By Matt Harris and Angela Gemmill

Greater Sudbury Police headquarters on Brady Street will soon be getting a renovation.

The project will see a two million dollar addition, funded with money the police have saved from their own budget.

Police Chief Frank Elsner says the current building is just too small and the addition will make the headquarters customer friendly.

Elsner says he would like to see the renovations start as soon as possible

By Matt Harris

A fire ban across the region continues as the long weekend gets underway.

Due to dry conditions and forest fire activity all outdoor burning and fireworks are banned.

All of the northeast north of the French River is affected.

By Stew Kernan

It looks like a rash of suspicious fires has spread to the south end of the city.

Greater Sudbury Police say three fires were reported early this morning in the area of Tilton Lake Road…all were bush fires and all were put out quickly.

There were also three bush fires yesterday on South Shore Road, Raft Lake Road and Kasten Lake Road…again all believed to have been deliberately set.

The Criminal Investigations Division is looking into these latest fires as well as more than 20 fires in the Flour Mill and Donovan areas.

Anyone with information is asked to call police.

By Stew Kernan

Greater Sudbury Police warning residents about a scareware scam popping up on local computers.

A message appears, claiming to be from the RCMP, CSIS or the federal government, claiming that the computer is somehow involved with child pornography.

If you click on the message, the computer freezes with another message popping up asking for money to un-freeze the computer.

Police have this advice…always update your anti-virus software, turn on your browser’s pop-up blocking feature and never click on links or attachments sent to you by someone you don’t know.

By Gary Beech

The ongoing RIDE program stopped 323 drivers yesterday at spotchecks set up downtown and in the south end of the city.

One person blew over and was charged with impaired, two others blew in the warn range and had their license suspended for 3-days.

Seven others were charged with highway traffic act offenses.

By Gary Beech

Police are looking for the driver of a vehicle involved in a hit and run incident around 2 pm yesterday on Radar road.

Officials say a young man in his early 20′s was heading west in a small 4-door car and tried to pass a couple of transports but ran out of room.

He swerved to the shoulder to miss a motorcycle but his vehicle clipped the cyclist who was able to bring the bike to a safe stop.

The driver of the car sped away with damage on it’s front passenger side.

The motorcyclist was treated at hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

If you have any info, please contact police.

(Picture: Angela Recollet with Shkagamik Kwe Health Centre, Wahnapitae First Nations Chief Myles Tyson, Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci)

By Angela Gemmill

The province is helping Wahnapitae First Nations with a construction project which will benefit the aboriginal community.

The reserve, near Capreol, is building a $4.5-million multi-purpose centre.

The province’s Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation is investing one million dollars towards the facility.

Chief Myles Tyson explains the 84-hundred square foot building will include a meeting hall, a medical clinic, business incubator services and the community’s Sustainable Development Department.

Sudbury M-P-P Rick Bartolucci sees this as a way to foster opportunities within the First Nations community.

He says the local project will create four jobs for now, but he says the business incubator services will help create even more in the future.

The medical clinic will be run by the Shkagamik Kwe Health Centre and Executive Director Angela Recollet has high hopes.

She says they’ll have a dedicated wing and they’ll bring in primary healthcare access, like physicians, nurse practitioners, Diabetes specialists, dietitians.

It will mean the Wahnapitae First Nation Elders and seniors won’t have to leave the community, for long drives into urban communities when they have medical appointments.

The Wahnapitae First Nations project is one of five aboriginal projects to recieve recent provincial funding from the NOHFC.

Other aboriginal communities to get funding from the NOHFC include Pic Mobert FN, Kasabonika FN, Eabametoong FN and Windigo FN Council.

The WFN centre is slated for completion in August.

(Wahnapitae First Nations Chief Myles Tyson and Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci in front of the centre currently under construction)

By Angela Gemmill

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is helping answer critical questions in science.

Scientists at the facility in Lively officially opened the SNOLAB yesterday, following several years of construction on the laboratory space.

It is two kilometres deep underground, within Vale’s Creighton Mine.

Director of Development, Dr David Sinclair, says the unique laboratory provides a clean environment with little interference for mostly particle astrophysics experiments.

SNOLAB is operated by five universities, including Laurentian along with researchers from Queen’s and Carleton.

Funding came from several sources, including the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and President and CEO Gilles Paltry calls SNOLAB a first class scientific program.

He says it serves as a training ground for students by connecting them to world-class researchers and state of the art technology.

Other investments came from other sources including the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, FEDNOR, Vale and the City of Greater Sudbury.

(Dr David Sinclair at the Grand Opening of the SNOLAB)

By Angela Gemmill

Two people were arrested after a police pursuit Wednesday night between Lively and Whitefish.

Sudbury OPP had stopped a vehicle at a RIDE check on Highway 144, around 11:30pm, but the driver refused to pull over and a chase began along Highway 17 West.

The vehicle was found abandoned in Whitefish.

The male and female suspects were located with the help of the canine unit.

28-year old Shawn Laderoute of Whitefish is charged with Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle, Flight From Police, Obstructing Police, Driving While Under Suspension and Operating a Vehicle Without Insurance.

28-year old Melissa Wolfe of Chelmsford is charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance.

By Stew Kernan

Sudbury Rainbow Crime Stoppers is offering a guaranteed $1,000 reward for information into a number of arson cases.

Since May 5th there have been numerous deliberately set fires…mainly in the Flour Mill, Donovan and Northern Heights areas.

Police are concerned that there is the potential for serious damage and even injuries and they are convinced someone has information.

A guaranteed minimum $1,000 is being offered for tips received before midnight on Friday May 25th if the information leads to an arrest.

Call Crime Stoppers at 705-222-TIPS…that’s 705-222-8477.

You can submit your tip online at www.sudburycrimestoppers.com, text your tip by texting TIPSUD followed by your information to CRIMES (274637).