She congratulates the Home First and other Community Care programs for getting 53 seniors back into their homes.

Matthews does not believe charging patients for hospital beds while waiting for a long-term-care bed is the answer. But Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj says they need a faster solution for the crisis stage the hospital is currently operating in.

“There’s no easy quick fix but what I can tell you is that as we build capacity as we build more options for seniors we are absolutely determined to get people into the right place as quickly as possible,” says Matthews. “For someone who doesn’t need to be in a hospital bed a hospital is not the right place.”

Story by Maureen Regier, Blackburn News.

The Ministry of Labour is testing the building for asbestos. The results of those tests should be available on Monday. Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis says council cannot make the proper decision without those results.

“To allow the Chief Building Official and the Ministry of Labour to have those discussions , to be able to understand what the results may be we can’t rush the report,” says Francis.

Westpark Developments Inc. holds the first mortgage on the site. The company says since they took control of the building in January they have been working to comply with the city work orders and would like the opportunity to complete that work.  They do not want the city to demolish the building.

Story by Maureen Regier, Blackburn News.

Windsor police dispatch took 36,982 calls as of late December last year and 21,556 were dismissed as non-emergency, nuisance and pocket dials.  Sergeant Brett Corey says accidental calls made from cellphones are a growing problem since more and more people are carrying them.

It’s not just an annoyance for the officer working in dispatch.  Corey says it could also put someone else at risk since police are obligated to send an officer to investigate if there’s any indication the caller is in trouble.  That ties up resources in both the communications centre and in the patrol division.

Corey admits it’s a difficult problem for police to solve.  As far as he knows, no one has ever been charged for serial pocket dialing 9-1-1.  “The problem you run into is you have to prove intent.  These are very difficult to prove that someone was intentionally dialing 9-1-1.”

Story by Adelle Loiselle, Blackburn News.

Together Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island and Chatham-Kent Tourism have hired a project facilitator to work with all organizations holding events. War of 1812 Commemoration events start this spring and will take place until 2015.

The local historian Kyra Knapp will work with all organizations to coordinate and promote their events.

“We want to attract as many people to our region as possible. So I think that having a strong level of communication not only within our region but out to multiple communities and across the border as well is really important,” says Knapp.

Story by Maureen Regier, Blackburn News.

Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj says if the Grace Hospital were turned into a long-term care facility already, it would be much more than what they’re getting.

“A couple months ago our board of directors had asked how much it would cost to run a 256-bed long-term care facility, and it’s about $18-million a year we would get in funding, so since the Grace site didn’t go ahead, and won’t go ahead for two more years, where’s the money being spent?”  Musyj says Windsor hospitals receive about $2- to $3-million as it stands.

He says hospital officials will continue to speak with those at the LHIN, and he’s hoping for more investments soon.

Story by Mike Vlasveld, Blackburn News.

Coordinator of the Citizens Environmental Alliance, Derek Coronado says no matter if the land ends up in the school’s or city’s hands, the bottom line is that green space is rare in this part of the province, “What we’re left with essentially, is conflicts over scraps of what was here originally.  Pretty much everything that’s left is significant.”

WECEC held a meeting last night, where they were to discuss the preservation of that woodlot.

College officials say a deal was in place to buy that land from the city, but earlier this week, the city’s executive committee of council met and decided they didn’t want to sell the woodlot to St. Clair College. Instead, they want to lease it.  A final decision will be made at City Council on Monday.

Story by Mike Vlasveld, Blackburn News.

Spokesperson for the Delta Company of the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment, Andrea Grimes says this year’s conference is largely focussed on the war of 1812.  “All the guest speakers coming into town will touch upon the significance of the bicentennial, and how that war affected our community here in southwestern Ontario.”

The two themes for the event, which runs tonight and all day tomorrow, are War and Memory.

Festivities get underway at 7:00pm at the Major F.A. Tilston VC Armoury on Sandwich Street in Windsor.  Tickets are $20, $10 for students.

Story by Mike Vlasveld, Blackburn News.

Statistics Canada has released last month’s figures and Windsor’s numbers jumped from 10.5 to 10.9%. That’s the highest rate in the country.

Meantime, Ontario’s and Canada’s numbers increased as well. The province’s unemployment rate went up from 7.7 to 8.1% last month, and nationally it rose slightly from 7.5 to 7.6%.

StatsCan says there were just 2,300 new jobs last month, while more than 23,000 people started looking for work.

Story by Mike James, Blackburn News.

That is the recommendation from Lord Cultural Resources, who have been hired to do a feasibility study for the idea.

Vice-President of Lord, Brad King says the museum would work as a hub that would send residents and tourists to different spokes.  “When we came down to do our initial research, we discovered places like national historic sites that tell the underground railroad story, we discovered the Canadian Club brand centre that tells the prohibition story, and instead of duplicating telling all of these stories is tell a core story in this hub and encourage people to visit other institutions that already exist.”

Consultants from Lord will now bring their study to Windsor City Council.  A public meeting was held, discussing the museum, last night at MacKenzie Hall in Sandwich Towne.

Story by Mike Vlasveld, Blackburn News.

Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj says he’s looking forward to speaking with Deb Matthews about the health problems this region is facing, including ALC beds.

He says he can feel progress slowly being made, “We’re at the first stage right now, which is we’ve identified a problem.  There’s some solutions she (Matthews) has put forward with respect to how to solve it.  I look forward to working with her and ministry on those plans, and also looking forward to implementing those plans.”

Matthews will speak at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon held at the Caboto Club at 11:30am.

Story by Mike Vlasveld, Blackburn News.