School Buses

School buses were cancelled in Prince Edward County, Belleville and Quinte West today due to icy road conditions. Tri-Board Student Transportation says buses are running in the rest of its region today.

 

Hillier – Suspended

Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP Randy Hillier has been suspended from the Progressive Conservative caucus indefinitely. Premier Doug Ford says the suspension was due to comments Hillier made to parents of children with autism.  Some parents claim Hillier said yada, yada, yada to them when they attended question period at the Ontario legislature.  Hillier says his comments were directed at an NDP MPP and not the parents…but despite that he has now been forced to sit as an independent MPP.

 

Arthur – Autism

Kingston and the Islands MPP Ian Arthur and Kingston parent Kelly McGarry attended Qu at Queen’s Park yesterday to speak out about changes to autism services in Ontario.

McGarry’s nine year old son has autism and Arthur says the family had to wait nearly two years for him to receive intensive treatment.

Arthur says the treatment has proven to be life-changing…but under changes announced by the Ford government…his family will only get a fraction of the money to pay for the service. He says McGarry’s husband has given up a professional career to care for their son and they have had to find attorney for filing your chapter 7 to remortgage their home to afford care for their son.  Arthur says families deserve better from the government.

 

Dr. Ken Luco – Military

The military is working to identify members of the armed forces who were patients of a Kingston dentist.  KFL&A Public Health closed the office of Dr. Ken Luco on Highway 15 after finding it was lacking in the sterilization and disinfection of equipment.  It has since re-opened after another inspection.

The health unit could view here that several people took dental care. They advised 2,700 patients of the dentist who were treated by him between January 1s of 2010, and January 16th of 2019 to get tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.

The military’s surgeon general issued a statement this week saying it is working with the health unit to identify members of the forces who were treated at the dentist’s office during that period.

 

Paramedics Chief Retiring

The head of Frontenac Paramedic Services is retiring.

Chief Paramedic Paul Charbonneau has announced he is stepping down and will be leaving the service by the end of September.  Charbonneau has had a 44 year career and joined Frontenac Paramedic Services in 2004.

 

Leeds – Impaired Driver

The OPP says it relies on people to report impaired drivers and that was bad news for a man from Kingston.

Leeds OPP got a complaint about a driver around 1:10 a.m. on Saturday.

A vehicle was stopped on County Road 29 in Elizabethtown-Kitley Township.

22 year old Timothy Beale of Kingston had a date in a Brockville Courtroom on March 22nd to face a charge of driving with more than 80mgs of alcohol in his blood.

 

Family Advocacy Award

Family and Children’s Services of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington has chosen mental health advocate Anne O’Riordan for its highest award…the 2019 Family Advocacy Award.

Her colleagues credit her with being a tireless advocate.

O’Riordan currently co-chairs the Family Engagement Work Group at the Moving on Mental Health Task Force.  It is an alliance of more than 30 agencies, school boards and other organizations that share the responsibility for children and youth mental health services within Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.

 

Food Basics – Accidentally Open

Did you hear the one about the Kingston grocery store that was open on Monday – but didn’t have any staff on duty?

The front door to Food Basics on Barrack Street was open on Family Day – one of the few holidays in Kingston where stores have to be closed.

Kingston Police say they notified a manager around 4:30 Monday afternoon and were advised they would be contacted if surveillance video showed anyone stealing food from the store.

 

Another Pot Shop

Kingston could be the location of two of the five pot shops allowed to open in Eastern Ontario.

Fire & Flower has applied to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission for permission to open a store at 75 Brock St.

The Alberta based company says it is planning to open on April 1st.

Spiritleaf announced last week that it is planning to open a store in the Smith Robinson building at Princess and Ontario streets.

Spiritleaf is also based in Alberta.