News
In local news, The County of Prince Edward reminds residents that the first night crew shift on the Wellington watermain and sewer project will begin this Sunday. The 24 hour work shifts will run from Sunday at 7:00 PM to Friday at 7:00 PM.
This accelerated timeline moves up the reopening of Wellington Main Street from late to early spring this year. Speeding up construction will make life easier and more convenient for people who currently must take a long detour around the construction site.
Noise levels may be elevated during construction. Construction lighting will be required in order to illuminate the site during night shifts.
SEARCH
Police are searching for a federal offender known to frequent Belleville, Trenton and Toronto. An alert was issue this morning about a Canada-wide arrest warrant for Cody Butler, 27 who they said is in breach of his parole. He is serving a 7-year, 10-month sentence for assault, trafficking and theft offenses.
Butler is described as an Indigenous male, 5’9, 240 lbs, with brown hair, brown eyes and multiple tattoos, including a “C” and “B” on his right and left hands.
Anyone having contact with this offender or information regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact police or Crimestoppers.
UKRAINE
Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s energy and gas infrastructure in their latest drone and missile attack.
Damage was reported from the northeastern city of Kharkiv to the western city of Ternopil. Ten people including a child were injured.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had fired 67 missiles and 194 drones in the overnight attack, adding that it had shot down 34 of the missiles and 100 of the drones.
For the first time, Ukraine deployed French Mirage-2000 warplanes delivered a month ago to help repel the attack, according to the air force. Ukraine also has Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets to shoot down Russian missiles.
The Russian Defence Ministry said today its forces carried out strikes with long-range air, sea and land-based precision weapons against what it called gas and energy infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.
The attack on Friday was the first large-scale assault from Russia since the suspension of the U.S. military aid and intelligence in recent days from President Donald Trump’s administration. Trump later stated that he may impose new sanctions on Russia for this new assault on Ukraine.
TOBACCO
A historic deal that calls for three major tobacco companies, JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd, to pay out $32.5 billion in compensation to provinces and territories as well as former smokers across Canada has cleared its final legal hurdle in Ontario, bringing a decades-long court saga to a close.
The plan calls for the companies to pay more than $24 billion to provinces and territories over two decades to recoup smoking-related health-care costs. Plaintiffs in two class-action lawsuits in Quebec will get more than $4 billion to split between them.
Another $2.5 billion will go to compensate Canadian smokers not included in the lawsuits, and more than $1 billion will go to a foundation to fight tobacco-related diseases.
And finally, NASA and its astronauts are feeling nervous as a second Spacex Starship rocket exploded over the Atlantic Ocean just 10 minutes into its test flight. Starship is part of NASA’s plan to return humans to the moon later this decade.
SpaceX later confirmed that the spacecraft experienced “a rapid unscheduled disassembly” during the ascent engine firing and said it alerted safety officials. It is not clear if the spacecraft self-destructed when it became unstable.
Sports
DUKES
The OJHL playoffs commence this weekend. The Wellington Dukes will be in Stouffville tomorrow night for Game 1 against the Spirit. You can catch that game live on 99.3 County FM starting at 7:30 PM with hockey savant Craig Foster.
Sunday the Dukes will be at home for Game 2. Puck drops at the Lehigh Arena at 4:00 in the afternoon.
CURLING
In curling, the playoffs of the Canadian’s Men’s Championship, the Montana Brier gets underway this afternoon in Kelowna, BC
In a head-to-head final round robin game in Pool A Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone defeated Brad Gushue’s Team Canada to take top spot.
Over in Pool B, two undefeated teams met in their final game. Alberta’s Brad Jacobs outlasted Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen 9-6.
That sets up a battle of the Brads at 12:30 county time today as the first playoff draw is a cross pool playoff of No. 1 vs No.2. The Dunstone and McEwen rinks will face off at the same time.
The losers will play the third place rinks tonight, Nova Scotia’s Owen Purcell and Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers.
NHL
In the NHL, the trade deadline ends at 3:00 pm today. The major focus is on what is happening with Carolina Hurricanes’ star forward Mikko Rantanen and Boston Bruin veteran Brad Marchand.
Carolina have reached out to see who’d be interested in acquiring Rantanen after he informed the club he won’t sign an extension prior to the deadline. Carolina reportedly offered Rantanen an eight-year deal worth more than $100 million. Theb Dallas Stars appear to be the lad contender.
Marchand, who is currently out week-to-week with an upper-body injury, has been unable as of yet to reach an extension with the Bruins and the team is still open to offers before the deadline.
