By Ryan Tumilty, Ottawa Metro News, May 1, 2017
The Ontario government says its new transit tax credit for seniors is more about getting seniors out of their homes than boosting public transit.
The government announced a15 per cent tax credit in their budget unveiled last week, which is similar to one the federal government just eliminated.
When the federal government announced the end of their credit, they said the measure wasn’t boosting public transit ridership as it had been designed to.
By Vito Pilieci and Paula McCooey, Ottawa Citizen, May 1, 2017
Two schools and one long-term care home in Maniwaki were evacuated Monday as water levels continue to rise across the Outaouais, putting some areas flooded last week at risk once again.
Staff at the Maniwaki Hospital confirmed students at Cité Étudiante de la Haute Gatineau and Maniwaki Woodland schools were sent home. As well, residents living at the long-term care facility Foyer Père Guinard in Maniwaki were sent to stay at hospitals, community centres and with their families as the flooding is expected to continue.
According to Environment Canada, total rainfall amounts of 30 to 50 mm are expected by Tuesday morning for Maniwaki. Some areas could see rainfall amounts in excess of 50 mm before the rain tapers off later in the day.
By Glen Gower, StittsvilleCentral, April 30, 2017
We spotted this guy (or gal?) on a path near Poole Creek on the weekend. It’s a snapping turtle, and they’re a common sight in Stittsville near creeks and marshes at this time of year. Don’t get too close though – these guys won’t hesitate to snap if they feel threatened. In late May and early June, you’ll start to see mother turtles burying their eggs in the sand at local playgrounds, and then the turtles hatch in September.
By Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa Community News, April 28, 2017
The city garnered $10 million from the sale of blue and black box materials in 2016, but Ottawa still needs a $5-million grant from the Ontario government's provincial stewardship program to help pay for the cost of curbside collection.
“The revenues from the sale of blue and black box materials help offset blue and black box to collect and process the materials,” according to a somewhat unclear emailed response attributed to Cameron Neale, program co-ordinator of the recycling and material diversion.
The city sent 29,000 tonnes of fine paper and corrugated cardboard to recycling in 2016, generating $6.1 million in revenue. The tonnage has been steadily decreasing since 2010, Neale said, possibly because consumption is down.
By CBC News Ottawa, April 29, 2017
If you're in the market for a new bike this spring, you won't find one at Jason Komendat's store. Retro Bikes, which recently opened on Sparks Street, only sells old, vintage bikes, some of which are older than the pedestrian mall itself.
Komendat spoke to CBC Radio's In Town and Out host Giacomo Panico about his store ahead of Bike To Work Month, which is held in May.
By Ottawa Citizen, April 29, 2017
Volunteers were out in force Saturday in the Hintonburg and Wellington West neighbourhoods as part of the region’s annual Clean up the Capital campaign.
Families, singles, people on bikes and other transportation scoured yards and parks and other areas to pick up the detritus left behind following the snow melt.
Having worked up an appetite the cleanup crews repaired to favourite neighbourhood institutions such as the Hintonburger restaurant for refreshments.
By James Bagnall, Ottawa Citizen, April 29, 2017
The physical contrast between the main Climate March event in Washington, D.C. and the sister demonstration in Ottawa on Saturday could hardly have been starker. While tens of thousands of marchers descended upon the White House in thick, 30-degree-plus humidity, a tight band of 100 or so trekked from Ottawa City Hall to the U.S. Embassy on a cool and breezy spring day.
“No more coal! No more oil!” they chanted along Elgin Street, just north of where Ottawa Senators’ fans were enjoying drinks in outdoor patios. “Keep your carbon in the soil!”
By Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Sun, April 28, 2017
Pop math quiz question: If a bicyclist traveling at 21 km/h is rear-ended by a Ford F-150 truck traveling in the same direction at 46 km/h, and the bicycle, or what remains of it, travels an additional 17.6 metres after the collision before coming to a twisted halt, what are the chances anyone will have learned anything useful?
Answer: Pretty good, at least judging by that exact experimental scenario conducted by Carleton University students and the Ottawa Police Service in the parking lot of the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.
Now in its sixth year, the bicycle crash tests are part of the curriculum for fourth-year students in Carleton’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering program, as a project through which they can demonstrate what they’ve learned.
By Andrew Foote, CBC News Ottawa, April 28, 2017
The National Capital Commission is proposing to add more than 100 kilometres of new trails to Gatineau Park in an attempt to keep visitors off an expanding network of unofficial trails it says pose safety and environmental threat.
The NCC said it's been consulting park users, politicians and people living near the park since June 2014 about its trail network.
The park already has around 200 kilometres of official trails, but the NCC said the number of clandestine trails has been steadily growing as mountain biking and snowshoeing take off in popularity. The park's trail network wasn't originally designed for many of those activities, the NCC said.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, April 28, 2017
The Ontario Ministry of Labour has issued at least 49 “stop work” orders on the Confederation Line LRT project since the beginning of 2014, but the contractor says they were isolated issues not severely impacting the delivery of the $2.1-billion municipal project.
Peter Lauch, technical director with the Rideau Transit Group, said there are 14 active job sites along the project, which spans from Tunney’s Pasture to Blair station, and includes the maintenance and storage facility.
Lauch said a stop work order literally means work has to stop in a particular area until the problem is fixed.
By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, April 28, 2017
The loneliest bird in Eastern Ontario is still looking for a mate, weeks after advertising that it is single and available. But its search for love doesn’t look hopeful.
The loggerhead shrike is one of a disappearing breed in Ontario; there is a small number in a little protected pocket near Napanee, and otherwise there only appears to be this one shrike in our part of the province.
And the gradual disappearance of this species is a study in the rise and fall of a wild animal that welcomed human presence at first, but can’t keep up with modern changes.
By Ottawa Citizen, April 29, 2017
Ottawa residents concerned about climate, jobs and justice take part in a march to the United States embassy in Ottawa on Saturday, April 29, 2017.