Kingston News, October 18, 2016

Storm

There was lots of rain…wind…flooded roads and scattered power failures in the Kingston area as thunderstorms rolled through the area.

This morning…roads are clear and there are no power outages being reported in the City of Kingston.

At 8:30 a.m. Hydro One’s Outage website reported power outages for about 20 customers on Wolfe Island, 20 on Simcoe Island and about 40 in the area north of Napanee.  It says crews hope to restore electricity by around noon today.

SNC – Lavalin – Kingston

A major Montreal based engineering company has announced plans to open a centre of excellence in Kingston for existing and future railway projects in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.

SNC-Lavalin says the new office in City Place will open early next year and employ 10- to 20 people.

It says it also plans to expand the North American Rail and Transit Engineering team in Kingston.

It’s holding an information session starting at five this afternoon at the Donald Gordon Conference Centre.

Park – Land Sell Off

The battle over the future of St. Joseph/St. Mary School at Brock and Napier Streets will continue at Kingston City Council tonight.  Councillor Jim Neil will present a petition with 800 names calling on the city to drop plans to sell off a portion of the land for a private development.  The petition demands 75% of the land to be green space…the current amount of open space on the school property.

The latest plan from city staff shows 55% of the land as green space with the rest split between an affordable housing project and land to be sold to a private developer.

Hotel Dieu – Volunteers

Hotel Dieu Hospital is saying thank you to its Volunteer Services organization.

Over the last year it has contributed just over $100,000 for medical equipment, programs and services at Hotel Dieu.  Volunteer Services held its annual meeting yesterday and announced a $100,000 pledge over the next two years to help with the expansion of the low-vision rehabilitation clinic at Hotel Dieu.

There are currently 233 volunteers at the hospital.

WhammyPhone – Smartphone Musical Instrument

The Human Media Lab at Queen’s University has developed a completely new way of interacting with sound using a smartphone.

WhammyPhone is the world’s first musical instrument for a flexible smartphone.  The Human Media Lab also invented the first flexible smartphone.

WhammyPhone allows users to bend the display of the phone to create sound on a virtual instrument like a guitar or violin.

The display shows keys that can be used to play sounds on sound synthesis software running on a computer.

WhammyPhone was unveiled in Tokyo, Japan yesterday at the annual Association for Computing Machinery Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology.

Professor Roel Vertegaal is the director of the Human Media Lab and says it provides the same kind of feeling a string provides when it is bent to alter the pitch – critical for musicians to control their expression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUIo-Yt2QSc

Teen Missing

Police and the family of a 13 year old boy from Kingston are asking for help from the public in locating the boy.

Gavin Froats attended his public school on Friday but left without permission before the end of the day.  A news release from Kingston Police says he didn’t return to his home and his family contacted police.

Police say he may have left Kingston and has possible associates in the Trenton area.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of 13 year old Gavin Froats is being asked to contact Kingston Police or Crime Stoppers.

Mental Health Rescue

A 21 year old woman was rescued from the rooftop of a business in Midpark Drive in Kingston’s west-end.  Police say the woman was going to jump from the roof around 8:00 p.m. Sunday…but fell backwards and two officers were able to grab and restrain her.  Kingston Fire and Rescue was called to bring the woman down from the roof and she was arrested under the mental health act and taken to hospital for treatment.