fraud over $5,000 was anti-climactic, as the matter was adjourned until March 25. Toronto crown attorney Patrick Travers appeared visibly frustrated while speaking to Murray's matter inside a Sudbury courtroom Tuesday, mentioning on multiple occasions that it has been 10 months since Murray's arrest. "I'm disappointed," said Travers. "It's been 10 months now." Murray appeared in court Tuesday, explaining that he has retained Elliot Lake lawyer Antoine-René Fabris to represent him, however, Murray had no paperwork to back that up and Fabris was not present in the courtroom with him. "I don't have a letter, but he's at another matter today and he told me to come here and ask for more time so that he can look over the disclosure," Murray told justice Andrew Buttazzoni. Murray is scheduled to appear in court on March 25 at 10 a.m. in courtroom C. More on this story here.
Sudbury area agencies plan for arrival of COVID-19:
Nearly 60 agencies from across Greater Sudbury, the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts and area First Nations gathered Monday for a hands-on workshop to prepare for local spread of COVID-19. The focus of the day was on what the response would be if COVID-19 was spreading in our community, overwhelming the health care system and disabling critical infrastructure. Organized by Public Health Sudbury and Districts and hosted by the City of Greater Sudbury, the workshop was designed to move participants beyond their comfort zones to consider difficult yet realistic scenarios related to COVID-19 spread. In meeting together, participants critically assessed their readiness and their response plans. Participants included representatives from diverse sectors such as municipal, emergency services (fire and EMS), public health, police, community-based organizations, business, social services, health care and education. Find more on this story here.
'We Are Their Voice': Sudbury musician JoPo releases teachers' anthem:
Joanne Polack — a.k.a. JoPo — may not be a teacher herself, but she's written what one union official has referred to as a “teachers' anthem.” The new song and music video, “We Are Their Voice,” released by the Sudbury musician Feb. 28, addresses some of the issues in the ongoing labour dispute between the province and Ontario teachers' unions. JoPo said her mother was a teacher and now many of her friends are teachers. She said she was brought to tears one day when she drove past a teachers' picket line and beeped her horn, and knew she wanted to write a song. Although put out relatively recently, the music video has already garnered more than 12,500 views on YouTube. JoPo said Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) Rainbow local president Barb Blasutti told her the song has raised the morale of her members as they walk the picket lines. Check out the song here.
Thunder Bay woman’s parents among Grand Princess cruise ship passengers waiting to dock:
Samantha Zrobin is keeping her phone close by waiting for word from her parents who are among more than 230 Canadians aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship that has been held off the coast of California for the past several days due to passengers being infected with COVID-19. “I think a lot of people are worried and concerned,” Zrobin said. “It’s just that everything is up in the air. No one in the world has dealt with this type of virus before.” Zrobin, who lives in Thunder Bay, has been keeping in regular contact with her parents Ruth and Mike Zrobin of Brooks Falls, Ont. The Grand Princess began its journey on Feb. 21 and sailed to Hawaii. However, as it was nearing the end of its journey, passengers were confined to their cabins last Thursday as the Covid-19 virus was found in 21 passengers. The infections were likely the result of a passenger on a previous voyage aboard the vessel. One individual who was infected from the previous voyage has died and several Canadians who were aboard the ship tested positive for Covid-19. The ship is expected to dock in Oakland on Monday, but Zrobin said her parents still don’t know exactly how long it will take to get off the ship carrying more than 3,500 passengers.
Explore Brigitte Labby's collection of historic Sudbury photos at March 11 event:
Sudbury's Brigitte Labby has a passion for collecting old photographs of the city, and she loves sharing them with other people. You may have seen her sharing some of these pictures of years gone by on community message boards on social media. Labby is holding a “Going Down Memory Lane” event to share a slideshow of some of these images at the ParkSide Centre Wednesday, March 11. “It's really to re-live the past of Sudbury,” she said. “A lot of people remember Sudbury from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. Those were really booming years in Sudbury. There's a lot of photographs and postcards from that era.” She said she plans to share historic photos not just of the Greater Sudbury area, but will also throw in a few of other Northern Ontario communities to see if any can guess where they were taken. Check out some of the photos here.
Rayside Balfour opens their NOJHL playoffs this week:
The West Division regular season champion Rayside Balfour Canadians will open the West Division best-of-seven semi-final playoff round with back-to-back home games this week against the Soo Michigan Eagles. Game one of the series goes Thursday, March 12 at 7 p.m. at the Chelmsford Arena, with game two slated for Friday, March 13 at 6:30 p.m. There are plenty of admission tickets for both home playoff games available at the door. The West Division semi-final series promises to be a close-one as the Canadians played the Eagles tough all season in their eight-game regular season series. In the first six meetings of the season, the games were all decided by just one goal. In the final two meetings of the regular season, the Canadians defeated the Eagles by identical scores of 6-3. The Canadians claimed the regular season series with a record of 6-1-1.
Wednesday Weather:
Mainly cloudy today with snow flurries in the forecast. Wednesday's high will be sitting at -2, feeling like -7 with the wind chill. Cloudy tonight with a 60 per cent chance of flurries. Overnight low will dip to -5, feeling like -11 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.
