Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Cinéfest Sudbury in its final weekend
If you love films, and haven't checked out this year's edition of Cinéfest, this is the festival's final weekend. The Saturday night gala is Don't Talk to Irene, and the Sunday night gala is Mary Shelley. For tickets and the full festival lineup, visit Cinéfest's website.
Heat warning issued as temps reach record high on first day of fall
Friday's high of close to 30 C beat a decades old record for Sept. 22, as the hot and humid weather felt more like July than the first day of fall.
And it doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Late in the day, Environment Canada issued a heat warning for the next few days in Sudbury.
“Temperatures and humidity are expected to increase this weekend under mostly sunny skies,” the warning said. “Maximum humidex values are forecast to reach 36 on both Saturday and Sunday, and the unseasonably warm temperatures and humidity may persist into early next week.”
Friday's high beat the previous record of 26.8 C, set in 2004 in the city. The normal daytime high for this time of year is 15.8 C.
Read more here.
Soup kitchen cuts ties with Soldiers of Odin
The Soldiers of Odin are no longer volunteering at the Blue Door Soup Kitchen, says soup kitchen's president.
Mark Leduc said the soup kitchen's board of directors met last weekend to further discuss the controversy surrounding the Soldiers of Odin and the work its members were doing there. It was decided to cut ties with the group after mounting pressure to do so.
An online petition was started by the Sudbury Anti Fascism group, demanding the Soldiers of Odin be removed from the Blue Door Soup Kitchen, claiming the SoO’s presence has “led to the intimidation and harassment of Soup Kitchen users, many of whom have no choice but to stay away and hungry on days when the SoO are volunteering.”
Read more here.
License plate scanner leads to hundreds of charges
Greater Sudbury Police are reporting good results from their use of a technology that allows them to scan thousands of license plates automatically every hour.
Police received $37,000 in funding for the two-camera automated License Plate Recognition Device in 2013. Because of delays in establishing an information link with the system and the provincial database, police didn't begin using it until August 2015.
Between September 2015 and September 2016, the device scanned 127,935 vehicles, resulting in 1,942 hits. A “hit” occurs when the device detects a plate or car owner who has an issue with the Ministry of Transportation.
As a result of the hits, police laid 231 charges. Of those, more than half – 119 – were for out-of-date stickers on plates. Another 34 charges were for invalid licenses and 32 were for suspended drivers.
Read more here.
SIU investigates incident between man and police in Sudbury
The province’s Special Investigations Unit is investigating the circumstances surrounding the injuries sustained by a 36-year-old man in Sudbury on Thursday evening.
Shortly after midnight, the Sudbury Police Service responded to a call in the area of Lloyd Street and Mathew Street. Officers located a 36-year-old man, and while arresting him, there was an interaction.
“The man was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a shoulder injury,” the SIU said in a news release. “Two investigators and one forensic investigator have been assigned to this incident.”
The SIU is urging anyone who may have information about this investigation to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529. Anyone who may have any video evidence related to this incident is asked to upload that video through the SIU website.
Read more here.
Fundraising walk a light in the darkness for those with blood cancer
In 2014, Peter Wideman was giving his then three-year-old son Kurtis a piggyback ride when he noticed a painful lump on his shoulder.
After visiting the doctor for tests, he was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called Hodgkin lymphoma.
“I thank (Kurtis) for finding the lump,” Wideman said. “I was lucky enough that I went to the doctor's and they took it seriously and found it, because otherwise there were no symptoms at all.”
He went through eight months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment at the Northeast Cancer Centre, and is now in remission. “It was just tough emotionally because you don't know what the future is,” Wideman said.
On Sept. 22, Wideman, accompanied by his wife, Andrea Jenney, and sons Kurtis, now 5, and Russell, 16 months, took part in Sudbury's Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada Light The Night Walk.
The event, which involves participants walking on the Bell Park boardwalk with illuminated lanterns at dusk, raises funds for patient support services, advocacy and lifesaving research across Canada.
Read more here.
Think you can cut it? Here's what it takes to be a volunteer firefighter in Sudbury
At a meeting Monday in Beaver Lake in Lively, some disgruntled residents let city officials have it over their frustration about being rejected as volunteer firefighters.
So just what are the standards?
City communications officer Shannon Dowling said Thursday that the full details of what's required is available on the city's website.
Assuming the blood pressure and heart rate is within the limits, recruits are then tested while wearing vests that simulate the weight of full firefighting gear. They must then:
- Carry a 65 m hose up and down three flights of stairs;
- Lift a seven-metre extension ladder off ground and place it on hooks shoulder high;
- Drag a 85 kg dummy 15 metres in 15 seconds;
- Perform tasks on a ladder four metres off the ground.
Weekend weather:
With temperatures in the high 20s for the first weekend of fall, Greater Sudbury and vicinity is under a heat warning. Saturday will be mainly sunny with fog patches dissipating in the morning. Wind becoming southwest 20 km/h in the afternoon. High of 29 C. Humidex of 37 C. UV index 5 or moderate. Saturday night there will be a few clouds. Wind southwest 20 km/h becoming light in the evening. Low of 17 C. Sunday there will be a mix of sun and cloud. High of 29 C. Sunday night there will be cloudy periods. Low of 15 C.
