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CTV News
a day ago
- Business
- CTV News
North Bay police open downtown office to increase its presence in the area
In an effort to boost visibility and deter crime, police in North Bay will operate an office in the city's downtown for at least the next six months. In an effort to boost visibility and deter crime, police in North Bay will operate an office in the city's downtown for at least the next six months. North Bay police have opened an office in the heart of the downtown. Located at 168 Main St. E, the office is part of Chief Daryl Longworth's plan to increase police presence in the area, which, in turn, will hopefully deter people from committing crimes. Downtown police3 Located at 168 Main St. E, the office is part of a plan to increase police presence in downtown North Bay and deter people from committing crimes. (Eric Taschner/CTV News) 'Calls for service down here have dropped a little bit and we're hoping to see that continue,' acting deputy chief Jeff Warner told reporters. 'We want our officers out on the street being visible. Every officer has a key for the building in their cruiser, and they can stop at any time.' The location is solely for patrol officers and isn't open to the public to report crimes. Police can use the space to complete reports, take a short break or get paperwork done without having to return to the main station headquarters. It's part of a six-month pilot project. Downtown police2 Located at 168 Main St. E, the office is part of a plan to increase police presence in downtown North Bay and deter people from committing crimes. (Eric Taschner/CTV News) 'This is a huge step in protecting the downtown and all the investments that have happened down here,' said Katie Bevan, downtown business owner and chair of the North Bay Downtown Improvement Area. In addition to the office, downtown foot and bike patrols are already back on this summer. 'Every platoon now at the beginning of the shift will assign one or two officers strictly to foot patrol,' Warner said. 'That doesn't mean they can always get down here. It depends on calls for service. We have dedicated bike patrol officers on every shift.' Warner said the added police presence will make criminals think twice before going downtown. Police had a downtown community hub-of-sorts in the 1990s and early 2000s. 'As a police services board member and all of our police services board members, we're 100 per cent in favour of getting this done and getting a presence downtown,' said Mayor Peter Chirico. Downtown North Bay is partnering with police on the project by covering the cost of rent for the six-month pilot. Executive director Amber Livingstone said they've already seen an increase in police presence after Longworth said he would send more foot patrols in the area. 'They track all of it,' Livingstone said. Livingstone Downtown North Bay executive director Amber Livingstone said they've already seen an increase in police presence after Longworth said he would send more foot patrols in the area (Eric Taschner/CTV News) 'They're able to give us stats on how many hours they've spent downtown. Many towns across our province and across the country are experiencing the same kinds of things. So, it's not unique to North Bay. Some of our residents may not be used to seeing it in your face and seeing how graphic it has become. It just shows that there's a change in the world.' Police will meet with the business community in the fall to re-evaluate the downtown office idea and see if it's worth keeping it open.
CBC
3 days ago
- CBC
'You definitely can't arrest your way out of this': northeastern Ontario police not rushing to use new powers
Social Sharing While many police forces in southern Ontario cities, including in Toronto, have already started using enhanced powers given to them by the province to clear homeless encampments, police in northeastern Ontario cities say they are taking more of a "wait and see approach." Last week, the Ontario legislature passed Bill 6, the Safer Municipalities Act, which gives police the power to more easily clear encampments on public property by issuing fines, as well as arresting people for trespassing and public drug use. The City of North Bay already has bylaws in place that forbid homeless encampments and open drug use on city-owned property. Municipal bylaw officers work with outreach workers to ask people to leave and assist them in finding other accommodations. When that doesn't work, North Bay police are called in to help. Acting Deputy Police Chief Jeff Warner said the passing of Bill 6 gives police another tool to help deal with drug use and encampments, but he doesn't think it's something his officers will be using very often. "I don't think a lot's going to change with the new act," said Warner. "It is there if we need to use it, but the way things have been going lately over the past year or two with our partners, I don't see us having to lean toward the new legislation very often." Under the new law, people who don't comply with previous directions from police officers and are found to be re-offending when it comes to setting up encampments or using drugs can be fined or arrested. Warner said he doesn't believe those penalties will deter people from breaking the law. "A lot of these people really need, you know, medical help, mental health help, support for drug addiction, that kind of stuff," said Warner. "So with those supports in the community, I think that's sort of the only way to combat it. You definitely can't arrest and charge your way out of this." Greater Sudbury police and Timmins police — which like North Bay work with community partners and bylaw officers to help people living on the streets— are taking a similar approach. "Our partnerships are built on a shared understanding that enforcement alone cannot resolve the root causes of vulnerability in our community," said Greater Sudbury Police spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn in a statement to CBC News. When asked if Sudbury police would consider utilizing the new powers, Dunn said there would need to be an elevated risk to public safety. "We will continue to explore and invest in multi-sector solutions that address the systemic issues underlying many calls for service while balancing enforcement options in situations where there is an elevated risk to public safety." Timmins Police spokesperson Michelle St. Louis said in a statement that officers are encouraged to take a balanced approach when working with the "marginalized community."
ABC News
06-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Queensland scientists racing against clock to tackle 'unprecedented' environmental threat
Under the hum of filtered air and fluorescent light in an air-locked university lab, Jeff Warner lifts an agar plate to eye level, inspecting its potentially deadly contents. Tilting the violet dish in his double-gloved hand, he notes several streaks of pink — a cross hatching of colonies; tiny microbial clusters teeming with life, invisible to the naked eye. The distinct colours and formations are instantly recognisable to him: it's the killer bacterium linked to 30 deaths in a "mysterious" and unprecedented outbreak that's devastating Queensland families and putting immense pressure on regional hospitals. "This organism has currently killed almost one in five people who have acquired it from the environment, here in Cairns and Townsville," Associate Professor Warner told 7.30. The veteran microbiologist first came across the disease close to 30 years ago and is now considered a global research leader on the topic, based at James Cook University in the tropical north. "You can toy with the words all you want," he says. " But the cases up here, this wet season, are unprecedented. " Scientists at James Cook University are studying the bacteria that leads to melioidosis. ( ABC News: Brendan Mounter ) The bacterium on the plate is Burkholderia pseudomallei , classified by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a Category B biowarfare agent, for its high fatality rate and its potential to be aerosolised and weaponised. In Queensland, however, the threat isn't theoretical or military. It's real and environmental — lurking in soil and muddy water, stirred up by flooding rains and inhaled, ingested, or entered into the bloodstream through cuts and scratches. For the unlucky, it leads to melioidosis — a virulent disease that enables chronic skin ulcers, sepsis, and serious lung infections like pneumonia. If left untreated, or diagnosed too late, it can be fatal. "It replicates [and] reduces proteins that are toxins to our body, and that's fundamentally what causes the fatality," Professor Warner said. The bacterium is typically confined to tropical climates where it thrives in heat and humidity, but scientists and health authorities are increasingly concerned it could be pushed further south as Australia's climate warms and our urban footprint expands. "In the end, we don't really know why so many cases have happened," he said. Dr Jeff Warner has been studying melioidosis for decades. ( ABC News: Tom Hartley ) In the water and on the move In Townsville, a different pattern is emerging. The city has long been considered the unofficial home of melioidosis — early cases of the disease were once clustered around Castle Hill, the city's granite monolith. Dr Warner says that is no longer the case. In recent months, new clusters have surfaced north of the city — Professor Warner believes they are not random. Photo shows A middle-aged man wearing a grey singlet and beige cap sits in his backyard. Luke Bantoft has survived melioidosis but the experience has left him "petrified" of returning to his home where he believes he caught it. He suspects the bacterium is moving, and is investigating if it is changing in the same way a flu can, becoming better adapted to the climate, the people who live in the area, or both. "We have proven in the past that the organism is available in ground water as it goes through Castle Hill," Professor Warner said. "That's now changed the actual demographic and the case notifications [have] now quite substantially changed. "Why has it changed? Have we got any evidence that it's moving? We don't ... so the missing link in melioidosis research is ... trying to understand the environmental microbiology of the disease. "Until we do, we're not going to be able to really develop good quality, targeted [and] informed public health messaging to actually help people understand risk." The data shows melioidosis is on the move in Townsville. ( ABC News: Tom Hartley ) Given its presence in groundwater, Professor Warner says that may explain how cases have spread. "Water seems to be important in the organism's mobility," he explained. "We all know that when the wet season breaks, you smell the rain. " There are hundreds of thousands of bacteria in single water droplets — that you could potentially inhale. " The working theory is the bacteria is liberated by rising water tables and during extreme rainfall, then able to spread into rivers and creeks, and carried over long distances. Once settled in new terrain, it can survive — and thrive. Townsville has seen a surge in melioidosis cases this wet season. ( ABC News: Brendan Mounter ) In Townsville, researchers have already matched strains of the bacterium found in local watercourses to those found in infected patients. But whether that water is the direct source of human infection is still unknown. "That's what we are embarking upon, for the first time ever in North Queensland," Professor Warner says, out to solve the "fundamental mystery" of melioidosis. "Where you get it from, what behaviour encourages transmission and does climate and environmental change affect disease patterns?" Professor Warner also believes there's merit in a theory by public health physician Dr Simon Smith, which hypothesises that an "You tend not to see this organism in the soil environment where we've got highly fertile soils," he said. "That's probably because it gets out-competed by other organisms which really enjoy fertility and high nutrition. " This organism has got the ability to survive without requiring much nutrition in the environment. " Dr Jeff Warner is leading a team of researchers to better understand the potentially deadly bacteria. ( ABC News: Tom Hartley ) The public health conundrum With a $1.5 million federal grant, Professor Warner is now leading a five-year investigation to trace the organism's movements. The project will unite clinicians and scientists from across the north, including Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin, and teams in Cairns and Townsville. Thousands of environmental samples will be taken across northern Australia, while genomic and spatial data will help map exactly where the organism persists — and predict where it might emerge as the climate becomes warmer. "There are literally squillions, zillions of microorganisms in that 10 grams of soil, and we've got to try and find the melioidosis in that zoo of bacteria," Professor Warner says. Scientists will be extracting bacteria from thousands of soil samples over five years. ( ABC News: Tom Hartley ) The ultimate goal is to move beyond broad warnings and into tailored public health messaging. "There is essentially very limited evidence to describe where people get this disease, what behaviour encourages transmission," Professor Warner said. Queensland's Health Minister has been called to deliver funding to help solve the melioidosis mystery. ( ABC News: Tom Hartley ) Professor Warner's optimism belies concerns the state government, and the health minister, headquartered 1,300 kilometres away, are not giving this outbreak the deserved attention, with zero dollars from the coffers on the table. "Melioidosis is a disease that describes very well the differences between urban and rural health expectations," he said. "The disease is very rare in capital city populations, but in regional northern Australia is one of the leading causes of fatal bacterial pneumonia and blood poisoning, that particularly affects the elderly and vulnerable people and their communities. "If we're fair dinkum about Australians looking after the underprivileged, there's lots of things we can do better for regional communities, and that includes our leaders investing more." The Queensland government didn't offer an answer to 7.30's questions about funding in it's response. There are concerns more people will die from the disease if research isn't better funded. ( ABC News: Tom Hartley ) In Cairns, infectious diseases expert Dr Simon Smith suggested information-sharing between district health services needs to be urgently improved. "I think it's really key that we start working more closely with our colleagues in Townsville and Darwin … that we join together and pool our resources to try and identify why we're seeing this large increase in northern Queensland," Dr Smith said. " What the concern is, if the rates stay as high as what they have been this year, or indeed, they increase, then we're just going to see a lot of people with the disease, and even with the best access to care, we still see people dying. " Watch , Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on and ABC TV Contact 7.30 Do you know more about this story? Get in touch with 7.30
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pa. black powder group seeks additional flintlock opportunity to hunt bucks and does
With centerfire rifles now being permitted to hunt deer in several parts of Pennsylvania during the flintlock season, an organization wants the Game Commission to create a new early flintlock opportunity that gives hunters a chance to take a buck or doe. The Pennsylvania Federation of Black Powder Shooters has started a petition on as well as a paper petition seeking a new hunting season for primitive flintlock rifles. That online version has 1,065 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon. In 2024, the Game Commission added Wildlife Management Units (WMU) 4A, 4D and 5A to the extended firearms antlerless season that was held Jan. 2 to 20 during flintlock season. The change was made in southcentral Pennsylvania to reduce the number of antlerless deer in areas with Chronic Wasting Disease. In the past, the extended firearms season was limited to WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia regions. With the addition of more opportunities to hunt deer with rifles during the flintlock season, the Black Powder Shooters feel too many hunters will change to centerfire rifles instead of using primitive firearms. Jeff Warner, president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Black Powder Shooters, said he would like to see the early antlerless muzzleloader season in October that includes all types of muzzleloaders be extended from one week to two weeks. Hunters using flintlocks would be able to hunt either bucks or antlerless deer. 'They've (Game Commission) been talking for years now about changing the late season a little bit,' Warner, who lives in Clearfield County, said. 'This past year, specifically, they have allowed centerfire rifles in now six Wildlife Management Units across the state." He said there have been proposals to allow other types of muzzleloaders in the flintlock season. His organization is looking to preserve the sport of flintlock hunting. 'We're pushing for the early season because, with the way the Game Commission works historically, once they've added a season or extended the rifle season, that's not something you can convince them to rescind,' he said. 'Our big reason why we are not necessarily catering to any type of muzzleloader is how historically significant the flintlock is to Pennsylvania. Just the hunting season alone, we're the only state in the country that has a hunting season that's dedicated specifically to flintlocks. And it's that way for a reason. Most people would consider Pennsylvania to be home to the long rifle. And as a matter of fact, the Pennsylvania long rifle is our state firearm which not many people know about,' Warner said. With the changes that have been happening with the hunting seasons, he said his organization is concerned for the future of flintlock hunting. 'With the allowance of centerfire rifles in the late season, we're really scared that the history is going to go away,' he said. He wants the late flintlock season to remain the same and expand upon the October season. Plan for this year: Pa. Game Commission sets tentative 2024-2026 hunting, trapping seasons, includes 3 Sundays More: Two Pa. hunters get rare bucks with flintlock muzzleloaders. Here's how 'The idea that we came up with is that early muzzleloader season where its any muzzleloader and you can harvest just a doe, our idea was to extend that by a week whether you start it a week early or extend it a week longer. And in those two weeks, a hunter with a flintlock could harvest a buck or a doe. To coincide with the archery season, we're not asking for those two weeks that the archery hunters not be in the woods. We'll share the woods with them as much as we would hope that they would share the woods with us,' he said. 'I don't think there's going to be so many extra guys in the woods with their flintlocks during those two weeks that it's going to really do much of a change for archery hunters,' he said. The agency sold about 154,000 muzzleloader permits during the 2023-24 hunting year. That number includes those who hunt with all ignition types in the October muzzleloader season. Warner's concern for the late season is that hunters will opt for their centerfire rifles instead of their flintlocks. 'I've spoken with people personally who said now that they can use their modern rifles in the late season, they'll never touch their flintlock again,' he said. 'Hearing things like that drove us to what we're doing.' The Game Commission is open to hearing about new hunting seasons. Travis Lau, communications director for the agency, released the following statement about the Black Powder Shooters' petition. 'The Pennsylvania Game Commission annually reviews and sets hunting seasons, so new suggestions are always welcome. It's up to our Board of Commissioners, working with our staff, to decide how seasons should be adjusted," Lau said. "There are many examples in recent years of the agency expanding opportunities for hunters. When it comes to adding seasons, consideration must be given first to the potential impacts on a given wildlife resource, but social impacts are also considered. By the number who have signed their names, it's clear the petition has its supporters. As it's presented and talked about more, there likely will be a better idea of how widely it's supported.' There are hunters who oppose the federation's petition because they feel it will lead to changes with the flintlock season. Drew Ritenour, a hunter from Uniontown, created a petition on against the movement by the Pa. Federation of Black Powder Shooters. 'The petition is all about protecting the late flintlock season. This season is a time to honor and celebrate our longtime heritage of building flintlocks. The flintlock season coincides with the late archery season. During the late season, there are no cap-lock or inline ignition weapons. Currently, the late season also excludes modern firearms with the exception of 'Special Regulation' areas. I have heard from at least two (wardens), there have been discussions between several Game Commissioners regarding the expansion of the late-season to include other ignition type weapons. The matter never made it out of the discussion phase and was never voted on by the commissioners,' he said in a written statement. He feels if the changes are made to the early season, it will make it easier for the Game Commission to include other types of muzzleloaders in the flintlock season. 'Once the inclusion of the various ignition types in an early season will make the late season vulnerable to the same inclusion," Ritenour said. "This will most likely impact the current regulations and length of season. The petition states to the PGC to keep the sanctity of why the late season was created and stop introducing firearms in some WMUs and keep the season flintlock ignition only.' As of Tuesday afternoon, 353 signed Ritenour's online petition. Warner said he feels it's time to be proactive with the changes that have already happened. 'We can't wait for the late season to be completely gone and then go to the Game Commission and ask for something different. Just like now. If I had started two or three years ago, maybe we wouldn't have the centerfire rifles in the late season,' Warner said. October weather is a good time for hunters to be in the woods as well as mentoring new people to flintlock hunting. 'If we can provide a season where there's nice weather and you get a decent chance at seeing some nice deer before they are all spooked up and hunted so hard, we can show some people who may not normally hunt in the late season with a flintlock how much fun hunting in a historical way can be,' he said. 'These rifles are part of our history as Pennsylvanians and an important part of our history as Americans. Times being the way they are, we think it's very important that history not be allowed to disappear." Warner said his organization is planning to meet with people about the petition through the summer months and will present their findings to the Game Commission during its fall quarterly meeting. 'We're trying to do the right thing about the sport of muzzleloading. The average age of muzzleloaders is in the high 60s, low 70s at this point. So we're really just trying to get people in the woods with a flintlock. We want to increase the interest,' Warner said. Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@ and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors. This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Flintlock hunters want expanded early hunting season for bucks, does
