Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
All 34 Ontario health regions will move into shutdown on April 3:
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday that all 34 on the province's health regions will move into shutdown as of April 3 at 12:01 a.m. "We are facing a very serious situation," said Ford. "We will do whatever it takes to protect the people of Ontario. As Premier it falls on me, I'm the one who has to make the tough decisions, today I need to make one of those tough decisions." All 34 of Ontario's public health regions will move into shutdown on April 3 for a period of four weeks, meaning the shutdown will be in place until May 1. "We are facing a serious situation and drastic measures are required to contain the rapid spread of the virus, especially the new variants of concern," said Ford. "I know pulling the emergency brake will be difficult on many people across the province, but we must try and prevent more people from getting infected and overwhelming our hospitals. Our vaccine rollout is steadily increasing, and I encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. That is our best protection against this deadly virus." Watch Thursday's press conference here.
Man charged in 2019 death of Preston Pellerin expected to plead guilty April 6:
Steffin Rees, the man charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Preston Pellerin in November 2019, is expected to plead guilty on April 6. Pellerin, 17, was stabbed near the provincial building on Cedar Street at about 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2019. Greater Sudbury Police said officers responded around 10:30 a.m. Nov. 15, 2019 to a weapons complaint on the street. Police said upon arrival, officers found a 17-year-old male who required immediate medical attention. He was taken to Health Sciences North where he succumbed to his injuries. Rees was arrested the following morning. He had been committed to trial late in December 2020 after several days of his hearings in the Ontario Court of Justice, however, an email from the Sudbury Courthouse advised Rees is now expected to plead guilty. Sentencing will take place at a later date.
Nine new cases of COVID-19 for Thursday April 1 according to Sudbury Health Unit:
Sudbury's health unit is reporting nine new cases of COVID-19 for the first day of April. Public Health also said there are now 279 active cases being monitored. That is a drop from the 316 cases reported on Wednesday. Also, since the health unit began tracking COVID-19 cases just over one year ago, there have been 1,448 total COVID-19 cases confirmed locally. PHSD also said 1169 of those cases have been resolved. With respect to where the new cases might have occurred, the Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) daily update page reported that six of the new cases were found to have occurred within the Greater Sudbury Area. Three new cases were reported from the wider Sudbury district. In terms of possible causes of the new cases, PHSD reported one case associated with outbreak, 10 new cases linked to close contact of a confirmed case, one case of no known epidemiological link, and three cases listed as "under investigation". On the provincial COVID-19 register Thursday, the Ontario government daily website reported 2,333 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across the province.
‘Spread the Love’ and show your support for Sudbury’s front-line workers:
The community is being encouraged to place hearts in their windows to show their support for our health-care and front-line heroes. The Spread the Love campaign was first initiated by the Travelway Inn on March 4 and many local businesses have joined the campaign. Now, the community is being asked to display hearts in the windows of their home, vehicle or home office. Over the past several months, the Travelway Inn has received numerous messages, phone calls and emails of appreciation from HSN employees who see the hearts in the windows of the hotel on their daily commute. “Such a small effort can really brighten someone’s day even during the toughest of times,” the hotel said in a press release. “We know our city’s health-care and front-line workers need our support and they are working so hard and tirelessly to keep our community safe, so we really just want to say thank you,” Travelway Inn marketing manager Rebecca Junkala said. “Sudbury has such a strong connected community, so I think the more people hear about this, the more it will grow and the more support our healthcare workers will see.” Participants are encouraged to share photos of their window hearts on social media using the hashtags #SpreadTheLoveSudbury, #SudburyStrong and #HeartsofSolidarity.
Sudbury Steelworkers union reaches deal with Vale:
Sudbury miner Vale and United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2020 have reached an agreement on a new four-and-half-year collective agreement. The new pact takes effect today. The union represents office, technical and professional workers with the mining company. “The negotiation process has been both productive and respectful, and we are encouraged that we have been able to reach an agreement that the bargaining committee fully endorsed” said USW Local 2020-05 president Sherri Hawkes in a news release. “We are pleased that the agreement appropriately meets the needs for both the company and union members” said Mitch Medina, manager of employee and labour relations for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations. “I feel this is exemplified in the endorsement of the agreement by the USW Local 2020 bargaining committee reflecting the positive collaboration throughout the negotiation process.”
Police seize $50K in drugs, replica firearm during traffic stop:
Greater Sudbury Police seized $50,000 in cocaine and methamphetamine and charged three Sudbury men following a traffic stop on Lloyd Street on March 31. When officers pulled over the vehicle at around 6:15 p.m., they could see the individuals inside the vehicle were openly using drugs and cannabis was visibly accessible to everyone inside the vehicle. Officers asked them to exit the vehicle in order to search it. A replica firearm was also seized. Three men, ages 24, 22 and 21, all from Sudbury and another man, 19, from Toronto, are charged with two counts of possession of a Schedule 1 substance for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000. All four individuals were held in custody overnight and were scheduled to attend bail court Thursday, April 1 to answer to the charges. Their names cannot be released at this time as the information has not yet been sworn through the court process.
Friday Weather:
Sunny skies overhead for Friday with some cool temperatures. Daytime high will only be getting up to 3 today. A few clouds this evening with the temperature dropping to -6. Overnight low will feel like -10 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.
