Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
WATCH: Sudbury.com toured city’s first COVID-19 mass vax clinic, opens Feb. 25:
Sudbury's first ever COVID-19 mass vaccination event begins tomorrow at Carmichael Arena on Bancroft Drive. It's a joint effort of Public Health Sudbury and Districts, Health Sciences North, Greater Sudbury Paramedics Service and the City of Greater Sudbury. The clinic will take place Thursday and Friday this week. Members of the Sudbury media were ushered through the building Wednesday to see how the vaccinations will be carried out. Media will not be allowed in the building when patients are receiving vaccines. The arena's main area has been transformed into a large room filled with partitions, arrows pasted on the floor, tables and chairs and waiting areas where people will be gathered to get their first shot of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. The target is to vaccinate 1,200 people a day. Take a tour of the vaccination clinic here.
Council to call on Premier Ford to step up to help Laurentian:
The city of Greater Sudbury is going to bat for its university as it will call on the province to make funding available to help stabilize Laurentian University’s operations. The finance and administration committee met Wednesday evening to commence the process of finalizing their 2021 budget, but not before wading through a number of members’ motions, including one that speaks in support of Laurentian. On Feb. 1, Laurentian University announced that it had filed for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), leading to court-mandated operations that will conclude no later than April 30. Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre tabled the motion that directs the city to provide a letter of concern to Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano, addressing the need for the province to make funding available for Laurentian and to take a closer look at the funding model for all of Ontario’s universities. Full story here.
Police investigating fatal industrial incident:
A 29-year-old man has died after being involved in an industrial accident on Feb. 24. Greater Sudbury Police are investigating an incident in collaboration with the coroner's office and the Ministry of Labour. The man's name will not be released out of respect for the wishes of his family. Police are asking that the public respect the privacy at this time. The investigation is ongoing.
Sudbury’s average home prices jumped at least 25% over last year, but sales are still way up:
While Sudbury may have seen one of the highest jumps in the average price of homes last month, the city is still one of the most affordable places in Canada to buy a home, said a recent report from online real estate broker Zoocasa. The Zoocasa report takes data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) for its report. Of the 25 regional housing markets included in CREA’s monthly report, 24 markets posted a year-over-year increase in the average home price, ranging from five per cent to 41 per cent, and just one market – Regina – saw the average home price decrease by three per cent to $273,885. Further, 12 housing markets, or almost half of the areas included in the report, posted a growth in the average home price of at least 20 per cent. Greater Sudbury’s average home price in January was $356,633, up 38 per cent when compared to January 2020, said the report. Furthermore, there were 149 homes sold in Sudbury in January 2021, said the report, an increase of 54 per cent over the year before. In comparison, both London and St. Thomas and the Niagara Region saw the average home price increase by 41 per cent to $698,049 and $651,138 respectively. Sudbury’s average price is still well below the national average price of $621,525, which is a 23-per-cent jump from over January 2020. More on this story here.
Man wanted since January arrested with cache of guns, drugs:
A man who Greater Sudbury Police have been searching for since January is finally in custody after police raided a South End establishment on Friday. On Feb. 19, GSPS said it received a tip on the whereabouts of 24-year-old Jayson Wright in the South End of the city. Detectives obtained a Warrant to Enter, a Controlled Drugs and Substances Act Search Warrant and a Criminal Code of Canada Search Warrant due to what police believed was the presence of illicit drugs and firearms at the location. Shortly after 12:00 a.m. on Feb. 20, the GSPS Emergency Response Unit executed the warrants and took Wright into custody. A 27-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man were also arrested. Police say they believe the 19-year-old was involved in the original incident, a Jan. 24 robbery at a Regent Street motel, and was also wanted on two outstanding arrest warrants. Full story here.
Ford announces $115M to train 8,200 new PSWS in accelerated six-month program:
To meet its commitment to provide four hours of daily direct care to long-term care residents, Ontario needs many, many more personal support workers (PSWs) to make that promise possible. Today, the province announced it would spend $115 million to train 8,200 new PSWs, most in accelerated programs to get them trained and on the job as quickly as possible. At a news conference Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford was joined by Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton and Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano to make the announcement. “I said we would fix a broken system and this is how we will do it,” Ford said. In collaboration with Colleges Ontario, the province said all 24 publicly assisted colleges will start offering the program starting in April. You can watch Wednesday's press conference here.
Public Health Sudbury reports six new COVID-19 cases for Feb. 24:
The Sudbury health unit reported Wednesday that there are six new cases of COVID-19 in the area, thus putting Sudbury at the 600 total case count. Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) said there are now 28 cases being actively monitored, an slight upward change from the 27 cases being monitored on Wednesday. Since the pandemic was declared back in March 2020, there have been 600 total COVID-19 cases reported to the Sudbury health unit. PHSD said 572 of those cases have been resolved locally. On the provincial COVID-19 report for Feb. 24, the Ontario government daily website reported there were 1,054 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across the province.
Thursday Weather:
Sunny skies finally return for Thursday. Mainly clear today with a daytime high of -6. It's going to feel like -23 with the wind chill this morning. Partly cloudy into the evening with the temperture dropping to -13. Overnight low is going to feel like -19. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
