By Gary Beech 

The Wolves outshot the Battalion 38-29, but still lost 6-0 in Brampton Thursday night.

Andrew Loverock was pulled after 4 goals then Al Valiquette let in the last two.

Patrick Kileen stopped all 38 shots sent his way for the Battalion

Tonight Sudbury hosts London and then Windsor visits Sunday afternoon.

By Angela Gemmill 

It must have been a rather cold distraction.

During a suspected impaired driving traffic stop, Sudbury Police say a passenger tried to create a distraction by taking off his clothes, exiting the vehicle and running down the road.

The exposure happened around three this morning along the Kingsway.

The passenger is now charged with public intoxication while the driver got a three day license suspension.

(Tessa Bonhomme)

By Gary Beech 

Sudbury can lay claim to two Olympic Gold medalists this morning.

Rebecca Johnston, Tessa Bonhomme and the rest of our women’s hockey team blanked the American’s 2-0 last night to claim Gold at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.

It’s the 3rd straight first place Olympic finish for the women.

Tonight the Canadian men hit the ice against Slovakia in a semi-final game that gets underway at 9:30.

The winner heads to the final Sunday.

(Rebecca Johnston)

By Angela Gemmill 

A teenager faces some serious charges after staff at a Sudbury group home were threatened.

According to police, the 16-year-old, who can’t be identified, made the threats yesterday afternoon while armed with a crow bar.

He’s charged with uttering threats, possession of a dangerous weapon and breach of probation.

No one was injured.

By Ian Campbell 

A new plan may soon be in the works, providing back-up valves and sub-pumps to those in need.

In a motion Wednesday, councillors directed staff to look into a Preventative Plumbing Subsidy Program valued at $350,000.

“What it does is it will be addressing back up valves, sub-pumps and disconnection from eavestroughs which would have helped in a situation that occurred in July,” says Councillor Joscelyne Landry-Altmann.

That’s when a major storm worked it’s way through Greater Sudbury flooding several areas of the city, but nowhere was that felt more than areas like Ward 12 and in the Flour Mill.

 ”A lot of people didn’t have these systems in place and this would have helped, without a doubt!” she says.

City she says like Toronto, London and Hamilton have already put similar programs into place.

A program like that here, the councillor feels might have made the difference last summer.

“Well it would have perhaps decreased the amount of damage that occurred, and the damage was 30 to 40 Million dollars, but the psychological damage was devastating,” says Landry-Altmann.

Meantime both she and others continue to try to look for a house, for the Brisebois family, a single mother of three, who lost everything in the July 26th storm.

They’re hoping it can be moved onto the existing property, where the family’s old house still sits, within the coming months.

By Angela Gemmill 

There is some movement in the Vale Inco labour dispute.

The Steelworkers and the company have agreed to exploratory talks this weekend in Toronto as a way to move forward in the stalemate.

The two sides have asked for the help of a veteran mediator Kevin Burkett.

In a press release issued this afternoon all three parties have agreed to impose a media blackout on the talks until further notice.

By Ian Campbell & Angela Gemmill 

One city councillor wants answers when it comes to mining companies violating bylaws.

Ward 3’s Claude Berthiume has asked city staff to look into rumours that Vale Inco could be using office buildings in Copper Cliff to house smelter workers.

He also feels some companies are ignoring the city’s noise bylaw, by using loaded trucks at night to deliver ore to Vale Inco sites.

Two companies had requested an exemption, but withdrew applications at the last minute.

Only police can pull trucks over to check on whether they’re violating the noise bylaw.

By Angela Gemmill 

An integrated software system, shared by 24 different library and resource centres across Northern Ontario, is now ‘award winning’.

Project Conifer will recieve two provincial awards from the Ontario Library Association this week in Toronto.

Among the consortium of users is Laurentian University’s J.N. Desmarais Library, which was the lead site in the project.

The system allows for sharing of hardware, support and developmental costs between the institutions.

By Ian Campbell

It may be an easy winter so far, but nowhere is that more evident than on city coffers.

According to city officials, as of the end of January, the snow removal budget will be 350-thousand dollars in the black.

“Right as of today, we’re estimating that we’ll be $800,000 under by the end of February,” says General Manager of Infrastructure Services Greg Clausen. “Nows that’s just for the year starting 2010.”

When it comes to extra money, Clausen says that will be deposited into the reserve account at the end of the year.

Much of that he adds will help to make up for the city’s 1.5 Million dollar deficit in snow removal last year.

(Greater Sudbury’s poet laureate Dr. Roger Nash)

By Ian Campbell

Call it a first for Greater Sudbury.

The city now has it’s first ever poet laureate after receiving unanimous approval from city councillors last night.

Philosophy Professor Dr. Roger Nash beat out several candidates after being selected for the position by community representatives serving on a local committee.

“I’m very excited and thinking of ways in which I can help the literary culture in Sudbury, which is very strong already,” says Nash.

He says much of his work will not only focus on poetry but also promoting literacy from within the city.

Nash wrote a poem entitled “My City” to commemorate the occasion of the new position.

“I want to help us realize how beautiful a place we can be and are and how it’s worth writing about in a very positive spirit,” he says.

Sudbury’s new laureate will receive an honorarium of $1000 to further his efforts over the course of his two year term.

Residents are being invited to a public presentation this morning to meet Nash, at 10 AM at the public library on Mackenzie Street.