Loyalist Nursing Students Continue Legal Fight

The Loyalist College nursing classes that started in 1997 and ’98 are fighting over the details of the school’s nursing program as it was then. The former students are suing the college because they say they were misled when they enrolled into believing they could get a Queen’s University degree upon graduation. Loyalist College has, in turn, brought a suit against Queen’s University in the matter. The Ontario College of Nurses in 2005 started a policy that anyone who wants to apply as a registered nurse must first have a bachelor’s degree… a degree that the claimants say they should already have.

VIA Making Investment in Belleville

Big things expected today at the Belleville VIA Station. Prince Edward Hastings MP Daryl Kramp, Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis and VIA’s National Sales Director Pierre Santoni will be on hand for what’s being billed as a short media briefing. Earlier this summer, the Federal Government announced it was pouring nearly a billion dollars into the VIA rail Montreal to Toronto corridor and extra train stops and extra tracks at the Belleville station.

Big rig stops traffic near Trenton

The westbound lanes of the 401 near Trenton are back to normal following a small crash involving a big rig.

Provincial police say the tractor trailer went into the median around 4:30 yesterday afternoon (SAT) around mile market 515, near Trenton.

The blockage took a few minutes to clear and traffic got back to normal while a tow truck took care of the trailer.

Police say there were no injuries and no charges will be laid.

Quinte vendors at the CNE

Local vendors are making their mark at the annual Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.

Among them are Belleville-based Reid’s Dairy and Prince Edward County’s Black River Cheese.

The vendors were part of the Heritage Court in the Direct Energy Centre this weekend.

The Canadian National Exhibition started in Toronto in 1879 as the Toronto Industrial Exhibition.

The family-oriented event runs through September 7th.

More information at www.theex.com.

Power outage chaotic in Belleville

It was a hectic couple of hours for people around Belleville.

City residents and visitors alike were hit with an unplanned city-wide power outage yesterday (SAT) afternoon around the lunch hour.

Belleville Police say they were in the process of calling in extra help when the power was finally restored.

Officers were kept busy with calls for service, as well as directing traffic at busy intersections during the blackout.

Police say the city-wide outage was not due to a car crash in the city’s west end, although that crash did add to the chaos.

Mother’s driving causes rollover in Belleville

It was almost a miracle.

Belleville Police attended the scene of a vehicular “roll-over” in the city’s west end yesterday to find only minor injuries to the mother and child.

The rollover was said to have happened on Moira Street West by rotating a complete 360 degrees – so that the vehicle landed on its wheels.

Police say the mother who was driving was wearing a seat belt and the small child was secured in a car seat that was properly installed.

The mother was charged, however, with careless driving.

Canoes stolen from Corbyville Dam

A group of campers from Western Ontario is up the creek WITH a paddle – but without their canoes.

Belleville Police say the group yesterday (SAT) morning reported their three canoes had been stolen while they camped near Corbyville Dam overnight.

Missing are one red and two dark blue 16′ canoes.

Anyone with information can contact Belleville Police or Crimestoppers.

Internet Scam

You might want to think twice about what you do online.

Over the past couple of days, there have been two reports of fraud over the Internet.

Belleville police say in both cases cheques were sent to the victims.

They were asked to cash them in and send a large quantity of money to Western Union.

After sending  700 to one-thousand dollars cash, the victims realized they had been scammed.

Police continue their investigation.

Hastings County Worried About Tax Increases

Hastings County is joining the fight to stop the province from dropping its “special funding” program. Such a move could mean significant tax increases for county residents.   Five Hastings County municipalities  benefit from the program.   Bancroft, Hastings Highlands, Madoc, Carlow-Mayo, and Tyendinaga  townships received a total of 485-thousand dollars this year in the special one-time assistance.  The province has announced it will discontinue the plan after next year.

Rural Internet Construction Almost Ready

Hastings County is moving ahead with plans to bring hi-speed internet service to the rural area. Administrator Jim Pine told county council yesterday that planners are working on the request-for-proposals now that the federal funding is in place. This will give speed and more internet capacity to people across the county  and some rural areas of Quinte west.   Pine says construction should begin in 2010.