Good morning – Sudbury.com

Good morning – Sudbury.com

Good morning, Greater Sudbury.

Here are some stories to start your day.

LU president tells Senate: ‘University will cease to function as of April 30’ if restructuring plans nixed:

Laurentian University president Robert Haché got into the weeds of the restructuring process at the university during the March 16 LU Senate meeting. And he made one thing clear: if mediation with the Senate and other interested parties is not successful, and restructuring plans are not approved, “the university will cease to function as of April 30.” The university revealed Feb. 1 it is insolvent and had applied for restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). As part of the CCAA proceedings, representatives of various stakeholders, including six representatives of the Laurentian Senate, were tasked with taking part in the mediation process where the restructuring process is being worked out. The deadline for that process is April 30. Full story here.

Case against Sudbury woman accused in death of estranged husband adjourned to April 14:

The court case against a Sudbury woman accused in the murder of her estranged husband has been adjourned until April 14. Melissa Sheridan’s lawyers made a brief appearance in court Wednesday morning, to seek an adjournment. Sheridan is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her estranged husband, Brant Burke, whose body was discovered on Oct. 25 on a trail in the Point Grondine Reserve off Highway 637, the road that leads to the hamlet of Killarney. She was granted bail in December 2020 under a set of strict conditions. Also charged with first-degree murder is Kerry Burke, the estranged brother of the victim. Toronto-based lawyer Michael Lacy is representing Sheridan. He submitted what he called the “most restrictive bail order that can be imagined.” 

Sexual assault case against hair stylist Frank Marasco adjourned to April 14:

Lawyers for well-known former Sudbury hair stylist Frank Marasco made a brief court appearance Wednesday morning, only to adjourn the matter until April 14. A council pretrial has already taken place, and a judicial pretrial is scheduled for April 8. Marasco faces two counts of sexual assault. He was arrested and charged on Nov. 28, 2019 for a single charge of sexual assault, but a second charge was laid in late 2020 on a separate incident. Marasco is being represented by Toronto lawyer Michael Lacy. Marasco is the former owner of A Touch of Class salon.

There were 25 new COVID-19 cases for Wednesday March 17 says Sudbury health unit:

Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) has reported that there are 25 new cases of COVID-19 in the area for Wednesday, March 17. PHSD also said there are now 242 active cases being actively monitored, a decrease of three from Tuesday. This means that since the health unit began tracking COVID-19 cases one year ago,  there have now been 1,059 total COVID-19 cases confirmed locally. PHSD also said 817 of those cases have been resolved locally. With respect to where the new cases might have occurred, the PHSD daily update page reported that all 25 cases were found to have occurred within the Greater Sudbury Area. At Sudbury’s Health Sciences North, the number of COVID-19 cases is rising. As reported at noon, Wednesday March 17, there are 21 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the hospital. According to the HSN website, this included five COVID patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There are 33 additional admitted patients currently being “investigated” for COVID-19. One of those patients is in the ICU at this time. On the provincial COVID-19 register Wednesday, the Ontario government daily website reported there were 1,508 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across the province. 

Third outbreak at HSN declared after four patients tested positive:

Health Sciences North has released additional information about the outbreak declared Tuesday night on the seventh floor of the North Tower at the Ramsey Lake Health Centre. HSN said the facility remains open with clinics and procedures continuing as normal. On Wednesday morning, the hospital said the outbreak was declared after four patients tested positive for COVID-19. HSN has said this third outbreak is “separate and distinct” from the one declared on on the sixth floor of the South Tower on March 12, and from the one declared March 13 on the fourth floor of the South Tower. “The Ministry of Health defines a COVID-19 outbreak in a public hospital as two or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases involving patients or staff within a specified area within a 14-day period where both cases could have reasonably acquired their infection in the hospital,” HSN explained in a news release. Stating the outbreak is contained to the seventh floor of the North Tower, HSN’s Occupational Health and Safety and Infection Prevention and Control Teams and Public Health Sudbury & Districts are working to determine the cause of the latest outbreak. More on this story here.

Provincial funding remains a possibility for OHL’s return to play:

A decision on the potential return of the Ontario Hockey League could come by the end of the month. Ontario Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries Lisa MacLeod said Wednesday that discussions remain ongoing with the league and that the OHL’s return to play plan could be announced by the end of March. “If we can land something, I’m optimistic by the end of this month that we’ll be able to make an announcement and that they can get to work on selecting the locations and the venues in which they will play,” MacLeod said. MacLeod also said fans in the rinks remains “off the table” at this point. More on this story here.

One year of COVID-19: Pandemic pushback based on ideology, not science:

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada a year ago, in March 2020, most people were surprised and scared, and more inclined to follow public health guidelines. As the pandemic dragged on, though, a percentage of the population began pushing back against health guidelines, while others push back against mask wearing and vaccines. “As time started to move forward, this is where we had certain people that were being resistant towards certain guidelines,” said Science North staff scientist Bruce Doran. There are now organized protests (and lots of activity on the internet) related to anti-mask, anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine movements. “Unfortunately, those people, it’s really hard to reach them,” said Doran. “They are so ingrained in that ideology that even if you present them with good, accurate data, and good talking points. they may not listen to it.” He suggests if you have someone of the above description in your life, you not attack their belief system, as that will just further isolate them and send them “down the rabbit hole.” Instead, talk about something completely unrelated to the pandemic, such as sports. Find the full story here.

Artist Charlie Rapsky dead at 91:

Well-known Sudbury artist Charlie Rapsky, 91, died Wednesday (March 17) after a lengthy battle with cancer.Rapsky’s last exhibition was in 2018 at Fielding Park. As was his hope, he will live on in his paintings which were popular with art collectors throughout Canada. “Artists never die,” Rapsky said told Sudbury.com in 2014 when he was working on a mural at Sudbury Secondary School which features an Arctic scene with a polar bear and the north star. The school’s mascot is a polar bear, and its sports teams are called the North Stars. Rapsky was proud of his Ukrainian-Canadian heritage and the fact he grew up in the Donovan, a multi-ethnic community. “It was like walking in the Ukraine…you would smell kapusta (sauerkraut) wherever you went,” he told historian Stacey Zembrzycki in 2007.  Zembrzycki has written extensively on Sudbury’s Ukrainian-Canadian community. After graduating from high school, he had an opportunity to study art in Vancouver – an unusual career choice in the late 1940s.  True to his working class roots, he returned to Sudbury and put his talent to work with a “real job” as a sign painter. After retiring in 1980, he began to develop his talent as a visual artist painting street scenes, landscapes and wildlife. He was a licensed pilot and he put his passion for aircraft on canvas. He was one of Sudbury’s best-selling artist and his work commanded thousands of dollars. In 2016, he won the Sudbury Arts Council President’s Award of Distinction which honoured his commitment to the arts and artists. Rapsky is survived by his wife, Shirley, two sons and their children.

Thursday Weather:

Chilly temperatures return today, along with chances of flurries. Mix of sun and cloud to start the day with a 30 per cent chance of flurries. Thursday’s high will be sitting right around the freezing mark. It’s going to feel like -13 with the wind chill this morning. Clear skies into the evening with the temperature dropping to -12. Overnight low will feel like -17 with the wind. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com’s weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.

Published at Thu, 18 Mar 2021 10:00:00 +0000