Planning on taking a swim this holiday weekend?

You might want to check with the Sudbury District Health Unit who have posted warnings about several area beaches in the past few weeks.

Manager of Health Division, Holly Browne says recent rain’s washed a lot of debris into area lakes

“So what we’ve done is during a routine sampling, we’ve picked up our samples and they’ve tested with high amounts of E-Coli, which our indicator bacteria,” says Browne. “So what we’ve done is re-sampled them and determined that levels are higher than acceptable.”

That she says can sometimes cause skin, eye, ear or nose infections and possible vomiting.

Currently the main beach at Bell Park, Clear Lake in Espanola and Providence Bay all have postings.

For more info, you can check out the website at http://www.sdhu.com/content/alerts/details.asp?n=552&lang=0

Emergency services have sounded the all clear after a west end neighbourhood had to be evacuated for a short time today.

Fire crews evacuated a small number of homes in along Simcoe Street after workers cut through a gas line.

Officials tell us there were no injuries and residents are being allowed back into their homes.

The wheels on the bus are supposed to go round and round but an incident on one earlier today stopped it dead in it’s tracks.

According to police, a man boarded a transit bus refusing to pay the required fare.

When he was asked to leave, he then began to assault the driver and police were called to the scene.

The suspect was arrested on charges of assault with a weapon, resisting arrest and causing a disturbance.

The bus driver did not sustain any injuries.

The city of Greater Sudbury is currently in the process of evacuating a 34 unit apartment building at 507 the Kingsway.

According to the Fire Department, they’re clearing the building due to an immediate threat to human life and safety.

An inspection of the building was conducted yesterday after the company somewhere in Ontario, who owns the building didn’t pay the hydro bill and service was cut off.

“There’s no emergency lighting as required by the Ontario Fire Code and that posed a big problem so what we did last night is directed the landlord to conduct a firewatch having someone walk the hallways every fifteen minutes to get us to today,” says Fire Chief Marc Leduc. “We’ve consulted with the Ontario Fire Marshalls Office and they agreed about the threat to life and gave us the authority to remove people from the building for public safety reasons.”

Temporary accomodations meantime have been set up for residents and pets, until the landlord company can get the building back up to code.

It’s Day six after Sudbury’s flooding and there are some residents still cleaning up the soggy mess.

Crews with restoration companies have been working long hours to help people extract water from their homes and throw out contaminated items.

President of Extreme Restoration Dan Galipeau says he’s had to hire on almost four times as many workers to keep up with the demand.

Before the storm on Sunday he had 12 full time employees and almost a week later there’s 45 workers on his payroll.

Galipeau says the devestation affects all homeowners regardless of how much water poured into their homes.

He says it’s hard seeing clients deal with the loss of precious mementos, but most things soaked in contaminated water have to be thrown own.

Galipeau asks people to have patience with contractors, they will arrive to assess and clean the problem, but they’re just backed up with clients.

More firefighting resources from Ontario are being dispatched to British Columbia to help battle forest fires.

The Ministry of Natural Resources says 230 firefighters and support staff will leave from Sudbury and Dryden on Saturday.

It’s the fourth deployment this month and brings to 570 the number of Ontario personnel to head to the west coast in the past week.

This Civic long weekend you’ll be seeing lots of police officers on the roads, on the water, on the trails and even in the sky, conducting aerial patrols.

Along highways, OPP will be targeting aggressive drivers, speeders, those not buckled up and anyone impaired behind the wheel.

When it comes to boating, Sudbury Media Officer, Constable Michelle Coulombe, says officers are looking for impairment, proper equipment, competency cards and also life-saving personal flotation devices.

She says there must be a life-jacket for every person on board the vessel and police recommend you wear it.

Coulombe says many boating fatalities could have been prevented had the victim either not been impairment or been wearing a life-jacket.

The new rules for proof of competency come into effect September 15th, meaning all boaters must carry a competency card on them when operating a motorized pleasure craft.

Couombe says impaired charges are all the same regardless of whether the person is driving a car, boat or ATV.

With three pharmacy robberies over the past month, Sudbury Police are working with businesses and clinics to help curb the problem.

In all three cases Oxycontin, a highly addictive narcotic was taken and two incidences involve suspects with similar descriptions.

Staff Sergeant Richard Waugh, with the Criminal Investigations branch, says these pharmacies are now installing security systems and surveillance cameras to make themselves less of a target.

As well he says these businesses should limit the amount of these narcotics they have in stock.

Waugh blames the rising popularity of Oxycontin on the street as the driving force behind these crimes.

He says they do have persons of interest, but encourages the public to call police with information.

Sudbury’s Devon Kershaw is getting in a little family time before the final push begins for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

The Nordic skier was back home this week taking part in a number of events including spending time with some young athletes.

He says he was thrilled to be able to pass on some of his experiences to over 40 kids from two local ski clubs.

Kershaw says things are happening fast, but he still wakes up every morning with a burning desire to be better.

He’s proud to call Sudbury home and his goal is to be the best he can be.

He has already qualified for Vancouver which will be his second Olympics.

Given that all municipal systems, including plants and lift stations, were functioning properly the city will likely not be held accountable for property damage.

That from Sudbury CAO Doug Nadorozny during a public meeting last night at St Jean De Brebeuf Church in the Flour Mill, in regards to recent flooding problem.

Around 250 residents showed up to find out why they were victims of Sunday’s storm that left basements flooded and streets looking more like mini-lakes.

Many of those in attendance were from the Mountain Street area and claim the runoff from a new subdivision now flows into their neighbourhood.

An independent probe is underway into whether the municipal system was functioning normally at the time.