Economic Development

The Kingston Economic Development Corporation says 868 jobs were created in Kingston last year.
It also says it helped bring 100 million dollars of investment to Kingston in 2014.
The organization’s annual report was released this week.
But it seems to be just a numbers game.
The same report also contains figures from Stats Canada that show unemployment increased in Kingston last year to 6.9%…a three year high and there was a 1% decline in total employment.
One of the main indicators of a strong economy also took a major hit.  Housing starts last year dropped to 639…down almost 200 from 2013.
KEDCO received 2.65 million dollars from the city of Kingston last year – almost 1.65 million of that went directly to salaries and benefits.

Street Health Centre

An empty building at the corner of Barrack and Bagot Streets will be converted into Kingston’s new Street Health Centre.  The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care is providing 7.5 million dollars in funding to convert the former Queen’s print shop.
It is expected to open in March of next year and also house Youth Space and the Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program.
The Street Health Centre is currently located at 235 Wellington Street.

Rideau Heights Revitalization

A long term plan to revitalize the Rideau Heights neighbourhood will be discussed at open houses taking place today.
The city has developed the plan that is expected to take at least 20 years to implement.
It includes a new community centre and changes to public housing.
The city is hosting open houses to discuss the plan from 1:00 – 3:00 this afternoon and 6:30 to 8:30 tonight at Rideau Heights Elementary School.


Prison – Radicals

Kingston’s prisons and other federal prisons in Canada currently house 19 offenders who have affiliations with an extremist or terrorist organization.
The Correctional Service says nine have been convicted of at least one terrorism-related offence.
Research is currently being conducted by the Correctional Service to develop a way to assess and manage extremists in prison.
Preliminary findings indicate that compared to other inmates, radicalized offenders are more likely to have moderate-to-high potential for rejoining society.

Tax Deadline Error
    
Some good news for tax filing procrastinators- for the second year in a row the tax filing deadline has been extended.
Last year it was because of a computer virus that forced the C-R-A to shut down its electronic services.
This year…C-R-A sent tax preparers incorrect notification indicating the deadline was May 5th.
So, now it has changed the April 30th deadline to May 5th because of that human error.

Accident – Charge

A three vehicle crash at Division Street and Elliot Avenue resulted in Division Street being closed for about an hour last night.
Nobody was injured in the crash around 7:45 last night.
Police say the road was closed for their investigation and to allow city work crews to clean up debris.
A 33 year old man has been charged with failing to yield from a private drive.

Paul Harris Awards

The Rotary Club of Kingston will honour six people tonight for their community service with Paul Harris Fellow Awards.
The ceremony tonight will honour Kaitlynn Almeida, Chris Burgess, Clark Day, Joanne Langlois, Sister Sheila Langton and Martin Secker for their contribution