Breakout Project

The Ontario government is giving Innovate Kingston $600,000 and city council has agreed to give the group $100,000 for a weekend conference in May called The Breakout Project.

Up to 30 of Canada’s top entrepreneurs will be in Kingston.  People who pay to attend the sessions will work in teams to develop goals to make the world a better place.  The team with the most human and financial capital will be declared the winner.  Organizers say the whole thing will be broadcast on social media and will have a reality TV vibe.

New Hospital Organization

Officials in charge of the merger of Hotel Dieu Hospital and Kingston General Hospital have launched a survey to help name the new hospital corporation.  The two hospitals will keep their names – but the management organization is looking for a unique name.

It’s offering up seven suggestions and gives survey respondents an opportunity to suggest their own name.  It’s also looking for people to sit on the inaugural board of directors.

Details are available on the KGH website.

Missing Girls

Napanee OPP has issued a call for help from the public in locating two indigenous girls who were last seen north of Odessa on Monday.  Investigators say they believe the girls may be together and may possibly be in the Greater Toronto Area.  Anyone who knows the whereabouts of 15 year old Gillian Taylor-Hayes and 14 year old Marcie Muckle is being asked to contact police.

Search and Rescue

A major announcement will take place today at CFB Trenton.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Public Procurement Minister Judy Foote will announce a replacement for the military’s search and rescue planes.  Industry sources say the Airbus C-295 will replace the Buffalo and Hercules aircraft.

Waste Survey – Batteries

Survey says…people are happy with Kingston’s garbage and recycling collections services.  The city got just over 13 hundred responses to its survey and 88.9 per cent of respondents are satisfied or very satisfied with collection services…just over 89% are satisfied with the blue and grey box recycling program; and almost 85% are satisfied with the green bin program.

The city has a goal of diverting 60 per cent of household waste from landfill by 2018.  And it’s calling its first ever battery collection project a success…10 and a half thousand pounds of batteries were collected in a week.

Stolen Sculpture – Update

It turns out the sculpture of two children playing leapfrog that was stolen from the Hospice Kingston Garden in City Park had been missing for at least a week.  It was sold to ANS Scrap Metal on McAdoos Lane for $200 on November 28th. Its estimated value as a piece of art is $20,000.  The scrap metal yard contacted police after reading about the theft on social media on Tuesday.  The sculpture will be returned to its location in City Park during a special ceremony in the spring.  Police are still looking for the thief or thieves.

ALCDSB Trustees

A retired teacher and long-time trustee has been acclaimed as the Chair of the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board for 2017.  John Brisbois of Carrying Place is the new chair.  He had been vice-chair of the board.  Trustee Terry Shea was acclaimed as vice chair during the December 6th school board meeting and Sean Kelly was acclaimed as chair of the finance and operations committee.

Nobel Laureate – Key to City

Kingston’s Nobel Prize winner now has a key to the city.

Queen’s professor emeritus Art McDonald received the key to the city from Mayor Bryan Paterson last night in memorial Hall.  McDonald made a special presentation on his ground breaking research and spoke about his experiences since winning the Nobel Prize last year.

Filed under: alcdsb-trustees, key-to-city, missing-girls, new-hospital-organization, nobel-laureate, search-and-rescue, stolen-sculpture, the-breakout-project, waste-survey-batteries