Bowie – OBIT

It was terrible news to wake up to this morning.

David Bowie died Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer.

He’d turned 69 years old on Friday — the same day he released a new album called “Blackstar.”

Sir Jam Incident

The organizer of the Sir John A. Macdonald Day celebrations in Kingston say the ceremony with former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty will be held today despite some nasty vandalism.

Art Milnes says someone slashed the tires on his vehicle in the driveway of his home overnight and tossed red paint on the car. He says Kingston Police also found a burned Canadian flag underneath the vehicle.  Milnes says red paint was also poured on vehicles owned by Kingston and the Islands MP Mark Gerretsen and Gerretsen’s wife.  Milnes is blaming it on people opposed to Sir John A. Macdonald Day celebrations.

Idle No More Kingston had announced it was planning to burn an effigy of Macdonald during a peaceful protest over Macdonald’s treatment of Canada’s indigenous people.

Its protest will take place near the city’s ceremony at noon today at the statue of Canada’s first prime minister in City Park.

Milnes had offered a representative a chance to speak at the celebration today but says the offer was turned down.

Milnes says his wife Alison is a school teacher and has cancelled a trip to the ceremony by her 50 student choir because of concerns for their safety.

Corrections Strike

A sigh of relief for some Ontario government agency managers in Kingston on standby to help operate provincial jails if there was a strike…a tentative contract agreement was announced Saturday morning.

Under the tentative deal the correctional workers will be declared an essential service.

It means future bargaining disputes with the OPSEU members will be settled by binding arbitration.

The monetary issues in the current contract dispute will also go to binding arbitration.

Rescue

A man survived being knocked out by the tree he was cutting down – 20 feet above the ground on Weller Avenue in Kingston.

A man was using a lift with a bucket when he was hit by part of the tree trunk and knocked out.  Firefighters had to wait for Utilities Kingston to cut off electricity because the lift took down some power lines.

The man was removed from the bucket…was conscious and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Grade Six – City Hall

Grade 6 students from Loughborough Public School will be taking their classes at Kingston City Hall this week.

Students will be learning about how to support Kingston in reaching United Nations Millennium Goals.  Students are working on their own projects and will pitch their Millennium Goal projects to classmates on Friday.

They’re taking part in the program sponsored by Beyond Classrooms Kingston.

It was founded by the Kingston Association of Museums, Art Galleries and Historic Sites.

Horwath – Women in Politics

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has told a conference at Queen’s women need to make sure they have a voice, use that voice and take action after speaking out.

Horwath was one of the keynote speakers at the first Queen’s Female Leadership in Politics conference.

Horwath praised the young women who organized the sessions saying it shows they put their thoughts into action.