News

Copy by Craig Foster
A section of Highway 37 north of Belleville reopened early Wednesday morning after a serious two-vehicle collision on Tuesday afternoon. The crash happened on Highway 37 between Denyes and Hoskin Roads in Plainfield before 5 p.m. The OPP shut down the area to traffic for an investigation and reopened it around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. Further information may become available later today.

Prince Edward County Fire & Rescue has announced several promotions within its ranks. Tom Burris and Ryan Walmsley have each been promoted to the rank of Captain in Station 4 Demorestville. Steve McKee and Kyle Best of Station 6 Consecon have also received promotions to the rank of Captain.

Donald Trump says Canada has asked to join the missile-defence program his administration is building, adding a new chapter to a long-running cross-border saga. The U.S. president dropped that news in the Oval Office on Tuesday as he unveiled the initial plans for a three-year, $175 billion US project to build a multi-purpose missile shield he’s calling the Golden Dome. Ottawa confirmed it’s talking to the U.S. about this but added a caveat. In a statement, the federal government cast missile-defence discussions as unresolved and as part of the overall trade and security negotiations Prime Minister Mark Carney is having with Trump. What this means is still extremely murky. It’s unclear what, exactly, Canada would contribute; what its responsibilities would include; what it would pay; and how different this arrangement would be from what Canada already does under the Canada-U.S. NORAD system.

Iran has said it is “ready for talks” with Canada about renewing long dormant diplomatic relations between the two countries, but that Ottawa must be the one to make the first move… saying The relationship was frozen unilaterally by Canada, not by Iran. Ottawa severed diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012. The government of then prime minister Stephen Harper cited the Islamic Republic’s perceived ambition for a nuclear weapon, its support for the dictatorship of the since ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as persistent human rights abuses.

George Wendt, the actor known for his portrayal of beer-loving Norm Peterson on the hit NBC sitcom Cheers, has died at the age of 76.

Sports

The reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers wasted no time snatching home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference final. Carter Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad scored two tone-setting first-period goals while Sergei Bobrovsky remained strong in net as the Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 in Tuesday night’s opener of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference final series.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 of his 31 points in the second half, and the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-88 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

Emily Clark scoredat 2:47 of overtime Tuesday night to lead the Charge to a 2-1 victory over the defending champion Minnesota Frost in the opening game of the best-of-five Professional Women’s Hockey League Walter Cup final