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Good morning, Sudbury! Here are seven stories to start your day

face-masks-pile
(File)

Good morning, Greater Sudbury.

Here are some stories to start your day.

City continues to explore possibility of mandatory mask bylaw:

Greater Sudbury’s community control group, which has overseen the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is not recommending instituting a mandatory face-covering policy at the moment, but it is a question that has been debated, city council was told this week. As of Wednesday, at the direction of Public Health Sudbury and Districts, residents were asked to wear a face covering if they want to enter a local business or use public transit. Commercial businesses in Sudbury have been asked by PHSD to step up their face-covering policies, instructing employees to don face masks and to have policies in place to stop people from entering their establishments should they choose not to wear face covering. The nature of the direction from the health unit has raised some confusion — which some commenters on Sudbury.com have said are unclear — though it appears a good number of Sudburians got the message and are adhering to the new guidelines. City solicitor and clerk Eric Labelle explained that a number of options have been looked at, with a bylaw as one potential option. "We have had some discussion regarding the potential for bylaws. There are a few options here, a bylaw is certainly one of them, and that's been considered and enacted in some municipalities, particularly in southern Ontario," said Labelle. More on this story here.

Ontario gov’t app that tells you if you’re near a COVID-19 positive person on hold:

Ontario's new smartphone application for tracking COVID-19 cases has not yet been installed on our cellphones as the province is sitting back and waiting for the federal government to get more provinces to buy in on the program. It was June 18 that Premier Doug Ford announced that the new application would be available voluntarily to all Ontario smartphone owners by July 2.  That didn't happen. And even though many cellphones have generic COVID-19 tracking technology, the Ontario-specific program has not been launched yet. Mike Maddock, the assistant deputy minister for the Ontario Digital Service, explained in June how the Ontario app was developed after seeing similar applications come on the market in Germany, Japan and other countries. "After careful consideration over the past number of weeks, we decided to build a customized version of an app that was developed in Ontario by volunteers from Shopify (a software and web development company). The app was called COVID Shield. It was released as open source code — open source meaning it is transparent and open to the public and free to anyone in any part of the world to customize and use," said Maddock. When pushed by reporters earlier this month on why COVID Shield had not yet materialized by July 2 as promised, the premier said there was a delay. Get the full story here.

Tom Davies Square reopens July 13 as cautious steps to reopening continue:

Effective Monday, July 13, the City of Greater Sudbury will reopen Tom Davies Square to the public. The facility has been closed since mid-March, in line with other COVID-19 closures, with limited services available by appointment only. Tom Davies Square will be open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Public access will be limited to the main floor, including the public washrooms. In order to minimize line-ups, residents are encouraged to continue to use online services and to make an appointment through 311 before visiting Tom Davies Square. A full list of online services can be found at www.greatersudbury.ca/eservices.

Two years later: Remembering the 2018 downburst that slammed into New Sudbury:

On July 9, 2018, a major storm ripped through New Sudbury and caused extensive property damage and left 4,000 thousand homes and businesses without power. Environment Canada deemed the summer storm a downburst with winds reaching near 100 km/h which uprooted trees and snapped powerlines.  “Our meteorologists, they were looking at the archive radar today, checking back at what happened, and it seemed like from the radar echoes that it was a downburst,” said meteorologist Gerald Cheng told Sudbury.com at the time. “A downburst is basically a very strong wind that comes down from the thunderstorm and hits the ground and spreads out … That is why we are seeing some of the damage that we are seeing right now.” This downburst was “very localized,” he said, with much of the damage reported in the New Sudbury area. Besides extensive property damage and downed trees in the Montrose area of New Sudbury, the storm also severely damaged the Smith's Market on Lasalle Boulevard. The damage was so severe, the store was closed for six weeks while repairs were done. Luckily no one was seriously injured as a result of the storm. Photos of the downburst can be viewed here.

City moving forward on $1.5M experiment on road repair:

City council voted in favour of taking the next steps in a $1.5 million pilot project aimed at extending the lifespan of the roads in Greater Sudbury. The pilot will be looking at hot-in-place recycling (HIR) for asphalt, an on-site, in-place method where road rehabilitation projects are completed the same day as they are started. The specifications for the recycled hot mix product are identical to those of virgin hot mix asphalt (HMA), although softer grades of virgin asphalt cement are used to overcome the oxidation and hardening of the asphalt cement in the recycled asphalt product. City staff have identified four roads for the HIR pilot project: MR35 from Clarabelle Road to Big Nickel Road (2.3 km), Kingsway from Falconbridge Road to Levesque Street (2.7 km), Radar Road (MR85) from Skead Road to Pine Ridge Street (3.7 km), Bancroft Drive from Kingsway to Bellevue Avenue (1.5 km). The final locations for the HIR project will be determined by staff subject to tendering results and final geotechnical recommendations, up to the existing remaining budget of $1,390,000. More on this story here.

Got a wall in need of a mural? Up Here festival wants to hear from you:

COVID-19 has thrown a wrench into the plans of summer festival organizers. But Sudbury’s Up Here festival isn’t going to let a pandemic get in the way of art. So, while the annual summer event won’t be going ahead in the form it usually does, Up Here’s tradition of commissioning new public art will continue this year. What does that mean for you? Well, do you happen to have a nice wall in need of a mural? “You’ve got a great wall that could use some colour? You’d like to have an Up Here mural in your neighbourhood? We are looking to grow our list of potential mural locations around Greater Sudbury for consideration by our artistic team,” Up Here said in a July 9 post on its website. If you have a wall you would like immortalized with a mural, head to Up Here’s website at uphere.com and fill out the submission form. Once Up Here’s artistic committee has finalized the list of muralists who will be creating this year’s selection of murals, the artists are presented a list of available walls from which to choose the site that will best fit their vision.

Hospice hoped its Care-A-Thon would raise $25K — it raised $153K instead:

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Maison McCulloch Hospice to cancel the fundraisers that are its lifeblood, the Sudbury palliative care facility had to get creative to keep operating funds flowing in. In April, the hospice’s scotch-tasting fundraiser was cancelled due to COVID-19. Then, in May, its major Hike for Hospice fundraiser was postponed — it could possibly be rescheduled for October, but there are no guarantees. At this point, it also looks like if the hospice’s popular butterfly release in August is held at all, it will be a scaled-down version. Government funding provides only about 60 per cent of the hospice’s operating expenses, which means the remainder — around $63,000 per month — must be raised in the community.  So Maison McCulloch got creative to come up with new revenue streams. One of those ideas was partnering with Pure Country 91.7 for a radio telethon — or Care-A-Thon — to solicit monetary pledges from the public. The hospice hoped the event would raise $25,000 — about what it normally would have raised through the August butterfly release. The Sudbury Police Association, the event’s sponsor, donated $10,000, leaving organizers with hopes of raising $15,000 in community pledges to reach the goal. Turns out, they didn’t need hope, because Sudburians responded, in droves, to the Care-A-Thon. The event raised a whopping $153,000, more than six times the original goal.

Friday Weather:

A mix of sun and cloud to start the day with a 60 per cent chance of showers this afternoon. There's a risk of a thunderstorm today. Daytime high will get up to 30, feeling like 38 with the Humidex. Cloudy into the evening with a 70 per cent chance of showers. Overnight low will be 19. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.

Current Weather

Light Snow

Light Snow

-8.6°C

Pressure
100.6 falling
Visibility
8.1 km
Dewpoint
-9.7 °C
Humidity
92%
Wind
SSE 9 km/h

Radar Satellite


Hourly Forecast

Today
6 AM
-9°C
Periods of snow
Today
7 AM
-8°C
Periods of snow
Today
8 AM
-8°C
Periods of snow
Today
9 AM
-7°C
Periods of snow
Today
10 AM
-6°C
Periods of snow
Today
11 AM
-5°C
Periods of snow
Today
12 PM
-4°C
Periods of snow
Today
1 PM
-2°C
Periods of snow
Today
2 PM
-1°C
Periods of snow
Today
3 PM
0°C
Periods of snow
Today
4 PM
0°C
Periods of snow
Today
5 PM
1°C
Periods of snow

7 Day Forecast

Periods of snow

Today

1 °C

Periods of snow. Amount 2 to 4 cm. Wind up to 15 km/h. High plus 1. Wind chill minus 13 this morning. UV index 1 or low.


Flurries

Tonight

-7 °C

Flurries. Local amount 2 to 4 cm. Wind becoming northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 late this evening. Low minus 7. Wind chill minus 15 overnight.


Chance of flurries

Wednesday

-6 °C

Cloudy. 40 percent chance of flurries in the morning and early in the afternoon. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 60. High minus 6. Wind chill near minus 16. UV index 2 or low.


Cloudy periods

Wednesday night

-17 °C

Cloudy periods. Low minus 17.


Sunny

Thursday

-5 °C

Sunny. High minus 5.


Clear

Thursday night

-13 °C

Clear. Low minus 13.


Chance of snow

Friday

0 °C

A mix of sun and cloud with 60 percent chance of snow. High zero.


Chance of snow

Friday night

-14 °C

Cloudy periods with 60 percent chance of snow. Low minus 14.


A mix of sun and cloud

Saturday

-2 °C

A mix of sun and cloud. High minus 2.


Cloudy periods

Saturday night

-14 °C

Cloudy periods. Low minus 14.


A mix of sun and cloud

Sunday

-2 °C

A mix of sun and cloud. High minus 2.


Cloudy periods

Sunday night

-12 °C

Cloudy periods. Low minus 12.


A mix of sun and cloud

Monday

1 °C

A mix of sun and cloud. High plus 1.


Yesterday

Low
-8.8 °C
High
-2.4 °C
Precipitation
0.0 mm

Normals

Low
-9.8 °C
High
0.5 °C
Average
-4.7 °C

Sunrise and Sunset

Sunrise
7:28 AM
Sunset
7:36 PM

Record Values

Type Year Value
Max 2012 20.3 C
Min 1986 -23.7 C
Rainfall 1986 13.6 mm
Snowfall 1983 18.7 cm
Precipitation 1983 30.4 mm
Snow On Ground 1959 140.0 cm

Based on Environment Canada data