News

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Prince Edward County has approved a hiring freeze on municipal staff. During Tuesday’s council meeting, councillor Roy Pennell put forward a motion, seeking support from the other councillors, to freeze any hiring not already budgeted for in the 2025 budget. The motion also forbids unbudgeted extensions of working hours for municipal employees, except where approved by a motion of council. Councillor Pennell said that the freeze was needed to manage future financial uncertainty. The motion sparked a debate in the council chamber, with councillor Phil St-Jean speaking against the freeze. After significant debate, council passed the motion 7 to 6, with mayor Steve Ferguson and councillors Phil Prinzen, Phil St-Jean, John Hirsch, Kate MacNaughton, and Janice Maynard voting against the freeze.

Shovels are in the ground at the site of the new Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital. On Tuesday, Quinte Health provided members of the community with a status update on the new build. The update centred around the construction process as well as details about what the finished product will include. The hospital is set to become the first hospital in North America built entirely out of mass timber. As well, sustainability was a key part in designing the building. The hospital is to be powered by solar and geothermal energy and will be designed to be net-zero-ready in the future. It will also feature green roofs and exterior courtyards, incorporating the natural area into the hospital. One other major update in the meeting was the announcement of an Onsite CT Scanner, so that critical diagnostics can take place in The County. The meeting also featured an update on the Back-The-Build campaign from the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation. As of the community update, the campaign had raised 24 million dollars of their 30 million dollar goal. Quinte Health said that they plan to hold these updates twice a year until the completion of the hospital, with the next one falling in September of this year. For the Local Journalism Initiative, Frequency News dot CA, and 99.3 CountyFM, I’m Jack MacCool filling in for Brenda Little.

Prince Edward County has extended their contract with Quinte Access Transportation Company through March 2026. County Council voted to approve the extension during their Tuesday council meeting. Quinte Access provides bus service that links Picton and Bloomfield to Belleville, with multiple bus trips a day between the communities. The original deal was set to expire in March 2025, and came with an option for a one year extension. Councillor Kate MacNaughton supported extending the program. “Potentially we would be looking at more integration that would, as time goes by, include more access and more and more ease of transportation through many municipalities,” said councillor MacNaughton. “A regional future, potentially, and I see this as sort of the first step.” Council approved extending the deal as recommended by staff after a brief discussion.

Multiple charges have been laid, including attempted murder, following an incident in Stone Mills Township in January.
Shortly after 5 p.m. on January 17, 2025, members of the Lennox and Addington County OPP and members of the OPP Emergency Response Team responded to a disturbance at a home on Lennox and Addington County Road 4.
Officers attempted to communicate with a man inside the home.
During the interaction, police say the man exited the residence and police discharged an Anti-Riot Weapon Enfield (ARWEN) and their firearms.
The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Forty-one-year-old Dustin Yeomans was arrested on Tuesday and charged with the following:
• Attempt to commit murder – four counts
• Uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm – two counts
• Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose
• Possession of an imitation weapon for a dangerous purpose

A new album called Is This What We Want? features a stellar list of more than 1,000 musicians — and the sound of silence. With contributions from artists including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Cat Stevens and Damon Albarn, the album was released Tuesday to protest proposed British changes to artificial intelligence laws that artists fear will erode their creative control. Creative industries globally are grappling with the legal and ethical implications of AI models that can produce their own output after being trained on popular works without necessarily paying the creators of the original content. The U.K. government is consulting on whether to let tech firms use copyrighted material to help train AI models unless the creators explicitly opt out.

Sports

The Wellington Dukes kept their hopes of finishing fourth in the OJHL East alive with an emphatic 8-1 rout of the Rangers in North York. Ryan Schaap scored twice to hit the 30-goal mark while Cory Jewitt scored the first and last goals of the game. The win moves the Dukes into a fourth place tie with Stouffville, however, the Spirit have one game in hand. Wellington has two games left. They’re in Aurora Thursday night before hosting the Tigers in the final game of the regular season on Friday.

Mitch Marner scored his second goal of the game in the final minute of overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Boston Bruins 5-4 on Tuesday night
Nick Suzuki had a goal and two assists, and Sam Montembeault made 20 saves as the Montreal Canadiens blanked the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 4-0

Canadian tennis ace Denis Shapovalov overcame a delayed and slow start to beat American Nishesh Basavareddy 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the ATP 500 Mexican Open men’s singles division on Tuesday night in Acapulco.