Drug decliner robbed
Three people are charged after a man who declined an offer to buy drugs was robbed at knife-point in London, police say. The 20-year-old victim was approached on Richmond St. at 2:30 p.m. Friday and asked if he wanted to buy pot or alcohol, police said. When he declined, a knife was pulled and the man was ordered to take $60 from a bank machine. After the money was withdrawn, police say, the knife-wielding man jumped in a car with two others and drove away. The car was found later by police and three people were arrested.
Three flee home
An attempted home robbery in London has city police seeking three suspects. A man answered the door of his Millridge Rd. home at about 10:30 p.m. Friday, where three people on his doorstep asked if “Josh” lived there. When told no, the trio tried to push the door open, one of them holding a knife. All three suspects ran off and no one was hurt. The suspects are described as white men between 18 and 20 years old.
Teens sought after robbery
London police are probing a robbery on Glenroy Rd. at about 9:40 p.m. Friday when a male was approached by four men he didn’t know, one with a weapon, and ordered to hand over his gold ring, gold chain and iPhone. The man wasn’t hurt, police said. The suspects are all described as between 16 and 18 years old. Three are white, the fourth believed to be Hispanic, police said.
Up to the minute news and information for London Ontario Canada and surrounding regions.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Veterans Memorial Parkway could become a full-fledged freeway.
The east-end roadway, subject to major upgrades in recent years, should have its designation changed to make it a freeway, a road that would have no traffic lights or intersections, but rather on- and off-ramps for drivers, staff recommend.
The cost of building all those interchanges and bridges?
About $230 million.
But the project’s time line would extend over the next half-century — so, more immediately, staff want politicians to approve changes to the classifications of adjacent roads to protect the freeway’s possible future.
When the issue was discussed by council in 2008, the freeway option was considered by some politicians a key step in upgrading public works to stimulate the local economy.
At the time, Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen called it a “no-brainer.”
But the $230 million price tag — $126 million of which would go to build interchanges from east-west roads that now intersect the parkway — caused much concern.
In the report going Monday to council’s built and natural environment committee, staff note that changing the roadway designations doesn’t commit council to actually building the freeway. “Such measures serve to protect lands needed . . . in order to keep options open to build it, should a present or future council choose to do so.”
In a separate report going to the same committee, staff detail what’s needed to study the possible expansion of Veterans Memorial Parkway south of the Hwy. 401 — beyond London’s urban growth boundary.
The cost of building all those interchanges and bridges?
About $230 million.
But the project’s time line would extend over the next half-century — so, more immediately, staff want politicians to approve changes to the classifications of adjacent roads to protect the freeway’s possible future.
When the issue was discussed by council in 2008, the freeway option was considered by some politicians a key step in upgrading public works to stimulate the local economy.
At the time, Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen called it a “no-brainer.”
But the $230 million price tag — $126 million of which would go to build interchanges from east-west roads that now intersect the parkway — caused much concern.
In the report going Monday to council’s built and natural environment committee, staff note that changing the roadway designations doesn’t commit council to actually building the freeway. “Such measures serve to protect lands needed . . . in order to keep options open to build it, should a present or future council choose to do so.”
In a separate report going to the same committee, staff detail what’s needed to study the possible expansion of Veterans Memorial Parkway south of the Hwy. 401 — beyond London’s urban growth boundary.
Fiery blaze erupts on UWO's charter bus.
The University of Western Ontario men’s and women’s volleyball teams escaped harm Sunday after fire erupted at the rear of their charter bus and tore through it.
Patrick Johnston, a 23-year-old Mustangs player, says the bus — bedecked in UWO decals — was heading toward London from Toronto along the Hwy. 401 when fire inexplicably broke out at the back end.
The driver pulled over and the players, fresh off games at the University of Toronto, got out before flames ripped through the bus — which Johnston
figures is “a write-off.”
“It’s toast,” he said. “All (our) jerseys and shoes are wrecked. (But) we’re fine. We’re all fine.”
The teams were put on another bus and were pulling into London at just after 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
Witnesses were stunned by the spectacle of the fiery bus. Ryan Venables, a former police officer now studying law at Western, says he and his wife “gasped” as the flames rose higher than the bus itself.
“Once you got within about 100 metres of it, you could see the reflection of the flames off the asphalt,” he said. “I’ve seen that before (as a police officer). I wasn’t really expecting to see it now.”
It was about 8 p.m. when the bus driver noticed smoke coming from the back end, Oxford OPP say. He pulled the bus onto the shoulder near the Cami automotive plant outside Ingersoll and got the passengers out.
“He did what he was supposed to do,” OPP Const. Stacey Culbert said of the driver. “He pulled over, and everyone got off safely.”
South-West Oxford firefighters battled the blaze. Oxford paramedics took the driver to Ingersoll hospital for treatment.
Patrick Johnston, a 23-year-old Mustangs player, says the bus — bedecked in UWO decals — was heading toward London from Toronto along the Hwy. 401 when fire inexplicably broke out at the back end.
The driver pulled over and the players, fresh off games at the University of Toronto, got out before flames ripped through the bus — which Johnston
figures is “a write-off.”
“It’s toast,” he said. “All (our) jerseys and shoes are wrecked. (But) we’re fine. We’re all fine.”
The teams were put on another bus and were pulling into London at just after 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
Witnesses were stunned by the spectacle of the fiery bus. Ryan Venables, a former police officer now studying law at Western, says he and his wife “gasped” as the flames rose higher than the bus itself.
“Once you got within about 100 metres of it, you could see the reflection of the flames off the asphalt,” he said. “I’ve seen that before (as a police officer). I wasn’t really expecting to see it now.”
It was about 8 p.m. when the bus driver noticed smoke coming from the back end, Oxford OPP say. He pulled the bus onto the shoulder near the Cami automotive plant outside Ingersoll and got the passengers out.
“He did what he was supposed to do,” OPP Const. Stacey Culbert said of the driver. “He pulled over, and everyone got off safely.”
South-West Oxford firefighters battled the blaze. Oxford paramedics took the driver to Ingersoll hospital for treatment.
Snowmaggedon bears a hefty price tag.
They're calling it The Big Storm, and it came with a big price tag.
The final bill is in for the brutal blizzard - Snowmaggedon as it became known - that hammered London in December and left the city largely paralyzed for nearly a week, and it's a doozy.
In total, the snowstorms between Dec. 5 and Dec. 13, lumped together by city officials as The Big Storm, cost city hall $1.7 million. To put in context, the average two-day storm costs about $300,000.
The costs, associated with road clearing and other city efforts, are understandable given the magnitude of the storm: It's considered London's biggest blizzard of the last half-century, with as much as 160 centimetres blanketing the city during those eight days.
That one-week snowfall eclipsed the entire snowfall of the mild 2009-10 winter. It equalled about two-thirds the snow London gets during an average winter.
City hall's 2010 winter maintenance budget wound up with a final deficit of $1.4 million. That "extraordinary cost," city staff says, can be covered through a departmental surplus and the city's severe weather reserve fund.
The facts and figures from The Big Storm will be presented to council's built and natural environment committee Monday night.
The final bill is in for the brutal blizzard - Snowmaggedon as it became known - that hammered London in December and left the city largely paralyzed for nearly a week, and it's a doozy.
In total, the snowstorms between Dec. 5 and Dec. 13, lumped together by city officials as The Big Storm, cost city hall $1.7 million. To put in context, the average two-day storm costs about $300,000.
The costs, associated with road clearing and other city efforts, are understandable given the magnitude of the storm: It's considered London's biggest blizzard of the last half-century, with as much as 160 centimetres blanketing the city during those eight days.
That one-week snowfall eclipsed the entire snowfall of the mild 2009-10 winter. It equalled about two-thirds the snow London gets during an average winter.
City hall's 2010 winter maintenance budget wound up with a final deficit of $1.4 million. That "extraordinary cost," city staff says, can be covered through a departmental surplus and the city's severe weather reserve fund.
The facts and figures from The Big Storm will be presented to council's built and natural environment committee Monday night.
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